Brian Harrison

Military Service & Rank: 23 years in the army - Infantry, Weapons Instructor

Yeoman at the Tower Since: 1977

Interests & Hobbies: The Prisoners of the Tower of London, Historian

Brian Harrison's pre-Tower of London army career spans twenty three years. Starting out in the Infantry he rapidly became an instructor for special weaponry and has taught throughout the globe. Upon leaving the armed forces in 1977 Brian almost immediately took up his position as a Yeoman Warder in Her Majesty's Tower of London.

Before and during his introductory days at the Tower Brian Harrison's knowledge and interest in history was minimal but that was soon to change. Now, apart from his regular duties as a Yeoman Warder Brian Harrison is also the Tower's official historian.

Although his knowledge of history spreads far and wide there is one area in particular that places him in a category above many other historians, past and present. The subject in question being the prisoners of the Tower dating back to its early beginnings right up to the second world war. Now after twenty years of painstaking research Brian is nearing completion on his unique book preliminarily titled Chronicles of the Tower of London. This fascinating book will for the very first time give an in depth listing of names, background and outcome of every person held within this great fortress's walls. Apart from the prisoners the book as will give a blow by blow account of events spanning the 900 years of the Tower's history.

Brian Harrison's passionate interest in the prisoners of the Tower began just one year after his enlistment to the Body of Yeoman Warders, as he explained.

In 1978.during the celebrations for the Tower of London's 9th Centenary a guest of the Royal party was heard to enquire as to how many people had been held captive here throughout the ages. To my astonishment, nobody seemed to be equipped with enough knowledge to give an adequate answer. At that time there hadn't been any serious documentation available about those poor, or rather rich unfortunates other than the Tower's very own book of prisoners. Even then, one would be hard pressed to find details on the prisoners as nothing was kept in the same place. The other thing that surprised me was that even the official records were very sparse and incomplete with lengthy gaps between dates and events.

At first I didn't have any serious thoughts about trying to rectify the situation until one day while reading a history book I came across a name which seemed strangely familiar to me. A couple of days later while I was in the Beauchamp Tower lo and behold! there in front of me inscribed on the wall was that very same name, Edward Smalley. Being very intrigued by this I did a bit of research to try and establish who he was and what his crime had been. There was no end of information on the other prisoners held in the Beauchamp Tower but nothing whatsoever on Smalley. Well, that was just the beginning of what was to be a twenty year trek through the annals and archives of history.

Starting with Edward Smalley I gathered information from every available source then I started doing the same on every name listed in the book of prisoners. As time went by I collated everything I had and began turning it into a readable format on a filing card system. Then, I started going to library's, book shops and finally the Guild Hall library where I went through more than three hundred volumes of State papers.

Apart from the time involved in this project the biggest problem I had was that once I started putting it all together I kept finding more and more material that I wanted to use. One very interesting point was that I managed to make contact with some of the last surviving prisoners of the Tower from World War Two Nazi Germany. They were very helpful in writing to me and supplying me with first hand information as to what being held in the Tower of London was like. Obviously, things were a lot different fifty years ago to the days of Medieval or Tudor England but in a bizarre way their stories seemed to join past with present. On a final point, I have to say that although I knew it would be a lengthy task I didn't think it would take almost twenty years to complete.

So at long last, after twenty years of unfaltering dedication Brian Harrison's Chronicles of the Tower of London is about to embark into the book shops. Scheduled for release next year this incredible documentation will come in (as yet undecided) either two or three volumes. One thing for sure is that the Chronicles is destined to stand head and shoulders above anything on the subject that has been done before.

We at Camelot International's Tower of London will keep you updated with news about the book's release date, its availability and any last minuet changes that may be made so to coin a phrase, Watch this space