A Very Special School

The Commander and Mr Selby, each took a pickle rod and applied alternate strokes to Lodge' arse until even he begged them to stop. And that is how the saga of Lodge and Parry ended. I believe Parry went his way, chastened by his three months' experience, but Lodge soon finished up in prison. As the Commander observed to Mr Selby, some boys just fall into the category of "future old lags" and Lodge was clearly one of them.

But Lodge was not alone in his persistent trouble making, for there were others with the same bent and we shall now see how the Commander dealt with a small group of boys, who, in spite of regular canings, seemed determined, by their incessant bad behaviour, to disrupt the smooth running of the school.

Chapter 17

It was near the end of the third term and the Commander had convened a special staff meeting to discuss what he called "an urgent matter".

"Gentlemen," he began, "I have called you here today to discuss a matter which has been growing in importance over the past few months and which is becoming a true thorn in the flesh of this school. A small number of boys, in fact precisely twelve, a round dozen in number, is attempting to undermine everything we are trying to do in this establishment. These boys are a constant source of irritation and disruption, and all of them must be well known to you, the teaching staff, and equally to you, their housemasters. Each of the boys on this list, has been caned either by me or by his housemaster at least twelve times in the last three months; and here I speak only of caning noted in the punishment records and not the occasional whack in the corridors from one of the housemasters or the mild canings they get when they have been sent out from the classroom for bad behaviour. It is as if there is a fifth column operating in the school, totally intent in creating mayhem, but of course this is imaginary, as the boys are just a series of individual youths who find it difficult to obey the rules and enjoy causing problems, which they appear to have done at an alarming rate."

"Obviously, this situation cannot be allowed to continue unchecked and I have therefore given a great deal of thought as to the corrective action we can take. It is clear that the cane alone is not sufficient, for the boys in question persist in continuing their ways, in the full knowledge that they will get a sore arse at the end of their capers. So, I have decided that a combination of pain and shame shall be visited upon these boys. I intend to birch the twelve of them in front of their classmates, in the hope that a severe punishment in public with their naked arses exposed to their peers, in what might best be described as "a before and after" mode, might ultimately have an effect and set these young miscreants on the straight and narrow."

"Therefore, gentlemen, all first classes this coming Friday morning will be cancelled and the twelve boys in question will be thoroughly birched before the full morning assembly, immediately after the usual morning prayers and announcements. I would ask each of you as housemasters, for the boys are dispersed across the four houses, to inform those who are to be punished, of my decision this evening, so that they have tonight and Thursday to contemplate their fate; they can stew in their own juice for a day or so and suffer the mental anguish which precedes a thrashing. The boys are all from the lower age group: they are all eighteen years old and I look to the housemasters of the older boys to delegate four of them to move the two birching benches together with the birch buckets and their contents from the punishment room onto the stage in the assembly hall on Thursday evening. I have already ensured that sufficient freshly cut birch rods will be available for soaking by Thursday evening."

"The housemasters should then inform those unfortunate boys in their care who are destined for punishment, that they must attend Friday's assembly wearing only their gym singlets and shorts and no, I repeat, no underwear of any kind. The twelve miscreants must be told to stand in the front row at the assembly and be ready to mount the platform when told to do so."

"As for the administration of the birch, you Mr. Selby and I will thrash the first two miscreants and I would ask the rest of you to divide the task of beating the other ten boys among yourselves as you see fit. It will be salutatory for the onlookers to see that all the housemasters are behind this "initiative"' shall I call it? And for now, gentlemen, that is all, I think so we can now close this meeting; thank you, gentlemen and I wish you a pleasant evening."

As ever with the Commander, as his title implied, he commanded and asked neither for comments nor for guidance; he had decided and that was that; his will would be done!

The Friday morning assembly was already abuzz when the Commander appeared on the platform to conduct morning prayers. How the word got around as to what was to happen, who knows, but as it always does, it did, and the boys were all agog with wondering what exactly was going to happen to the twelve supplicants. The birching benches and birches soaking in their buckets were in full view and the atmosphere was what I suppose we today would call "electric" in what was then still a gaslight world. The normal proceedings over, the Commander advanced to the front of the stage and addressed the boys in what might best be described as his "I am the lord thy god" voice.

