The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly


Wellred Weekly
Volume 1, Number 6 : March 23, 2012
 
Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking

Tom Lincoln's Schooldays
by Lincoln

Note: Although this is a factual account, I have changed the names of the people and places involved.

I have never forgotten my first day at school; it was when I was just five. It wasn't what we learnt in class, but the dramatic conclusion of the morning session, for me at any rate. What I had done wrong I certainly can't remember after all these years, but Mrs Hardy, our normally good natured teacher, told me to stay behind after the break bell had sounded. I was then told to go to her desk and hold out my left hand. Down came her ruler twice on my outstretched palm. I was more astonished than hurt, and it caused me to burst into tears, to the derision of the rest of the class, who lost no opportunity in telling me that this was nothing compared to what I'd get in future.

How true that was! My shock was caused by the unexpectedness of it all. It wasn't due to the fact I'd never been spanked before. I'd had my bare bottom smacked frequently by my mother, and had also had the odd slaps from relatives and parents of friends. In those days, if you were naughty at a friend's or relative's house, you were spanked there and then, and nobody thought of complaining to their own parents, as that would probably have led to a second dose.

This was the 1940's. We were at war with Hitler's Germany, and most of us had not known anything different. There were shortages of food, clothing and petrol. This made the choice of school dependent as to whether it was within walking distance, which left three alternatives; two private prep day schools and one state primary day school. My parents being firmly middle class, dismissed the possibility of the state school even though it was the nearest. Ironically it is now a much sought after state primary, by the same kind of parents who wouldn't have even looked at it two generations ago.

The two private schools were practically next door to each other, so I imagine my parents must have flicked a coin and chosen the one I went to, Westdown House. It was a large Victorian town house, and had the advantage of being opposite a public park, which meant they didn't have to waste money on playing fields.

Owing to clothing shortages, school uniform just didn't apply during the war, unless you inherited it from a former pupil. The same material shortages resulted in schoolboys being told to wear short trousers until they were thirteen, and indeed some schools went beyond that. There were two undesirable side effects from that. Not only was it extremely cold in winter time, (in particular the winter of 1946/47), but also the target area for delinquent boys was not just the outstretched hands, but the unprotected legs, from both rulers and hands.

There were only two teachers empowered to cane, Mr Charles, the headmaster, and Mr Bennett his deputy. The received wisdom was that it was better to be caned by the head, as he was gentler than Bennett, who could be quite vicious. Canings were given on the seat of one's shorts in the passage outside the classrooms, and my early memories of the junior classes were the thwacks of the strokes being delivered, accompanied by the yelps of the unfortunate recipients. However, as five- or six-year-olds, this was not something we had to worry about, as canings were normally restricted to eight year olds and above. However I do remember one of my friends, aged six at the time, receiving two vicious cuts from Mr Bennett, which caused him great distress, and the marks of which stayed with him for days afterwards.

Apart from this, we had enough to put up with from our form teachers and others. They had pretty much a free hand (in every sense of the word) to inflict any punishment they wished. This normally took the form of the ruler on outstretched hands or bare legs, but hair could be pulled, books could be clattered on your heads, and most dangerous of all, if you were caught fighting, heads would be knocked together, before you were both taken off for dose of the ruler or cane.

Despite all this, we generally loved our women teachers dearly, particularly Mrs Hardy, who for all her expertise with the ruler, was a very kindly lady with infinite patience. Ironically the two teachers we didn't have much time for were non-spankers.

The first was a new teacher in Form 2, who told us that she didn't approve of corporal punishment, so if we were bad, our names would go into the "Black Book". This seemed so ridiculous to us hardened seven-year-olds, that we lost all respect for her, and were totally indifferent as to our names going into the book of shame. Even she, however, lost patience towards the end of term, and she grabbed hold of one delinquent boy and administered a hard spanking on the seat of his shorts, something that none of the other teachers had done. She didn't return after the end of that term.

The other teacher (in Form 3), a Miss Sellers, had bad breath and just shouted and screamed at us all the time. She herself didn't spank, but sent offenders to either Mr Charles or Mr Bennett, which to our untutored minds was just unfair.

When we got to form 4B, we ceased to have women teachers, (although they did teach us some subjects), and from now on it was men only. The teacher in charge of 4B was a Mr Bannister. He was very genial and good natured, as well as being a good teacher, but his disciplinary methods would have probably landed him on the Sex Offenders Register today.

The offending boy would have to bend over as if for the cane. Mr Bannister would then lift the right leg of the shorts we were wearing and pull it right up to the crotch. He would then administer several hard slaps to our upper thighs. The process would then be repeated on the left hand side. I reckon we all must have experienced this unusual form of discipline at one time or other. It certainly stung, and the red marks were still visible when we got home. Fortunately for me, my parents thought it rather funny and didn't take any further action.

