A Surprising Caning
A while ago I happened to meet a lady whom I had known a little when we were both at school. Her name was Jane Palmer, we were the same age, she lived in the same street as I did and attended a girls’ grammar school similar to the boys’ school where I was.
Although I knew several girls at this school, and my school sometimes combined with hers for concerts and the like, I never heard anything about corporal punishment there and assumed that there was none. It seems that I was wrong.
When we met decades later, Jane told me that several mistresses occasionally used the slipper - she herself got it once for talking in class - and one liked to smack girls on the backs of their thighs with a ruler. But what really surprised me was that she once got the cane. She said she was due to attend a choir practice after school, but asked the music mistress if she could be excused because she was feeling unwell. The mistress gave Jane permission to go home. But after the choir practice the teacher decided to walk through a local park and there she saw Jane with another girl and their boyfriends, all looking anything but unwell.
The first Jane knew she was in trouble was next morning, when she received a message that she was to report to the headmistress at break time. When she entered the head’s study she found the head and the music mistress, both looking severe. The music mistress described what had happened and what she had seen, and then the head asked Jane for an explanation. Jane, by now quite frightened, admitted that she had told a lie in order to get out of choir practice.
The head dismissed the music mistress and the gave Jane a stern lecture. She said missing choir practice wasn’t important, but deceiving a teacher in the way she had was an extremely serious matter and she was going to be severely punished. Jane, trying hard not to cry, wondered what on earth that could mean - a long detention? suspension fom school? - but was flabbergasted when she heard that she was going to be caned. Jane told me she had heard occasional rumours that one or two girls had been caned at her school but had no hard evidence and was inclined to think that the rumours were untrue. Now she knew better.
Jane said the headmistress was an attractive woman in her 40s whom she had always thought of as quite relaxed and liberal, not at all like the conventional battleaxe. But that was no consolation to Jane as the head opened a cupboard, took out a crook-handled cane and gave it a practice swish through the air. She cleared a space on the desk, told Jane to bend over and told her she was going to receive four strokes and she must remain position until she was given permission to stand up.
Jane didn’t tell me much about the actual caning except to say that the stinging pain was excruciating and she was sobbing by the end. This was in the summer term so Jane was wearing a gingham dress and thin knickers. She joked that she should have had the sense to earn a caning during the winter, when she would have had more protection. After a short interval the head just said “let that be a lesson to you” and told her to get up. As luck would have it Jane had a free period after break and so was able to compose herself before going back into class.
Interestingly, there was no formal record of the punishment, no letter home, no mention of it in Jane’s end-of-term report. Jane said that although some of her classmates guessed what had happened she never actually talked to anyone about it at the time, and her parents never discovered that she had been caned. So perhaps I was right after all that there was no corporal punishment at that school officially at least!
Although I knew several girls at this school, and my school sometimes combined with hers for concerts and the like, I never heard anything about corporal punishment there and assumed that there was none. It seems that I was wrong.
When we met decades later, Jane told me that several mistresses occasionally used the slipper - she herself got it once for talking in class - and one liked to smack girls on the backs of their thighs with a ruler. But what really surprised me was that she once got the cane. She said she was due to attend a choir practice after school, but asked the music mistress if she could be excused because she was feeling unwell. The mistress gave Jane permission to go home. But after the choir practice the teacher decided to walk through a local park and there she saw Jane with another girl and their boyfriends, all looking anything but unwell.
The first Jane knew she was in trouble was next morning, when she received a message that she was to report to the headmistress at break time. When she entered the head’s study she found the head and the music mistress, both looking severe. The music mistress described what had happened and what she had seen, and then the head asked Jane for an explanation. Jane, by now quite frightened, admitted that she had told a lie in order to get out of choir practice.
The head dismissed the music mistress and the gave Jane a stern lecture. She said missing choir practice wasn’t important, but deceiving a teacher in the way she had was an extremely serious matter and she was going to be severely punished. Jane, trying hard not to cry, wondered what on earth that could mean - a long detention? suspension fom school? - but was flabbergasted when she heard that she was going to be caned. Jane told me she had heard occasional rumours that one or two girls had been caned at her school but had no hard evidence and was inclined to think that the rumours were untrue. Now she knew better.
Jane said the headmistress was an attractive woman in her 40s whom she had always thought of as quite relaxed and liberal, not at all like the conventional battleaxe. But that was no consolation to Jane as the head opened a cupboard, took out a crook-handled cane and gave it a practice swish through the air. She cleared a space on the desk, told Jane to bend over and told her she was going to receive four strokes and she must remain position until she was given permission to stand up.
Jane didn’t tell me much about the actual caning except to say that the stinging pain was excruciating and she was sobbing by the end. This was in the summer term so Jane was wearing a gingham dress and thin knickers. She joked that she should have had the sense to earn a caning during the winter, when she would have had more protection. After a short interval the head just said “let that be a lesson to you” and told her to get up. As luck would have it Jane had a free period after break and so was able to compose herself before going back into class.
Interestingly, there was no formal record of the punishment, no letter home, no mention of it in Jane’s end-of-term report. Jane said that although some of her classmates guessed what had happened she never actually talked to anyone about it at the time, and her parents never discovered that she had been caned. So perhaps I was right after all that there was no corporal punishment at that school officially at least!
