18 caned for ‘breaking wind’

 

Eighteen boys each received two strokes of the cane for ‘Breaking Wind During Class.’

This happened in 1980 and was one of hundreds of cases reported in the punishment book of Finchley Catholic High School in north London.

The book in which all punishments were supposed to be entered covers the ten years up until corporal punishment was outlawed in England in 1987.

Extracts from the book was published on the website of the school’s Old Boys Association, but the site appears now to be defunct.

The Punishment Book begins in October 1977, and was put to good use over the rest of that term, with 15 boys punished, receiving between two and four strokes each.

The first entry concerns a boy from 2H who received 3 strokes ‘on the seat of the trousers’ and a ‘letter of information to parents’ for ‘Grabbing Mrs Harding’s bag at Tally Ho and saying: ‘You can’t do anything – I’m out of school’

There is evidence of some leniency in these early days. Two boys from 3S punished for ‘going out at lunchtime’ received their strokes on the hand whereas other more serious offences generally resulted in caning of the backside. Even more lenient, three boys caught ‘bunking lessons’ were let off with a ‘severe warning’ instead, while a boy from 5H caught ‘writing rude messages to Mr Preggo was sent home and had his parents spoken to instead of receiving the cane.

There was no such mercy for four boys from 5B, given 4 strokes on the rear each on 19 October, 1977 for ‘kicking and punching a 3rd year boy’, all awarded and administered by the headmaster. Offences in 1978 ranged from ‘Out of bounds in White House’, ‘Obscenities written in diary’, and ‘Refusing to attend Detention’, to the double offence by one boy in 2C of ‘smoking with a 3rd year boy on the railway track’, a crime which received four strokes on the hand. The 3rd year boy apparently escaped without punishment.

A new headmaster arrived at the school in 1979 and his first use of the came on 13 August, 1979 when three boys from 5C and three from 4C received two strokes on the hand each for going ‘off premises at lunchtime’. Compared to the Christmas term of 1977 when 15 boys received the cane, no fewer than 42 boys faced punishment between September-December 1979, and only one of those was for the traditional crime around Bonfire Night of ‘letting off a banger in class’.

Perhaps the unluckiest group of this period were the 5 boys from 3S and the one from 3B who attended the school’s ‘Autumn Fayre’ on a Saturday in late November, only to receive 1 stroke each on the Monday for straying out of bounds while at the school.

However, even they will not have felt as aggrieved as the two boys from 4C who received two strokes each on 28th November, 1979, for being ‘out of school at lunchtime’, whose punishment was ‘awarded’ by one of the school prefects. The rate of bad behaviour and resulting punishments continued to rise sharply in the school year 1979-80, with a further 91 boys receiving the cane over the Lent and Summer terms, bringing the total for the year to 133, including a number of repeat offenders.

There is some evidence in this period of an attempt to crackdown on low-level misbehaviour. On 21 January, Mr S. and Fr. F. both sent boys from 4S and 4C to the Head for ‘talking in class’, while two days later, Mr B. awarded the cane to two boys from 3B for the simple offence of ‘rudeness’.

In June 1980, 18 boys from 3S who received two strokes each on 11 June, 1980 for ‘Breaking Wind During Class’, and even worse, doing so in the class of a former nun.

Picture credit: Unknown.

Traditional School Discipline

Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com