The Portrait of a Strict Disciplinarian

New readers should start reading this novel at Chapter 1.  The chapters do not stand alone, but are sequential components of an erotic novel in which there are 36 chapters in all, which are intended to be read in numerical order. 

The following week Brad and DD finally left Moulton Midmarsh for good and moved to Highgate School. They spent the next few days like newlyweds, settling into their new abode, taking delivery of the furniture they had ordered and generally making themselves at home in their new surroundings. They had decided that they would say nothing to anyone about that fact that the new Warden and the newly arrived Physical Education Instructor, were cohabiting and would allow that fact, with all that it implied, to slowly percolate through to the existing teaching staff. Although there was nothing illegal under the law of the land about what Brad and DD were doing, old prejudices die hard – if they indeed they ever die – and Brad was sufficiently sensitive to the fact that all the existing staff had already swallowed a bitter pill in being passed over for the post of Warden; the post, which he now occupied.

Brad was acutely aware of the fact that he was much younger than even the youngest member of the present teaching staff, all of whom would henceforth be reporting to him. He had, in taking the job against his own better judgment, already realised that, in spite of their apathetic appearance, without the support of the existing staff, he was taking on an almost impossible task to rescue the school from the slippery, downward slope on which he now found it, due to the lax attitudes of his predecessor.  The last thing he wanted to do was to alienate what goodwill there might still be among the existing staff.  Brad had no intention of lording it over his colleagues, as he did not want to rub their noses in the dirt. He hoped  he could persuade them all to pull together to save the School from being written off as a failure and closed down by the owners, Public Custodial Services PLC. He had decided that to spring upon his potentially hostile colleagues that the new Warden, their immediate boss, was not only a practising homosexual, but was living in the Warden’s house with his lover, the new P.E. instructor, whom he had brought with him, might prove the final straw; better, therefore that the facts about the Warden’s sexual orientation and his close relations with the new P.E. instructor, be allowed to dawn upon them gradually.

Monday morning dawned, and Brad went to install himself in the Warden’s office.  Next door was the office of the school secretary, a Miss Caldicott, whom he had met on one of his earlier visits to the School. She was one of those female dragons of indeterminate age who always seemed to be part and parcel of such school establishments and who came with the job. Wardens might come and go, but from their one brief meeting, Brad had judged her to be one of those permanently inscrutable, fossilised females, who had never been fucked by a man in her life and, as a result, had a permanent sour, disapproving look on her face. She was typical of the sort of forbidding, elderly celibate females, who somehow seem to gravitate to senior administrative positions in essentially all male institutions, such as Highgate School and many of England’s public boys’ schools, where they rapidly become part of the establishment. 

He had secretly been dreading getting to know her, for he instinctively knew that she would silently disapprove of the life he led with DD, which she, along with the rest of the staff, would eventually uncover. He also foresaw that in spite of her unrelenting, unspoken disapproval, she would, nevertheless, perform her duties meticulously and efficiently and that he would never have cause to get rid of her.  Not surprisingly, it was with some trepidation that he waited for his secretary, who was old enough to be his mother, to present herself to him in his office to begin their working life together.

The knock he was nervously expecting came on the door between the two offices and fully expecting to see the redoubtable Miss Caldicott, he was surprised when a handsome young man entered and said, “Good morning, Warden. Allow me to be the first, Sir, to welcome you to Highgate School and to present myself to you; I am Jonathan William Forsyth, and I am the School Secretary, Sir.”

For a brief moment, in which he mentally scraped himself off the floor, Brad was speechless. To be confronted by a handsome young stud who claimed to be the school secretary was surprising enough; but then to be told that the young man was called Jonathan Forsyth could surely not be true. Here was another Jonathan, at first sight at least as sexually attractive to the eye, if not even more so, as had been Jonathan Levitt, the Headmaster’s general factotum and his live-in, personal provider of sexual relief at Moulton Midmarsh; but also, to bear the surname of Forsyth, the same name as the Headmaster’s female secretary at Moulton Midmarsh, was uncanny. In spite of his surprise, Brad found himself, as ever, whenever he met an attractive young stud for the first time, automatically trying to decide whether the young man in front of him was a fuckable prospect or not.  Judging from the encouraging bulge of the crotch of his well-cut trousers, the School Secretary looked, at first sight to be well-endowed where it counted.

