A Very Special School

"Whilst it is not my intention to mistreat the young detainees, I nevertheless believe in making them all toe the line and those who do not do so are punished immediately, and, I might add, quite severely. I do not believe in a few mild slaps across the buttocks; if youths merit a beating, which they often do, then I think that they have to feel real pain and the cane has to be applied with vigour, otherwise what is the point? So, Mr. Chairman, I can assure you that I am a stickler for discipline and the cane and the birch will reign as the prime implements of punishment during my tenure. I do not, in any way, subscribe to the views of the present day would-be reformists, who are increasingly trying to force the views on us, that it is better to adopt a gentler approach and try to rehabilitate the boys by kindness. Give them an inch and they will take a mile; I have seen it time and time again in my naval career, so my approach is to hold strictly to the rule and to punish anyone who breaks it. Can I say more than that about my philosophy?"

The chairman, relieved to have found someone who sounded as though he could and would do the job, nodded his head in approval and said: "We are all of us delighted to hear that there is at least one sensible voice out there in that chaotic wilderness which has been created in the name of reform and rehabilitation, for we were all afraid of appointing someone, of the new wave, if I may express myself that way, who looks upon this new type of school as a sort of orphanage for disadvantage boys, when, in fact, they are a set of miscreants who deserve to be kept away from the public for as long as it takes to beat some sense into them."

He now turned to his fellow committee members and said, "Well, gentlemen, you have all heard Commander Pratt-Mainwaring's philosophy, with which I suspect we all agree. I would remind you that the purpose of this final meeting was to assure ourselves that the new Warden would hold fast to the traditional and proven methods of discipline used for so long and, I might add, so successfully, in our public schools system. I think I can say that he has certainly put rest any fears we might have been harbouring, that he shared the modern philosophy of the soft approach to the rehabilitation of these young delinquents, who will shortly be visited upon us, So, unless anyone has any objections, I would like to propose that we offer the post of Warden of the new school to Commander Pratt-Mainwaring, which I earnestly request him to accept. And finally, let me say, that if Pratt-Mainwaring accepts our offer, I suggest that the title of the post be officially Commander, in recognition of the rank he holds."

The extraordinary thing in all this was that no one on the committee ever thought of asking the Commander, why a man as young as he and in a senior naval position had left his post and was now available. As we would say in modern day parlance, the Commander had passed under the radar undetected.

So, that was that; the Commander had the post and was given free rein to run the school as he saw fit. His appointment was immediate, as much organisational work remained to be done to ensure, that on the arrival of the first wave of boys, programmed to arrive less than twelve months hence, everything was in place for the institution to function efficiently. Once the contract was signed, sealed and delivered, the members of the steering committee breathed a collective sigh of relief, that they had now pushed the whole awful business of this accursed and unwanted school onto the shoulders of someone else. The whole problem of uneasiness that the arrival of the school had presented was simply swept under the carpet and no longer their concern; the state would foot the bills, but the problems would be dealt with by someone else; they had appointed a man whom they thought would be an excellent Warden, Commander Pratt-Mainwaring, and matters were now up to him.

The chairman felt pleased that they had clearly appointed a martinet, which was, in his view, exactly what was needed: someone who was not afraid to thrash living daylights out of the miscreants who were about to be lodged there. But, the committee had endowed Commander Pratt-Mainwaring with more or less absolute power and as we all know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, the steering committee, by its action had, effectively abandoned any control whatsoever of the school. I am sure, had they been questioned just that point, they would have hotly denied it, but the simple fact of the matter was that they had handed the school over to a bombastic autocrat who was moreover, a homosexual with strong sadistic tendencies.

Chapter 3

The Commander was highly delighted to have been appointed to his new post. He had already divined from the previous contact with the committee, that they were relieved to have rid themselves of any responsibility for running the school, other than wielding a rubber stamp now and then; so he felt confident that he could so exactly as he wished and as a died in the wool disciplinarian, it was his intention to see that the cane and the birch were kept in regular use. Like many men, more than would like to admit it, he thoroughly enjoyed seeing boys have their arses thrashed and was not at all averse to wielding the implement of punishment himself. At the end of the day the Commander kept his sadistic streak carefully hidden, but as his charges at the cadet school had discovered, he was never slow to wield the cane on their naked backsides. And so, having been more or less cashiered from his naval post, he found himself, as he put it to himself, king of all he surveyed.

Before we go any further with the story of the Commander, something has to be explained about the structure of the school. The staff was divided into two quite distinct and separate groups. There was the teaching staff, which was responsible for all lessons and the warders or housemasters, who were to handle discipline and all physical activities, gym and games included. The teaching staff was to have a day function only and as at a normal day school they would come and go each day. The warders, on the other hand were to be permanently present, for the detainees were permanently housed on the school premises, in much the same was as are the pupils at a typical public school

The school building was in the form of a letter E, except that it had four rather than three cross bars. The main school, where all formal instruction took place and meals were served, occupied the long building linking these four wings together and the wings were, in fact, conceived as separate houses, in much the same way that our great public schools have houses, where the pupils actually live. Each house had its own warden/housemaster and his assistant, who each had private studies and living accommodation and lived and slept in their respective houses. In the same way that the Commander's word was law in the entire school, so each housemaster was totally responsible for the running of his house, where his word was the law.

