His Majesty’s Prison (1735)
His Majesty’s Prison, sitting across from the Antigua Recreation Grounds and infamously known as “1735,” is housed inside an old British Army barracks. Antigua had a continuous presence of British soldiers from 1707 until 1854. Before that, the men were quartered in rented private homes in St. John’s.
The first barracks were built in the 1740s as part of an agreement between the Colonial government in Antigua and the British Crown to have a permanent garrison of 400 men. One of the conditions was that the Antigua government had to build a permanent barracks, which they did on Rat Island in 1742.
It quickly became apparent that Rat Island was a sickly place. In fact, it was so bad that the government gave up and in 1755 built a new barracks complex on the northeastern edge of St. John’s. This complex included separate enlisted and officers’ barracks, stables, gardens, a small farm, a cemetery, and a hospital.
These images are from the National Archives collection, dated 1890-1929.
The Barracks consisted of two distinct buildings a few paces from each other. After the soldiers moved out in the 19th century, the complex was broken up. In 1831, the north wing of the lower one became disused and ruined, so it was resolved to repair it and use it as a jail in place of the one at the Police Station. The barracks became the prison, while the hospital complex eventually formed the start of Antigua Grammar School.
Somewhere, in this long history, the first “5” in the keystone at the prison was changed to a “3,” altering the foundation date from 1755 to 1735.