Watch St. George’s Town Crier lead an 18th Century Trial.

It’s a reenactment! Written records for the name “ducking stool” appear as far back as 1597. (Common law of crime in England and Wales). This was a common scold for a woman who was a nuisance to her neighbour- hood”. The Latin name for the offender, appears in the feminine gender and makes it clear that only women could commit this crime.

References to the term “Ducking Stool” appear as far back as 1597. (*common law of crime in England and Wales). A common Scold was “a public nuisance to her neighbourhood”. The Latin name for the offender, appears in the feminine gender and makes clear that only women could commit such a crime, one punishable by ducking. Although rarely prosecuted, the law remained on the statute books in England and Wales until 1967 , and Bermuda Archives tells the history of a young women accused of “drinking the milk from a stolen cow”, because she “should have known better”. Not to be confused with the punishment of being “accused” of witchcraft and hanged, ducking was used as a form of public punishment. Potential deterrent for others.

Major Robert Burns, the St. George’s Town Crier from 1964 - 1994 (recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for the “Loudest Voice” with a shout of 113 decibels). In his capacity as “Crier”Major Burns began the reenactment of the Ducking Stool in St. George’s, on behalf the Department of Tourism.

He would wheel the Ducking Stool into place on the Square where the punishment would take place. Men were put in the stock for their punishment. Today, while we make “light” of the punishment for gossiping nags, so too did Francois Maximilian Misson, this French traveller described this method used in England in the early 18th century as:

“The way of punishing scolding women is pleasant enough”. He goes on at great length to describe the ducking stool and how it worked. Concluding that: “They place the woman in this chair and so plunge her into the water as often as the sentence directs, in order to cool her immoderate heat.” Francois Maximilian Misson

So today, and Suzanne says: “One day, mark my words, women will not be punished in this manner!”

Suzanne continues: “I enjoy hearing the laughter of the visitors when they participate or when they simply watch the performance”. “What an honour it is to bring a touch of humour to this event while knowing this bring them a tiny bit of our history”.