Thank you very much for sharing that neilmc32.  Although not unheard of (e.g Miss J Dimes) I believe the use of the cane was very rare in girls only schools  And being administered by a Headmaster must have been very rare indeed.

Hi Sir John; based on the comments on historical groups when school CP is brought up, I don’t think caning of girls was all that rare in the sense of not being permitted, just not a first resort with girls like it often was with boys. “Posh” all-girls schools tended to use shame, humiliation and letting the school down. Greenhead was a rare example of an all-girls school having a male head, but because it was in transition to a sixth form college. In most mixed schools with a male head the head would often but not always delegate CP to a senior female member of staff.

A good friend of mine did the deed in reverse, she was a fairly senior mistress and was cornered into caning a boy on the hand at a school in Liverpool. I’ve never dared ask whether she later made a habit of it, I think not as she said she was quite unhappy at having to do it.

neilmc32

Agree with you that there are many reported instances of girls being caned but in my experience these have usually been in mixed schools. or pre 1955  As far as I am aware the cane was never used in Girls only grammar schools in London after the mid 50s  . Although I understand 1st and 2nd year junior girls were not exempt from a couple of taps with a slipper. Especially in gym class.

Hay Currie ,a tough East London mixed secondary school with a high caning reputation, banned the caning of girls by teachers other than the Headmaster  in 1958 and this subsequently very rarely occurred, possibly not at all. ,.   I also understand the majority of mixed schools in Essex completely banned the caning of girls during the 1970s.

Do not dispute there were exceptions, e.g. Miss Dimes and those instances reported by  good wife but still believe the use of the cane in all girls schools was very very rare after he mid 60s. Of course I would have no objection to being proved completely  wrong

Hello Sir John 2,

Oh yes, that lady would certainly make the grade!   It is well known here that Another_Lurker has a thing about elegant long skirts.

I am surprised though that you missed the description of the event posted slightly lower down the same page by a schoolgirl pictured relating to her friends what happened:

What actually happened then Trudy?

Well I was walking past the headmistress’s window as she was pulling her curtains, which I thought strange as I understood she was at the sixth form graduation party.   I noticed a gap so I peeped in.

Yes and?

Well there was Another_Lurker, from the sixth form taking his blazer off. Then he dropped his trousers and pants and touched his toes, and the headmistress stood at his side with a cane, and gave him twelve of the best.

Oh my god, did he yell?

I couldn’t hear but his bum was wiggling around a lot,

Giggles

Alas Tumbex/Tumblr does not tell us at which school this paragon of painful punitive practices plied her trade.  I rather suspect none, but that’s just my nasty suspicious mind.  The one thing I am absolutely certain of is that it wasn’t Nottingham High School, more’s the pity!

My Dear A L

Thank you very much for your (again)  excellent contribution.  Great find in the pic used to illustrate your supplementary.

Your thirst for knowledge and investigative abilities never cease to amaze me but some of our readers might prefer some stones left unturned  .

An entertaining little story but I suspect we all realised it was nothing more then a story. Another_Lurker is to be congratulated on his work to identify the young lady in the photo!

The mention of any French girl will often bring to mind the wonderful Francoise Hardy. Mademoiselle Hardy was many a young man’s dream French girl in the 1960s. The fact that very few British teenage boys of that era understood the words of the songs that she sang didn’t matter!

For clarification and the avoidance of doubt:

My initial check indicated that Sir John 2 had found the picture and text in his contribution #34 on the page here, and the picture and text (slightly amended) that I used in my response in my post #35 are found on the same page a little lower down.

However further checks indicate that there are other pages where Sir John 2 could have found his picture and text, such as this one, which do not also feature the item I used.  My apologies for any confusion which might thus have been caused by my reference in #35 to missing the description of the same event lower down the same page.

Hello Sir John 2,

You wrote in #37:

…………….  but some of our readers might prefer some stones left unturned  .

Sorry, does not compute.  Could you re-input, or rather clarify for me please?

Hello six of the best,

Thank you for your congratulations in #38.  As a token of my gratitude here is a photograph of Francoise Hardy.   A very attractive young lady, but, in that photograph at least, lacking the gravitas displayed by Dorothée in the picture discussed earlier in the thread.

However the picture of Francoise Hardy dates, I suspect, from the mid 1960s, a time of optimism and enlightenment, whereas that of Dorothée is not only in a more formal setting but is also from the mid 1980s, when the world wasn’t quite so rosy.   In the spirit of the thread’s title I shall therefore state categorically that if in a scholastic environment, real or fantasy, Another_Lurker had found himself a pupil being taught by either lady and, unlikely as it may seem given his dedication to avoiding SCP,  had been instructed to bend over for cane, or more likely martinet, he’d have done so without hesitation.  And if the latter implement was delivered in traditional mode, well c’est la vie!

Another_Lurker: You mention the martinet, a very French implement for juvenile corporal punishment. They were readily available in hardware shops and general stores. I remember seeing them whilst holidaying in the Loire Valley, Saumur I think, in around 1970. There was a stack of about a dozen on a general store shelf, they had no wrapping or indication of their intended use.
For those unware of such implements, the martinet is a short ‘whip’; a wooden handle of around 25cm with about ten leather thongs similar to leather boot laces at the business end. From what I have read they were used by many French parents in the past. As to its M O it was intended, I believe, to be used on disobedient children in the traditional spanking position – bare bottom over the knee. I don’t know if any French schools used the martinet, in fact I know nothing of French SCP!
I can think of no readily available English equivalent purpose made item for family spanking use. I have, of course, read of school punishment canes being on sale in educational suppliers. Other British implements were slippers/plimsolls, table tennis bats, wooden spoons and trouser belts, etc. None of which were sold explicitly for CP.
The name martinet originates from the name of an 18th century  French Lieutenant Colonel, Jean Martinet, known for his strict military discipline.
Once again I have not referred to our old Scottish friend the Tawse. Something I know little of although I understand variants were used in the North of England schools notably Manchester and in the Midland town of Walsall.
Should anyone else here have more knowledge or indeed experience of the French Tawse, I for one, would be delighted to learn more of it.