Fake News: Public thrashing for ‘anti-Royalist’ schoolboys

 

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Public thrashing for ‘anti-Royalist’ schoolboys

By C. P. Macaning, Brocklehurst Bugle.


Three boys were beaten by their headmaster in front of a specially convened school assembly after they ‘campaigned’ against the new Queen Elizabeth II.

It happened at St Francis Independent School in Brocklehurst.

The three boys – all senior sixth-formers and aged 18 – had paraded a home-made banner with an anti-Royalist slogan around the school’s playground.

One pupil at the school who did not want to be named for fear of the consequences told the Bugle: “It was just a joke. Nobody took it seriously. But they’re not laughing now.”

The incident happened after three Republican sympathisers were arrested in Brocklehurst town centre on Saturday for demonstrating against His Majesty King George VI who died this week. “The lads got the idea from that,” our informer said.

St Francis – known affectionately in the town as St FIGS – prides itself on being a traditional school: traditional curriculum, traditional sports, traditional uniform and, of course, traditional discipline.

Headmaster Dr S. O. Henderson-Smith refused to comment on the public thrashing but many of the school’s pupils were eager to discuss it on condition of anonymity.

One senior boy told the Bugle: “Boys are sometimes caned in front of the whole school but that’s at morning assembly. This was the first time anyone can remember that we’ve had a special congregation just for a thrashing.”

A junior said: “It was awesome. You could have heard a pin drop when the three boys were marched into the hall. All the senior masters were on the stage waiting. The boys were lined up, standing to attention, and they had to wait a long time before the headmaster paraded into the hall.”

Other informants told the Bugle that after a short speech the headmaster ordered each boy to step forward one at a time. “They had to lower their trousers and stretch across a big table that had been put on stage specially for the thrashing,” one sixth-former said. “Even from the back of the hall you could see them trembling. They were terrified.”

Another boy said: “I had a perfect view. The boys had already taken off their blazers so were only in their shirts. Mr MacMaster, the deputy head, stepped forward and with quite a flourish adjusted the boy’s shirt so that it was well away from the backside. Then he pulled at the underpants and I could see that they fitted like a second skin. When he had done this, he stood back and let the headmaster do his duty.”

A heavy cane, with the traditional curved handle, had previously been brought onto the stage. Some reports say there were several canes and it was speculated this was necessary in case a cane split due to the ferocity of the beating.

The headmaster, who has a reputation as a stern disciplinarian and an enthusiast for corporal punishment, spared no effort. The crack of cane across stretched underpants resounded around the great hall. Each swipe was greeted with an appropriate response of agony from the recipient.

It is believed each sixth-former was given twelve of the best.

One witness told the Bugle: “I doubt if there was one boy in the hall who didn’t wince and flinch as each stroke hit home. There but the Grace of God and all that. But, at the end of the day, we all thought it was a jolly good show. There’s nothing finer than seeing another chap get a whacking and knowing that you’re not going to be next.”

The punishment took less than five minutes and at the end the boys were helped from the stage and out of the hall by senior prefects who had been placed on duty for this purpose.

The funeral of His Majesty King George VI takes place on Monday.

Picture credit: Unknown.

 

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