"You can all see that preparations have been made for administration of the birch to certain miscreant boys. This is the very first occasion on which certain of your school mates will be punished in front of you all, as an example of what will happen to anyone who adopts the paths of of disruption and mayhem. Now, the twelve of you in the front row, kindly step up onto the platform as I read out your names, so that schoolmates can see clearly who you are."

The twelve lads who were to have their arses publicly roasted mounted slowly onto the platform as the Commander went on.

"The twelve young tearaways you now see before you, have, during this first year of operation of this school, done their very best to sow disruption and discord throughout the school. Their actions have, of course, been punished in the usual and time honoured way, by visits to the punishment room or to my own study, as well as in their own houses by their housemasters. But these punishments have, apparently, had no effect, for every boy here in front of you today has been caned at least twelve times during the last three months. I say at least twelve times as three of the miscreants have had their buttocks thrashed no less then eighteen times during the same period, apparently to no avail, as their misdemeanours have continued. This, boys, cannot go on; I will not allow the smooth running of the school to be disrupted any longer by the actions of a few misguided youths. I trust I make myself clear."

"And so, today, on this platform, in front of all of you, these twelve young offenders will meet what I think might well be described as their "Waterloo", as they bend over the birching horse to have their backsides birched in public; and believe me when I say it will be the most severe birching that anyone of them has ever experienced. It is my earnest hope that this act of public humiliation and pain in front of their schoolmates will, finally bring home to them that their past behaviour has been intolerable and that they must, from now on, toe the line. This will, I hope, be a salutatory lesson for all of them and also for all of you, for as you watch your schoolmates receive their just deserts, bear in mind the saying: there but for the grace of God, go I."

"Now, you boys who are to be punished, stand facing me on the platform, take of your singlets and shorts, put your hands on your heads and present your buttocks to your classmates so that they can see what I will call "the before" look! And all of you, remain in that position until I tell you to move"

The housemasters and teaching staff, all of whom were present for this increasingly dramatic presentation, were as surprised or should I say, shocked, at the Commander's orders, as none of them had had the slightest idea that he would make the miscreant lads stand stark naked in front to their classmates. But as he had said the previous evening, he hoped that the combination of a public beating and humiliation in front of their peers would make them see the error of their ways. Well, humiliation was here by the cartload! Already the older boys watching were beginning to become hard as were members of the staff as they watched unfold, what was clearly about to be a unique homoerotic spectacle. No one would have dared to use that word in describing what what happening, but said or unsaid, the spectacle was clearly becoming very hardcore.

Today, we would probably be shocked by what the Commander was doing, but well into the twentieth century, it was not at all uncommon to birch or cane miscreants naked in front of their peers and indeed, in the various military and naval cadet training corps, punishment parades of naked offenders were the norm.

However, this theatrical drama as the Commander had foreseen it, was quite unique; conceived to make a point, which it did in abundance, it was also an occasion when the Commander and his cohorts could indulge their penchant for sadism. This word was never mentioned, not even among those who practised it, but there was a strong sadistic component in what the Commander was now enacting. And the same sentiment was shared among many of the on-looking boys, who although horrified by the thought that the same thing might one day be visited upon them, enjoyed, nevertheless a certain vicarious pleasure in watching their classmates suffer, whilst experiencing themselves sexual arousal and gratification; in short, like boys the world over, they took pleasure in watching with horror their peers being beaten.

The twelve unfortunate lads stood, as ordered, hands on heads, arses towards their classmates as the Commander continued. One thing was quite clear; the Commander had already shamed them, as could be seen from their expressions which simply want the whole ghastly business to be over and done with. But they had fond hopes, for the Commander went on and on with his pre-rehearsed monologue.

