School Corporal Punishment: Schoolgirls spanked bare in the 90's? Yes!

On October 4th, 1994, both The Telegraph and The Mail carried the beginning of the story of Kevin Booth, a Scottish laird, who was the Headmaster and owner, with his wife, of The Greybrook School for Girls in the Northumberland fishing village of Newbiggin-by the-Sea. His G.C.S.E. pupils were mainly the daughters of overseas professionals from countries that included India, New Zealand, Thailand and South Africa. Booth was 34 and had taught at several schools in the Far East before returning to the U.K. to found Greybrook in 1989.

He advertised for pupils in overseas newspapers, promising "a traditional British education, with an emphasis on the old fashioned values of obedience and good manners. Discipline will be strict and girls will be guided through those difficult years when they are at their most moral and pastoral risk".

Quite what lured parents to enroll their daughters in Booth's school is unclear. Certainly one factor may have been the fees which were appreciably lower than most boarding schools at the time. The size of the school may also have seemed attractive with a maximum enrollment of 25 girls.

At the time of the newspaper reports there were just 15 pupils, all of them from overseas with the only exception being a 13 year old local girl.

Parents were made aware that corporal punishment was a sanction at the school and were required to sign a consent form agreeing that "corporal punishment may be used as and when necessary with my ward/daughter". Booth however "reassured" parents that "only the Headmaster will administer corporal punishment". According to some of the pupils, four of whom gave testimony at Newcastle Crown Court, corporal punishment was a frequent occurrence at the school. In a letter to a newspaper in 1994, Booth stated that "surely the application of corporal punishment on just twelve occasions during an entire school term could hardly be considered excessive".

However, a 15 year old South African girl said in court that "you were punished for any little thing, even if you got low marks in a test or were late for something you would get punished by him". What brought Booth's activities to the attention of the police was the allegations of an Indian lady who claimed that Booth had horsewhipped her 13 year old daughter on several occasions, including twice on the bare buttocks.

In court the prosecution stated that there was no question as to Booth's right to administer reasonable corporal punishment but that "to use a horsewhip was excessive in the extreme and demands that he brought to account for his actions".

In court the instruments that Booth used on the pupils were entered as evidence, having been identified by the girls who testified. The instruments were an 18 inch long wooden ruler, a 33 inch flexible rattan cane which was barely 1/8th of an inch in diameter and a 36 inch leather riding whip. Punishments were dished out in the attic.

The South African girl stated in a video-taped interview that was played in the courtroom that Booth utilised different "techniques" according to the instrument used. "If you got the ruler, he would sit down and you had to go over his knee. If it was during the day, you had to take off your skirt and knickers. If it was in the evening you had to take off your pajama bottoms. You wore knickers underneath. He would smack you with the ruler on the back of your legs. For the cane you had to bend over the back of a chair while he caned your bottom. He never gave me the whip. The knickers were no protection from the cane. They were brief - you weren't allowed to wear gym knickers for punishments - and he would adjust the knickers so they were more like a g-string".

When the prosecution charged that the "adjustment" of girls under clothing involved "improper and indecent touching", the defending barrister asked the girl whether or not she believed that there was any indecency in her opinion. "Well, in the sense that he touched you, well it was just him moving your pants so that the cane would hurt more. He didn't do anything else". She said that after the punishment was over "you had to thank him".

The Indian girl stated that Booth had caned and horsewhipped her "many times" over her knickers and that on two occasions she had been required to lower her knickers herself and was whipped on the bare buttocks. "I had to touch my toes for the whippings. He never gave me less than six strokes and when I had to take down my pants he gave me twelve each time, on my buttocks and on the back of my legs. I always had to thank him afterwards and it was hard to do that because I was crying".

Booth was found guilty on four charges of physical assault, given a three month suspended sentence, fined 2000 pounds and ordered never to teach again. The judge told him "You have betrayed the trust that these parents placed in you and the use of a horsewhip on young children was barbaric and untenable. Your behavior has been a disgrace to your profession and children must be protected from such outlandish and outrageous behaviour".

Schoolgirls spanked bare in the 90's? Yes!

More on Kevin Booth - The Sun, April 3rd 2001.

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