In 1656 a man named James Naylor narrowly escaped the death penalty for blasphemy. His sentence was commuted to being pilloried and whipped. He received 310 strokes.
But this punishment was insufficient according to a prominent MP who successfully argued “You ought to do something with that tongue that has bored through God. You ought to bore the tongue through”.
And bored through it was. in front of a crowd of onlookers who stood bare-headed and silent in sympathy.
The name of the prominent MP? It was the man picture above, George Downing. After whom Downing Street is named.
Thank you to Clare Tomalin, biographer of Pepys, for the story.
Learn more about 17th century Westminster on a guided walk, Saturday, 25th February at 2pm