Burnley Grammar School

Willy on 7th April.

I don't know that there was an actual ban on bare bottom caning in the state sector, it was maybe more that it just didn't happen. AFAIK each LEA set the rules and what was approved was likely to have been in line with the experiences of the members. I know that in the London Borough of Richmond where my parents lived the rules stated that corporal punishment was not to be used on girls, it was not to be administered to the hands and the cane was to be used. That was as much as was stated and anything else was at the discretion of the headmaster. A headmaster who administered a bare bottom caning was not then breaking the rules but of course I have no idea whether it happened or not.

At my boarding school caning was always in private in the master's study. Occasionally there was the threat of a caning in front of the whole school but I never witnessed one and never heard from anyone that it had ever happened. There was a master of discipline who was also a championship squash player and he generally caned when a boy had been referred to the headmaster, having had it from him a couple of times it was definitely quite a lot worse than the norm and then norm was pretty bad.

Any master was allowed to cane, records were kept and you had to initial the book. The entry ran something like:

Jameson, Paul. Form 4A. Insolence. 8 Bare buttocks.

For whatever reason the school had a long tradition of working in multiples of four so four, eight or twelve were the norm eight being the most common. Twelve was pretty unusual and while I had plenty of 8s over the years I only had three 12s.

There was no secret about it, the subject of punishment was dealt with in the school handbook which every parent had and had signed an acknowledgement of having read.

The section went something like 'the school governors have determined that corporal punishment is the most effective means of correcting wrong doing and detering repeat or even initial breaking of the rules. It will also be used to spur on the attitude of an underperforming or lazy boy who is not doing his best in his studies or general participation in the life of the school. The instrument of correction is the cane and up to twelve strokes will be administered to the bare buttocks of an errant boy'. Says it all!

There was no age limit on caning - I got my last one in the Easter term of my last year at the age of eighteen after I absented myself from classes one afternoon. There was a general belief that an older boy benefited even more from a bare bottom caning as having to lower his trousers was an added humiliation.

I don't think I agreed with the latter, it was a boarding school, we slept in open dormitories, we showered in communal showers, we swam naked in the pool, there was nothing unusual about lowering your trousers and underpants in front of another man so it may have bothered some, it certainly didn't bother me - the sting of the cane did!

Reading the posts re bare bottom caning at my school back in late 50's early 60's we were caned on our bare bottom in private in the heads study, I was caned once at 13 because I was heard swearing by the teacher and sent to the head, as my dad was his gardener he gave me two options :- 3 strokes on the bare bottom and he told my dad or 6 on the bare bottom and that was it, I chose the latter as my dad would have trebled what I had been given and a grounding as well.

In the showers after I was told that the stripes were very visible, I did get some relief from freezing cold water over my bottom, but the pain still came back, and I couldn't hide it at home when sitting down, dad had me drop my shorts and pants and he examined me and said I had been punished enough but docked my pocket money anyway for that weekend.

Looking back to end of the humiliations that largely ended in Easter 1987, I think most PE teachers were closet paedophiles 30 years. The communal showers where you were forced to be naked in front of other males. If gym class was cancelled at the last moment you could be made to do swimming in see through white shorts. Other punishments by the coach included having to bend over and being whacked on the backside or being forced to 10 press ups with the PE teacher pushing your groin into the ground. At least with the development of a professional middle class and the moves towards a multi-cultural pro-feminist society these abuses have largely been consigned to living memory in the UK.

I recall my Brother, who Fifteen years Older than myself speaking of being offered the option of Six with Slipper Shorts Up or Four Shorts Down! Ring any bells with anyone?
This was a Boarding School in Scotland in the Mid Sixties!

I can recall lads getting the slipper Naked in the Locker Room when they were messing. But you must remember nudity really meant nothing to us. We seen each other in the Buff Everyday

Archie - Thanks for the info. They are more revealing than I expected but I suppose in those days (1)there was only one fat boy per class and (2) boys had not been taught by feminists to be ashamed of their bodies.

You are right Paul no on accepts the consequences of their bad behaviour any more. People expect to be able to misbehave & get away with it.

As the previous posters have said bare bottom caning and slippering could have been carried out in some private and boading schools, but not in public(government)schools.
What I would like to ask Paul and others who received it is if this was carried out in private or in front of other students.
Also if all teachers at their school had this authority to cane boys bare, or if only certain staff or teachers could do this.
And was there an age limit where boys could be caned bare?