This was also the year I first experienced the cane. I got it five times during the year I was in 4B. Three of the times could be ascribed to misfortune. When 9-year-olds are in an unattended class, they tend to make a lot of noise. Mr Charles's solution was to walk in, pick three at random, and give them two strokes of the cane each, presumably (as Voltaire said) pour encourager les autres. My bad luck was that I sat nearest the door so tended to be one of the ones picked on. I also had a disagreement with one of my friends who stole my rubber. This led to us both being caned, and I never got my rubber back!

On the final occasion I was sent out of the music room for some misdemeanour, and was discovered standing in the passage by Mr Bennett. When I told him what had happened he told me to wait there, and I was really scared he'd gone for his cane. In the event, when he returned it was to inform me that Mr Charles was going to cane me. I've never been so relieved to be told of a caning by the headmaster!

So all in all, when I total up the five canings, numerous smacks from Mr Bannister, and two doses of the plimsoll from the gym teacher, as well as what I also got at home, my bottom received more than its fair share of attention that year. You might assume from that that I was totally out of control, but in truth most of my contemporaries could tell a similar tale.

After all the excitement of the year in 4B, we progressed to 4A, but I was only to be there for one term. Our teacher, Mr Smallwood, was more of an academic than the rest of the staff, some of whom I guess had never been to university. He was quite patient, and was never known to strike anybody. Of course we were all a year older and probably more disciplined, but we responded to his teaching, and although we were still at risk from Messrs Charles and Bennett, the term passed quite peaceably.

This was to be my last term at Westdown House. I would have happily stayed on there even as a boarder, but my parents decided it was time for me to be sent away to a prep boarding school to "toughen me up". They chose a grim establishment in North Lancashire which was the feeder to an equally grim public school. Dunderswell Hall was the name of this establishment, and it became known to its pupils as Dotheboys Hall, after Charles Dickens. The headmaster was a former wartime soldier called Major Stevens. He insisted on being addressed by his temporary military rank, and ruled the school with a rod of iron, as well as with the bamboo variety.

The discipline was much stricter than at Westdown House, and canings were frequent and painful. The canings I had received at my previous school, were almost casual, and were never more than two strokes. Here, the minimum was four, and was very often six, with eight being given for really serious offences.

We soon learnt that the gallant Major really enjoyed inflicting corporal punishment. You could tell by the way he flexed the cane and pursed his lips that he got a kick out of it. There were various things you could be beaten for, but the most frequent was perceived lack of effort in school work, (we had three weekly assessments graded from A to D), and talking after lights out in the dormitory.

The latter was only to be expected as we were all sent to bed early; the youngest at 6.00 and the oldest at 7.30, with the intermediates spaced between. In the summer months, we could none of us get to sleep anyway, as the curtains were of poor quality, so it was only to be expected that this was a rule frequently broken. The disadvantage was that if caught, you got it in your pyjamas, and it hurt all the more.

As for the three weekly grading, when I joined the school, although I was near the top of my class at Westdown House, the class I joined at Dunderswell Hall was studying things way in advance of my previous class. This meant I was for ever trying to catch up, and thus got low grades during my first term which was classed as "lack of effort", and earned me a caning. The same thing happened in my second term, with similar results, and it took me three terms to be on the same level as my fellow pupils. Even in my third term I was caned again, not for bad grades but because the French teacher complained I wasn't putting enough effort in.

We got the impression that the Major really liked caning the juniors (8- to 9-year-olds), as they seemed to get it so often. When they were caned they positively howled. We intermediates (10 - 11) weren't much better, but once we joined the seniors (12 - 13), there was an unspoken agreement not to give him the satisfaction of our crying out, although it often led to a dash to the toilets to get our emotions out of our system.

I was twice caned as a senior for talking after lights out. The first time was quite straightforward. I and the other talker were given four strokes each on our pyjama bottoms. The second time, I was actually out of bed when the Major crept into our dormitory. I made a grab for the chamber pot under my bed, which we were supposed to use if we were caught short in the night. Major Stevens was not deceived, and I got six in my pyjamas. On this occasion he left his study door open so everybody could hear what was happening.

The worst case of a vicious and unnecessary caning involved an 8-year-old new boy called Forsyth. One of the rules was that, for understandable safety reasons, you were not allowed to run between the living quarters and the classroom block. This boy was caught running by the Major, who shouted at him and told him to "come here". Without thinking and clearly nervous, Forsyth ran back towards him. This resulted in him receiving six strokes for "Gross Insolence and Disobedience". The poor boy was heartbroken, and even by our hardened standards this was pretty awful.

Once I was thirteen I was moved up into the upper school, Lonsdale College. In my father's day, (he was a former pupil), prefects were allowed to cane other boys, and took advantage of this privilege very frequently. By the time I got there, this "privilege" was withdrawn, (although of course they had other sanctions available), and only the Head Boy and his deputies were allowed to, and even they exercised their rights very infrequently. Shortly after I left, even this was totally abolished. The school frankly had seen better days. It had an aging staff, and the Head was past his sell-by date. It still operated in a Victorian fashion without realising that times had moved on. It took the retirement of my Head and of his immediate successor before it could be brought into the Twentieth Century. Even so, discipline was very strict. The school was divided into "houses" and the Housemasters were the ones who handed out discipline in the shape of a length of bamboo or rattan, with the Head being the ultimate disciplinarian.