Of course, it goes without saying that Brad would never consider having sex with someone, however attractive, without sharing his discovery with DD; but it was always good to be prepared for the unexpected. Brad knew that both he and DD, although emotionally joined at the hip, nevertheless, enjoyed recreational sex with other men. Jonathan Levitt had initially fulfilled that function at Moulton Midmarsh and had eventually become a good friend and sex partner to both DD and Brad, without ever perturbing their rock-solid relationship. Already coursing through Brad’s mind was the question whether this immediately attractive young man, whom he hardly knew, might prove an in-house, sexual muse for him and DD him; a sort of replacement for Jonathan Levitt.  Under the right circumstances, Brad knew that neither he nor DD would have hesitated for a moment to have sex with such an attractive stranger. But resolution of such thoughts had to wait, for first he had to determine what was to be his professional relationship with the young man standing in front of him.

Collecting his thoughts, Brad said: “Well, Mr. Forsyth, I confess I am somewhat surprised – an understatement if ever there was one – by what you have just told me, so I think you had better sit down so that you can tell me the whole story of how I seem to have acquired, what is rather unusual: a male secretary. To being with, what, has happened to Miss Caldicott?”

“Well Sir, perhaps, I had better start the beginning. But before I begin, I should tell you that my parents always called me William, my full second name; but everyone else has always called me by my nickname, Liam. If we are to work together, Sir, which I hope we are, perhaps that is what you should call me; Mr. Forsyth seems too formal and Liam is the name I am called by pretty well everybody that knows me, including the staff of this place. You will notice that I said; which I hope we are, for I was not quite telling you the absolute truth when I told you that I was the School Secretary. But first to answer your question about Miss Caldicott, she decided to retire one month after your predecessor, Warden Wainwright was forced to relinquish his post due to ill health.”

“You see, Sir, Miss Caldicott had been with Mr. Wainwright for almost 20 years; as when he left, she was only one year away from her own retirement, she felt she could not face the changes a new Warden would inevitably bring with him and so she decided that she too would go. And so, she left about a month ago, leaving me in charge for the moment.  You see, Sir, when I came here four years ago, it was straight from the commercial college in Manchester, where I had trained to be a business manager and private secretary. It was Mr. Wainwright who appointed me as assistant to Miss Caldicott, who was then the School Secretary. When she left, there was no immediate replacement and so, Sir, I have functioned as School Secretary. After all, Sir, the place had got to be kept running in the interim until you arrived; other than me, there was no one else around to take care of the administration. And so I just sort of continued with Miss Caldicott’s job. Under the circumstances I was hoping, Sir, that I might stay on under the new Warden as School Secretary; after all, Sir, there is no one who knows the ins and outs of this place better than I do.”

Brad had listened silently to Liam’s account of why Miss Caldicott was no longer around. He was secretly pleased that the old trout, for that was how he had thought of her after the one and only time they had met during his only visit to the School before accepting job, was no longer around.  He had already divined on first sight that Miss Caldicott, as School Secretary of many years standing, would insist on things being done what she thought of as the right way: her way!   All in all, he was quite relieved to hear that she was no longer around, as he had already foreseen her as a potentially disapproving thorn in his flesh; especially once she learned that he was cohabiting, in the Warden’s house, no less, with that other new-comer, Declan O’Sullivan, of whom Brad was quite sure, she would have disapproved on first sight. People like Miss Caldicott always seemed to have in inbuilt aversion to the Irish. And from the way in which Liam – Brad already automatically thought of him as that – had brought him up to date on Miss Caldicott’s departure, he was relieved that he would have someone experienced in the ways of the School on whom he could reply to guide him though the intricacies of life at Highgate: someone, who, he was quite sure, knew what was what and kept in touch with what was going on behind the scenes.

By the time Liam had finished his explanation of Miss Caldicott’s absence, Brad had already decided that he would appoint him as School Secretary. After all, Principal Parliamentary Secretaries were usually men; so why should he too not have a male secretary? It was not as if he had gone out of his way to look for a male replacement for Miss Caldicott; it had been handed to him on a plate; to ignore the fact that Liam came over as totally competent and, moreover, knew the ropes, would be to look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course, given Brad’s own sexual orientation and the fact that Liam was an attractive looking guy, also played in his favour; but the fact of the matter was that Brad had just liked Liam on first sight; it was as simple as that. Had Liam been an overt feminine type of man, who had chosen a profession more usually reserved to the female sex, Brad would have had no hesitation in replacing him, for his taste in men was for the strongly masculine type; effeminate gays and cross dressers were an anathema to him.  But at first sight he had like Liam’s physical appearance and if he turned out to be of the same sexual orientation as Brad, then so much the better; as died-in-the-wool gays, both Brad and DD felt more comfortable working with macho members of their own sex, whether gay or straight. And so, Liam, hoping that he would be promoted to the post of School Secretary, but as yet unaware that the Warden had already taken the decision, was, on first sight, the ideal person for the job.

