Abbot's Priory

English

Etymology

After Charles Abbott, Lord Chief Justice from 1818 to 1832.

Proper noun

Abbot's Priory

1. (obsolete, British slang, idiomatic) King's Bench Prison, a former prison in the south of London.
   • 1822, Benchiana; or, Sketches of Life and Character in St. George’s Fields […], page 18:

     […] after this lady’s retirement to enjoy the otium cum dignitate [leisure with dignity] in Abbot’s Priory, she was visited by a gentleman who had previously and subsequently rendered her the most unequivocal and disinterested assistance, by frequent pecuniary supplies.

   • 1824, “An Accommodating Customer ‘Queered’”, in The Spirit of the Public Journals, for the Year M.DCCC.XXIII […], page 65:

     Upon inquiring after George Charteris, Esq. he finds that he has bolted from Palace-yard, and taken refuge in “Abbot’s Priory;” and, to comfort him, the person who has received the 200l. bill, informs him “that Charteris is a notorious swindler.”

   • 1825, The Dialogists; or, the Circuit of Banco Regis, page 93:

     Ned and Tom were soon outside of the King’s Bench, (or Abbot’s Priory, as it was called by the prisoners,) they had not walked far before they fell in with Little Kiam […]

References

• John S[tephen] Farmer, compiler (1890) “Abbot's Priory”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume I, [London: […] Thomas Poulter and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 4.