ABSTRACT
Powers and duties The first three chairman ot the Directorate of Convict Prisons were officers of the Royal Engineers. Lieutenant-Colonel Jebb was appointed chairman upon the formation of the directorate in August 1850, remaining in the post until his death in June 1863. He was succeeded by Colonel Edmund Henderson (1821-96) who resigned in 1869 to become Commissioner of the Metropolitan police. Henderson's friend and protégé, Captain Edmund Du Cane (1830-1903) was then promoted to the chairmanship, which was held jointly with the posts of Surveyor-General of Prisons and Inspector-General of Military Prisons. Of Jebb enough has probably been recounted, except to note that a mark of the acceptance of prison administration as a respectable part of public service was given when he was awarded the KCB in 1859. 1 Henderson had served for thirteen years as a captain in the Royal Engineers in Western Australia, as Comptroller of Convicts in charge of the penal settlement, where his success was such that a public presentation was made to him by the colonists on the completion of his tour of duty. 2 Although in his six years as chairman he showed little of the interest evinced by Jebb and Du Cane in the broader issues in penal policy, he was responsible for carrying out the extensive changes which followed the Royal Commission of 1863. 3
