Record Number: 12643

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Author describes being put into cell in Reading Gaol for the first time: 'That completed the furniture in the cell. But wait! I forgot the Bible! A humane Prison Commission had provided the cell with a Bible. I remember how, to stave off the hysteria I felt rising within me, I took it down and scanned it casually, noting passages in fine English which set forth the fate of those who rebel against the Lord of Hosts. Turning the leaves reapidly, I came to the New Testament, the Gospel of Love. Finally I laid it down and looked around my cell, stray passages of what I had read running through my mind - "All ye are God's children...bear ye one another's burdens...Verily I say unto you, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself...Father forgive them, for they know not what they do..." The Bible! And mind and heart cried out, "What utter rot!"'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Sep 1901 and 30 Sep 1901

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Reading
county: Berkshire
specific address: Reading County Gaol
other location: in his prison cell

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Stuart Wood [pseud?]

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

27 Feb 1885

Socio-Economic Group:

Labourer (non-agricultural)

Occupation:

son of master craftsman, but habitual criminal

Religion:

family Methodist but becomes athiest

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[n/a]

Title:

The Bible

Genre:

Bible

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (institution library)
prison issue

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12643

Source:

Print

Author:

Stuart Wood

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1932

Vol:

n/a

Page:

24

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Stuart Wood, Shades of the prison house: A personal memoir, (London, 1932), p. 24, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12643, accessed: 21 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

None