Punishment of women 2
An escape from the whip
An unusual entry from the records of the Quarter Sessions is shown below. This refers to the curious sentence laid down for a pregnant woman who was spared a whipping due to her condition.
Breconshire
Quarter Sessions
Easter 1754
Powys
County Archives
B/Q/SO/4
This extract, from the Order Book of the Breconshire
Quarter Sessions of 1754, reads as follows:
"County Goal
Anne Thomas being indicted tryed and convicted of stealing one
flaxen sheet of ye property of Margarett Prossor and in respect
of her pregnancy excused by ye Court from ye bodily Correction
of Whipping and instead thereof It is ordered that she shall
stand the three next Markett days in the most publick Markett
place within ye Town of Brecon for a whole Hour each day with
ye Word Thiefe wrote in large Characters on paper to be laid
and pinned on her right shoulder to signify her said offences
and as a mark of ignominy upon her."
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