Bygone Punishments Part 17

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRANK AT MACCLESFIELD.]

Towards the close of the first quarter of the present century, the brank was last used at Altrincham. A virago, who caused her neighbours great trouble, was frequently cautioned in vain respecting her conduct, and as a last resource she was condemned to walk through the town wearing the brank. She refused to move, and it was finally decided to wheel her in a barrow through the princ.i.p.al streets of the town, round the market-place, and to her own home. The punishment had the desired effect, and for the remainder of her life she kept a quiet tongue.

There are many traces of the brank in Lancashire. Mr. W. E. A. Axon informs us that his father remembers the brank being used at Manchester at the commencement of the present century. Kirkham had its brank for scolds, in addition to a ducking-stool. We find, in the same county, traces of the brank at Holme, in the Forest of Rossendale. In the accounts of the Greave for the Forest of Rossendale for 1691-2 is an entry of the true antiquarian cast:

Item, for a Bridle for scouldinge women, 2s. 6d.

In "Some Obsolete Peculiarities of English Law," by William Beamont, the author gives particulars respecting the Warrington brank. "Hanging up in our museum," says Mr. Beamont, "may be seen a representation of a withered female face wearing the brank or scold's bridle; one of which instruments, as inflexible as iron and ingenuity can make it, for keeping an unruly tongue quiet by mechanical means, hangs up beside it; and almost within the time of living memory, Cicily Pewsill, an inmate of the workhouse, and a notorious scold, was seen wearing this disagreeable head-gear in the streets of Warrington for half-an-hour or more.... Cicily Pewsill's case still lingers in tradition, as the last occasion of its application in Warrington, and it will soon pa.s.s into history."

The Rev. J. Clay told Mr. William Dobson that since his connection with Preston House of Correction the brank was put on a woman there, but the matter coming to the knowledge of the Home Secretary, its further use was prohibited, and to make sure of the barbarous practice being discontinued the brank itself was ordered to be sent to London. A second brank was kept in the prison, princ.i.p.ally formed of leather, but with an iron tongue-piece.[43]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRANK AT THE MANOR HOUSE, HAMSTALL RIDWARE.]

At the north country town of Morpeth a brank is still preserved. The following is a record of its use: "Dec. 3, 1741, Elizabeth, wife of George Holborn, was punished with the branks for two hours, at the Market Cross, Morpeth, by order of Mr. Thomas Gait and Mr. George Nicholls, then bailiffs, for scandalous and opprobrious language to several persons in the town, as well as to the said bailiffs."

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRANK AT LICHFIELD.]

Staffordshire supplies several notable examples of the brank. They were formerly kept at Hamstall Ridware, Beaudesart, Lichfield, Walsall, and at Newcastle-under-Lyme. The branks in the two towns last named are alluded to by the celebrated Dr. Plot, the old historian of the county, in an amusing manner. "We come to the arts that respect mankind," says Plot, "amongst which, as elsewhere, the civility of precedence must be allowed to the woman, and that as well in punishments as favours. For the former, whereof they have such a peculiar artifice at Newcastle [under Lyme] and Walsall for correcting of scolds, which it does, too, so effectually and so very safely, that I look upon it as much to be preferred to the cucking-stool, which not only endangers the health of the party, but also gives her tongue liberty 'twixt every dip, to neither of which is this at all liable, it being such a bridle for the tongue as not only quite deprives them of speech, but brings shame for the transgression, and humility thereupon, before 'tis taken off. Which, being an instrument scarce heard of, much less seen, I have here presented it to the reader's view [here follows a reference to a plate]

as it was taken from the original one, made of iron, at Newcastle-under-Lyme, wherein the letter _a_ shows the jointed collar that comes round the neck; _b_, _c_, the loops and staples to let it out and in, according to the bigness and slenderness of the neck; _d_, the jointed semicircle that comes over the head, made forked at one end to let through the nose, and _e_, the plate-iron that is put into the mouth and keeps down the tongue. Which, being put upon the offender by order of the magistrate, and fastened with a padlock behind, she is led through the town by an officer, to her shame, nor is it taken off until after the party begins to show all external signs imaginable of humiliation and amendment." This brank afterwards pa.s.sed into the hands of Mr. Joseph Mayer, F.S.A. founder of the Museum at Liverpool.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHESTERFIELD BRANK.]

It is pleasing to record the fact that there is only trace of one brank belonging to Derbyshire--a circ.u.mstance which speaks well for its men and women. The latter have for a long period borne exemplary characters.

Philip Kinder, in the preface of his projected "History of Derbyshire,"

written about the middle of the seventeenth century, alludes to them.

