Schoolboys spanking one another

I was leafing through the archives of the Magnet – the boys’ story paper that published from 1908 to 1940 – looking for something else when I realized that very often in the stories about Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School the author Frank Richards would conspire to have the boys spank one another. Here, I don’t mean the prefects caning junior boys, although that happened often enough both in fiction and in fact. I mean juniors beating one another with cricket stumps, slippers, five bats and of course the palm of the hand. It was to them a natural way of showing their displeasure with their fellows’ behaviour.

Here’s a few examples of what I mean. You can find almost every copy of the Magnet on the Friardale website.

1911, Issue No 173

1911, Issue No 197

1914, Issue No 358

1919, Issue No 613

1913, Issue No 307 

1916, Issue No 456

1923, Issue No 792

1924, Issue No 853

1924, Issue No 858

1921, Issue No 639

1923, Issue No 793

1928, Issue No 1055

1927, Issue No 998

1926, Issue No 937

1934, Issue No 1392

Picture credits: Magnet (Amalgamated Press).

 

For more Billy Bunter, click here

For more extracts from comics and story papers, click here

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