Abel's spanking blog & stories
Our Books
New here?
A taster of our best posts:
Spanking Amazon Shop
I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Nicky Montford recently, when I went to meet Emma Jane at the end of the amazing judicial scene that’s been much-discussed lately. Nicky’s just launched her own blog, called Thursday’s Child – after a children’s book by Noel Streatfield set in a strict orphanage.
Amongst her excellent early posts is one offering her perspectives of those judicial birchings. In it, she made an interesting reference as she described how pleas that “corporal punishment by the court was contrary to the 1820 Whipping of Female Offenders Abolition Act” fell on deaf ears.
Now *that* is piece of legislation that begs to be Googled. Lo and behold, Hansard – the official UK parliamentary record – comes up trumps with details of the original debate in the House of Commons from 29 June 1820:
FEMALE OFFENDERS WHIPPING BILL.
Mr. Chetwynd rose to move for leave to bring in a bill to abolish the punishment of Whipping Female Offenders in any case whatever. The House was aware, that by an act of the year 1817, the system of public whipping of females had been wholly exploded; but he was surprised that the private whipping of females had been by that measure permitted to continue, looking on it as he did as objectionable, or even more objectionable than the other.
It might be said, in defence of its continuance, that it was necessary for the sake of example; but, on the other hand, as the infliction of the punishment was private, it was in the power of the gaoler or other superintendant to render it the most excruciating torture possible, or a mere matter of form; and this alone he thought a decided objection to it.
With respect to the public whipping of females, he was of opinion that no exhibition could be more revolting to the feelings. The act to which he had alluded only abolished the punishment of the public whipping of females; but if the House would agree with him, they would go much further. His intention was to move for leave to bring in a bill to repeal that act, and substitute other provisions for the more effectual prevention of the whipping of females; and the object of it would be to prohibit that practice, not only in the cases already provided for, but in workhouses, houses of correction, lunatic asylums, and other places for the reception of lunatics.
If, therefore, the House should be of opinion that it should in no case be permitted, he should humbly move for leave to bring in a bill to abolish the punishment of whipping female offenders in any case whatever.
Leave was given, and the bill was brought in and read a first time.
I confess to being slightly disappointed that the motion appears to have passed unopposed. Where were the advocates of flogging, with their lurid tales of whippings galore? Could punished girls not have recounted their experiences before some committee or other? Might options not have been explored (“I agree that the lash is too severe – but the cane might be deployed to good effect instead” – “Hear, hear; jolly good, sir!”).
Still, I have marked a date in my diary – for 29 June 2020 isn’t all that far away. What are we all going to do to mark the bicentenary of the debate? Surely the simultaneous recreation of countless private floggings in houses of correction must be called for?
candycane
July 27th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
And it even banned other places for the reception of lunatics. That probably includes private houses…we are all lawbreakers!!
Hang ‘em, flog ‘em – oh, no -oops.
iwasrobert
July 27th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Michel Foucault argues that the transition to less violent and extreme forms of punishment was more about showing the public that law and order was managed and controlled by the state, rather than the government simply taking revenge on those convicts they happened to catch. I think one can see this thought process in Mr. Chetwynd’s first reading speech:
“… it was in the power of the gaoler or other superintendant to render [flogging] the most excruciating torture possible, or a mere matter of form.”
Two things are interesting to me here.
Firstly, we know from contemporary sources that pretty horrific flogging of female convicts continued unabated in the Australian penal colonies (and notably on Sarah Island) long after this legislation was enacted. This seems to suggest that since the interests in “justice being seen to be done” had already been served by the sentencing of the convict to transportation for life, the subsequent management of offenders was still very much open slather. I’m not sure whether the 1820 or 1817 act applied to convicts incarcerated in the UK, but the tenor of the discussion indicates that this may have been the case.
Secondly, just look at the double standard! Flogging for men lasted a lot longer (1967) and indeed there were explicit calls in the press in the ’50s for the practice to be retained – “Only the CAT holds them back” or similar as I recall reading somewhere.
David
July 27th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
The other question is what was the 1817 act?
Not too long previously, a whipping, and in public at that, was at the mild end of the spectrum. The first third of this programme deals with the case of Elizabeth Wild, convicted of stealing a pair of gloves. It seems she played the innocent-I-don’t-know-what-came-over-me card, and the Jury responded by valueing the gloves at tenpence, “in order that she might get a whipping”, in the words of one of the contributors.
He then went on to state that a rising scale of penalties, starting with the flogging before moving through branding, two years hard labour in a house of correction, transportation and hanging for increasing values of goods.
This is only 70 or so years before the whipping could be described as “no exhibition could be more revolting to the feelings” in the above debate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00t2l2d/Voices_From_The_Old_Bailey_Wicked_Women/
chross.blogt.ch - Chross Guide To The Spanking Internet
July 30th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Spankings of the Week…
A good one-smacker in “Gamer” will add this to the Movie Database thanks to joe Ripped panties New Spanking Art The Joy of Spanking Flintstones spanking will add this to the Movie Database Right where he wants her Come with me, girl Vintage series…