"The country-women here," says Kinder, "are chaste and sober, and very diligent in their housewifery; they hate idleness, love and obey their husbands; only in some of the great towns many of the seeming sanctificators used to follow the Presbyterian gang, and on a lecture day put on their best rayment, and doo hereby take occasion to goo a gossipping. Your merry wives of Bentley will sometimes look in ye gla.s.s, chirpe a cupp merrily, yet not indecently. In the Peak they are much given to dance after the bagpipes--almost every towne hath a bagpipe in it." "The Chesterfield brank," says Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt, "is a remarkably good example, and has the additional interest of bearing a date. It is nine inches in height, and six inches and three-quarters across the hoop. It consists of a hoop of iron, hinged on either side and fastening behind, and a band, also of iron, pa.s.sing over the head from back to front, and opening in front to admit the nose of the woman whose misfortune it was to wear it. The mode of putting it on would be thus: the brank would be opened by throwing back the sides of the hoop, and the hinder part of the band by means of the hinges, C, F, F. The constable, or other official, would then stand in front of his victim, and force the knife, or plate, A, into her mouth, the divided band pa.s.sing on either side of the nose, which would protrude through the opening, B. The hoop would then be closed behind, the band brought down from the top to the back of the head, and fastened down upon it, at E, and thus the cage would at once be firmly and immovably fixed so long as her tormentors might think fit. On the left side is a chain, D, one end of which is attached to the hoop, and at the other end is a ring, by which the victim was led, or by which she was, at pleasure, attached to a post or wall. On front of the brank are the initials 'T.C.,' and the date '1688'--the year of the 'Glorious Revolution'--the year of all years memorable in the annals of Chesterfield and the little village of Whittington, closely adjoining, in which the Revolution was planned.

Strange that an instrument of brutal and tyrannical torture should be made and used at Chesterfield at the same moment that the people should be plotting for freedom at the same place. The brank was formerly in the old poor-house at Chesterfield, and came into the hands of Mr. Weale, the a.s.sistant Poor-law Commissioner, who presented it to Lady Walsham.

It is (August, 1860) still in the hands of Sir John Walsham, Bart., and the drawing from which the accompanying woodcut is executed was kindly made and furnished to me by Miss Dulcy Bell, Sir John's sister-in-law."[44]

The Leicester brank is similar to the one at Chesterfield. At the back of the hoop is a chain about twelve inches long. It was formerly kept in the Leicester borough gaol.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEICESTER BRANK.]

In the year 1821, Judge Richardson gave orders for a brank to be destroyed which was kept ready and most probably frequently used at the County Hall, Nottingham. We gather from a note furnished by Mr. J.

Potter Briscoe a curious circ.u.mstance in connection with this brank--that it was used to subdue the unruly tongues of the sterner s.e.x, as well as those of noisy females. James Brodie, a blind beggar who was executed on the 15th July, 1799, for the murder of his boy-guide, in the Nottingham Forest, was the last person punished with the brank. During his imprisonment, prior to execution, he was so noisy that the brank was called into requisition, to do what he refused to do himself, namely, to hold his tongue.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRANK FORMERLY IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. CARRINGTON.]

Here is a picture of a brank formerly in the possession of the late Mr.

F. A. Carrington, the well-known antiquary. It is supposed to belong to the period of William III. Mr. Carrington could not give any history of this curious relic of the olden time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRANK AT DODDINGTON PARK.]

At Doddington Park, Lincolnshire, a brank is preserved, and is of a decidedly foreign appearance. It will be noticed that it bears some resemblance to the peculiar long-snouted visor of the bascinets, occasionally worn in the reign of Richard II. No historical particulars are known respecting this grotesque brank.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRANK IN THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM.]

In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, a curious brank may be seen. It is not recorded in the catalogue of the collection by whom it was presented, or where it was previously used; it is described as "a gag or brank, formerly used with the ducking-stool, as a punishment for scolds." It will be noticed that a chain is attached to the front of this brank, so that the poor unfortunate woman, in addition to being gagged, had the mortification of being led by the nose through the town. The gag is marked _a_, and _b_ is the aperture for the nose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENGINE OF TORTURE IN THE LUDLOW MUSEUM.]

A curious engine of torture may be seen in the Ludlow Museum, and we give an ill.u.s.tration of it. It belongs to a cla.s.s of engines far more formidable than branks. A description of this head-piece appears in the _Archaeological Journal_ for September, 1856, from the pen of Mr. W. J.

Bernard Smith. "The powerful s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g apparatus," says Mr. Smith, "seems calculated to force the iron mask with torturing effect upon the brow of the victim; there are no eye-holes, but concavities in their places, as though to allow for the starting of the eye-b.a.l.l.s under violent pressure. There is a strong bar with a square hole, evidently intended to fasten the criminal against a wall, or perhaps to the pillory; and I have heard it said that these instruments were used to keep the head steady during the infliction of branding." A curious instrument of punishment, belonging to the same cla.s.s as that at Ludlow, is described at some length, with an ill.u.s.tration, in "Worcester in Olden Times," by John Noake (London, 1849). The picture and description have been frequently reproduced.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHREWSBURY BRANK.]

