The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly
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Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking
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Eric Arthur Wildman: Caning Missionary  Eric Arthur Wildman was born 20th May, 1921. After serving in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War he set up the Corpun Educational Supply Company which specialised in selling a variety of corporal punishment instruments, including canes, straps and tawses, to schools around the country. In what appears to be more of an advert than an item of genuine news the 26 year old Wildman appeared in an 1947 edition of the Daily Mirror newspaper where he claimed to be supplying canes to over 100 schools. An even more bizarre feature in the Mirror later that same year suggested a national shortage of canes for school use and that Wildman was now supplying canes to no fewer than 300 schools including those in far away places such as Uganda, Malaya, Palestine and Persia! It seems there were already a number of opponents of cp in schools around this time and a Committee for the Abolition of Corporal Punishment In Schools had been formed. Wildman, however, was having none of it and formed a counter organisation entitled The National Society For The Retention Of Corporal Punishment In Schools. He also formed the Corpun Educational Organisation Limited. Apart from manufacturing implements of chastisement he also produced some literary material and was editor of a fortnightly review called The Retentionist. His literary output, however, was not of a high quality being filled with the same recurring cliches, anecdotes and spelling mistakes.  It is clear that he had a weakness for publicity and, amongst other things, this led him to place cards on notice-boards all over London advertising his services and urging parents and teachers to contact him for advice and to inspect his canes, birches and straps. He later went further and paraded through the borough wearing a schoolmaster's gown with sandwich board placards bearing such messages as "Abolish the Birch & Crime Increases. Sign the petition and join the crusade to defeat the abolition of Judicial Corporal Punishment" and "Parents, do your children need beating?... If so, etc..."By the late 1940s he seemed to be in full missionary mode and was giving lectures on his principles and techniques at London's Caxton Hall. Apparently these were often attended by both supporters and opponents so would frequently end in disorder. Gervas d'Olbert in his Chastisement Across The Ages describes Wildman's appearance at these meetings as "...deadly serious with the eyes of a fanatic... always arrayed in cap, mortar-board and gown" but that his speeches were "...invariably of the dullest and most monotonous type: content and delivery were alike undistinguished." Over the next few years he published a number of booklets and mimeographed pamphlets including Modern Methods of Home Discipline (1948), Modern Miss Delinquent (1950) and Punishment Posture for Girls (1950). In 1948 Wildman was to be involved in an extraordinary event which would end up being reported in newspapers far and wide including TIME magazine. He was invited to give a lecture concerning his methods of imposing school discipline at Horsley Hall school, a small ultra-progressive co-educational boarding school in Eccleshall, Staffordhsire, with just 24 pupils. No doubt he accepted such an offer with great eagerness viewing it as yet another opportunity to spread the gospel and little suspected he was being lured into a trap devised by the school's progressive 28-year-old headmaster, Robert Copping, who was opposed to any form of corporal punishment.  Getting a dose of his own medicine at Horsley Hall  On 23rd March 1952 Wildman boarded the passenger ship, Queen Mary, at Southampton, with a First Class ticket bound for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York. The purpose of his visit isn't clear but one assumes he was intending to preach the corporal punishment gospel and promote his canes to the USA. Mention of his visit was featured in the September 1952 edition of the American magazine, Pic, where he was shown dishing out a pretend spanking to a stenographer, draped over his knee.In 1953, following the issue of a search warrant under the Obscene Publications Act of 1857, Wildman's premises were subject to a 4 hour raid by police who seized thousands of canes, tawses and birches along with hundreds of pamphlets. Despite this, Wildman continued to sell his pamphlets and a second raid was carried out a couple of months later when yet more literature, 'obscene' photographs and canes were seized. He was subsequently issued with a summons and at court Wildman pleaded guilty to 17 charges of publishing obscene libels. He was fined £500, which he was allowed six months to pay, the alternative being a year in jail. His defending lawyer had suggested "there was no deliberate trading in pornography. Wildman was a man with a kink. Corporal punishment had got control of him. He thought he had a crusade for its retention". However, The Times newspaper reported that Wildman has been running: "...a substantial business in the publication of various obscene pamphlets ... [which]... dealt with the subject of flagellation, especially in regard to young women, and they created an appalling atmosphere of cruelty and sadism."It would appear that following his prosecution Wildman probably ceased producing spanking-related literature and subsequently kept a much lower profile as far as publicity was concerned. He continued to sell his canes and other spanking implements via mail order from home until at least the mid-1970s and later is believed to have worked as a private maths tutor. He died in London, May 1990. 17 comments:
DannySwottem5 said...
