William Blackburn

Following the principles of John Howard, his designs aimed to provide inmates with dry and airy cells.

In 1776 he was named surveyor to the Watermen's Guild, and he may have designed their Hall near St Mary-at-Hill, Eastcheap.

In 1782 he won first prize for prison design in a contest sponsored by the Commissioners for Penitentiary Houses.

While those designs were never realized, his entry led him to friendship with Howard and to extensive work as an architect of prisons.

He died unexpectedly at Preston, Lancashire in November 1790, while travelling to Glasgow to consult on plans for a prison there.