In addition to the professional staff, there was the support staff of school secretary, cleaners, cooks, launderers, and grounds-men etc. all of whom, except the cooks, were present only during the day, whilst the cooks by the very nature of their job had to live in the school. The Commander was provided with a secretary, who was in that classic mould which seems to accompany this post: Miss Cruickshank was her name and she was a typical dried up old trout with one of those faces which a smile had never crossed; her job it was to do the Warden's bidding, which she and many others like her throughout the British school system did without question. So every day after classes, the school and its charges were entirely in the hands of the Commander and his warders; everything was possible: there was absolutely no outside control at all!

The Commander set about sorting through applications for the various teaching posts, which were easy to fill as it had been decided to provide married quarters for them and their families outside the school premises. The housemasters presented a different problem, as being lodged in the school buildings with the boys they had to be free of family ties. The Commander was particularly careful to select only muscular young men, who at the interview had expressed their willingness to maintain order with the use of the cane, whenever necessary. As mentioned earlier, the housemasters had no formal teaching duties, but were entirely in charge of all physical education and games, as well as maintaining discipline throughout the school day. Only these eight men and the Commander himself were to be allowed to administer corporal punishment to the boys.

The Commander took great care in selecting these eight men, as he wanted to be certain that they were all men who had the same philosophy as himself about discipline; corporal punishment had to reign supreme, not only during the school day but also in the four separate houses where the boys lived and slept; the housemaster and his deputy had to be ready and willing to wield the cane at any time The Commander reviewed his choices and felt that he had done well, as all eight young men seemed as eager as he himself was to thrash errant arses. Although he did not know it for sure, he felt in his bones, that they were all, very probably like him, that is to say homosexual, or if not, certainly willing to bugger their charges. A school environment, especially an isolated one such as Moulton-Midmarsh offered, was just the sort of backwater that attracted men of that bent. Why, otherwise, would any normal, heterosexual man cut himself off from all female company and settle in such a remote place? When he had finalized his choice, the Commander felt well pleased with what he had accomplished.

As ever, staff apart, there was in what was, to all intents and purposes, an all male environment, a strong, but hidden thread of homosexuality running through the place. The boys were all in late adolescence, aged eighteen to twenty-one and it is not surprising that deprived of female company, many of them, unable to control their sexual desires, relied upon their fellow inmates for for sexual relief. But, this was never spoken of, although everyone knew it existed and the Commander knew full well, that the attraction to the young housemasters was to work in just such a sexually charged, all male environment; in a word: it was a classic situation.

The total absence at Moulton-Midmarsh of boys younger than eighteen will be explained later, but it is worth noting that in the earlier part of the twentieth century, the age of majority was, in fact, twenty-one; thus at the time of this account, the school was catering and treating as minors, young men whom we would today consider of age.

The law might forbid what was euphemistically referred to as lewd behaviour or gross moral turpitude, but all the legislation in the world will not stop young men exercising their sex urge. So, even though male-male sexual relationships, or buggery, another unspoken word, was a criminal offence, punishable by a prison sentence lots of homosexual activity still went on and Moulton-Midmarsh school, like so many other boarding establishments, simply accepted it. The great thing was not to be caught in the act, which could have dire consequences, as the authorities, in the form of the Commander at Moulton-Midmarsh, could not be seen openly to condone buggery. Legislation was legislation but it could not ultimately stamp out that most primeval of human urges: to fuck. But it was to be well over half a century later that parliament finally came to its senses and homosexuality, an unspoken word at the time of this account, was decriminalised, when the legislators finally realised that they, like King Canute, could not command the waves. In the meantime, that useful attitude, hypocrisy, so widely spread and practised in civilised society at all levels, reigned supreme at Moulton-Midmarsh: the Commander conformed, or rather appeared to conform , to the morals of the age. (In fact it is no different today, as hypocrisy, indeed in its higher form, which one might call the "sanctimonious version" is still rife in all walks' of life)

Chapter 4

Now that the basic organisation matters had been more or less settled and the staff appointments made, the Commander felt free to give his undivided attention to the question of discipline and punishment, both subjects dear to his heart. The Commander was at that time, more or less, alone at the school other than for the support staff, and a cook, as the official opening of the school was still several months away. One rainy Saturday afternoon he sat, alone as ever, at his desk and read through the pages in the catalogue of the school supplier devoted to instruments of corporal punishment. These were to be found under the imposing heading of "Disciplinary Accoutrements": he found the whole thing totally riveting.

Under this heading, someone in the company had written a short introductory paragraph before going on to detail items it stocked, with which errant pupils could be beaten; it was quite illuminating and held his entire interest. Whoever had written this introductory piece was clearly of the "old school" and it was quite obvious from his tone, that he advocated frequent and severe thrashings as the only sure way to turn out a set of gentlemen. The writer concluded his introductory remarks by saying.

