So people had to find out what the mildest forms used in the Public Schools was. The source for this information was the report of a large inquiry into the top Public Schools undertaken in 1864 – the Report of Her Majestyâs Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Revenues and Management of Certain Colleges and Schools, and the Studies Pursued and Instruction Given Therein..
The 1864 Commission had examined virtually every aspect of the running of nine Public Schools – Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Charterhouse, St Pauls, Merchant Taylors, Harrow, Rugby, and Shrewsbury – including their policies on corporal punishment. At the time of the report, the mildest punishment regime of any of these schools was that of St Paul’s – where Masters administered up to six strokes of the cane on the palm of the hands.
And so this was adopted as the standard in the London School Board area. And from there, the standard gradually permeated across England and Wales – it wasn’t absolutely enforced, but it became the most common standard.