MAGISTRATES at Worcester were in a spot of bother with human rights campaigners 100 years ago over the birching of a teenage boy.
The Journal of 1903 explained: "The Hon. Secretary of the Humanitarian League has called the attention of the Home Secretary to an alleged illegal sentence of birching passed at the Worcester Police Court on February 19. He quotes the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Act and contends that flogging cannot be inflicted on a boy over 14 years of age for stealing pigeons.
"The boy in question is William Robert Esprey who gave his age as 15 and who was charged with stealing two pigeons belonging to W. Francis from a pigeon cote at Warmstry Slip.
"As a matter of fact, the Act in question does not empower magistrates to flog a boy over 14 years of age unless by consent of the parents. In Esprey's case, the father preferred his boy to be birched rather than be sent to the Castle Street gaol."
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