The mistress gave her twelve strokes of a strap

DUBLIN EVENING MAIL, 10 AUGUST 1937

“TODAY’S LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – SPANKED”

Vintage Spanking Magazines

My daughter who is 17 years old is attending a boarding school, and is on holidays at present. When we were at the seaside last week I noticed a black mark showing just below her bathing costume on her leg, and when I inquired if she got a bruise or an insect sting, she blushingly told me she was spanked before leaving school. When we got home I made a further examination, and to my horror I found four similar marks on her hips. I was so annoyed that I immediately sent for a doctor, who examined her and assured me that it was not serious, and the marks would leave in a short time.

He questioned the girl, and she told us that recently a film book and novel had been smuggled into school by another girl, and that most of the girls got a look at them; they were passed to her one day and she was caught reading them one night. The next morning the mistress sent for her and told her she would be punished if she did not tell where she got them. She refused to do this, and was then brought to her room, where two other teachers assisted in removing her knickers, putting her across the bed, and while they held her there, the mistress gave her twelve strokes of a strap on the hips. The other girl, who later admitted getting the books, received fourteen strokes of birch rods for the terrible crime.

The mistress gave her twelve strokes of a strap on the hips

Is there no law in the country to prevent such brutality? It is not a matter that a girl will willingly report to her parents, especially a girl of 17, and I think these schools should be exposed for such punishment, as I now understand that girls are spanked on the bare hips for the slightest offence against the school rules in this school. The doctor told me that complaints of a similar kind were reported in the Evening Mail some time ago, and advised me to report the matter to the Board of Education. It is certain that my daughter will not return to that school, and if girls would only speak up, I am sure that something could be done to stop it for all time.

Irish schoolgirls suffer corporal punishment