Book: The Dominie. 3

 

Here’s the third (of four) extract from The Dominie, a history of the Scottish headmaster by William (Bill) Fyfe Hendrie, himself an experienced headmaster and prolific writer.

We have already learnt about the use of the tawse – the famous leather strap used in most Scottish schools, but Hendrie reminds us that there were other instruments of punishment, including the cane (so beloved by disciplinarians in England) and the ferula, a strap that might or might not have concealed a whalebone.

Then there was the ‘clachan’ which was used at Edinburgh Academy. ‘It is really an item of sporting equipment, consisting of a flat oval-shaped piece of hardwood on the end of a long stick, but it can be used for non-sporting purposes – mainly discipline, which at the Academy, unless the crime was a really serious one, was dealt out by the senior boys on the behinds of juniors. Friday night was torture night.’

For more extracts from The Dominie, click here.

The Dominie, A Profile of the Scottish Headmaster, (John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh, 1997)

Picture credit: A schoolmaster preparing to dispense classroom justice with his cane. 1870 engraving. (via Threadinburgh)

 

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