Dear Phil Thank you for your answer to Matt's question regarding the whipping of convicts. I am in the middle of a manuscript about Esther Abrams and Major George Johnston (my forefathers) and am interested in anything to do with the treatment of convicts of the First Fleet - physical and emotional. The descriptions may be a little macabre but they were real and I would welcome any stories people have about the times in the birth of our country. Heather ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sandra & Phil West" <sandrawest@bigpond.com> To: <aus-convicts@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2008 5:13 PM Subject: Re: [AUS-CON] Physical descriptions > Matt > I am an amateur military historian and I am advised that the scarring from > whipping could leave the back either looking like a field ploughed by a > madman or worse. Flogging was often performed by pairs and left handers > were "valued" by authorities for crossing the T, thus forming almost > shallow > chevrons. > > They could reach the ribs with only four to six strokes. > > Not my idea of fun. > > Phil > > -----Original Message----- > From: aus-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:aus-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Hall > Sent: Sunday, 26 October 2008 2:16 PM > To: AUS-CONVICTS@rootsweb.com > Subject: [AUS-CON] Physical descriptions > > I was reading the Conditional Pardon of an ancestor (posted it at > http://thehistoryofmatt.blogspot.com/) and found the Physical Description > interesting. Hair, eyes, tattoo, scars etc. > > One thing amiss was that I know that my ancestor George Bliss was whipped > (in England) and have been told that he retained scarring on his back from > it. It seemed that this would be a pretty obvous physcal description. I > was > wonderng if anyone had seen 'whipping scars' (or analogous) as a physical > description? Or was it only outward appearance etc. Was there a > colonial/military guide to features that should be mentioned? couldn't > find > one. > > Just curious > > cheers > matt > > -- > Matthew D. Hall > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.8.3/1746 - Release Date: 25/10/2008 5:55 PM