The three weekly assessments still reigned supreme, as I learnt to my pain. Once again, I was caught by an advanced syllabus. I joined 3b in the summer term, and found the rest of the class had been studying the syllabus the two previous terms. Needless to say, I was expected to be as knowledgeable as they were, and was caned (4) for "Lack of effort" in the first three week's assessment. The same happened the next term when I was moved up to 4b. I was about the youngest in the class, and was still catching up. Once again the cane was brought into play. My second assessment brought me 5 strokes.

Happily, this was the last time I had to bend over for the cane, although my Housemaster, when I was in the sixth form, threatened me with a caning over a piece of prep. This in my last year when I was a house prefect! It was no idle threat. Two of the most senior boys in the school were caned for breaking bounds on the penultimate day of their school career. They were both due to go for their National Service medical immediately after leaving, and I've often wondered how they explained the marks on their bums!

Thus ended my very undistinguished school career. Life was pretty tough, and it made National Service seem a doddle. I will never forget the sense of relief when I finally left. Did it do me any good? It certainly did nothing for my self-confidence. I also determined two things. My children, (if I had any), would never be "sent away" against their will, and I would never choose a school that used the cane. The abolition of corporal punishment made my second decision academic only, and the local schools in my home town were of a quality not needing a decision on the first one. I remain highly satisfied that I had two lovely grown up daughters who have grown up to be stable and responsible members of society, without their lives having been made miserable by their schooldays.
 
10 comments:
bendover said...
Being afraid to go to school is horrible. This article shows the difference between fair treatment and over the top abuse of responsibility and authority. Not that the author was abused, but in no way let off the hook when it came to his turn to bend over.

Great article and in praise of you sharing your story.

B
23 March 2012 01:36
Alef said...
A very interesting article which make you wonder how anyone could have thought this a reasonable approach to teaching. Still people went on to live happy and useful lives. We are a resilient race!
23 March 2012 15:47
islandcarol said...
Your story is not unusual Lincoln. There was a great deal of abuse in both public and private educational institutions. Even now, we are still catching up with stories from trusted and respected adults who abused children either through frustration, class sizes were outrageously large, and young children need a great deal of attention. Or malice and perversion. Others were simply unsuited for the job.
It was a different time then and we have all moved on and learned from those unconscionable acts. I like to think we humans have evolved and are better for these experiences.
Your article is very personal.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
IC
24 March 2012 02:22
Sebastian said...
A good story of school (either public or private) where there was no regard for the children. The feelings of children were never taken into account and punishment was harsh. Parents also never took into consideration the emotional feelings of children. Their punishment was also harsh and these children were considered as second class citizens. Terrible times for children.
24 March 2012 03:21
PinkAngel said...
That's the trouble with CP in schools, it was not always applied fairly, instead often inflicted by bullies. I am glad that although I went to boarding school, I was well past the age of CP, although my housemistress probably wished it were different lol. Thank you for sharing something so personal.
25 March 2012 20:53
canadianspankee said...
I think CP was much more prevalent in England and the like in the early 50's then over here. That being said, over here in the schools established for the aborginal people were ones that frequently used the cane and almost any other instrument they could use to beat the children in those schools.

The aborginal kids got beaten for merely speaking the language they used at home. So in Canada, the same conditions applied to some as history has shown was also used in Europe. I don't know if the Church had much to do with private or public schools in Europe but over here Church run schools were the worst for beating etc.

Interesting histroy Lincolin, the 40's were a decade where spankings were still in use and there was little or no outcry over abuse for a few decades yet.
29 March 2012 04:29
TheEnglishMaster said...
I'm impressed by the clarity of your memory of so many of these beatings - but then they did tend to be memorable events. A fascinating account - thank you.
31 March 2012 00:24
blimp said...
Very interesting account Lincoln. The housemasters were usually the one's that did most of the caning in the schools I went to as well. It was the luck of the draw whether you got a decent human being or a psychopath!! Happy days eh?
1 April 2012 12:26
bripuk said...
An interesting and informative account. I attended a boys grammar school in the 60s where cane and slipper were applied liberally to the backsides of miscreants.
I think it was preferable to lines, detentions etc as it didn't waste boys' time and was quickly administered . It certainly had a deterrent value and if used sparingly is probably the fairest and most efficacious form of punishment
3 April 2012 20:51
drkeate said...
I feel rather sobered reading this, lincoln, as although I collected a couple of canings at a 60s grammer school I suffered nothing remotely resembling this. Ruler on the hands at 6/7, then nothing till grammar school. Your decisions about your daughters are absolutely admirable.
I have to say I don't see how this can have been anything but abusive, particularly the Major. It reminds me of how the headmaster of Eton in the early sixties slippered and caned boys when he was drunk, or so I've gathered from several sources.
I was very touched by your conclusion about your daughters' lives not having been made miserable by their schooldays.
15 April 2012 18:39

You need to sign in if you wish to make a comment
    


  Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13