‘Star Men’ in English Convict Prisons, 1879-1948

Ben Bethell studied at Birkbeck, University of London, receiving a PhD in history in 2020. He teaches at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. ‘Star Men’ in English Convict Prisons, 1879-1948 is his first book.

• Introduction1 Contamination in English convict prisons before 18792 ‘Gentleman convicts’ and ‘accidental criminals’3 The convict star class: selection and formation, 1879-c.18854 The convict star class: accommodation and labour, 1879-19095 Maidstone convict prison, 1909-c.19306 Star men, c.1920-1948 Conclusion

"In tracking down the biographies, crimes and fate of his subjects – the ‘Star Men’ - Bethell shows exemplary scholarship, energy and ingenuity. He has drawn back the covers and this book presents us with a fascinating conspectus of an important aspect of English social and penal history, hitherto largely obscured".- Professor Seán McConville, Queen Mary University of London, UK"Bethell’s work makes a major contribution to prison history. It is the first text to focus wholly on the creation and lifespan of the star class, introduced to segregate first offenders from contamination by those inured to crime. The star class provides a lens through which this well-written and well-researched book reveals the contingent and diverse nature of convict incarceration and enables Bethell to challenge some established historiography about penal policy. Bureaucratic investigations that underpinned the composition of the star class reveal a great deal about the influence of class-based thinking."- Professor Alyson Brown, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK"This fascinating research explores the complexities of the 'star class', a system of prison classification used in the convict system, for first-time offenders. Bethell skilfully resurrects the challenges that this class presented, not only to the administrators, but also to the prison regime, prison cultures and the experiences of long-term inmates in the late 19th and twentieth century. More broadly, this engaging account shows the struggles authorities had with 'contamination' inside prisons in the past, but also resonates with concerns in contemporary prison systems."- Professor Helen L. Johnston, University of Hull, UK"In ‘Star Men’ in English Convict Prisons, Ben Bethell provides an insightful and compelling account of the emergence of the ‘star class’, a division of specially selected first-time offenders intro□duced into the convict prison system in 1879 and which, until now, has been both largely ignored and poorly understood by penal historians."- Rosalind Crone, The Open University'This is a colourful and engaging account, and Bethell does well to present the peculiarities and contradictions of the star class and its operation across the decades. He draws upon an impressive array of archival sources, giving voice to many different actors within the system. This furnishes us with a nuanced understanding of this division’s population and regimes well beyond the popu□lar memoirs of ‘gentlemen convicts’. Bethell’s inquiry into the star class began with an interest in this particular stratum of prisoners and the extent to which the English class system was reflected within this first experiment in segregation, but he relates how the themes of work and sex soon emerged from the sources and enriched and expanded his analysis."- Emily Rose Hay, School of Law, University of Sheffield