It’s notable that part of the controversy about the case related to the fact that he was also struck with a Blackthorn walking stick after the cane was broken and this was considered an inappropriate instrument – but the cane had been appropriate, meaning that by 1835, it’s use at Rugby was accepted and non-controversial rather than any sign of it being new. However, in another case that also caused controversy a couple of years earlier (‘The March Case’ which was loosely fictionalized in the recent Tom Brown’s School Days starring Stephen Fry as Doctor Arnold, and which many people complained was not from the book), the birch was used.
Origin and Reason for using the Cane4
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