For many centuries, corporal punishment was a fact of life for British schoolboys. Now that physical chastisement has all but disappeared from our schools, the cane, strap, slipper and birch are virtually historical relics. These pages explore the history of corporal punishment in British schools and other institutions catering for juveniles, evoking an age now vanished but still recalled with nostalgia by many adults, who view the demise of corporal punishment as a retrograde step, partly responsible for the indiscipline of modern youth.
Britain's famous public schools were once a byword for beating and flogging. Ironically many of the leading public schools were in the vanguard of the first moves towards the abandonment of corporal punishment in the 1960s and 1970s, abolishing the cane some years before their counterparts in the state system.
The cane was finally abolished in state schools in 1987 after a long campaign by pressure groups such as S.T.O.P.P. (The Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment). At that time a good number of schoolteachers wished to retain corporal punishment as an ultimate sanction, but it would be difficult to find a majority in favour now. There are occasional calls from MPs for the reintroduction of the cane, but this eventuality is about as likely as the re-establishment of the death penalty in Britain - although a preponderance of public opinion would undoubtedly be in favour of both measures.
Corporal punishment was commonly employed to enforce order in institutions such as reform schools. Younger entrants into the Royal Navy were also subject to this sanction in the past. The judicial birching of juveniles was abolished in mainland Britain in the late 1940s but the practice continued on the Isle of Man for two more decades.
Somebody once took the trouble of compiling a list of movies and TV programmes which had included scenes - however fleeting - of juvenile corporal punishment, usually spankings or canings. The list was a very long one indeed and these pages will only attempt to offer a cross section of examples from these sources.
British schools were always renowned for their use of the cane for the physical chastisement of pupils. However, over the years other official instruments of punishment have been employed, including the birch, strap, tawse and slipper.
Corporal punishment became so ingrained in the British psyche across the centuries that it featured in many works of literature. In addition there is a wealth of humbler but valuable written material in the form of personal recollections of schoolday spankings.
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