What really shocks me in all this is that the state should enforce and allow the birching of children as young as 8,which is equivalent to a flagellation at that age. And this in fairly recent times,with the approval of most politicians who were supposed to represent the people. And in what was considered the most civilised nation on earth.
This didn’t take place even in Nazi Germany during the same era. Not to children anyway.
And even when the cane was abolished from schools in England inthe 70s somehow the law did not apply to approved schools and borstals. This came much later. So boys,and probably girls,were still being strapped in these institutions up to a few years ago. Usually it was not the cane or birch that was used in these institutions but a leather strap. There are several biographic books written on this subject, among them “Borstal Boy” which comes to mind.