Cane him! demands soon-to-be Archbishop

Posted by Traditional School Discipline September 22, 2021

Cane him! demands soon-to-be Archbishop

Dr Geoffrey Fisher, one-time headmaster and eventually Archbishop of Canterbury, became a controversial figure as allegations (disputed) of the many beatings he inflicted on schoolboys became public. Here’s an extract from review of the autobiography of Victor Gollancz called More for Timothy, published in 1953.

Cane him! – said

the Archbishop

DR GEOFFREY FISHER, when he was headmaster of Repton School, once sacked a young master named Victor Gollancz. This week [October 1953] – 37 years later – Mr. Gollancz has his revenge.

His own version of the affair appears in the second volume of his autobiography. As an attack on a reigning Archbishop of Canterbury it must be unique.

The tale begins in 1916. Young Mr. Gollancz is talking to Jack Stratton, a housemaster, when –

Fisher interrupted, piloting a boy by the ear. He had discovered him putting a jerry on the Repton Cross.

“Cane him,” said Fisher.

“All right presently,” replied Stratton.

“Here and now,” insisted Fisher.

Stratton began arguing, but Fisher laughed him out of court with that white throaty chuckle I had often remarked in him.

“Cane him,” he repeated.

Stratton, with insolent slowness, fumbled between wall and bookcase and produced what the boys called a bumstick.

“How many?” he asked.

“Nine,” replied Fisher.

So the boy was made to clutch at his ankles, and I remember how his intake of breath became sharper and sharper as each stroke found its mark.

I haven’t the faintest idea whether he was much hurt, but the scene was a filthy and degrading one.