Brad felt slightly miffed that his employer had not informed him of the departure of Miss Caldicott before his arrival. Not surprisingly, he wondered what other surprises might be revealed to him by the young man in front of him, who clearly had his finger on the pulse of the school and whom he saw as an invaluable link between him, the new boy, and the old guard, whom he could well imagine, probably to a man, resented being passed over for the top position in favour of an outsider. He was even more aware that their natural resentment might grow still stronger when they came face to face with their new boss for the first time and saw that he was a young man: a mere whippersnapper, who, in their eyes, would be seen as being still wet behind the ears. As he had already seen that Liam was probably his closest potential ally, he decided to put the young man out of the misery of not knowing whether he would accede to the vacant position of School Secretary, by offering him the promotion there and then. As he gave Liam the good news, Brad saw the relief in his eyes, at the news he was not to be passed over and remain as assistant to a yet to be appointed new secretary.

Having settled the question of Liam’s promotion, the conversation now moved on to Brad’s predecessor, Mr. Whittaker by name, whom he learned that Liam had really quite admired. His demise had come about not because he was incompetent, as Brad had been led to believe when it had been suggested to him that he apply for the job, but because of illness. According to Liam, who had been at Highgate for four years, until his final year, the old Warden had been a model of strictness and had had a no nonsense approach to running the place, the two primary requirements for managing a reform school like Highgate Mill. He had been a vigorous advocate of strict adherence to the school rules and had strongly approved of corporal punishment as being the only way to keep in order the sort criminally minded, tear-away inmates they were trying to reform. 

He had apparently, both rigorously and vigorously performed all beatings and mandatory birchings himself until just about a year ago, when the unfortunate signs of dementia had first reared their ugly head.  And gradually, as he had succumbed to the unstoppable advance of Alzheimer’s Disease, things had been allowed to slip.  Brad now learned from Liam that at Highgate Mill there had never been a position analogous to that of Chief Disciplinarian, which he had held at Moulton Midmarsh.  The result was that as his predecessor had kept his own tight grip on the administration of all corporal punishment, even though it was evident to everybody that his health was fading, little by little, over the course of the last year, things had been allowed to slip ever further.

Brad asked Liam: “So who, during what I understand was a long, slow decline of standards in general, administered the mandatory birchings often ordered by the courts, which many new internees bring with them on arrival?  Highgate Mill, as a government registered reform school, is legally obliged to carry out such mandatory punishments within 24 hours of a new detainee’s arrival. Other punishments at reform schools are carried out at the discretion of the Warden or Headmaster; but all government registered reform schools have a legal obligation to perform a court ordered birching of any detainee, more or less immediately after his arrival. Additionally if, as is often the case with extremely violent young criminals, who arrive with a court order for a series of floggings, of which there appears to be an ever-increasing number, the School has a legal obligation to carry out any additional birchings according to the schedule set by the court. And, I might add, the School has an obligation to keep a separate written register of all mandatory floggings in addition to the standard punishment journal, in which all beatings are recorded.”

“The short answer to your question, Sir, is no one. During the last six months of Mr. Whittaker’s tenure, as far as I can remember, no one was ever flogged. And that goes for everyone, whether new detainees with court orders to be birched on arrival or run-of-the-mill disciplinary punishment. All punishments more or less ceased as Mr. Whittaker’s illness developed and he became ever more handicapped. Let me go and fetch the standard punishment registers and the register of entrant detainees, who arrived with court orders to be birched and you can see for yourself exactly how things were allowed to slide.”

Liam returned a couple of minutes later bearing not only the two registers but also a file of punishment notes issued by members of the teaching staff. “You see, Sir, Mr. Whittaker as I explained, performed all punishments personally. He was the only person in this School, who wielded the cane and the birch.”

