An authentic punishment book on eBay

Oh my goodness, look what they’re selling on eBay:

Genuine Old Girls’ School Punishment Book (corporal punishment record)

This is a very rare and unusual item, a punishment book from a girls’ school recording all corporal punishment given from 1914 to 1972. It is an official printed punishment book. The title page includes the following printed statement: “Extract from the new code, 1900.-Appendix II, 32.-Quote: A separate book must be kept in which every case of corporal punishment inflicted in the school should be entered.” The book is priced at “Eighteen Pence Net.” (i.e. one shilling and sixpence)

Records occupy a double-page spread with columns for: an identification number for punishment, name of pupil, her offence, date of offence, punishment awarded, date of punishment, remarks, and initials of manager, clerk, or inspector

The book contains 25 completed double-page spreads with probably an average of ten punishments detailed on each page. At least one page is missing, and one loose in the book. However, this is a fascinating historical document recording corporal punishment given in this particular girls’ school, with details of offences, numbers of strokes etc. over a period of nearly seventy years, from the beginning of the First World War to the time when the school became co-educational and began accepting boys.

One can see the changing styles of handwriting, changing attitudes, and changing behaviour (interestingly, behaviour deteriorated considerably and severity of punishment increased in the 1960s). The school’s name changed slightly over the years and there seem to be no records for the early part of the 1940s – possibly the school was evacuated during the Second World War

There are even, helpfully, a few illustrations:

I guess this is something of a holy grail for those who collect spanking ephemera, and not surprisingly the bids coming in are already very high.

The auction finishes on 15 May, so there’s still time for anyone interested to bid. Sadly, the item’s way beyond my price range – but is it too much to hope that the winner might scan the pages and share them on the web? Pretty please?

10 thoughts on “An authentic punishment book on eBay

  • 11 May, 2010 at 10:39 am
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    Yes I saw this myself and was going to do a post on it.

    The last time I looked I think the bid was over £200, out of my price range.

    Ronnie
    xx

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  • 11 May, 2010 at 5:08 pm
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    Thanks for this most interesting post. Let’s see what the final bid will be!

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  • 11 May, 2010 at 5:44 pm
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    Delectable. Source material for a thousand daydreams. I wonder if any of the former pupils named in it can remember the occasion? (I bet they do!)
    Agreed, it would be nice to see the whole thing scanned…maybe a good fairy will deliver!

    Reply
  • 11 May, 2010 at 6:30 pm
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    And, you know, the deterioration of behaviour during the 1960s may have been because of those very short miniskirts that came into fashion around then!

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  • 11 May, 2010 at 8:55 pm
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    Wow, I am surprised. I guess you really can find just about anything on E-Bay! LOL! My guess is that it will go for quite a bit of money. Maybe, the person who is lucky enough to purchase this wonderful book will be kind and share it. Hey, it could happen…after all I would most certainly share it with all of you if it were mine.

    Reply
  • 12 May, 2010 at 3:30 pm
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    I think it’s important to note that headmasters these days are apparently much too strict. Using this log as historical reference, today’s schoolgirls should be dealt with much more leniently if punishment is required. 😉

    Reply
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  • 17 May, 2010 at 4:59 pm
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    £411.99, if you’re wondering what the final bid was. That’s a shade under $600 in US terms, for those of you over there.

    Wow!

    Go on, dear buyer. Post some scans!

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  • 17 May, 2010 at 9:31 pm
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    Wow! That went for quite a bit of money. I figured it would considering how rare an item it is.

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  • 17 January, 2015 at 11:57 pm
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    When I was in school, I’m not sure any records were kept on who got paddled or when. From the period right after World War II until paddles began being banned from schoolhouses after federal equal rights legislation in the md-1960s, much of the classroom disciplining was informal.

    A principal might send a note to a students parents saying they’d been referred to the office for a paddling after some serious breach of conduct, but that was about it.

    One of the more interesting stories I heard years later was told by a man claiming that when he was in elementary school, a female teacher kept him after school on day after he misbehaved. After all the other students were gone, the teacher reached into her purse and pulled out a penknife. She then instructed the student to go behind the cut a switch from a bush beside the steps.

    When he returned with switch in hand, the teacher was seated and waiting. She told him to give her the switch, drop his pants, and get over her lap. Obediently, but quite reluctantly he obeyed. He said the teacher then whipped him as if she were his mother.

    Afterwards, as he stood before her teary eyed with a smarting bottom, she told he she never wanted to do that again. However, she assured him she wold if he didn’t start behaving himself. Then, he said, she told him to pull up his pants and go home. Again, he obeyed.

    The man said he didn’t tell tell his parents because, in those days, he would have gotten it worse at home for misbehaving at school. Neither did he tell any of his peers out of embarrassment. Instead, he said, he started behaving himself.

    Today, of course, a teacher would be put under the jail if the disciplined a student that way. However, the man claimed the punishment actually improved his behavior and caused him to become a better student.

    Reply

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