Escape from the Tower of London

 For centuries, the Tower of London was used to hold important prisoners. The first was Ranulf Flambard the Bishop of Durham. When King William Rufus was killed in 1100 his brother became Henry I. The new king promptly arrested the bishop for simony (selling church positions for money).

However, the bishop escaped. He was allowed certain privileges, such as buying his own food and wine. On 2 February 1101, the bishop generously invited his guards to a feast. When the guards became drunk, he managed to squeeze through a window and climb down a rope. However, the rope was not long enough and he had to drop the final distance. The bishop was met by friends who rowed him across the river and he then rode a horse to the coast, where he escaped on a ship.

Teacher killed a student

 In 1860 a teacher named Thomas Hopley beat a boy to death. The boy was 14-year-old Reginald Chancellor and he had a learning disability. Among other things, the teacher hit him with a candlestick because he could not repeat the multiplication table.

The teacher was charged with manslaughter, not murder because the intent to kill could not be proved. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Discipline in the 19th century was brutal but even by their standards beating a child to death was going a bit too far.

Corporal punishment was made illegal in state schools in Britain in 1987. It was made illegal in private schools in 1999.

Corporal Punishment

 On 22 July 1986, the British parliament voted to end corporal punishment in state schools. The new law received royal assent on 7 November 1986. Corporal punishment became illegal in state schools on 15 August 1987.

Boiling

In England a law of 1531 allowed poisoners to be boiled alive. In 1532 a cook called Richard Roose was boiled alive and in 1542 a woman called Margaret Davy was boiled alive. However, the law was repealed in 1547.

Whipping

 In Britain whipping women was banned in 1820 but for men, it went on well into the 20th century. From 1862 the courts could order whipping with the cat o'nine tails or birching (which meant hitting a man on the bare backside with a bundle of birch rods). Birching gradually replaced whipping, although cases of the latter were recorded in Britain until 1947. In 1948 whipping or birching civilian men was abolished but it was legal in prisons until 1967.

Women Slave Owners

 I found an interesting article about women slave owners https://www.history.com/news/white-women-slaveowners-they-were-her-property

The Guillotine

On 25 April 1792 Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person in France to be guillotined. But beheading devices were used in other parts of Europe much earlier. A beheading device was recorded in Dublin in 1307. Read more in my history of punishments.