The Pillory
The pillory was wooden framework on a post, with holes for the head and hands, in which offenders were formerly locked to be exposed to public scorn as punishment. It was a harsher sentence than the stocks. A criminal in the stocks would expect to be abused, but his life would not be at risk, but a prisoner in the pillory would be presumed to have committed a more serious crime and accordingly get a more angry crowd reaction. With hands trapped, he could not protect himself from heavy stones. Blinding and permanent maiming were not unusual consequences. Sometimes the reaction of the public was so fierce that they threw heavy enough to cause death to the prisoner.
The pillory carried with it a sense of shame. It was used as a punishment through humiliation for minor crimes most often against the public, like unfair traders, quacks and conmen. It put the offenders at the mercy of the people they offended . Many authorities would refuse permission for a market in the town unless a pillory was provided.
Other offenses such as perjury, threatening behaviour, coin-clipping and wife beating were also dealt with via the pillory.
The pillory was also used as a prelude to a stronger sentence. For example a prisoner was likely to have been given an hour in the pillory before being moved to the whipping post for a set number of lashes to be applied.
Often the ears were nailed to the wood on either side of the head-hole to stop the offender from lower his face away from the crowd and the missiles they threw in retribution, then on release the ears would be slit to free them from the nails.
I n 1771Mr. Samuel Breck reported:
"A little further up the street was to be seen the pillory with three or four fellows fastened by the head and hands, and standing for an hour in that helpless posture, exposed to gross and cruel jeers from the multitude, who pelted them constantly with rotten eggs and every repulsive kind of garbage that could be collected."
Daniel DeFoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe, was probably the most famous pillory victim. In 1702 Defoe wrote his famous pamphlet The Shortest-Way With The Dissenters. Himself a dissenter he mimicked the extreme attitudes of high anglican tories and pretended to argue for the extermination of all dissenters. Nobody was amused. He was imprisoned in Newgate and whilst there he wrote his poem Hymn To The Pillory.
Daniel Defoe in the pillory at Charing Cross
His prison sentence ended with three days in the pillory at Charing Cross. His poem was sold in the street around him and raucous crowds gathered. Public sympathy won out over the desire of the government of the day to punish. The people drank to his health and passed food and water up to him using long poles. Many read his poem out aloud at him and pelted him with flowers instead of the more usual vegetables, dead animals and stones.
Pillory, Whipping Post and Stocks
The pillory survived in England until 1837 when it was ordered to be abandoned by Act of Parliament
