The Master in The Purple Mask

Posted by Traditional School Discipline October 04, 2022

The Master in The Purple Mask

The Master in the Purple Mask was a character in the boys’ story paper Hotspur in the 1930s. White Cross College was once a fine school but now it was dilapidated and going to the dogs. Discipline was non-existent and the aging headmaster was past it.

Enter Sir John Mobray, a newly-appointed member of the school governors and a proud old boy of the college. He wants to clean up the place, but what can he do? By chance, the school janitor quits his job after a week because the boys all rag him. Sir John gets Bill Socks, a young former school captain, to take the job with a view to getting the school back on its feet again. He doesn’t need the money but he’ll do it for the sake of the old school.

So far, so conventional. Now the plot gets tricky. Bill Socks can’t make much difference as a janitor so late at night he dons an academic cap and gown and hiding his eyes with a purple mask he picks up a cane and gets to work.

So, suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. In this episode from 24 February 1934 The Master in the Purple Mask has become a kind of vigilante and with the help of a brotherhood of boys called SSWCR – Society for the Suppression of White Cross Rotters – he takes on the sixth-form.