The Punishment Book

When corporal punishment was in general use the administering of the cane was required to be recorded in the Punishment Book. Searching the Net we have brought together some authentic records from these rimes.

Click these thumbnail images to see the larger pictures. the first is an extract from a Birmingham grammar school in 1970 while images two and three show the cover and operating instructions for recording punishment at John Ruskin Grammar School in Croydon

These are genuine entries from the punishment book of Vaucluse High School for Boys ands date from the 1960's and 1970's. If you click the thumbnail pictures you can see the larger images and read the entries.

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An account found posted on the Net. While it does give a picture of corporal punishment in the nineteenth century is is not strictly accurate in every way. Still have a read.

The cane and corporal punishment

So far it seems that my post on school discipline Victorian-style has attracted the most views, so I shall say a little bit more about the cane. Most schoolmasters would have used the cane for discipline, and it was not uncommon for senior pupils to use it on junior pupils as well. In fact the cane was used in British schools into the 1970s I believe, although less often in the later years. The cane was usually made of a thin wooden stick probably 10mm thick. Sometimes it was bamboo or rattan, but it was certainly also made out of other wood as well. Birch was used for some canes and it was often kept in a tank so that it was wet and more pliable. The cane often had a curved or crooked handle. The length of the cane was usually less than 1 metre.

Boys were generally caned on their bottom or hands, while girls were often caned on the backs of their legs and also on their hands. It is usually accepted that caning on the hands was probably the more painful. The schoolmaster would choose to cane the hand that was not used for writing, and three or six strokes were given, usually aimed to be placed across the fingers, which hurt more than the palms of the hand. If the hand was withdrawn, extra strokes were given. Caning on the bottom was sometimes aided by the victim bending over a chair, or sometimes over a vaulting horse, but it was also possible that the pupil would just be told to bend over and touch his toes. A number of strokes were applied, sometimes only one or two, with six of the best being reserved for serious offences. It was not common for the cane to be given on the bare bottom, it was usually given over clothes, but in boarding schools it would often be given at the end of the day when the pupil was wearing pyjamas.

That said, at Eton, during Victorian times, a recalcitrant pupil might be given the birch. This was not a birch rod, but a cluster of thin birch branches, bound together, and looking much like the head of a besom (the broom used for sweeping leaves). In this case the pupil dropped trousers and underpants and was hit repeatedly with the birch. This inflicted a mild pain at the first stroke, which built into a more intense pain with each subsequent stroke. The birching was usually given in a kneeling position and never over clothes. The school punishment was reinforced by home punishment and the wise pupil would not willingly admit to a caning at school as this might well elicit a further punishment at home.

The Victorian child soon learnt that if he wanted to misbehave he should ensure that he did not get caught. Did the punishment work? There is little doubt that for some pupils the threat of a caning was a sufficient deterrent to prevent misdemeanours. For the more serial offender it did not completely stop bad behaviour, but it certainly curbed it. Was it abused? Almost certainly. There is little doubt that there were teachers and prefects who gave punishments in an unfair or sadistic way. Corporal punishment finally ended in Britain in the late 1980s and one wonders if the loutish behaviour of some teenagers today would not have been tamed by application of some old-fashioned punishment. When I was a boy, rules were black and white, and you knew how far you could go. Nowadays it appears that rules are meant to be broken and you get away with as much as you can. A bit of Victorian discipline would perhaps not come amiss, or do you have better ideas on how to tame young people today?

Something else found on the Net - this relates to modern-day fun adult spanking. It was generally accepted that a teacher knew how to cane. No instruction or manual was available to him !

Caning Technique

Acquiring the necessary skill for this is not really difficult, but it does call for the investment of some time and effort. The novice caner will want to develop accuracy first. This is not a skill to develop by practicing on your Significant Other. A dusty blanket or quilt, folded over the back of a high backed chair is a much better choice. You might want to dust a palm sized circle with carpenter’s chalk, to give you a better idea of where your strokes are landing. The target area is roughly 7” high, 9” wide , 30 - 35” from the floor. (You might also have your S.O. sit in some non-toxic paint, bend over, back up to the blanket and thereby mark the exact target you’ll be trying for.)

Once you are certain of hitting your mark each and every time you are ready to work on gaining control of speed and impact. A partner with a high pain threshold and a forgiving nature is of inestimable value here, as is your willingness to increase the the impact from taps to strikes in very small increments. At this stage of development, you may want to consider taking a few stripes, and even a full dozen or two (at different times) to develop understanding of what you propose to be administering. A skilled and sensitive caner will be able to show you style, pacing, and form, while a willing, enthusiastic, and unskilled partner will quickly teach you all the faults you need to eliminate in your own technique. While you don’t really need to feel the cane in order to cane well ... there’s no teacher like experience.

