Social Class, School And Discipline

Social class was a factor which complicated many an Edwardian childhood. This is where one encounters rules to discourage habits and usages of the class or classes other than one's own, such as not associating over-closely with neighbours; good table manners - 'Any joints on the table will be carved' (a reference to not putting elbows on the table); vulgar remarks such as asking how much something cost, or what somebody's father did for a living; not playing with children of a lower social status, usually said to be because of infection, '"Have you been much into people's cottages?" Aunt Edith asked anxiously-with the strange fear of infection which seems a part of a grown-up's nature'. (Edith Nesbitt, House of Arden) but probably referring to infection with undesirable manners and speech as well as illness!

The chastisement of children for wrong-doing was still taken very much for granted, both at school and at home, and considered to be a matter of duty toward the child. Writers of childcare manuals would warn strongly against even baby getting the upper hand. Truby King is best known for his insistence upon feeding babies at set times, rather than whenever they expressed hunger. His warning that '…damaged health and absence of discipline and control in early life are the natural foundations of failure later on - failure through the lack of control which underlies all weakness of character, vice and criminality…'  (Feeding & Care of Baby, 1913) although severe in its expression, is not untypical.

Clearly law-breaking was liable to punishment by the forces of law and order, although a surprising number of children got away with things like scrumping apples and placing booby traps. But disobedience or defiance of authority, whether of parent, teacher, or any other adult was also taken particularly seriously, and likely to lead to moral reproach as well as physical punishment. Schools continued to use the traditional birch, cane or tawse (the leather strap which could be soaked in water to make it heavier) particularly on boys; the domestic equivalent was the hand, slipper or belt. Less obviously violent forms generally involved humiliation (the wearing of a dunce's cap or label, or standing in front of the class, boredom (isolation, menial tasks, lines to be copied or learned), or the withdrawal of sweets, pocket money or other privileges.

One of the movements set up to correct all this was Scouting. The Scouting Movement has its origins in the Boer War (1899 - 1902). During this period the British Government became concerned by the physical unfitness and what it saw as the moral decline of working class youths. Sixty per cent of recruits were rejected by the army because they were too unhealthy. Robert Baden-Powell, who played a leading role in South Africa on the British side in the Boer War, tackled this national problem by launching the Scout Movement in 1908. The Scouts recruited boys between twelve and sixteen years and the movement was modelled on the Voluntary Youth Cadet Corps formed during the military siege of Mafeking.

They had the royal seal of approval, too: Baden-Powell recorded 'After dinner King Edward called me aside and sat me down on the sofa beside him and talked for half an hour about my Boy Scouts. He would like to review the Scouts the following year in Windsor Park'. The reference to review is in the military sense - the king inspecting his troops.

Baden-Powell had not been at all happy about the provision of a similar movement for girls, but eventually gave in and founded the Girl Guides with his sister Agnes - they were officially named Guides in 1910 (absolutely not Girl Scouts, as they had at first requested). Not everyone was happy about these girls in their practical clothes performing boyish activities such as camping and trekking, but the Guides' usefulness during World War One helped to establish them.