Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

There has been much correspondence on the above subject.
Were there many Masters who never practiced this ? I do not think that D.S. Roberts or any of the clergy would have done so. I believe that some of the female staff did.
I do not think that HLOF did so, possibly delegating it to Sergeant Fielder.
Housemasters probably did this more than Form Teachers.
Chris B.

I never heard of Corks or Pullen or Mr Bourne (whilst in Col A) beating anyone. I didn't hear of Mr Potts actualy beating anyone but I always felt he had a short temper

I don't think Peter Austin Jones ever beat anyone. I would be surprised if Michael Cherniavsky did, though as a senior housemaster, he would have been sorely tempted. Was anyone here ever beaten by Chern? Or Tim Law?

The only (well-deserved) beating I got was by the housemaster: I don't remember any beatings related to class-related problems, which were usually given drill. Overall, there was very little corporal punishment (unless it was well hidden) and virtually all of the punishment was dealt with by monitors rather than teachers. I don't know if this was a function of the particular house and times, but it was never a topic of conversation, so I suspect beatings were uncommon.

michael scuffil wrote:I don't think Peter Austin Jones ever beat anyone. I would be surprised if Michael Cherniavsky did, though as a senior housemaster, he would have been sorely tempted. Was anyone here ever beaten by Chern? Or Tim Law?

Not sure which Mr Jones that was; if it was the senior housemaster of Prep A he certainly did - virtually every boy in one of the dorms in one session

sejintenej wrote:

michael scuffil wrote:I don't think Peter Austin Jones ever beat anyone. I would be surprised if Michael Cherniavsky did, though as a senior housemaster, he would have been sorely tempted. Was anyone here ever beaten by Chern? Or Tim Law?

Not sure which Mr Jones that was; if it was the senior housemaster of Prep A he certainly did - virtually every boy in one of the dorms in one session

That wasn't P.A.J., David. 'Paj' was a quiet friendly moderate man as I recall, and totally different from Mr Jones, Housemaster of Prep A when I was in Prep B, where Mr Eagle was HM. This Mr Jones was a tall thick-set intimidating man with a bellowing voice. I think everyone lived in fear of him when they were in the Prep houses.

Quite. PAJ was one of the few Prep masters to move to the upper school, where he became junior housemaster of ThB. He was an intellectual aesthete who taught English, not least to grecians, and accompanied the Dramatic Society on its tour of Holland in 1962.

I would support every word that LongGone says. There were some notorious sadists, but on the whole, in my time corporal punishment (in the upper school, I don't know about the Prep) was uncommon. FAR more uncommon than in my council primary school.

michael scuffil wrote:FAR more uncommon than in my council primary school.

Agreed. I still meet up with friends from my Junior School. We still remember hiding in the toilets at lunch time so that we then had the playground to ourselves for football, and then getting caught. Maggs still had the handmarks behind his knee a full two days after the event. His parents complained, to no avail, as I remember.
It only put us off for those days that the particular teacher was on dinner duty.

michael scuffil wrote:I don't think Peter Austin Jones ever beat anyone. I would be surprised if Michael Cherniavsky did, though as a senior housemaster, he would have been sorely tempted. Was anyone here ever beaten by Chern? Or Tim Law?

The Chern was my housemaster in my first year in Barnes B, along with Paddy Cullen, who was Junior Housemaster. From recollection, neither administered corporal punishment that year, although at the end of that year, something happened, both left, and we got a new house captain for the next year. Probably not a beatable offence.
Littlefield in Barnes A, had a reputation and opportunity, as he used it on at least one occasion, to my knowledge, related to Dining Hall misdemeanours.
I think Chern and Cullen were replaced by Miller and Law, and Miller I know, beat someone. Caught seeing his girlfriend off at the station. Rumour has it that he received six, stood up, swore, and immediately bent over again.

Most of the corporal punishment in Ba B, and I suspect, elsewhere, was carried out by the Monitors -----
The Girdle, when twisted, becomes a very efficient weapon.
One particular Monitor-- who shall remain nameless --- had the habit of selecting odd instruments of "Correction" for example a strip of the stem of the ivy outside the dorm window, a pair of bootlaces (Rugby) etc. etc..
He disliked me intensely and was constantly finding an excuse to beat me.
I vowed that if I ever met him, when I had left CH ----I would return the compiments, with some interest ( After 33 fights, as a Boxer, and a few other "Rumbles" -- I was pretty confident !)
We met again, on an Old Blues Day, and were seated next to each other, at Lunch --------
He turned out to be a weedy little man -- and not worth the trouble ---

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Most of the corporal punishment in Ba B, and I suspect, elsewhere, was carried out by the Monitors -----
The Girdle, when twisted, becomes a very efficient weapon.
:

In my days monitors were not allowed to give corporal punishment; we had more sadistic methods which were allowed

sejintenej wrote:

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Most of the corporal punishment in Ba B, and I suspect, elsewhere, was carried out by the Monitors -----
The Girdle, when twisted, becomes a very efficient weapon.
:

In my days monitors were not allowed to give corporal punishment; we had more sadistic methods which were allowed

.... like running round that bl00dy 'mile', not getting back in time, then having to 'DO IT AGAIN !!'

A beating from NTF or R.A.H. was preferable in my book. Over far quicker and the pain only lasted for about half an hour. A beating often tended to make you a hero in-house as well !!

J.R. wrote:

sejintenej wrote:

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Most of the corporal punishment in Ba B, and I suspect, elsewhere, was carried out by the Monitors -----
The Girdle, when twisted, becomes a very efficient weapon.
:

In my days monitors were not allowed to give corporal punishment; we had more sadistic methods which were allowed

.... like running round that bl00dy 'mile', not getting back in time, then having to 'DO IT AGAIN !!'

A beating from NTF or R.A.H. was preferable in my book. Over far quicker and the pain only lasted for about half an hour. A beating often tended to make you a hero in-house as well !!

Like reversing the hurdles on the "cinders" running track and forcing the victim to repeat the race because their time didn't earn the house enough points or refusing to allow first aid when the victim got an eyeful of sand on one of the jumps because (see above)

J.R. wrote:

sejintenej wrote:

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:Most of the corporal punishment in Ba B, and I suspect, elsewhere, was carried out by the Monitors -----
The Girdle, when twisted, becomes a very efficient weapon.
:

In my days monitors were not allowed to give corporal punishment; we had more sadistic methods which were allowed

.... like running round that bl00dy 'mile', not getting back in time, then having to 'DO IT AGAIN !!'

A beating from NTF or R.A.H. was preferable in my book. Over far quicker and the pain only lasted for about half an hour. A beating often tended to make you a hero in-house as well !!

But, of course (Sorry about the pun), we had to do Loops and Miles, in a given time -- according to age--- AND get the whackings as well !!
(Though not for the same offence, -- I would rather do the running !)

LongGone wrote:The only (well-deserved) beating I got was by the housemaster: I don't remember any beatings related to class-related problems, which were usually given drill. Overall, there was very little corporal punishment (unless it was well hidden) and virtually all of the punishment was dealt with by monitors rather than teachers. I don't know if this was a function of the particular house and times, but it was never a topic of conversation, so I suspect beatings were uncommon.

How can a beating ever be well-deserved?