Unabashed by post-Freudian anxieties about physical contact, the old propensity to hit boys was part of a broader enthusiasm for touching which let many masters throw a comradely arm round boys’ shoulders. In primary school boys learnt the ABC from Miss Hay (staff 1862-70) literally sitting on her knew. As late as the 1940s. Gilray could hug a boy. David Grounds (1946), although aiming for Medicine still wanted to study English Literature, evoking a spontaneous embrace from Gilray in the middle of the quadrangle.
School Corporal Punishment History40
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