An end, and a beginning

The end happened 172 years ago today when legislation passed in the British Parliament abolishing the pillory. Read the article and a lot more including this item on that other medieval instrument of punishment, the ducking stool, in the online version of Chambers' Book of Days.

The day following, 1 July 1837, was the beginning of civil registration in England and Wales, exactly thirty years before the day Canada ceased being a colony.