Monthly Archives: January 2015

‘D’ for deserter

Flogging (see my last post) wasn’t the only way that the nineteenth-century army left permanent marks upon soldiers bodies. It is shocking to today’s sensibilities, but miscreant soldiers were branded. Or, to be technical, forcibly tattooed. Men had been branded … Continue reading

Posted in Barracks, Britain, Court Martial, Flogging, History, Ireland, Military, Punishment, Slavery, Tattoo | Comments Off on ‘D’ for deserter

The ‘horrid lash’: flogging in garrison towns

One December morning in 1845 the ‘loud and agonizing cries of a person apparently in the extremes of bodily torture and anguish’ echoed through the streets of Castlebar, County Mayo. In the town’s barrack a sergeant of the 30th Regiment … Continue reading

Posted in Barracks, Britain, Cavalry, Co Kilkenny, Co Mayo, Co Tipperary, Court Martial, Earl of Cardigan, Flogging, General Haynau, History, Ireland, James Brudenell, Military, O'Donovan Rossa, Prison, Punishment, Slavery | Comments Off on The ‘horrid lash’: flogging in garrison towns