Richie - 5th April.

Boarding school in northern England in the 60s & 70s, the cane on bare bottom was the norm. No one thought anything of it as it was just what happened.

I have no resentment, every time I got it I deserved it and knew the consequences of my behaviour.

Turner, just looked up the pic you refer to. Those are far more covering than the slips we are talking about. The ones my Dad and teachers wore were triangles of cloth at the front and straps around the sides and up,the arse. This is the closest I've been able to find online.

http://www.internationaljock.com/gregg-homme-affair-sheer-knit-string-khaki,36815.html

My Dad''s was blue with white straps and my teachers all had black ones. My Dad's one was really faded with age - presumably from the chlorine.

Richie

I think in the 1950's/60's some schools (nearly all private) may have caned shorts/pj's down. It's also just about possible that one or two still made lads report to the gym for a caning, and that this was carried out totally naked.

Beyond that I think canings were on at least PE shorts/underpants.

Stuart

Just going back to the side-fastening swimming slips, there is a famous photo by Nino Migliori called Il Tuffatore (The Diver) from 1951 showing the fastening. Possibly they had been modernised by the time our correspondents wore theirs.

In response to the comment on 1st April by Stuart, does anyone know whether any schools actually administered the cane to a bare backside? Or would that have been considered a step too far in the 50's 60's?

Same for us but was a mix of slipper, tawse and cane

Tim

We had detentions in the gym, and you were caned for 3 or more detentions in a school year. Additionally, serious "crimes" got a detention and x strokes.

So it happened a fair bit.

Underpants weren't allowed under shorts for all pe/sports and naturally, detentions.

Re the caning over the vaulting horse,was this a regular occur regularly? Thin shorts presumably no underwear as was the custom those days OUCH!

I remember the vaulting horse in our school gym for a totally different reason!

It wasn't jumping over it, so much as being told to fetch the cane from the PE teachers office, then being told to get into position, stretched over the horse, waiting (nervously) for the first stroke of the cane to land. We were never caned naked, but with just thin cotton shorts on, it was all but the same.

We had to use the vaulting horse too, although I can't recollect having to do a somersault over it. I think that the girls in the gym display team did, but I was never that good!

I use to hate having to use the ropes; my arms didn't seem strong enough to haul myself up them.

For some reason the vaulting horse seemed very popular back in the 1950s/60s. I was terrified of it; not because of what it was, but what the teacher insisted I had to do with it.

I was ordered to run up as quickly as I could, then jump with the assistance of a wooden spring board, do a somersault over the top and land on my feet on the other side.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing, but I had to give it my best effort nevertheless. Other boys seemed to have no difficulty, so the teacher reckoned I should find it easy too.

But, despite my valiant efforts, the best I ever achieved was to land in a heap on one side or the other of the dreadful thing, thankfully avoiding breaking my neck in the process.

I still think the "speedo" style swimming briefs are best. shame that so many people think badly of them. As kids that was all that was available but in those days it was was always the cheapest one available one available.

OK Archie, at least you were wearing decent ones.

Rob, he might have done but I never did. I wore normal swimming trunks (briefs) with Stars and Stripes on the IIRC!

Archie, did your father not think that you should wear one as well?

Rob, yes other men wore them at the baths. I didn't really think much of it at the time because of that - older men didn't seem to wear them, just the younger ones.

The slips were only worn for swimming. For PE and football we wore shorts

Archie, it seems that these slips were not uncommon as your masters and other posters wore them. You mentioned earlier that you suspected the design was linked to post war rationing so you must have thought they were obviously very brief. Did other members of your father's club wear them and how did you feel about seeing him wearing one?

Re slips - just for swimming and then only by masters. Normal PE was black shorts, worn commando, and white plimsoles.

With regards to string slips, this is about all some young ladies wear these days either on the beach or a swimming pool. Two pieces of material held together by String

About string slips, I remember seeing some old pictures of the Victorian era which were commonly worn then for PE and also athletics and other sports, though I never heard of them being used in our era. So I guess that this was a tradition which was kept in some schools as previous posters have mentioned.
What I would like to know from these posters is if they were only worn for swimming or also for other PE or sports activities.

It was King Edward VI Grammar in Chelmsford

Hi Amy,

I stayed in my knickers. Most because this is what I was used to and my mum wouldn't buy a leotard, frightened that it would only be used once a week. I think most other mums thought the same way.