Nearly everyone has experienced the effect of a hand spanking at sometime during their childhood.
The hand is a most undesirable instrument for anything other than the mildest of punishments. To be effective, it has to be applied with considerable force, which means the spank becomes more like a punch. If the hand is not suitable then what is available? Of course, things found in most households such as hairbrush the slipper; belt and strap come readily to mind. More than one parent has even resorted to a plastic fly swatter, with good results! All these are frequently used but are unlikely to be as efficient as instruments specifically designed for chastisement. A light hairbrush will quickly redden a tender young bottom and is unlikely to break if moderately applied. Such an instrument is suitable for the correction of the very young, who are held over the lap of the seated parent. The whacks are applied to the bare bottom and it is immediately obvious if the whacks are being applied too severely.
The slipper or gym shoe is applied in a similar manner to the hairbrush, with exactly the same results although at many prep schools a large gym shoe can be used on the tender buttocks of 11 to 13yr olds with devastating effect.
The strap or belt, depending on length and thickness, can bridge the gap between the mild punishment of the slipper on the young and the severe tanning of a well-developed teenage bottom. For severe punishment the culprit should be horizontal on a bed or bending over a chair so that the wielder of the strap can stand well back and really swing the leather. Bare buttocks are again recommended for this punishment, although it can be effective across pyjamas or very thin shorts.
The ruler is more often used at school rather than at home and many a child was first punished by a whack of the ruler on his knuckles. The same instrument can be (and is) applied to the palm or the trousered bottom in class. This form of punishment has been encountered by older boys in laboratories where masters have recognised the effects of applying the metre boxwood rulers to tight grey flannel trousered seats.
It is of course very much better to design instruments specifically for the intended purpose rather than improvising. This was realised many years ago and the Romans used an instrument called the SPATULA. This was made in various forms, the most common of which comprised a leather disk with a hole in it, on the end of a long handle. The hole was provided because the designer found it considerably increased the punishing effect. A whack with a solid leather disk produced a scarlet circle on the skin. This could be painful and sore, but if a similar stroke was given With a hole in it, the sting was increased, the skin was stretched and a blister might result.
The American Paddle is a similar instrument and is found in many forms from the type resembling a Ping-Pong bat to something more like a boy's cricket bat! Other paddles are made in leather and may have holes in them or metal studs to improve their punishing capabilities. These paddles are almost as effective across trousers as they are across the bare flesh!
The Scottish Tawse is a strap split into tails, which is applied in Scottish schools on the hands of young offenders. However, there are many versions for the punishment of boy's buttocks and these come in many different shapes, lengths and weights (Light, Medium, Heavy, and Extra Heavy). The bottom-beating version is longer than the hand one so that the thongs can better follow the contours of the offender's buttocks. And punishment from the tawse can range from a mild reddening of a tender young bottom right through to severe lacerations and bruising of a teenage boy's bare buttocks.
In schools in Tyneside, the strap was applied to the proper place and many a boy has felt the effects of the various types of tawse forcibly applied to their tightly stretched trousers. The culprit usually bends over a desk and may well be held in position, particularly if the strapping is applied to the bare bottom, as is sometimes the case.
The French Martinet is similar to the Tawse but instead of starting with a flat piece of leather and cutting one end into strips, the designer starts with strips of leather and attaches them to a handle. The type used for child punishment has a handle about 6" long to which are attached from 6 to 12 thongs of leather similar to bootlaces, about 18" long. With a martinet of this type, it is easy to hold a boy over the knee and apply the thongs to his bare bottom. Like the tawse, the thongs curve round the contours of the bottom and curl round the thighs, causing a great deal of pain.
The cane is a versatile instrument and comes in a variety of shapes, weights and qualities. The type referred to as a school cane is about 30" long and from a quarter to three-eighths thick, has a crook handle and is made of rattan. All canes are much improved by being kept slightly moist. A cane with just the right amount of moisture will be found to be very flexible and of reasonable weight. In this condition, well laid across a boy's buttocks, it will be found to produce really satisfactory results. One of the better types of cane is the Nilchert. These are often supplied with handles formed from the knobbly end of the root.
This type is much sought after in certain private schools where caning is intended to be a very painful form of punishment. They can be obtained in thickness from a quarter to three-quarters of an inch thick. For routine punishment in class, the boy is expected to bend over with his hands on a chair and take the usual six of the best without moving.
For severe punishment the culprit may be required to bend over a table, his hands held by assistants, and possibly his legs too. He may sometimes be allowed to wear thin gym shorts or he may receive the cane on his bare bottom and a minimum of 12 very hard cuts is the norm. If the thin Nilchert cane is applied with maximum force, the skin is usually broken after only a few strokes and when 12 or more strokes have been applied, the buttocks will be covered in swollen purple welts. If the thicker cane is used, the skin may not be split, but severe bruising will be caused. These punishments are extremely severe and many a boy has had difficulty sitting for several days after one.
The classic instrument of punishment was the birch, which was extremely common once upon a time, but has largely died out today. The rod was usually constructed from birch twigs, but other materials could be used. The Winchester birch was in fact made from three long Apple shoots and was exceedingly painful when forcibly applied to the offender' bare buttocks.
The Isle of Man birch is about 4ft long and comprises three switches tapering from three-eighths to three-sixteenths of in inch thick. When this instrument is lashed across a boy's bare buttocks by an athletic policeman using all his strength and skill, three swollen welts are produced with every stroke, the skin is always broken and intense pain is produced. Floggings with this birch produce similar effects to caning, but since birch switches are by no means smooth, the skin is liable to be torn instead of being cleanly split as can happen with a severe caning.
POSITIONS adopted for punishment are, like the instruments themselves, many and varied. In the home, the younger boy is liable to be bent over his parent's knees. Older boys are made to bend over chairs, tables or (rarely) touch their toe. They are also bent over the backs of sofas or chairs or can be made to kneel on their beds with pyjamas pulled down if the whipping is given at bedtime, as it often can be.
In schools a variety of position are used, depending on the situation. The culprit may touch his toes or bend over chair or desk in the classroom or head's study if the punishment is a light one. For severe punishments it is necessary to use restraints. Sometimes other boys may be used to hold a victim steady for severe punishment, though this was fairly rare and used only in a very few private schools. It was more common to use another master of this purpose, who would hold the boy's wrists as he bent over the headmaster's desk.
Other methods are many and varied. The big, heavy blackboards, which could be raised and lowered, provided a ready-made whipping bench. The boy bent over the lower crosspiece and the top board was lowered onto his back, leaving body and arms on one side and his bottom, ready for flogging, on the other. The climbing bars in a gym could be used for the same purpose. A window could also be used, as indeed it was at Eton, and the view from outside must have been interesting as the unseen cane lashed the hidden bottom!
In some schools, severe punishment was given in the gym, where the culprit bent over the vaulting horse and was held by a master for his severe birchings or canings, which would invariably be on the bare buttocks.
Some schools had a well-designed whipping block at which the culprit knelt, was bent over and then secured in position with a number of straps. The other classical way was to horse the culprit. A senior boy or assistant took the boy on his back, holding his hands. Two others took the culprits trousers down and he was then flogged.
Judicial birching was carried out in a number of ways. Younger boys were held with their head firmly between a policeman's knee. His trousers and underpants were then removed and the birch applied firmly. Older boys were bent over a table and secured with straps around their waists. Again, the bottom was bared and the birch applied. Some prisons actually had a special table where the boys placed their arms through holes in the top and were then strapped at the waist and legs. The birch could then be applied with no danger of the boy putting his hands in the way.