Branding

The Punishment
Branding is the process of applying a hot iron to human skin in order to mark permanently mark the person.  It has existed as a punishment world wide for centuries.  The Anglo-Saxons adapted the practice in England and made it part of sanctioned legal punishment.  The shape of the brand, and it’s location on the body, varied based on the victims crime.​

The Crimes

• Pirates were sometimes branded with a P as shown in Pirates of the Caribbean.
• Brawlers (people caught publicly fighting) were branded with an F on the chest or back.
• Enslaved people were branded with an S on the cheek or forehead.
• People who spoke against the Church of England were branded with a B on their foreheads.
• Sometimes an M was used to mean malefactor (wrong doer) on a suspects wrist or hand.
• Bad soldiers were sometimes branded with BC, meaning “Bad Character.”
• Suspects convicted of stealing would be branded with a T.