The Ballad of Sophia Constable

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The Ballad of Sophia Constable
Statue of Sophie Constable - geograph.org.uk - 7600947.jpg
The Ballad of Sophia Constable
Artist Ray Lonsdale
Year2023
MediumSteel
SubjectSophia Constable, the youngest female inmate to be incarcerated at HM Prison Northallerton
Dimensions244 cm(96 in)
Location Northallerton
Coordinates 54°20′19″N1°25′53″W / 54.3387°N 1.4315°W / 54.3387; -1.4315
Owner North Yorkshire Council
AccessionDL6_HJC_S085 [1]

The Ballad of Sophia Constable is a statue by sculptor Ray Lonsdale in Northallerton, Yorkshire, situated at the former site of HM Prison Northallerton. It depicts the youngest female inmate to be incarcerated there, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread in 1873.

Contents

Description

The Ballad of Sophia Constable, by artist Ray Lonsdale, depicts an 11-year-old girl, Sophia Constable, holding a loaf of bread while a prison warden places their hand on Sophia's shoulder. [2] It measures around 244 cm (96 in) in height and is situated at the former site of HM Prison Northallerton, now the Treadmills commercial development. [3] [4] Constable was imprisoned there for three weeks' hard labour in 1873 – its youngest female prisoner – for stealing a loaf of bread worth three pence from a shop in Whitby. [2] Constable said that her crime was motivated by hunger. [3] Another woman, Fanny Goodchild, was sentenced alongside Constable to one month's imprisonment. Contemporaneous reporting in the Richmond & Ripon Chronicle described the crime of "obtaining bread by false pretences" as a "trivial offence". [5] As imprisonment of the two women would cost the North Riding the sum of £20, the Chronicle suggested that a change in the law was necessary. [5] Constable's sentence also included four years in a reformatory after her imprisonment. [2]

The statue was installed in 2023, 150 years after Constable's imprisonment. [3] It is a work in steel by sculptor Roy Lonsdale, and is in the collection of North Yorkshire Council, costing £85,000. [1] [2] It was funded by nearly £49,000 tax receipts, a £30,000 grant and £6,000 private sector contribution. [6]

The only known photo of Constable is a mugshot. [2] This was the main source material on which Lonsdale based the statue. He has said that the statue shows Constable looking towards the prison and is a reminder of "how harsh life was then". [2]

The unveiling of the statue was attended by Constable's great-granddaughter Louise Dudman. She told ITV News that after her imprisonment, Constable moved back to Whitby, married and had children, saying that she "turned her life around" and made something positive from a bad situation. [2]

In a Hambleton District Council meeting discussing plans for the artwork, Councillor Heather Moorhouse compared the story to that of a character in the Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables . [6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Ballad of Sophia Constable". Art UK . Archived from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Barton, Tom (14 September 2023). "Northallerton remembers youngest female convict jailed for stealing loaf of bread". ITV News . Archived from the original on 24 January 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Laversuch, Chloe (25 July 2023). "Northallerton Treadmills sculpture recalls site's prison history". BBC News . Archived from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  4. ↑ "Sophie Constable". Public Statues and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Sessions" . Richmond & Ripon Chronicle. 4 January 1873 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. 1 2 "'Les Miserables' statue of bread thief approved for North Yorkshire town". Yorkshire Post . 14 April 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
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