Oakum Collection

The spinning of Oakum threads, 1850
3359231 The spinning of Oakum threads, 1850; (add.info.: Illustration depicting the spinning of Oakum threads for caulking ships. Dated 19th Century.); Universal History Archive/UIG.

The Culking of a ship's planks with Oakum, 1850
3359232 The Culking of a ship's planks with Oakum, 1850; (add.info.: Illustration depicting the Culking of a ship's planks with Oakum. Dated 19th Century.); Universal History Archive/UIG.

Illustration depicting a prisoner in his cell picking oakum, 1888 (engraving)
5616304 Illustration depicting a prisoner in his cell picking oakum, 1888 (engraving); Universal History Archive/UIG.

Prisoner in his cell, 1888
3479378 Prisoner in his cell, 1888; (add.info.: Prisoner in his cell picking oakum in am English 'local' jail. From Cassell's Saturday Journal, London)

An engraving depicting the caulking of a ship's planks with oakum, 19th century
5311333 An engraving depicting the caulking of a ship's planks with oakum, 19th century; (add.info.: Date: 1841); Universal History Archive/UIG.

Large oakum room at the Middlesex House of Correction (engraving)
614606 Large oakum room at the Middlesex House of Correction (engraving) by English School, (19th century); Private Collection; (add.info)

Tread-Wheel and Oakum-Shed at the City Prison, Holloway, London, 1862. Artist
Tread-Wheel and Oakum-Shed at the City Prison, Holloway, London, 1862. From The Criminal Prisons of London and Scenes of Prison Life by Henry Mayhew (1812-1887) and John Binny, 1862

The oakum-shed, Clerkenwell Prison, London, 1874. Oakum is a tarred fibre used in shipbuilding. It used to be made from old tarry ropes and its preparation was a common form of prison labour

Source Size = 3970 x 2712
The Clerkenwell House of Correction: the Oakum Shed, 1874

ENGLAND: PRISON, 1874. Prisoners at the Clerkenwell House of Correction in London preparing oakum, a tarred fibre used in shipbuilding for caulking. Wood engraving, English, 1874

Newgate / Oakum-Picking
A convict, in his cell, oakum- picking. Date: 1873

Old women picking oakum in a Casual Ward
The womens casual ward (vagrants ward) of a workhouse, thought to be at Lambeth, south London. Three women in workhouse uniform sit on benches

Holloway Prison / Mayhew
The treadmill (treadwheel) and oakum shed with a detachment of prisoners at work at the wheel, and those who have been relieved, are employed to pick oakum

Oakum Shed / Prison / 1874
Inmates are supervised as they pick oakum

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Step into the grim world of 19th century English prisons, where inmates were subjected to harsh labor in oakum rooms. This fibrous tarred material, essential for shipbuilding, was meticulously prepared by prisoners at institutions like the Middlesex House of Correction, Clerkenwell Prison, and Holloway Prison. In this image, elderly women toil away at the Whitechapel Workhouse Casual Ward, their gnarled hands deftly separating the oakum fibers. The tread-wheels and oakum-sheds, like the one depicted at Holloway Prison in 1874, were common sites of this grueling labor. The engravings capture the stark reality of this inhumane practice, a poignant reminder of the harsh conditions endured by the incarcerated during this era.