I wonder if there was also a view on the part of the person inflicting the punishment that by moving, standing up or whatever, the severity of the punishment had somehow been reduced, and the extra stokes were to compensate for this. I’ll have to pass on that one in favour of those who’ve been caned at school. For the same number of strokes is a caning where you briefly break position less painful than one where you maintain the posture as instructed
I find it interesting that he totally omitted to mention the most significant factor affecting his decision to cane you rather than impose some other sanction. In my opinion, that offence did warrant the cane but it’s clear, from your subsequent post, that the school didn’t agree. That offence, per se, was not considered serious enough to always be punished by caning. Another child, perhaps with a worse record than you, could have committed exactly the same offence, possibly as your accomplice or even as the instigator, but would not be caned.
Personally, I would be very put out if I had been caned for something a classmate just got a telling off for, especially if that classmate had a worse record than I (unlikely I admit but not impossible) but it’s been claimed that boys don’t think like that. I’ve never met one who would have been (or was) happy if (or when) that happened so I be interested to know how you would have felt if that had happened.
I have to say that I was not unduly surprised about the extra stroke for trying to stand up. He did tell me beforehand to stay bending over, otherwise he would simply take the stroke again. But the sharpness of the pain – to which I was completely unaccustomed (although warned by friends) – made me react like that. I wish my memory had over-ridden my legs. I can’t comment on the comparative effect of interrupted or not canings, having only had the former. But the last stroke, as I commented above, was by far the most painful, and the marks the longest lasting – because it was so low down, a consequence of being last (and having to be fitted in?)
As far as the differential boys and girls approach, I don’t recall any particular ill-feeling, although a certain amount of vicarious interest in the events from the other sex. In my case, my colleague in crime (as the joint recipient of the proceeds, if not the action) was my gf – who got off scott free as far as the school was concerned. She was not as lucky at home, when her mother worked out what had happened, and why.
My grey shorts clad bottom felt horribly exposed.I sensed the headmaster raise the cane and then heard the SW00SH as the cane slashed across those shorts.
WHACKK!
I felt the impact but for a brief moment I felt nothing, then the cut came alive, alive with a searing stinging pain that raced along the stripe with the speed of a bush fire.I bellowed in agony, unable to believe the pain, it was much worse than I’d expected. Just as the stinging was reaching its most excruciating point the cane sliced in again.
WHACKK!
I could feel tears beginning to trickle involuntarily out of his closed eyes. I felt the headmaster rest the cane across the middle of my shorts and gripped the bar of the chair even tighter my knuckles turning white.
WHACKK!
The third cut seemed to hurt even more than the first two
WHACKK!
my hands left the bar, to go to my caned bum. Somehow I forced them back. I felt my legs kicking and I seemed to have lost control over my body. I had started to cry audibly.
WHACKK!
AAAARRRRGHHH.
WHACKKK!!
It was the hardest stroke yet and sounded like a pistol shot and my hands went straight to my bottom.I could feel how wealed and swollen it was through the material of my shorts and underpants and I tried to bring myself under control.
At 14 I was still going to school in the same shorts I had started with in form 1…because I was a “growing boy” this meant those shorts were getting shorter and tighter and also the wear made them fit like a second skin… so you can imagine they offered minimal protection when spotted with a shanghai or as we called it a ging in my locker.A teacher walked past unluckily for me result 6 of the very best.I could barely sit down for the rest of the day and over the next 2 was very very uncomfortable doing so just as when I was caught smoking….with 4 others I was 4th in the queue I was a trembling mess before getting the 6 cuts after getting them I danced about I can assure you also that year I got 3 cuts for being sent out of class for talking I counted myself lucky it was 3 but I still cried
I went to a boarding school in the 1960’s and got the full 6 of the best on 2 occasions. The punishments were carried out in our dormitory before bed and in the first 2 years were over pyjamas which offered scant protection. In the last 3 years they were removed and given on the bare bottom. Normally the caning was administered by the dorm teacher but for serious offences it was the headmaster with matron as a witness. I got 6 from the dorm teacher who was a lady and 6 from the headmaster.
The first occasion was for repeated bad behaviour in my third year and Mrs F gave me 6 of the best on my bare bottom. It was done in front of my 9 mates and I was left to sleep on my stomach because of the pain.
My second offence was smoking with 4 mates and the head sent us to our dorm to await our fate. We were ordered to get ready for bed even though it was only mid afternoon. He arrived about an hour later with matron. We were ordered to drop our bottoms and lined up. I was fourth in line and watched spellbound as he beat the first 3 lads. He hit much harder and used a longer cane than Mrs F. I was then ordered to bend over the chair back and put my hands on the seat while I got the full 6. I had never experienced pain like it and struggled to stay in place. When it was finished I was told to stand at the end of my bed. I waited as the last lad got whacked and then we were told to turn so matron could check us before being to to go to bed until teatime We all laid face down and there was a lot of bottom rubbing. The marks were more noticeable than any previous caning I got. At teatime it was a struggle to sit.
I was very glad that it was a boys school because the thought of girls seeing our embarrassment would have been too much.
