Introduction: Celebrating the Centenary of the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Howard Journal
| Published date | 01 October 2021 |
| Author | CLARE ANDERSON,JESS KEBBELL,STEVEN KING |
| Date | 01 October 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12451 |
The Howard Journal Vol60 No S1. October 2021 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12451
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 6–18
Introduction: Celebrating the
Centenary of the Howard League for
Penal Reform and the Howard Journal
CLARE ANDERSON, JESS KEBBELL and STEVEN KING
Clare Anderson is Professor of History, University of Leicester; Jess Kebbell is
ESRC PhD candidate, University of Leicester; Steven King is Professor of
Economic and Social History, Nottingham Trent University
In 1866, the Howard Association, as it would be known for 55 years, was
created by William Tallack, under the patronage of Lord Brougham, for
the purpose of ‘promoting the most efficient means of penal treatment
and crime prevention’ (Howard Association 1867). It could be argued that
William Tallack was the most important person in the early history of the
organisation. Secretary for 35 years, not only was Tallack pivotal to the
Howard Association’s creation, but he was instrumental in making the or-
ganisation one of the most important and effective penal reform organi-
sations of its time. He was already well known in the area of penal reform
before 1866. For example, he was a member of the Society for the Abolition
of Capital Punishment and gave evidence before the Royal Commission on
Capital Punishment. This meant that Tallackhad pre-existing relationships
with others involved in the penal reform movement, something that facil-
itated the Howard Association’s strong membership base, including access
to parliament through interested MPs. Therefore, the Howard Association
was in a good position to campaign for change and petition the govern-
ment in parliamentary sessions. After Tallack’s retirement in 1901, there
were a further three relatively short-term secretaries: Edward Grubb from
1901 to 1906; Thomas Holmes from 1906 to 1916; and Cecil Leeson from
1916 to 1921. In 1921, Margery Fry became secretary in what was a very
important year for the organisation.
This is because 2021 marks the centenary of the founding of the Howard
League for Penal Reform. Created by a merger between the Howard As-
sociation and the Penal Reform League, it held a first meeting under its
new name on 3 June 1921. Both organisations had been well known for
their penal reform efforts but could not by themselves achieve the traction
that they hoped for. Rose (1961) argues that this was due to monetary and
membership issues, specifically a lack of both. As the Howard Association,
6
C
2021 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
