Dreaming of the Yorkshire Schools

Perhaps not surprisingly after such a remarkable roleplaying scene, my mind’s drifted back frequently over the last week or so to the Yorkshire Schools that formed the basis for our Easter roleplaying fun. And oh, the dreams have been such fun- conjuring up other similar schools; other schoolmasters; other girls to be educated, disciplined and punished!

First up, a master encountered a lass who’d misbehaved again seriously after a trip to the dreaded Punishment Room. How to deal with her?

She could be taken back, of course: tied to the bench, flogged still more severely than she had been the previous time. She’d quickly discover that he could be far crueller, far harsher, with just the two of them alone in the room than he had been when punishing her in front of a fellow master and other pupils.

Or all of the girls in the school could be called together to watch her receive an exemplary public punishment. The miscreant would be brought out in front of them; made to strip naked; stretched forward over a table where all could see. Her ankles would be tied to the table legs; two other girls would be called forward to hold her wrists tight, under threat of a whipping themselves should they let go. The first schoolmaster would birch her until she sobbed; the second would ensure that she was broken.

My second dream revolved around what happens to the girls when they leave the school. I imagined one schoolmaster taking something of a shine to one of the young ladies and, as she neared her twenty first birthday (the date on which she would be required to leave the establishment), writing to her father to ask for her hand in marriage. The parents, delighted to be rid of her, wrote back with their consent. The girl knew nothing of the plot – but would, it turned out, be delighted.

A few days before her expected leaving date, still oblivious to the planned course of events, she found herself in the Punishment Room. The lecture he gave her about good conduct and having disappointed him was especially heartfelt. And then, to avoid allegations of favouritism once the news emerged of their betrothal, the whipping he administered was especially severe.

Fast forward to a few weeks after they were wed. Late one night, his new bride was discovered with a few of her erstwhile friends, standing outside the school gossiping long after the girls should have been in bed. The pupils were sent upstairs and dealt with first: nightdresses lifted, bent over the end of their dorm-room beds, striped with the cane, before the candles in the room were extinguished for the night.

Then the master returned to his shame-faced new wife; explained how she’d caused her friends to be whipped; admonished her for not behaving in the way a lady of the house should; reminded her that her behaviour now needed to be better than ever before.

He made her change into her nightdress. He punished her twice as hard as any pupil, the crack of the strokes and her pleas and cries echoing through the otherwise-silent school building for all to hear. And then he took her to bed and dealt with her in other ways entirely, before holding her tightly in his arms to sleep.