Birching table

Birching table

Highlands

The birching table is from the old court house in Fort William where the birchings were carried out. It was last used in 1948, when a 15-year-old boy was birched for shoplifting". It is easy to forget in the present day how recent it was that corporal punishment was thought fitting and useful both as a punishment and deterrent. Right up until the mid-twentieth century it was a common punishment administered to the perpetrators of petty crimes. The birching involved having to lie face down on a table with arms tied together underneath, and legs held still by strong straps. A bundle of stripped rods of birch was then used to whip the recipient's bare buttocks. Occasionally the back and/or shoulders were whipped, and the type, number and weight of branches used (as well as the number of strokes) varied with the severity of the crime. It was legally required to have a doctor on hand when these punishments were being administered, although this may have been of little comfort to the recipient.

Scottish

objects,jacobite

20th century

eulac3d

Physical Object

95

03/02/2021

L 1530 mm x W 1180 mm

West Highland Museum

find,56.8154464,-5.115388;

West Highlands Museum

TEXT

428

wood

1515