Corpun file 9174

The Times, London, 11 June 1817

House of Commons, Tuesday, June 10.

Whipping of women.

General THORNTON moved for leave to bring in a bill to abolish the public whipping of women: he had been more especially led to this by an article in The Inverness Journal, which stated, that a woman, young and beautiful, had been whipped in the public streets -- that she was in a state of intoxication -- seemed quite lost to every sense of her situation, and shortly returned to her old courses. Spectacles such as this were not likely to improve public morals. The punishment had been partially abolished in England, and he proposed to abolish it entirely, by commuting the punishment for hard labour in a workhouse, for a period not exceeding three months.

The motion was agreed to, and the following committee appointed -- the ATTORNEY and SOLICITOR-GENERAL, Sir S. ROMILLY, Sir A. PIGGOTT, and Mr. C. GRANT, jun.