You boys will be birched in pairs, starting with the youngest offenders first, but at the same time, by me and your housemasters. Now, as I call the first two names, you two boys will take your positions across the birching horses. The two senior boys, who will have the pleasure of watching their young classmates suffer for their misdeeds before themselves enjoying the doubtful pleasure of taking the birch across their own rumps, will first have the honour of fastening the wrist and ankle straps on their classmates, after which I or one of the housemasters will make the necessary adjustments to the horses to see that that buttocks of the miscreants are in the ideal position to be beaten. Mr Selby, the senior housemaster and I, personally, will then administer the birch simultaneously to each of these first two boys; fifteen stroke in all, which, allow me to tell you is well beneath the twenty-four stroke maximum authorised by the school rules.

The two youngest lads, aged just eighteen, bent across the horses, which had been so positioned that the boys' arses faced their on-looking classmates, who were thus able to follow the punishment stroke after painful stroke. The Commander allowed them to remain in this position for several minutes, whilst he and Mr Selby each selected a birch rod, shook off the excess water and prepared to begin the punishment.

The Commander looked at the oldest boy in the punishment detail and said: "You boy will call out the strokes one-by-one, allowing at least ten seconds pause between each , so that the lucky recipient can truly appreciate the corrective therapy he is receiving." He smiled inwardly to himself at his choice of the word "therapy"; this was not a punishment, but a means, alas painful, of helping the recipient to mend his ways; in its own way, it was the equivalent of a dose of a truly nasty medicine prescribed by a doctor; one took it, in the hope that it would "do one good".

The two men positioned themselves over each of their charges and on a nod from the Commander, the first stroke was called. Then both men together, simultaneously thrashed their birches down on the pair of unfortunate arses in front of them. The silence from the on-looking boys was deafening; one could have heard the proverbial pin drop; this was broken seconds later as the full pain of the birch was felt by the two lads, both of whom let out a cry of anguish. But cries of anguish were of no avail; the Commander and his cohort, pressed on, stroke after stroke until the poor lads had received the full fifteen strokes, by which time they were both howling with pain and in tears.

It is a fact that the pain of a birching builds up from stroke to stroke, becoming ever more intense until it reaches an unbearable level, which, alas, the poor recipient has to endure. The great advantage of the birch is that being made of light weight twigs, it produces possibly the greatest pain among the armoury of corporal punishment implements without causing any permanent physical damage to the recipient's arse. A well applied cane can draw blood; the birch rarely, but in the hands of an experienced practitioner, such as the Commander or Mr. Selby, a well birched arse finishes up like a multicolour abstract painting: considered by some to be quite beautiful to behold but extremely painful for its owner!

And behold is exactly what the onlookers were now invited to do, for on being release from their bonds, the first two young supplicants were ordered to resume their former positions on the platform, hand on heads as before, and display their roasted arses to their classmates. The Commander had talked about humiliation and humiliation there certainly was, combined, of course, with the most awful pain of the birch. The lads were not allowed to massage their smarting buns to try to alleviate the pain, but were made to stand there, hands on heads as the gruesome pageant progressed.

The Commander and Mr Selby, having "opened the ball" so to speak, then passed the other ten disrupters over to the other housemasters, who together had decided on a plan of action and together birched the rest of the lads. So the young onlookers had the pleasure of watching twelve arses each receive fifteen strokes of the birch, an unprecedented spectacle of no less than one hundred and eighty strokes in all.

When the last pair had been punished, the twelve miscreants stood totally naked, with their roasted buttocks facing their class mates.

"Now," said the Commander, "I want the rest of you all to leave this hall in an orderly fashion, passing in line before your chastened classmates so that you can see exactly what a well birched pair of buttocks looks like. Take a good look at what you see, for be in no doubt, this is what will happen to you if you disrupt the smooth running of this school. These boys have been punished because of their constant and repeated disobedience, as an example to you all, as well as a moment of retribution for them. This is the end of the school year, but next year, any boy who repeatedly breaks the rules will be publicly birched on this platform at the end of term; I repeat, the end of term and not the end of the school year. I sincerely hope that we shall not have to repeat today's proceedings ever again, but make no mistake, if necessary we shall do so; order will be preserved."

