The Spanking Writers

We continue our ongoing trawl of the Old Bailey’s archives. 18-year-old Sarah Barker found herself before Lord Chief Barron’s court on this day in 1796.

She “was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 26th of December, two cotton gowns, value 12s. a stuff skirt, value 2s. a muslin cap, value 6d. a muslin handkerchief, value 12d. and a linen apron, value 12d. the property of Christopher Hanson.”

Mary Hanson gave evidence:

I sell milk in Whitechapel-road, near the turnpike: On the 26th of December, I lost the things mentioned in the indictment, (repeating them); the prisoner was my servant; she had left me six months; I saw them a few days before; they were kept in a drawer in the chamber; it was not locked: I did not miss them till the 4th of January; on missing them, I went in pursuit of the prisoner, and found her in a person’s room in Jewry-street, with a cap and handkerchief of mine on; I asked her where the remainder of the things she had taken were; she said she had made away with them, and would shew me where; she said they were at two different pawnbrokers; I took her with me, and charged her with a constable.

The gowns were produced by the two pawnbrokers, who swore that they had received them from the prisoner. Faced with such overwhelming evidence, “The prisoner did not say any thing in her defence, but called Joseph Hurry , who deposed that she had neither father nor mother, but that he had taken her into his house, where she had been four years, and bore a good character.”

Found guilty, a private whipping was the painful sentence for young Sarah.

I’m curious as to when, were and how the punishments would have been administered. I’m picturing Miss Barker being taken to a dark, dank, candle-lit cell beneath the courtrooms. She’d be stripped, tied facing a post with her hands above her head, begging for mercy. Despite her pleas, a burly gaoler would lay on the lashes until she was well-striped and sobbing. I do hope that Mr Hurry was waiting to comfort and console her.