The belt, was as its name suggests. As a rule it would be doubled over and applied to hands or bottom. I am not sure if it was used in school very much, but do recall during the war mums sending their sons to school with the belt, or inviting me to call round home as their fathers were off in the war. It was, in my view a hard thing to use without a lot of practice. I got it from my father, and certainly used it on boys, but in a “parental” context rather than headmaster.
The strap was a short piece of leather, sometimes two sown together. The ends were not cut and was widely used in the Midlands. Most teachers kept a strap, which as a rule was about 12 inches long. The strap was nearly always applied to the hand.
A tawse was about the same length, but was split at the ends. It was used mainly in Scotland, but in certain parts of England. I always thought it was used only on the hands. My grandson has done research and can prove, that in Scotland, it was used on the bottom, and boys were required to take it bare.