“Members of the teaching staff, who would normally have punished miscreant boys themselves had they been permitted to do so, were obliged to fill out a punishment note detailing the offence and the punishment suggested and send it to the Warden, who then, each evening, summoned the relevant lucky lads to the punishment room

and thrashed them.  In this file are the punishment notes that were issued during the last six months or so before Mr. Whittaker finally left the School; and as you can see for yourself, Sir, there are about 40 of them which were never acted upon.  In fact, Sir, in the old days, scarcely a day went by without some lad or other getting his backside thrashed. Mr Whittaker was a great believer in the beneficial effects of a thorough beating on the sort of young tearaways we have in this place; and he never hesitated, even for a moment, to put his beliefs into action”

“If you look at the general punishment register, you will see that even before Mr. Whittaker’s severe personal decline, the frequency of punishments had dropped off considerably until they stopped completely during his last six months as Warden. As you can see from the file of punishment notes, there were about 40 requests for punishments issued by masters, which were never carried out. The result has been that the inmates, realising, figuratively speaking, that the tiger had lost its teeth, have become ever more unruly over the past six months as they have sensed that they will no longer be punished for their bad behaviour. It’s the old tale of give ‘em an inch and they’ll take a mile. And as Mr. Whittaker ruled this place with a rod of iron and brooked no challenge to his authority, none of the teaching staff protested even when they saw that he was in failing health.”

“The result is, Sir, that having, de facto, no longer any concrete sanctions in the form of the cane or the birch to hold over the inmates, who are, in my humble view, to a man, a really dangerous, unreformable lot at heart, the teaching staff have found it increasingly difficult to control them. Luckily for them, the warders are a real lot of bruisers, who hold their own against the inmates, even if it involves using excessive force beyond their mandate; without them, this place would descend into utter chaos.”

“As for the mandatory birchings which should have been carried out, well, as you can see from the entry ledger, the School has, in the past six months, accumulated a back-log of 15 new inmates, all of whom arrived with a court order for at least one birching. The School is at present in a position where it is breaking the law.  I do not know what sanctions could be applied against the School, if ever our records were inspected.  So, Sir, as I see it, in terms of discipline, you have quite a formidable task on your hands, to put this house in order.”

Brad had listened in silence to the parlous state of discipline outlined in detail by his new male secretary, Liam.  In one way, things were worse than anticipated as the school was clearly in infraction of the law, which had to be corrected as soon as possible. But he was delighted to hear that his predecessor had reserved to himself the pleasure of administering all corporal punishment to the inmates.  For Brad, coming from his post of Chief Disciplinarian at Moulton Midmarsh, the regular wielding of the cane and the birch on richly deserving arses of young tearaways had become a great pleasure, which he would have been loath to relinquish. However, given the present total lack of corporal punishment and the fact that all floggings had previously been uniquely in the hands of the then Warden, he saw no difficulty in taking over himself where Mr. Whittaker had, unfortunately, been forced to leave off. 

The situation he had inherited fortunately relieved him of the tricky task of telling masters, who had long been accustomed to using the cane in class, that in future, all floggings would be carried out by him, as he was simply taking over where the old Warden had left off. So he would in no way be depriving masters of a privilege, which they did not possess. However, that did nothing to ease the feeling of resentment which he anticipated that his arrival would raise, particularly among longstanding, older members of the teaching staff, who had been passed over for the post of Warden. As in his sex life, where mutuality of the act was always a key consideration however hard he was fucking his partner, he had considerable empathy with his older colleagues whom he did not yet know, as they would have a bitter pill to swallow in metaphorically kowtowing to a man many years their junior both in age and experience. The last thing he wanted to do, in view of the deplorable state into which the school had fallen, was to lose what experienced men he had under him.

But the first thing he had to do was to deal with the backlog of mandatory birchings which had never been carried out, to render the School compliant with law, which for the past six months it had most certainly not been.  But Brad also saw no reason to deprive the long list of lads, who had had punishment notes issued against them, of the pleasure of a well beaten arse, which he was sure that the majority of them deserved. He, therefore, had Liam prepare for him two separate lists: one for those inmates who had arrived with mandatory birching orders which had never been carried out: and a second list of those inmates who had escaped their punishment due to the illness of the previous Warden.  Liam was very quick in producing the two lists requested and early afternoon found him again sitting facing Brad across his desk in his office.

The first list, which dealt with the new arrivals with mandatory birchings added to their custodial sentences. Liam had made two versions of the list: one in date order; the second with the names of the lucky lads whose arses were to be flogged, in alphabetical order. There were 15 names in all on the list together with the number of strokes of the birch to be given. Of the total of 15, six of the lads had been sentenced to be flogged twice, at monthly intervals; but two unfortunate young men were to be flogged three times; again at monthly intervals. So, all in all, a total of 23 separate floggings would be required just to discharge the School’s legal obligations.  The second list was longer as it contained 42 names in all, which Liam had imaginatively listed in several ways: by date requested; alphabetically by date requested: alphabetically by date requested, by master requesting the punishment. Liam had helpfully added the whole lot together and said, with awe in his voice: “To carry out all the punishments on these two lists, Sir, would imply no less than 65 separate floggings; and, Sir, if each time 12 strokes were given, that would mean a total of 780 strokes.”

