The following was a notably caning of a neighbourhood boy when I was in the fourth form and he was in the upper sixth. There was great interest in the case but we never learned the details. 

Beneficiary: Alistair (school prefect), aged 17 or 18, year 1958

Crime committed or alleged: Unknown / not disclosed.

Administered by male French  teacher in the principal’s office, possibly in the principal’s absence.

Six-of-the-best from the cane on school uniform shorts while bent over, probably over a chair.

Highly effective. The boy suffered no other recriminations. He remained a prefect and likely received a good character reference from the school. He was embarrassed but not degraded in the eyes of other boys. He went on to become a long-serving general medical practitioner.

No prefect or upper sixth former was subsequently caned, suspended or expelled for a long time after. Younger boys were usefully reminded that no one was immune.

When I was in the upper sixth we (8 boys)  walked past the same teacher’ s classroom, talking. His windows were open and he took great offence at us disrupting his class, causing much greater and longer lasting disruption than our transient passing. I got the impression he seriously contemplated caning us but thought better of it. It would have to be six-of-the-best, senior boys never got less, the Principal would have to agree, as would most but not necessarily all eight of us. If the majority agreed the pressure on the reluctant would have been overwhelming. If it had happened, it would have been the talk of the whole school.

I was slippered twice in 6th Form age was no immunity from slippering or the cane!

The French master chastises perfect prefect Alistair circa 1958
Opinions varied. Some said that 6 strokes were very much worse than four. Others stated that their “bum went sort of numb” after a few strokes and they hardly noticed the last strokes of the six.

When i got 6 my bum never went numb felt every stroke.

In 1952 I got my hand strapped by the classroom teacher (female) in front of the class. It was my first time. Naively, I held my right hand out in front rather than to the side at shoulder height as more experienced boys did. The low hand position gave the strap more time and space to accelerate and presented a less easily displaced target.

I and another boy, Peter, a known trouble maker, were strapped for making a disturbance. Peter had been moved to the front to sit beside goodie goodie me. He got us both into trouble.

The punishment was effective for me but much less so for Peter. I decided I did not want to be strapped again. I was subsequently strapped mainly for spelling errors. These strappings did not work and I remain bad at spelling.

I was caned in the 6th form for missing assembly. I received 4 strokes across the backside…. and it hurt.

bripuk wrote: I was caned in the 6th form for missing assembly. I received 4 strokes across the backside…. and it hurt.

Bripuk, This is shocking confession!

You were lucky to get off so lightly. Such offences can quickly lead to others – not wearing a cap, late return of library books, failure to complete homework, affray in the school yard, theft of post office ballpoint pens, soon leading to armed robbery, mutiny, arson, murder, treason and the fall of the Empire.

I do very much hope the punishment was effective at bringing home to you the error of your ways, deterring a repeat and deterring emulations by younger more impressionable boys.

I could cope with the cane it was the slipper – a size 12 rubber soled plimsoll administered as hard as possible by a young fit PE master that really hurt. It was given across shorts and left a raised welt on your behind. Dirty kit including the bottom of your rugby boots, swearing on the field, any excuse and it was bend over for up to 6 vicious wallops on your backside.

Oh yes the plimsoll was very painful. I got 6 bare bottom from head of PE for swearing on field gad me in tears at 16.