Contesting Corporal Punishment: Abolitionism, Transportation and the British Imperial Project

Between the 1820s and the 1840s, anti-slavery ideas shaped debate about the treatment of convicts in the Australian penal colonies. This thesis investigates the impact of abolitionism on one key aspect of convict life: the use of corporal punishment. It traces the rise and decline of abolitionist rh...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Barrett Meyering, Isobelle (Author)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
Published: 2008
In:Year: 2008
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
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Summary:Between the 1820s and the 1840s, anti-slavery ideas shaped debate about the treatment of convicts in the Australian penal colonies. This thesis investigates the impact of abolitionism on one key aspect of convict life: the use of corporal punishment. It traces the rise and decline of abolitionist rhetoric in the work of three vocal critics of flogging: newspaper editor Edward Smith Hall (1786-1860); English politician William Molesworth (1810-1855); and penal reformer Captain Alexander Maconochie (1787-1860). It highlights the connections between their opposition to flogging and their anxieties about the legitimacy of the wider British imperial project