“Well, Liam, looking at these lists, it appears we have a lot of lost

ground to catch up on. I think the most appropriate thing to do first is to rectify the omissions made by my predecessor and birch those internees who arrived with a mandatory birching order attached to their custodial sentences. Once that is done, the School will have discharged its legal obligations.  I can then give my undivided attention to the other lads, who have been enjoying for the past several months what I suppose might best be described as a rain-check on their punishments, which I am sure all of them richly deserve. I see no reason why they should be allowed to escape scot-free of retribution for their misdemeanours, especially in view of the fact that their punishments were not carried out due to the increasing infirmity of my predecessor.”

Liam was amazed to hear that there was evidently to be what was a truly marathon beating-fest: “Do you mean, Sir, that you propose to punish retrospectively all the internees named on both lists? That is quite a job to take on Sir; as I see it there is no one available at present to undertake such a huge task.”

“Liam, evidently you are not aware of the post I held before coming here as Warden; so, allow me to put you in the picture. At Moulton Midmarsh, the previous reform school, my primary job, for which I had been specifically recruited, was that of Chief Disciplinarian. As such I was not only in charge of, but also carried out all floggings, which I can assure you, given the stratum of society with which all such reform institutions as ours are blessed, were numerous, regular and vigorous. So, as my predecessor performed the similar function in this establishment himself, rather than leaving it to a specially designated person, I see no reason to change matters and upset the old order.  I, therefore, propose to continue where he left off; I will personally perform all future canings and birchings in this school. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that in addition to exercising my right arm in regularly polishing a constant stream of deserving arses, I also taught mathematics.”

“Now, as I see it, from the lists you have prepared, we have a backlog of lads whose arses are urgently needing attention; so the sooner I make a start the better.  I propose to perform three floggings on successive evenings, until I have dealt with the entire backlog. Thus, the 15 mandatory floggings, which we need to carry out as soon as possible to meet our legal obligations, will be completed over a five- day period. Then, also discharging them at a rate of three per day, the 42 floggings, which masters have requested but which have been in abeyance, will take 14 days in all. There, Liam, you have it; the whole school will quickly realise that what I am sure they will think of as the good old days, have gone forever; that they were a mirage created purely by the force of circumstances.”

“They will all soon learn that the free and easy, laissez-faire days of the past six months, are gone forever and that the cane and the birch, both of which have a healthy appetite for bare arses, are back with a vengeance. The fact that the backlog floggings will be carried out inexorably, three at a time, on a daily basis for the best part of a month, will, I hope have a beneficial effect on the general behaviour of the inmates, although I have serious doubts in my own mind about that, given the ingrained criminality of most of our internees. They must be made to realise that due to extenuating circumstances they have been living in a fool’s paradise for the past six months. Highgate Mill is a reform school and as internees, they are here to be reformed; and if reforming involves giving miscreants a painful arse, then so be it.”

“Liam, as we are to work closely together, I do not want you to think that I am bloodthirsty sadist, salivating just at the thought of shredding some poor sod’s bare arse. I can put my hand on my heart when I say that never in my entire career have I flogged anyone without just cause. I know that some masters, who are obsessed with corporal punishment, invent spurious reasons to flog some unsuspecting lad or other; but I do not belong to that group. However, I do firmly believe in the beneficially corrective effects of corporal punishment, which, in my mind must be painful for the receiver if it is to have its desired effect and improve his behaviour.  If a lad merits a flogging, then I always make sure that it is a salutary experience for him, so that when he gets up, he feels as if he will never again sit down comfortably. I never hold back with either the cane or the birch, which has given me the reputation of being a hard caner, which I suppose I am: I look upon that as an accolade. The fact that there is a sizeable backlog of candidates awaiting punishment is, in a way, fortunate, for as I work through the list, flogging three lads each day over the course of the next month, the message will soon get through to the rest of the school that the new man means business.”

“Liam at noon today, I have my first formal meeting with the entire teaching staff, and I would like you to prepare a list of the names of the lads whose backsides will require my immediate attention during this first month.  I will first deal with the mandatory birchings and then progress to the other, all in groups of three.  Please list the names in groups of three under the date on which that group is to be dealt with. I will start with the first group of three mandatory birchings next Monday and punishments will be carried out Monday to Friday until we have worked through the backlog and all offenders have had their backsides polished.”

