The Year Sixes have been looking at a very old book from the school’s archives called ‘The Punishment Book’. It was kept between 1900 and 1962 and it details bad behaviour and the punishments administered to pupils as a result. Most punishments were strokes of the cane, either on the hand or across the shoulders.
Below are some examples from the book.
On 4 November 1901 Joseph Stapleton was hit twice on the hand and four times across the shoulders for persistent talking.
On 15 November 1901 Harry Stapleford got ‘1 stripe’ across the back and the across the hand for persistent talking.
On 22 October 1902 Arthur Kirk was caned for ‘tickling the girls in the row in front of him’ having already been warned not to.
On 6 December 1907, Mabel Hodson and Eva Wilford got ‘one stripe’ on the hand and two across the shoulders for ‘indecent writing’.
In 1912, on 24 May, Samuel Durrand stole some pen nibs and he received one stripe on each hand and three across his back.
In 1913, Ernest Cox was hit twice on both hands for ‘setting fire to a girl’s pinafore on leaving school’.
In 1915 on 3 March, Wilson Pearson was hit three times on the back for insolence and then four more times for throwing a pen at his teacher when he became angry after being caned.
On 15 December 1916, Harold Cox received ‘about six stripes across the back’ as after receiving a slight punishment he began thumping the boy next to him and he had refused to take punishment in other ways.
On 31 October 1917, there was a fight involving Harry and Robert Lambert and Harold and Bertie Cox. This took place in the dinner hour and they also used ‘foul language’; as a result they all got a punishment of two stripes on each hand.
On 29 September 1919, Gilbert Watchorn was disobedient, refused to take a slight punishment and was insolent. He got several stripes across the back and one on the hand.
On 15 September 1920, Alec Bailey was given one stripe across each hand for cutting the desk with a knife. On 6 October 1921, Wallis Hill was not paying attention in class and he was also playing around. He refused to take punishment on the hand so he got three stripes across the back. However, he then dashed out of the school.
On 11 September 1923, Neville Watchorn received two strokes for playing with a balloon in lesson time.
On 30 October 1924, Dennis Bray got one stroke for telling a lie.
On 24 March 1925, Iain Swain got one stroke for climbing on the tiles.
On 31 March 1925, Harry Cox, Cyril Hill and Noel Pritchett got two strokes each for ‘reading improper chapters in the Bible’.
On 10 November 1925, Noel Pritchett and Jack Barnett got two strokes each for climbing on the roof of the porch.
On 11 February 1926 Edwin Pearson and Kenneth Giblett got 2 strokes each for ‘inattention and copying in arithmetic’.
The final entry in the book is from 28th February 1962, when Alan Watchorn received 2 strokes of the cane for insolence.
The original cane is still in school. Just in case…
