Skin as Forensic Evidence: The Times Coverage of the Flogging of Private White

Drawing on The Times newspaper as a primary source, this chapter provides a detailed reconstruction of the judicial proceedings and news coverage surrounding the death of a soldier who was punished with flogging in England, in 1846. Until then, flogging in the army had been a frequent subject for debate. However, The Times’ focus on how the skin of the soldier was affected by the lashes, information made available during the several autopsies performed on his body, produced an epistemic shift in the representation of flogging as a form of corporal punishment. It became apparent that flogging could cause death, even when the backs of soldiers appeared ‘healed’. A rhetorical analysis of the publication of the trial minutes and parliamentary reports, editorials, and letters to the editor will reveal a tension between sentimental frames and medical frames, ultimately culminating in the view that apparently superficial wounds can have fatal consequences for those affected.