Strikes must not “scissor” thin flesh between cane and bone, or land on joints. The backs of the thighs are a problematic target, especially in “adipose-tissue-deprived” persons. Hits to the thighs are astonishingly painful and there are large blood vessels, tendons and nerve bundles under the fat and muscle. While some tough and athletically gifted persons can take a cane strike to the pectoral region or abdomen (crotch and throat protection are such a good idea, for this trick) in nearly all cases canes should never land where there are nerves close to the surface, or soft organs directly below.

In caning the goal is to hit with a section of cane starting at the tip and extending perhaps six to eight inches toward the handle. The idea is to avoid hitting with the tip either by “leading with the point” (usually the result of using too much wrist action) or by bending the cane around the body (“throwing wraps”), which is usually caused by standing too close . Strikes with the tip leave short dot-like marks that can take an astonishingly long time to heal, whether they break skin or not.

There is a legitimate difference of opinion concerning “crossing” cane stripes. One school of thought holds that crossed stripes are the sign of a careless, skilless, caner. Their ideal is a number of perfectly spaced and distinct marks to look at and admire. A practical objection to crossed stripes is that skin damage at the point of crossing is, if anything, more severe than is caused by a strike with the tip. Another school of thought likes to cross their cuts for that very reason taking care to make the “crosses” uniform and deliberate looking.
Cane strokes often break skin, intentionally or not. This has lead to some practitioners to add a very modern innovation to the preparation ritual. Before the actual caning begins, the canee’s bottom is anointed with a petroleum-jelly based antibiotic ointment such as “Bacitracin™.” This has three advantages. The first is psychological effect of the touching itself, whether it is kindly, threatening, matter of fact, or salacious. Secondly, the lubricating
property of the oil base, softens the skin and helps minimize actual damage. Lastly, if the skin is broken by cane strokes, the cut receives immediate infection preventing first aid, as the active antibiotic is driven into the wound.

There is a legitimate difference of opinion concerning “crossing” cane stripes. One school of thought holds that crossed stripes are the sign of a careless, skilless, caner. Their ideal is a number of perfectly spaced and distinct marks to look at and admire. A practical objection to crossed stripes is that skin damage at the point of crossing is, if anything, more severe than is caused by a strike with the tip. Another school of thought likes to cross their cuts for that very reason taking care to make the “crosses” uniform and deliberate looking.
Cane strokes often break skin, intentionally or not. This has lead to some practitioners to add a very modern innovation to the preparation ritual. Before the actual caning begins, the canee’s bottom is anointed with a petroleum-jelly based antibiotic ointment such as “Bacitracin™.” This has three advantages. The first is psychological effect of the touching itself, whether it is kindly, threatening, matter of fact, or salacious. Secondly, the lubricating property of the oil base, softens the skin and helps minimize actual damage. Lastly, if the skin is broken by cane strokes, the cut receives immediate infection preventing first aid, as the active antibiotic is driven into the wound.

Concern about disease transmission via “bloodied” S/M toys is probably more a question of social norms and personal comfort levels then of medical imperatives. It is the potential for HIV transmission that is most compelling — though the epidemiological evidence should reassure rather than alarm. On the other hand, both the cane and the skin are far more likely to be exposed to other pathogens including from the common cold to hepatitis, diphtheria, the dysentaries - all the diseases associated with blood, sweat, and raw sewage. This could be considered a reason to reserving one cane for use on one person only. It might also be an incentive for more dedicated or extreme devotees to invest in the vaccinations advised for health and rescue workers — although rabies and tetanus shots are probably very optional.

As to the strike itself, the force of the impact depends on the speed with which the cane is accelerated rather than the strength or “muscle” the caner can put behind the blow. During its forward motion, the cane bends, storing the energy of its travel, which it then releases when it hits. The more extreme the bend and the more abrupt the stop, the more impact will be produced. (And the greater the likelihood the cane will break in mid-air, too.) After the strike, the caner should allow a few seconds at least for the punishee to appreciate the full artistic effect.

There are three basic styles of swinging a cane. In the Traditional style, a portion of the cane is held braced against the inside of the forearm. The arm is kept very straight both on the back swing and in the forward “cut.” This is probably the most lenient or “lower form” way of using the cane, producing the least effect. By some accounts (probably more imaginative than actual) while Schoolmasters were to required to keep a stiff arm — some of them offset this limitation with a running start. From a schoolboy’s point of view, this technique at least offers the possibility that the caner rather than the punishee will suffer pain and humiliation.

Supposedly banned in the schoolroom, was a variation called the “Cavalry Cut.” The stroke begins with the cane held over the caner’s head, roughly parallel to the ground — as if parrying a sabre cut to the caner’s head. The cane is then brought downward and around in a circular motion, like a riposte to the flank — only lower. Perfectly executed, this will lay a stripe on the underside of the curve of the buttocks, an area not easily reached by other means. Less than perfectly done, this stroke can land somewhere on the back of the thighs. This can lead to intense ill-feeling in a consensual relationship especially during the swimsuit season.