“I intend to deal with the lads in the chronological order in which the punishments were awarded, beginning with the court ordered birchings before proceeding to the rest. I propose to post this list on the notice board so that the whole school understands that the old days are over and that those who were slated for floggings which were never carried out and thought they had escaped unscathed can think again and contemplate their fate.  I believe that the prospect of a month of three daily floggings will greatly improve the general behaviour of the entire school. The whole school must be made to realise as soon as possible that the new Warden means business. If you could go and prepare the lists immediately, I would then like you to show me where this School’s punishment room is located as I wish to see for myself that it is equipped with the accoutrements appropriate to its function. And I would also like you to place all the original court orders and punishment notes issued by the staff in one file, arranged in the date order in which I intend to administer the punishments.  I always study each request for a beating in detail before I flog the individual in question. The law allows me considerable discretion to increase the severity of any punishment I consider the original request was insufficient.”

As Liam left to prepare the lists, Brad was treated to his first view of his male secretary’s shapely buttocks, which, even clothed as they were, had already, in those few seconds, been enough to activate that faithful indicator between his legs of his sexual desire. As he felt his cock stirring, he knew that from the moment he had first set eyes on his new secretary that morning that he been automatically assessing, as he always did,  his desirability as a sex partner, without knowing anything at all about the young man’s sexual orientation. But sexual attraction is like that; you are immediately attracted towards someone whom you have never met before and instantly would like to fuck him. Allowing his imagination to run away with him, Brad, knowing his partner, DD’s preferences, already saw in Liam a replacement for Jonathan in their joint sex lives.

A half hour later, as Liam came back with the lists, Brad was able to make a preliminary assessment of the kit his secretary had between his legs. Liam’s designer trousers, had been cut with an eye for those men, who, although not willing to go the whole hog and wear trousers so tight in the crotch that they leave little at all to the imagination of the viewer, were nevertheless sufficiently revealing as to the size of the goods they were hiding. To a viewer like Brad, who was attuned to assessing immediately every young stud whom he met for his sexual potential, even the little he had now seen of the fully clothed Liam was enough to make his heart beat faster.  By now Brad was praying that Liam would turn out sexually to be of the same persuasion as DD and himself, as he saw him as an in-house replacement for Jonathan. Such is the power that sexual attraction exerts on men.  At that moment, as he looked at Liam across his desk, Brad understood for the first time what a potent force sexual attraction could exert on a man. He saw how he easily could have raped Liam on the spot.

Whether or not Liam had divined by telepathy, as sometimes seems the case, that his potential as a sex partner was being analysed by the new Warden, is not clear. But Brad sensed a slight difference in Liam’s demeanour as if he realised that he was being viewed with a critically appraising eye by his new boss as he laid the lists on the desk in front of Brad.  “I have made three copies of both lists, Sir: one for you; one for the notice board, and one for the head guard, who normally prepares the lads for their punishment. I thought that as the beatings were to follow, three per day on successive days that Mr Pyke, – he’s the head guard, Sir – would need a list so that he knew each day whom to prepare for flogging. And, Sir, I thought I should just mention that in addition to the backlog of lads to be punished, you will also have to contend with new arrivals with mandatory birching orders issued by the courts. And in addition, Sir, once the teaching staff realises that floggings have been resumed, you will also receive punishment notes from them. I suspect, Sir that you might be in for a busy time over the next two months.”

“Thank you for your concern, Liam; I think we will cross that bridge when we get to it.  For the moment, let’s concentrate on getting this show on the road. With its already numerous dramatis personae, all of whom have an important part to play and have been kept waiting long enough, we should not deprive them any longer of the opportunity to face their destiny.  Now that you have finalised the list of players and defined the timing of their entrances, I suggest you show me exactly where the punishment room is located, for that is the theatre where each of these deserving lads is to take to the stage, where I shall, with my considerable skill for getting the best out of each and every one of the players in this multi-act drama, lavish my tender loving care on their arses one by one, to ensure that each and every one of them has an opportunity to rise to histrionic heights with his lines. It is such pity that the part which the each will play, ends in the tragedy of the well-beaten arse.”