For all his idiosyncrasies Eric Wildman deserves his place in the history of corporal punishment in my opinion. The well publicized incident at Horsley Hall is the stuff that has passed into spanko folklore and I always smile when I read about it because it`s a case of the biter bitten and I do so love that type of situation. He was a bit kinky for sure but that`s not so bad, is it? You did a good job with this Februs, thanks a lot. 23 March 2012 01:05
bendover said...
Wow! Febs this was outstanding. You are definitely a journalist in your own right. Well Done. This was truly interesting. I heard of him, but never new the real story behind the person. B 23 March 2012 01:12
catmama said...
Fascinating! 23 March 2012 04:20
canadianspankee said...
Well, whether one considers Mr Wildman's views right or wrong, the man was willing to put his money and his efforts into what he believed to be the right way, and he certainly has to be admired for that. One wonders what he thought of Society in general at the end of his life? There are many today of course who oppose his views, but would he say the world today reflects that he was right or his opposers? Excellent article Februs, an interesting part of history I would not think too many people know about today. 23 March 2012 04:36
Alef said...
As often has been said, truth is stranger than fiction. An intriguing and fascinating article, but we should admit that Wildman's mixture of kink, business and missionary zeal is rather appalling. 23 March 2012 15:25
islandcarol said...
A pioneer in the promotion of spanking in general and corporeal punishment- who would have thunk it? this guy really took himself seriously. A pity he had such a disgraceful end. Well written as usual. IC 24 March 2012 01:28
mati said...
Private maths tutor? Sounds interesting. He probably had enough canes over. 25 March 2012 16:45
PinkAngel said...
A great read, most interesting!! He sounded like quite the character... 25 March 2012 20:25
KJM said...
Very interesting article. I heard of him but never tried to deepen my knowledge about him. Thanks for telling us about this fascinating character. 27 March 2012 20:34
corncrake said...
To my shame, I knew the name but nothing of the hisstory. This article was so well researched and well wriiten that I was transfixed! Thank you. 28 March 2012 19:30
AlanBarr said...
Fascinating account. In my youth, I vaguely remember seeing advertisments for canes and paddles in a national paper, and a heading "The parent who canes is the parent who cares". Possibly those were some of his? 29 March 2012 01:30
Malahide said...
Most informative Februs. The £500 fine was outrageous and I guess we must see him as a pioneer of his period. 29 March 2012 06:27
TheEnglishMaster said...
A fascinating short biography - thank you. You write with great clarity and objectivity, allowing us to form our own opinions. He clearly had the fever, and at a time when he could announce it to the world with all the fervour of an evangelist. But the vanillas caught up with him in the end ... 29 March 2012 21:18
billsmithworthy said...
A smashing read Februs. If I had not read about this fellow before I would never have believed it. Glad he was never a teacher to any of my children or me for that matter, leave them kids alone. 17 November 2013 17:23
SirAllan said...
I remember seeing Eric Wildman outside his office in City Road London being harassed by the press who ridiculed his ideas to retain corporal punishment both in school and home. If he were alive today what would he make of the library and its members. At the time he was a lone voice but nevertheless there was considerable silent support for his stand, Does anyone have any of his publications or know where they can be found on the web? Well done Februs. 24 February 2014 20:30
bripuk said...
I really think that Wildman believed that corporal punishment was of itself a good thing. Unfortunately his desire for maximum publicity was his undoing and made him a laughing stock. At the time the case for and against birching was finely balanced and some people still think that certain crimes should be punished with a few strokes of the birch. 15 March 2014 15:20
corpun said...
I found this item very interesting and for those that would like to know more about Eric Wildman I recommend www.corpun.com. Incidentally I have no connection with this web site but started using the name "corpun" long before I ever discovered the website and possible even before web sites had been invented! I have been interested in the activities and publications of Eric Wildman since the early 1980's and over that time I have been in touch with a few others and collected a large number of his publications. If any body is interested I'm looking to dispose of the collection due to my age and health issues as I wouldn't want them consigned to the recycling bin after my demise! 14 December 2016 17:53
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