Several Shropshire branks remain at the present time. The one at Shrewsbury does not appear to be of any great antiquity. Its form is simple and its character harmless. This bridle was at one time in constant use in Shrewsbury, and there are those yet living whose memories are sufficiently good to carry them back to the days when the effects of the application of the brank in question were to be seen, rather than, as now, imagined. The year cannot be ascertained when this brank was first worn, but it is known to have been last used in 1846.[45]

At Oswestry are two branks, one belonging to the Corporation, and the other is in the store-room of the Workhouse. The Rector of Whitchurch has in his possession a brank, which was formerly used by the town and union authorities. At Market Drayton are two branks: one is the property of the Lord of the Manor, and the other formerly belonged to the Dodcot Union. The Market Drayton brank, and also the one at Whitchurch, have on each a revolving wheel at the end of the gag or tongue-plate. In bygone times, the brank was frequently used for correcting unmanageable paupers.

At Edinburgh, in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, is a brank said to be from a town in East Fifeshire, having a rowel-shaped gag. In the year 1560, it was decided by the Town Council of Edinburgh, that all persons found guilty of blasphemy should be punished by the iron brank. In North Britain, it appears to have been used for punishing persons guilty of immorality. On the 7th October, the Kirk-Session of Canongate sentenced David Persoun, convicted of this offence, to be "brankit for four hours," while his a.s.sociate in guilt, Isobel Mountray, was "banisit the gait," that is, expelled from the parish. Only a week previously, the same Kirk-Session had issued a proclamation that all women found guilty of this lawlessness "be brankit six houris at the croce."

We close this chapter by directing attention to the Bishop's brank, kept at St. Andrews, respecting which a singular story is told. A woman in a humble walk of life, named Isabel Lindsay, stood up in the parish church of St. Andrews, during the time of divine service, when Archbishop Sharp was preaching, and declared that when he was a college student he was guilty of an illicit amour with her. She was arrested for this statement, and brought before the Kirk-Sessions, and by its members sentenced "to appear for a succession of Sundays on the repentance stool, wearing the brank."

FOOTNOTES:

[43] Dobson's "Preston in the Olden Time," 1857.

[44] "The Reliquary," October, 1860.

[45] Morris's "Obsolete Punishments of Shropshire."

Riding the Stang.

The ancient custom of riding the stang still lingers in some remote parts of the country. Holding delinquents up to ridicule was a favourite mode of punishment practised by our forefathers, and riding the stang was the means generally employed for punishing husbands who beat their wives, or allowed themselves to be henpecked, or were profligate in their conduct. There are various designations for the custom. In Yorkshire, riding the stang is the name used; in Scotland the same term is applied; in the South of England skimmington-riding is the t.i.tle generally employed, and on the Continent it is known by other appellations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RIDING THE STANG.]

The mode of carrying out the ceremony is as follows: A man having beaten his wife, the young men of the village a.s.sume the att.i.tude of public censors, and arrangements are made for riding the stang three nights in succession. A trumpeter blows his horn loud and long as day gives way to night, and the villagers are brought together. A pole or a ladder is procured, and the most witty man in the village is placed thereon, mounted shoulder-high, and carried in great state through the streets.

In one hand he has a large key or stick, and in the other a dripping-pan, and leads the music of the crowd. Men, women, and children join in the fun, and beat kettles, pans, pots, or anything else that will make a noise; tin whistles, horns, and trumpets are blown, the noise produced being better imagined than described. As soon as all is ready, a start is made, and about every fifty yards the procession stops, and the mounted man proclaims at the top of his voice a rhyme suited to the nature of the offence, somewhat as follows:

"Ran, tan, tan; ran, tan, tan, To the sound of this pan; This is to give notice that Tom Trotter Has beaten his good woman!

For what, and for why?

Because she ate when she was hungry, And drank when she was dry.

Ran, tan, ran, tan, tan; Hurrah--hurrah! for this good wo-man!

He beat her, he beat her, he beat her indeed, For spending a penny when she had need.

He beat her black, he beat her blue; When Old Nick gets him, he'll give him his due; Ran, tan, tan; ran, tan, tan; We'll send him there in this old frying-pan; Hurrah--hurrah! for his good wo-man!"

We have an example noted at Sutton, near Hull, in August, 1877. It was given with great spirit by a youth, mounted after the customary manner on a ladder, to the evident enjoyment of a large gathering of the inhabitants, who were enraged at the brutal treatment of a woman by her husband:

"Here we come with a ran, dan, dang: It's not for you, nor for me, we ride this stang; But for ----, whose wife he did bang.

He banged her, he banged her, he banged her indeed: He banged her, poor creature, before she stood need.

He took up neither tipstaff nor stower, But with his fist he knocked her backwards ower; He kicked her, he punched her, till he made her cry, And to finish all, he gave her a black eye.

Now, all you good people that live in this row, We would have you take warning, for this is our law: If any of you, your wives you do bang, We're sure, we're sure, to ride you the stang."