Whatever Liam made of this piece of high-flown, imaginative persiflage to which he had just been treated, he was wise enough to keep to himself, as he led Brad to the punishment room. Brad found that the arrangements at Highgate Mill were identical to those at Moulton Midmarsh; it appeared that the same hand had been at work at both locations. The room itself was equipped with three identical,  professionally made birching horses, each fitted with restraining straps to ensure that the unfortunate individual, whose naked arse was to be flogged, could be firmly held in place whilst his punishment was carried out. There, as at Moulton Midmarsh, on hooks against the wall, were the same necessary accoutrements of corporal punishment: the birches and the straight-handled canes Brad preferred. He noticed immediately that the two synthetic fibre birches were both of the heavy 4 mm grade but that there was a range of canes available ranging from 5 – 15 mm in diameter.

The only thing missing was the non-standard-issue paddle, to the utility of which Brad had been introduced by the Headmaster of Moulton Midmarsh. Brad now automatically preceded every flogging, regardless of its severity, with six preconditioning swats with the paddle, which he now viewed as an indispensable preliminary to every beating. As at Moulton Midmarsh, the shower room was on the opposite side of the corridor and the standard bench on which the candidates were obliged to sit semi-naked whilst they waited to be called in to meet their fate, stood to one side of the punishment room door. The bench, fitted with restraining straps, was the last thing on which the lads would sit comfortably for quite a while, before the magic Brad intended to work on their arses.

Whilst they were standing there viewing the punishment room, Thomas Gormley, the head warder, came in. As Brad and he had never met, Liam introduced the two men to each other. “Gormley, I am pleased that we have met,” said Brad, “As you and I will be working closely together from next Monday. Starting on Monday evening at 7:30 pm and thereafter each weekday evening at the same time, I intend to work through the backlog of lads, whose punishments have been in abeyance for the past six months or so due to the ill-health of my predecessor. My new secretary, Mr. Forsyth, will give you a list of the candidates he has prepared. I propose to flog three individuals each weekday evening for the next month or so, to discharge the list of lads slated for punishment, which I am sure they thought had been forgotten. I shall require you, Gormley, to prepare the three lads on that day’s list for punishment, which will start at 7:30 pm precisely each evening.”

 “I expect you to see that the lads on each day’s list have been showered and are wearing only the regulation punishment shorts and are sitting on the bench in the corridor awaiting their fate when I arrive. I should tell you that under my direction the School will be tightening-up on discipline, which has become very lax; from now on, I shall personally be performing all floggings, for which I will require your full cooperation. The internees will soon learn that they have been living in a fool’s paradise, indulging in wishful thinking for the last six months that floggings were a thing of the past. However, they will soon learn that under my direction, the cane and the birch are both alive and well and have resumed their normal duties. In a word, Gormley, although the inmates no longer expect it, the well-flogged arse will again become a reality for any miscreant.”

Gormley said: “Warden first permit me to say how happy I am that the School has a new Warden, who is eager to pull this place back from the undisciplined doldrums into which it had been allowed to fall. In the old days, before he became ill, your predecessor was a great believer in the beneficial effects of a well-flogged arse on a lad’s behaviour; and I can tell you Sir, that he practised what he preached. Ask any lad, who had the painful experience of being flogged by him in this very room, and he will tell you that the old Warden was an expert when it came to delivering a well-flogged arse, Sir.  But since his illness and the fall off of floggings, the lads have seen that they could get away with almost anything, Sir, as the teaching staff had no longer any credible threat to hold over them. After all, Sir, in a place like this, where  the inmates are interned 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, they have no freedom at all to speak of; so the threat of depriving them of freedom which they do not have, is no threat at all. And so, little by little, over the past year, but especially in the last six months, the lads have, figuratively speaking, got away with murder.”

“Anyway, Sir, allow me to assure you, that you can count on the fullest cooperation from my staff and me, in what I think you may find is an uphill struggle to restore order. Most members of the teaching staff have become disillusioned by the lack of any concrete means of punishing the inmates for their misdemeanours, so you will have the additional task of reinvigorating them too.  But I think it is a good idea to begin as you mean to go on, by giving the whole school a back-to-reality, wake-up call, in flogging, day by day, three at a time, all the miscreants who thought they had escaped punishment completely. I think that the month-long series of catch-up floggings, on a daily basis as you propose, will concentrate the minds of the rest of the miscreants we have on our hands more than any load of jaw-jaw.”