Thus ended one of the most awful and severe of public beatings imaginable. The twelve miscreants who had had the misfortune to take part in the affair, pulled on their singlets and shorts and slowly left the hall, a truly chastened group of lads, many still in tears and all with their arses feeling as if they were on fire. The four boys who had brought the birching horses from the punishment room were made to take them back there, together with the birch buckets. It truly had been a magnificent roasting of arses, the likes of which had never before been imagined. The truly awful truth of the matter was that, apart from the boys being flogged, pretty well everyone else, masters, warders and classmates had, in some dreadful way, actually enjoyed the spectacle, which says a great deal about certain aspects of human nature: Schadenfreude was the flavour of the moment!

The Commander said his staff: "Well, gentlemen, I think that went as planned and I hope that the principal participants take to heart the message we have given them."

But, as you will all probably have realised, boys being boys, this mass, "therapeutic" public birching became a regular end-of-term feature at Moulton-Midmarsh.

Thus ended the first full year of operation of the Moulton-Midmarsh Reform School. The Commander was well satisfied with what he had achieved.

Chapter 18

We now have to move on several years in the annals of Moulton-Midmarsh, where life, year in, year out, mirrored that described in the preceding chapters. Boys came, boys left, but the school functioned as it had from day one. The Commander became ever more authoritarian and the cane and birch saw more and more use. The illegal homosexual liaisons between the staff and the boys flourished and as time passed, riotous parties involving the staff and certain willing older boys increased. It seemed that there was no control at all over what happened at the school and so things became ever more homoerotic, until one fateful day, some nine years after the school had been first opened, it all came to a shuddering stop; and once again it was the injudicious actions of the Commander which led to the downfall and definitive closing of the school.

The Commander was walking along the corridor near the main dining room when hearing a strange noise from within; he entered, to catch red-handed a senior boy, Eric Bromley, in the process of wilfully destroying the gas mantles on the central lighting fixture, commonly called a gasolier. Remember, at the time there was no electricity in the school and the main rooms were lighted by gas burning fixtures fitted with incandescent mantles which, glowing white hot from the burning gas, gave a relatively good light. Most of you, today, will not be familiar with these mantles, which were small gauze like thimbles fitted on each gas jet. On first lighting the gas, the gauze burned off leaving the very fragile structure of rare metal oxides, which became incandescent when hot and it was precisely these delicate elements that Bromley, for no good reason, was intent on destroying.

Incensed by the unwarranted destruction being carried out by the lad, the Commander marched him forthwith to the punishment room, where stripped naked, he was strapped over a beating horse ready to receive punishment. The Commander, like one of the mantles, which the lad had been destroying, was incandescent with rage, picked up a pickle rod and started to to thrash the lad's arse. In the great rage that he was, the Commander foolishly let his anger run away with him and simply went on and on bringing the painful rod down across the lad's backside until it was reduced to a bloody looking mess of deep wheals Just how many cut the Commander administered no one will ever know, but Bromley, who had undoubtedly deserved to be thrashed for his wanton destructiveness, could barely walk when the Commander told him to go back to his house.

As he limped into his dormitory, his housemaster, by chance, happened to see him and realizing that something was clearly amiss, followed the boy and questioned him about what has happened. When he saw the state of the boy's buttocks, he realized that the lad needed urgent hospital attention to avoid infection, for he was by now bleeding profusely from his beating. And so, Bromley was loaded into the trap and taken to the local hospital, where the young doctor who treated him was utterly horrified by what he saw. The doctor divined that something was sadly amiss at the school if a boy could be so brutally mistreated and questioned him closely about what had happened and about the school in general. Bromley, by now no friend of the Commander or the school in general, divulged all he knew about the excessive beatings and further probing led to the disclosure of the existence of the regular clandestine sex parties, at which staff and older student indulged in all sorts of forbidden sexual relations. He admitted that he himself had been to several of these gatherings, where complete licentiousness reigned and nothing was forbidden.