Harsh Victorian Punishments
February 25th, 2011
Ancestry.co.uk (yeah, you have to pay, but you can always do the free trial) has recently published Victorian criminal records complete with mugshots (and by the look of ‘em I might have some new profile pics – they are delightful). The punishments are fascinating to modern eyes. Women locked away for 5 years for stealing an umbrella or some bacon? Why, yes, indeed. Them were harsh days!
Thanks to Fergus for the link.
You were better off killing someone then stealing a sheet. As far as time served.
Who’d steal an umbrella, anyway?
The kindly rain doth fall,
upon the just and unjust fellow.
But mostly on the just,
For the unjust stole the just’s umbrella.