“It will also reassure the teaching staff that they have not been forgotten, once they see that their new Warden is a man of action rather than one of words and will reassure them that any lad on whom they issue punishment note will get short shrift and finish up pretty damn quickly with a well-shredded arse. There is, in my view, nothing so convincing as seeing a well striped arse of one of your own, to convince the viewers of the need to behave themselves or suffer the same. So, Sir, you can rest assured that the first three lads on your list will be ready for you next Monday evening; they will hardly be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and raring to go, as the saying has it, but sitting practically naked on the bench outside this room – always a rather intimidating state in which to find oneself – trembling with fear of what is about to happen to them.”

The meeting later that morning with the members of the teaching staff went very well indeed. Brad, to his immense surprise and relief, was received, more or less with open arms, as a saviour who had been sent to rescue the School from its present precipitous decline. Brad suddenly became aware that, Oxford educated as he was, he was the most highly qualified academically among the entire staff, who were, in the main, professional tradesmen, who had opted to teach rather than practice their chosen professions.  Highgate Mill School was a much more hands-on establishment than was Moulton Midmarsh. Here the emphasis was on teaching a set of ne’er-do-wells the rudiments of a trade, in the faint hope that on their release they would see the light that there were other ways of life open to them over and above crime.

Directly after the staff meeting, Brad buttonholed a youngish man, appositely named John Wood, who taught joinery and wood-working and gave him a sketch of the paddle, the use of which to condition any and all backsides being flogged had become second nature to him. “What I would like you to do, Wood, is to make this paddle for me in time for my first three mandatory floggings which I have scheduled for Monday evening. I find that after six swats with a paddle, a lad’s naked backside is in a better condition to appreciate the full effect of the more serious stuff which is to follow. As you can see it is quite simple. It consists of a slab of hard wood about 25-30 mm thick, drilled with a number of 10 mm holes, and measuring about 180 mm by 100 mm. then on the short side is attached a handle some 350 mm long, which can be either of the sort of wood for which hammer handles are made or even of metal.” 

“The important thing is that the handle must be firmly inset into the paddle itself as it has to withstand repeated shocks when the implement mates with its target and comes to a sudden stop against a lad’s muscular backside. The aim, in case you had not realised, is to give the miscreant being flogged a painful short, sharp, shock prior to his flogging proper with the birch or cane.  Make no mistake, when the paddle slams down onto the naked flesh of a lad’s buttocks, it really hurts.  I presume that you are aware of the fact that all floggings in this School were, in the past, given on the bare, a tradition which I propose to reintroduce next Monday evening after a six-month absence, much, I am sure, to the regret of the inmates.”

John Wood looked at the sketch and said: “Warden, there is no problem in making this implement for you and it will be ready for Monday evening. If I may say so, Sir, I think that we, the staff members, are all pleased at your appointment and that we have again someone who is clearly in charge, who will endeavour to put the School back on the track from which it has been derailed for more than six months.  Without the threat of a flogging hanging over the sort of lads we are attempting to rehabilitate here, we have no means of controlling them. The only thing these misfits understand is physical pain, which was the only deterrent we had. But as that has been denied to us for the past several months, the School had become almost a no-go area for the teaching staff. It is only thanks to the guards, who have not hesitated, illegally, I dare say, to rough-up any lads who were really getting out-of-hand and becoming seriously dangerous, that we have all survived until now. But might I ask, Sir, what is the purpose of the numerous holes in the main body of the paddle? What purpose do they serve?”

“A good question, Wood; just as a fly swatter is made of a fine mesh to avoid blowing away the target fly which the rush of air would do were the swatter solid, the holes in the paddle ensure that as it mates with the naked flesh of a lad’s arse, the layer of air between it and the target area escapes via the holes. Thus, when it actually lands on the naked flesh and delivers up its painful message, the force of the blow is not attenuated by a layer of air.  In a word the holes are there to ensure that the lad being flogged gets the maximum pain from every swat of the paddle. Now believe me when I say that although the paddle does not deliver the excruciating sharp pain of either the cane or the birch, due to it heaver weight, it delivers a great deal of pain in its own right. I can tell you that when followed by the birch or the cane – or even sometimes both – the recipient finds himself the sad owner of a well-flogged arse, which he will not be eager ever again to experience.”

Although Brad did not realise it at the time, his use, not just once, but twice, of the word arse in his final remarks, did more for his prestige and acceptance by his teaching staff than he could ever have imagined. The majority of his staff members, being hands-on, tradesmen teachers, who had not been university educated, his use of the vulgarity, which Wood later related to his colleagues, did more to establish him as one of us and not a toffee-nosed, one of them, Oxford graduate out of touch with the working-class north and an essentially technical reform school like Highgate Mill.

Continued in Chapter 31.