Marshalsea Prison
Preserved but no longer current.
An old prison in South- wark, London (demolished in 1849), so called because it was formerly governed by a Knight Marshal, i.e. an official of the Royal House- hold who took cognizance of offences com- mitted within the royal verge and who presided over the Marshalsea Court (amal- gamated with the Queen's Bench in 1842). It was the Marshal of this prison who was beheaded by the rebels under Wat Tyler in 1381.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Marshalsea Prison” mean?
An old prison in South- wark, London (demolished in 1849), so called because it was formerly governed by a Knight Marshal, i.e. an official of the Royal House- hold who took cognizance of offences com- mitted within the royal verge and who presided over the Marshalsea Court (amal- gamated with the Queen's Bench in 1842). It was the Marshal of this prison who was beheaded by the rebels under Wat Tyler in 1381.
Is “Marshalsea Prison” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.