I was at a private small boarding school from 1963 until 1968 in southern England. There were 10 lads in each dorm and 2 dorms per year group. This made a total of 20 lads per year for the 5 years. There were 11 teachers including the headmaster and each dorm had a separate teacher in charge. The same teacher stayed with the dorm throughout the school so I had Mrs F for 5 years. Mrs F was the only female teacher at the school and was married to the maths teacher. She taught foreign languages, art and music. The relationship was unusual in that she was a friend in times of need as well as our teacher. The school generally considered us lucky having Mrs F because she was a fairer teacher than some of the male teachers and especially better than the headmaster. Also I had come from a state primary school where the large majority of teachers were female so I was used to them being around. I got my fair share of canings and slipperings from them and was described as boisterous by one of them. It was for this reason that I was sent to the boarding school. The main difference between primary school and boarding school was that the canings were on the hands and I never got six strokes at one time. Also Mrs F had caned me in the first 2 years on my pyjamas and so it did not seem unusual to be caned by her as I progressed through the school. Mostly in the earlier years I got 2, 3 or 4 strokes. The canings were fairly frequent and Mrs F used her flexible friend on at least one occasion per week I would guess. I think the strangest thing at the school was that matron used to be a witness and check the boys after the caning. This applied even when the teacher was a male. She was truly a frightening lady and I tried to avoid going to her even when ill.
You are correct in your thought that the caning on the bottom applied to all canings in the last 3 years not just six stroke punishments.
Regarding the comment about girls, there were no girls at this school but there were at the primary school. I remember well how they teased me when I got the cane there so would have been horrified if they knew about me getting 6 on the bottom. Mind you the boys teased them when they got caned as well so I think it was all fair in the end.
You confirm that you were at a small private boarding school for boys. As I noted in my October 26 2013, 12:56 AM post above I don’t think that caning on the bare was all that unusual at such schools in the 1950s and into the 1960s. What was perhaps a little unusual at your school was reserving this fate for older boys. I think it was probably more usual the other way around, or as a general practice for all ages. It would be interesting to understand why your school might have decided on their policy.
Did the staff give you any information about why this arose please? Or was there any speculation about the reason by pupils? On the face of it a more severe punishment experience for older pupils might seem a possibility, but you noted above that pyjamas offered scant protection anyway. The loss of the protection afforded by the fairly substantial trousers and underpants worn by schoolboys in the period in question might well make for a more painful experience. Not so the loss of pyjama trousers, where the only thing to increase might be embarrassment.
But in a boarding school situation even the embarrassment factor is limited. Boys will be more used to seeing each other naked and being seen naked by staff than would usually be the case in a day school. Very unusually indeed I would think, you were caned on the bare by a female teacher. In a normal teacher-pupil context that would be highly embarrassing for the boy even if not for the teacher. However as I expected you say that the relationship with that teacher was rather more than might normally subsist between a pupil and a teacher.
By virtue of the boarding school situation and the dormitory teacher relationship, and the fact that the latter continued throughout your time at the school, there was inevitably a pseudo-family element in the relationship with Mrs F. Similarly so with Matron, despite your dislike of her. Your sans protection caning by Mrs F probably was embarrassing, but nothing like as embarrassing as it would have been if carried out by a female teacher when you were still at your state primary school, and that despite the age difference between the two situations, which might otherwise be expected to heighten the embarrassment for an older boy.
As a matter of interest can you recall how Mrs F handled your first caning on the bottom? You say that you’d been caned by her in the first two years when you could keep your pyjama trousers on. Did she comment on the requirement for a change of procedure or did you simply present yourself accordingly, knowing the rules?
You said that your six of the best from the headmaster was much harder and administered with a longer cane than your six strokes from Mrs F. Can you recall please anything about the respective periods the marks lasted, and whether in the case of the caning by Mrs F you noticed any significant difference from her previous canings in this respect? Marks would I guess be a possible reason for the on the bare from the third year decision. If it was decreed that from the third year onwards you’d be caned significantly harder it might have been decided that it would be safer if the caner could see the damage being done by the harder strokes. I don’t recall seeing this mentioned in a school context, but a school could certainly have gone down that path.
You comment on the reactions of boys and girls at your primary school to pupils of the opposite sex being corporeally punished. From memory this varied over the years in primary school. In the early years when girls were generally regarded by boys as strange alien creatures (and doubtless vice versa) I think there was just interest in seeing what would happen and how they’d react. In later years when they’d been recognised as fellow human beings that interest was still strong, but usually overlaid with some sadness and concern if you liked them and it was a severe punishment.
I am not sure why the school had the policy, we were just told that was how it worked, not why. The boys assumed that it was meant to be more painful and embarrassing because older boys should have known better. As you say the embarrassment was not as bad as some school because the lads were used to seeing each other naked. However it was extremely embarrassing being watched by matron and to some extent by Mrs F especially if one got an erection as a result.
Canings in the dorm were very ordered and we were told by Mrs F on day one of the first year that we were to wait for her instructions or we might get more She also told us about the change in the third year although we did not think much about it until it happened for the first time. The procedure was that our name was read out first. In the third year onward we were then ordered to remove our pyjamas including the top before being called to the chair. We were told to stand behind the chair and bend over with our palms on the seat. Mrs F would then adjust us until she was satisfied. This usually meant feet slightly apart and well arched. She would then tap the cane several times before starting.
I can not recall how long the marks lasted but do remember a very restless night and wriggling the next day when sitting.
Regarding the girls, in primary school it was very much accepted that the girls and boys teased each other after a caning and sometime giggled during it.
In view of the many strange and unsettling things which might happen in a school where the more common sexist regime was reversed I am happy that at the only mixed school I attended, my Infant and Junior School, sexism didn’t really rear its ugly head. Well at least it didn’t except that in the top class, which was out-stationed in one of the town’s public buildings, when changing for PT the girls got a comfortable changing room and we boys had to change in a sort of large cupboard under the (admittedly fairly palatial) stairs.
Oh, and I suppose in the Junior School more boys than girls got the slipper and more girls than boys got the ruler on the hand and smacks on the leg. The latter was pretty evenly distributed in the Infant School though!