Corpun file 24677 at www.corpun.com
Daily Mail, London, 4 April 1956, p.7
Four caned boys struck north in shame
Scotland for peace
By Daily Mail Reporter
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TWELVE of the best, right on the traditional spot, for ten
schoolboys. The pain didn't trouble them much. But the shame
hurt.
It bothered four of them so much that they ran away from
Derbyshire, heading for Scotland.
When John Hollis, 15, and Malcolm Roope, 14, learned that the
whole of Tapton House School, at Chesterfield, was talking about
their whacking they packed rucksacks and started their 200-mile
tramp.
Two others, Robert Morgan, 15, and John Gilhooley, 15, left with
them but after one day returned home.
Turned back
All four reached Wakefield, about 50 miles from home, last
Wednesday. Then Robert and John, fed up with the rigours of
open-air life, turned back.
Said Robert yesterday: "The plan was to go to Stranraer and
hitch a lift aboard a ferry to Northern Ireland.
"We were going to stay there until we were 18 to allow time
for the talk to die away."
Of the caning administered by headmaster Arnold Jennings -- he
caned ten boys for pranks in Chesterfield -- Robert had this to
say: "They can't just hope to avoid the disgrace by running
away. They are only making it worse.
"Twelve strokes is a lot, but we deserved it and we got it.
That's the end of it."
First job
Malcolm Roope's parents received a letter from him posted in
Barnsley. His mother said: "He had his Post Office savings
book with £23 in it. The letter told us not to worry."
John Hollis's father said: "John has left school now and
should have started his first job today. I thought he had just
gone hiking."
Both boys -- still missing last night -- have been on camping
holidays in the Lake District before. John is a Boy Scout.
Chesterfield's education chief, Mr. Arthur Greenhough, frowns on
corporal punishment in schools.
Last night be said: "It is discouraged, but it is left to
the discretion of the headmaster."
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