Curator's Choice: The Prison Service Museum

The first piece I have chosen is an embroidered sampler made by a prisoner called Annie Parker in 1880. At first glance it looks fairly ordinary, with pale brown embroidery on it. Yet if you look closely it becomes apparent that it's highly detailed with very, very fine thread - and the reason is that it isn't thread at all but the hair of the lady herself which she pulled out for her embroidery.

By the time she died of consumption in 1885 she had been in prison more than 300 times and before the magistrates more than 400 times, usually for drunkenness. One suspects she wasn't allowed thread, or possibly hadn't the means to purchase it, although an obituary which appeared in the newspaper did describe her as having a luxurious head of hair. It appeals to me because despite her imprisonment she managed to overcome her despair to produce this fine work of art.

The gibbet irons (above) are particularly gruesome because they are actually in human form. They were used for suspending the bodies of felons after they had been hanged and this specific set of gibbet irons, until recently on loan to the Guildhall in Leicester, was the last ever used in England. It was used to display the body of James Cook, who was executed for murder in 1832 and what is particularly unpleasant is that it was made to measure. It is a very powerful object in itself, but while it is extremely unpleasant, it is a comfort to know that it represents something from a bygone age.

Dr Peter Davies is the curator of the Prison Service Museum, Newbold Revel, Rugby, Warwickshire (0788 832666). Visits by appointment with the curator

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