Room 2D

A Chastising Service of the 1880s laid bare Historical recreation researched and written by  Richard Manton,  from Janus 38. On 26 July 1889, an advertisement appeared in the  Church Times . It was addressed to the parents of unruly daughters, to teachers of delinquent schoolgirls, to masters of female reformatories, and to those employers whose young women treated their superiors with insolence and contempt. BIRCH RODS. — These useful articles, for which there is an increasing demand, may be had from the depot. Of different sizes. — Mrs. CLAPP, St. John’s-road, Clifton. Mrs Clapp’s surname might have raised a smile, but it was as real as everything else about her. She ran a thriving business in the regency elegance of Bristol’s most prosperous suburb. Her advertisement might cause a flutter in the press of the 1980s but not a century ago when Victorian Values were firmly in the saddle. After all, if girls were to be birched, the birch-rods had to come from somewhere....

From Roué 12 Dear Freddie, As promised, a letter to keep you up to date on my progress since I resigned my commission. First a few questions for your next letter The  Times  reports plenty of action ‘up country’ against the Punjabis. I hope you have had your chance to do something in that respect. I shall look through the Gazette every month in hopes of finding that you have won yourself a medal, or at the very least have been ‘mentioned in dispatches’. How is Rodney? Tell him that I’ve bought the most splendid pair of ponies, and will be playing for the Windsor Club this season. I hope Allison is well, and the boys. Do let me know. I trust you are still whipping that young ayah’s bottom on every possible occasion. The recollection of the caning you gave her when she let Billy go off on that pony still stands me in good stead whenever I’m at a loss for something interesting to think about. India seems so far away now, a...