Memories: Most belted boy in school

Who was the most ‘belted’ boy at the Royal High School, Edinburgh? Tom Peck, who was at the school between 1943 and 1955, has made claim to that distinction. In a post on a webpage for former pupils and teachers at the school he recalls the strap … 

The tawse, the belt, the strap, wellied wi’ a Lochgelly 

Many descriptive word and phrases to describe one thing – school-delivered corporal punishment. I received many thrashings and I do believe that I was the “most belted” boy at the Royal High School!!! (Primary and Secondary) Proud of it? Definitely not. Ashamed of it? A little. Resentful of it? Very rarely, as I knew that I deserved some form of punishment and the belt was summary and recovery was usually quick.

At Primary School a miscreant pupil was normally sent to the Head Teacher, Mr. Boyd, who was the possessor of a Lochgelly Special XH which was kept curled in a drawer in his desk; the preamble to the punishment was intimidating. The belt was withdrawn slowly from its lair and carefully straightened and swished a couple of times to loosen the muscles in the executioner’s working arm. After a couple of visits to “see Mr. Boyd” I became phlegmatic about the whole exercise and I think that I cried only once – at a very early stage, probably aged 8.

At Secondary things were more dramatic – sometimes in extremis. My worst experience, in terms of pain, was in my first year aged 12, I received 6 of the best from the Head of History who positioned me at the end of his platform (really old traditional rooms, coal fires etc) and went to “his end”. He then walked rapidly 6 times down the intervening gap and hammered me with an XH (extra hard) weapon. That was sore! Going home on the tram car I had to ask my pal to take my tram fare from my pocket as my hands and one wrist were badly swollen. Not a recommendation for corporal punishment!!!! The unlikely outcome of this rather traumatic experience was that I was taught one to one by the same teacher in Sixth Form and went on to study History at University. No hard feelings!

I never experienced another belting from a “runner” but I was told the story of a boy in my same year. He was made to wrap a scarf round both wrists and he had to suffer 6 charges from a deranged art master; his hands were really battered. Incidentally, the art teacher had reputedly been the model for Miss Brodie’s love liaison  in “The Prime of Miss Brodie” – which took place at the Marcia Blaine school – really James Gillespies School in Edinburgh. The miscreant art teacher had been warned previously for damaging a boy’s wrists – hence the precaution of bandaging them in advance. Seriously, a real condemnation of corporal punishment!!

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Picture credit: CP Services, London.