A BRIEF HISTORY OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
By Tim Lambert
Corporal punishment is derived from a Latin word meaning body. It meant physical punishment and in the past it was very common. In the past corporal punishment was by no means limited to children. It was used on adults as well.
Flogging has been a common punishment since ancient times. Jesus was flogged before he was crucified. In England from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century whipping was a common punishment for minor crimes. In the 18th century whipping or flogging was a common punishment in the British army and navy. However it was abolished in 1874. Flogging was last used in a British prison in 1962.
Among commonly used forms of corporal punishment was birching. This punishment meant beating a person across the backside with birch twigs. Once a common punishment in schools it could also be imposed by the courts for minor offences. Birching was banned in Britain in 1948.
Other forms of corporal punishment for adults included branding and mutilation.
Meanwhile for thousands of years until the late 20th century teachers beat children. In The Ancient World the teachers were very strict and they frequently beat the pupils.
In the Middle Ages discipline was also severe. Boys were beaten with rods or birch twigs.
Discipline in Tudor schools was savage. The teacher often had a stick with birch twigs attached to it. Boys were hit with the birch twigs on their bare buttocks.
At the beginning of the 19th century two men Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell independently invented a new method of educating the working class. In the Lancaster system the most able pupils were made monitors and they were put in charge of other pupils. The monitors were taught early in the day before the other children arrived. When they did the monitors taught them.
Bell invented a similar system. He was a humane and enlightened man who disapproved of corporal punishment.
Under Lancaster's system pupils who did well were rewarded with badges. When they collected enough badges they were rewarded with a toy. However Lancaster also used cruel punishments such as the pillory, suspending pupils in a basket from the ceiling and forcing them to wear a wooden log around the neck.
Punishments in schools were still brutal in the 19th century. As well as beatings less able pupils were humiliated by being forced to wear a 'dunce's cap'.
Until the late 20th century it was quite normal for teachers to beat children. In the 19th century hitting boys (and girls) with a bamboo cane became popular. In the 20th century the cane was used in both primary and secondary schools. However in the late 1960s and 1970s the cane was phased out in most primary schools. In England in 1987 the cane was banned in state-funded secondary schools. It was banned in private schools in 1998.
Meanwhile the ruler was a punishment commonly used in primary schools. The teacher hit the child on the hand with a wooden ruler.
The slipper was often used in secondary schools. Slipper is a euphemism. Normally it was a trainer or a plimsoll. Teachers (usually PE teachers) used a trainer to hit children on the backside. Worse, when the cane was used it was recorded in a punishment book. When the 'slipper' was used it normally was not, which meant in effect that PE teachers could hit children when they felt like it.
The tawse was a cruel punishment used in Scottish schools. It was a leather strap with two or three tails. It was used in Scotland to hit a child's hand.
In the 20th century the leather strap was used in some English schools. Children were either hit across the hands or the backside.
Furthermore in the 19th century children were hit at work. In the early 19th century in textile mills children who were lazy were hit with leather straps.
Furthermore lazy children sometimes had their heads ducked in a container of water.
Of course, throughout history until very recently parents beat their children.In the 20th century many parents used a wooden spoon to hit children. Other implements used included belts, slippers and hairbrushes.
However today public opinion has turned against corporal punishment and in several countries it has been banned.
To read more about the history of punishment click here