Why do you think Reverend Mitchinson, the former Headmaster of King’s School in Canterbury, was particularly suited for his following job as the Bishop of Barbados (at least, according to one of his pupils)?
Because there “the canes grow wild and the boys wear no breeches”. Smooth, huh?
This guy was, apparently, so vicious that he caused what has become known in the history of King’s School as The Rebellion, described in “Imps of Promise: A History of the King’s School, Canterbury” by Thomas Hinde:
“Eventually there was rebellion. Mitchinson’s apparently frank account of this claims that it began with ‘a piece of insubordinate rudeness’ by a boy, ‘C’ to a monitor, Kearney. When Kearney next morning licked ‘C,’ several days of anti-monitor rioting followed, in which Mitchinson did not intervene, until he heard that the boys had been singing the Marseillaise and provisioning the hall (their dayroom) against a siege.
Then, to simplify, he ordered the expulsion of four ringleaders and the flogging of thirty more, seven each day during the following week. The first seven had been flogged when Mitchinson received confirmation of his appointment as Bishop of Barbados, and made this the reason for declaring an amnesty.”
(Nicked from the family history page made by a descendant of the boy ‘C’/John Crerar.)
Reverand Mitchinson would have been quite at home in my town too. Our local gardens has a large Bamboo garden with a supply of bamboo canes to last a lifetime. If you ignore the ‘Keep Out – Work in Progress’ signs and wander into the patch you will find a secluded hideaway for teenagers who need a private place to smoke their cigarattes. Whether they keep their britches on, I cannot say!
Rob – hmm, playing with fire in the woods, that’s really wise 😉
P.S. The spelling glitch has been banished, as have the comments around it. Sincerely, your friendly neighbourhood censor. *g*