This replaced the previous classic spray birch, and was by all accounts a much more fearsome weapon. It could be likened to a bundle of 4 senior school canes all being applied at once. Photographs of this instrument have appeared frequently in the press and on TV. The following photograph by Lord Snowdon of three Manx birches in a bucket appeared in the Sunday Times colour magazine London on 23 April At the same time, the punishment for younger boys under 14 became the cane instead of the birch, thenceforth inflicted across the seat of the trousers max.
This was portrayed as a humanitarian step -- no more shameful baring of backsides -- but in reality, as wielded by a burly policeman it was probably at least as severe as the spray birch, if slightly less embarrassing. This is the first and only instance of the cane ever having been used for JCP in the British Isles, though it was and still is the usual instrument in many former colonies overseas.
There were 18 of these juvenile court canings in the early s but then the practice faded out. The last was in May , when a year-old was convicted of robbing another boy of 10p, a small sum of money even then. For this he got not only four strokes of the cane, but also two months' detention! Very little was ever said or reported about these canings.
For example, I have never come across a description of one or an interview with anyone who received it. Incidentally, the wording of the legislation for these new canings was lifted from the mainland Approved School Rules -- "on the posterior, over the boy's ordinary cloth trousers".
I wonder whether it ever occurred to the authorities that this was quite inappropriate for judicial CP, where the accused might turn up at court in thick jeans and several pairs of underpants, or if he didn't realise what he might be in for very thin trousers with perhaps nothing underneath. As the Approved Schools for which this language was originally framed were residential institutions, the authorities would have been in control of what the boy was wearing.
What the legislature probably should have done, if they wanted the target area to be covered, was to specify that the offender would be wearing only i. This might perhaps have been a pair of exceedingly thin trousers or shorts, as in the Navy.
But anyway it would have been the same for everyone. No thought seems to have been given to this fairness aspect. From on, the Manx birch -- and the cases in which it was used -- attracted more and more media attention on the mainland, at a time when UK seaside resorts were plagued with outbreaks of hooliganism, "mods and rockers", etc.
Read typical mainland press coverage of a birching case in In the long run this notoriety was its undoing; if they could have kept quiet about it they might still have it yet.
But at the time the island authorities welcomed the publicity because it helped portray the island as a "safe" holiday resort where violence was nipped in the bud. Indeed, the politician who was arguably the driving force behind the new legislation, Bill Quayle, was also the chairman of the Manx Tourist Board -- as well as being a leading magistrate himself. As such he ordered quite a lot of the birchings of the s, and would adjourn the court while the punishment was administered in the jury room in his presence.
I have a feeling this would have been thought most improper in the UK, where the judiciary is traditionally supposed to remain aloof from such vulgar practicalities as the actual consequences of its decisions.
Probably the most notorious case was in July when four year-old thugs on holiday from Glasgow got 9 strokes each -- more or less equivalent, one supposes, to 36 strokes of the cane across the bare seat. This led to a great clamour especially in Scotland to bring back the birch on the mainland, with the famous picture in the Sunday Mirror in which a couple of the youths show a few of their weals. In retrospect, that was perhaps the high point for the Manx birch; by the end of the s a campaign against it was under way, led by three local women.
The chairman of the magistrates, Mr George Costain, a Castleton butcher, said outside the court: "In nearly 10 years on the Bench this is not the first birching I have ordered. But I have nothing to say about this case or the birching issue.
It would not be proper. He said yesterday: "It will help to heal his dignity and show that at least someone in the Isle of Man cares.
From the archive, 22 November Another "birch boy" order. Originally published in the Guardian on 22 November Reuse this content. Today's paper Obituaries G2 Journal Saturday. Any use of force on a child cannot be degrading, inhumane, or result in harm or the prospect of harm.
Can teachers hit students UK? Punishments in UK schools It is illegal for schools to use physical punishments like hitting a student. The school usually gives work to do at home with a tutor special teacher. When did they stop hitting in schools? Although banned in , corporal punishment is still commonly found in schools in the s and particularly widespread in school sports clubs.
Does smacking a child work? What are the reasons for punishment? Justifications for punishment include retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. The last could include such measures as isolation, in order to prevent the wrongdoer's having contact with potential victims, or the removal of a hand in order to make theft more difficult.
What countries use caning as punishment? Caning is also used as a punishment in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, a legacy of British colonial rule in the 19th Century. When was the belt stopped in Scotland? Use of the Lochgelly Tawse and any other form of corporal Punishment was finally banned in state schools in , with Scottish private schools following suit over 10 years later in
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