"It is not, of course, for us, as purveyor of high quality, school punishment requisites, to comment on the desirability or not of the continued use of traditional corporal punishment in our schools, but we can affirm that our sales figures of disciplinary accoutrements show a year on year growth, which seem to indicate that the practice is alive and well."

The Commander then moved on to the description of those disciplinary accoutrements in detail. He was amazed just how much space was devoted to the detailed description and methods of use of the various accoutrements the firm had to offer; he found the whole thing totally absorbing. Here is a list of the various items listed and described in detail in the catalogue.

Of course, the catalogue was not aimed at school like Moulton-Midmarsh, but at the British public schools, where beating was akin to breathing: a way of life! And it was at just such a school that the Commander had enjoyed his own education, so it was not surprising that now in sole charge of this new school he modelled it on his own public school experiences, which, truth to tell, had been pretty painful.

The general purpose long rattan cane: This is a four foot long, half inch thick flexible rattan cane, used for general discipline throughout the day. This cane is the choice of masters, who use it to maintain order in their classrooms. It can be applied either to the clothed or to the naked buttocks. State schools prefer to administer corporal punishment through the trousers of their pupils, whereas public schools usually administer all punishment to the naked buttocks of the miscreant. Correctly used, this cane is capable of creating real pain for the recipient. Highly recommended. Sold in bundles of 24 canes.

Our unique speciality cane - the rod in pickle: We are pleased to be able to offer what we consider as the nec plus ultra of buttock canes, a specially selected cane unique to us for making the celebrated "rod in pickle" concept a painful reality. The expression "rod in pickle" has come to mean an instrument of punishment waiting to be used when the occasion arises rather than the implement itself. However, with our speciality cane, the rod in pickle has become a reality, probably the most painful of any type of cane.

The slender canes for preparing this masterpiece of corporal chastisement, supplied by us in the form of a four feet long, thin cane, is imported directly and only by us from the Far East, where it grows only in limited areas. It is cut from a unique type of bamboo, which has the characteristic of being able to absorb its own weight in water. When correctly prepared, with a minimum of two weeks soaking in brine, the result is the most flexible of all canes, and the one with which the greatest pain can be inflicted on the naked buttocks of the miscreant, whilst avoiding any permanent physical damage. As such it is the most flexible and painful of all canes currently on the market. Many of our users consider it the equal of the birch. Sold dry, ready for soaking in brine, in bundles of 24 canes.

Handle for the above: As the cane itself is rather thin and when correctly soaked, difficult to grip firmly, we offer a special wooden handle into which the end of the soaked rod fits and where it is held in place with a knurled thumb- screw. The user has thus a firm grip on the rod at all times, which enables him to apply it with vigour to the miscreant. Sold in packs of five handles.

Special soaking tubes for the above: We offer a light metallic rust-proof cylinder and stand, specially designed to accept the full length of the above canes. Filled with a strong brine solution, it is the ideal recipient in which to soak and keep the above rods ready for use. Sold individually.

Numerous testimonials as to the efficacy of the rod in pickle cane were entered below the description, of which two are reproduced below.

A headmaster, a regular user, writes:-

"I have nothing but praise for this most innovative approach to the rod in pickle concept. It is incomparable when applied to the naked buttocks of an errant boy; its flexibility is such that when correctly placed across the buttocks, the cane produces the longest cut I have ever seen. Pupils go in dread of it and those who have once felt it never ever wish to renew the experience. I can reduce even the most hardened and recalcitrant of boys to tears with three strokes of this cane. I have abandoned all other forms of punishment in its favour."

And a second testimonial said:-

"As a teacher of the 'old school' I had long maintained that the traditional birch rod was the best way to give a boy a thorough and painful thrashing. However, I realize now that I may have to revise this view, for I find that with this new rod, I can achieve practically the same results but with much less effort. The birch has always posed a problem in that it needs to be freshly made for maximum effectiveness, which constraint has now disappeared, as the rod in pickle has handsomely taken its place. This is the greatest advance in corporal punishment of the last fifty years. I can but recommend its general acceptance."

Adjustable beating stool: Traditionally, boys have been made to bend across the back of a chair in order to offer their buttocks for punishment. Our adjustable, purpose-made stool ensures that boys of all heights can be correctly positioned with their buttocks tightly held in the perfect position to receive the cane. The back of this stool, with its padded top cross-rail, is easily adjustable according to the height of the boy to be punished. Thus the buttocks of the errant youth are always correctly positioned to accept the punishment. Suitable for all boys aged thirteen to twenty. Sold individually.

Adjustable beating horse: This horse, like the stool above, is adjustable to ensure that the buttocks of any boy can be positioned perfectly for the application of the punishment. Its use is recommended for any severe beating or birching where the errant youth needs to be restrained as the punishment is administered. Our simple hand and ankle restraining straps ensure that once in place, the recipient is held immobile. Particularly recommended where one master alone has to administer a beating, as no additional help is required to restrain the subject completely. Sold individually.