Hello I, Researcher,

Your labours in this Forum do you immense credit!  But I fear that I must add to your burdens.

Ever alert for even the merest hint of secondary school girls caned in front of the whole school, especially as late as 1971 to 1976 when one might reasonably expect such barbaric habits to be on the decline in state schools, do you have any further details available of:

The Countess Of Derby (Secondary) – Netherton

Beryl – b1960 – Cane across unspecified anatomy by unnamed teacher (on stage) – 1971 to 1976
Angela – b1960 – Cane across unspecified anatomy by unnamed teacher (on stage) – 1971 to 1976

In particular was this a joint caning and what were the punishments administered for?

Was The Countess of Derby secondary school a state school?

Was it a mixed school?

Were any details of what happened given in exchanges about the incident?

Thank you for any additional detail you are able to provide.

Hello Another-Lurker,

Unfortunately, Beryl doesn’t give too much away.  Whilst commenting on a photograph she simple mentions:

‘i remember getting the cane on that stage me and angela b***** x’

Regarding the school itself, there is not that much information about it.  It appears that it was initially a state secondary modern girls’ school, that followed the common pattern of becoming a mixed comprehensive around 1973.  It changed name to Bootle High School in 1984 and was closed and demolished in 2010.  According to contemporaries the headmistress for Beryl & Angela’s timeframe will have been Mrs Griffiths.   I’m sorry that I can’t tell you any more than that.

I, Researcher: Another great effort. Many Thanks

Somerville (Juniors) – Wallasey

Jane – b1967 – Ruler across bottom by male teacher – 1974 to 1978
Suzanne – b1967 – Ruler across bottom by male teacher – 1974 to 1978
Elaine – b1967 – Ruler across bottom by male teacher – 1974 to 1978

As it was the same MO I am guessing it was the same teacher?

Thank you I, Researcher for your excellent work.
I noticed that there were four girls in 1975 caned across the legs.
Jean – b1959 – Cane across legs by female teacher – to 1975
Franny – b1959 – Cane across legs by female teacher – 1975
Jackie – b1959 – Cane across legs by female teacher – 1975
Ann (A) – b1959 – Cane across legs by female teacher – 1975

Are there any more details? Were they caned together?

Hello Iansallos,

You are correct in that it was the same teacher who applied the ruler to the bottoms of girls at Somerville Juniors in the 70s.  I could only find the two accounts listed below…

From Jane:

‘Mr Wood gave me and girl called Suzanne [Surname omitted] the ruler across the bum! I always thought he liked it just a bit too much!’ 

And Elaine:

‘I remember him, he hit me on the arse with a ruler.’

I also found evidence of leg slapping at Somerville by female teachers. However, I was unable to ascertain the dates.  Based on this and the fact that I have only found 3 cases (1 of them being a shared case), I don’t think there is enough evidence to establish a MO.  What I have noticed is that there appears to be a lot less Primary School CP related information compared to Secondary available on social media.

Hello Grammar School Boy,

You are correct that all 4 girls were caned together.  Here is Jean’s retelling of the account:

‘i remember that cow allways cane,d me lol and steward was r teacher for 3 years on the bounce hated her haa i rember me franny [Surname omitted]  jackie [Surname omitted]  and ann [Surname omitted]  got wake with the cane on r last day there on r legs, and franny took the cane off her and waked miss steward back with it haaa never laughd so much haaaa’

During my research I have encountered many cases of pupils and parents assaulting teachers in revenge.  I certainly don’t believe all of them.  However, in this case, with it being Franny’s last day, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt.

Hello I, Researcher,

Thank you for the additional data.  You really do provide a most excellent service!

I find it quite surprising that in commenting on the picture of, presumably, the school stage, Beryl would say no more than ‘i remember getting the cane on that stage me and angela b***** x’.

Had I been caned on stage, presumably in front of the school, I’d be shouting the details out to the world.  “Hey. look at me, I was the sort of devil may care pupil who so enraged the school authorities that they had to resort to caning me up on stage in front of everyone”.

But of course I wasn’t that sort of pupil.  The highlight of my SCP career was way, way below being caned on stage!  However perhaps Beryl was such a pupil.  Being caned on stage, what a laugh, but so common it was  hardly worth mentioning for her!  Yes, I think that must be it! 

Hi I Researcher
Congratulations on your tremendous research. it sure makes interesting reading. I attended school in the North West and was a pupil at one of the schools on your list.
Imagine my surprise when i discovered that girls were slippered and caned by male teachers.
I was always under the impression that girls did not receive C.P at my school,obviously i was wrong and the thought that i was probably caned or slippered by one of those teachers got me wondering if my older sister had ever been punished when she attended. She did tell me once that she saw one plimsoll in the p.e mistresses cupboard, why one ? Perhaps i might never find out as my sister always said that only boys got the cane or the slipper

Hi sc545474

Very interesting post. Were the girls who reported being slippered and caned at the school there at the same time as you? You do have the advantage in that you could validly join the group on Facebook and find out more, even if you just lurk.

I must say that I have been quite surprised by some of the comments from those who attended my boys’ high school. Some were made by boys I knew or knew of. Whilst overall they are not inconsistent with my experience, many of the details were unexpected.

Hello sc545474,

You say that you were surprised to learn from I, Researcher‘s meticulous listings of Facebook records that girls were subject to corporal punishment at your school, and that sometimes they were caned or slippered by male teachers.

This point has been made here before by myself and others. Young women are in general a great deal more attuned to conducting themselves as responsible and well behaved members of society than are young men.  In the days when SCP was still extant boys would provoke teachers to the point where they received corporal punishment, feel quite proud of their efforts and boast to their friends about the incident.  Girls would seldom deliberately provoke teachers but if they inadvertently incurred corporal punishment they would generally feel ashamed of themselves and would treat the incident with some secrecy as in their eyes it reflected badly on them.

Also in many schools there was a general culture of treating girls with rather more delicacy than boys.  A teacher might make no secret of the fact that a boy was going to get whacked and quite commonly would apply the punishment in front of the class.  However, at least in secondary schools, it was fairly common for girls to be whacked privately.  A discreet request that the erring girl stay behind after class or attend somewhere more private later and no public announcement that corporal punishment was in prospect.

As a result the corporal punishment of girls was very much an invisible and unnoticed component of discipline in some schools and even other pupils at the school could be unaware that it happened.  The passage of the years and the advent of social media has led some women to reveal punishments they probably treated with shame and secrecy at the time and it is becoming clear that rather more girls were subject to SCP than had been generally thought.

Hello sc545474,

I’m glad to be of service.  I was always confident that I’d eventually research a school that one of us attended.