Fagging was a traditional practice in British

public schools Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...

and also at many other

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

s, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the eldest boys. Although probably originating earlier, the first accounts of fagging appeared in the late 17th century. Fagging sometimes involved physical abuse and/or sexual abuse. Although lessening in severity over the centuries, the practice continued in some institutions until the end of the 20th century.

History

Fagging originated as a structure for maintaining order in boarding schools, when schoolmasters' authority was practically limited to the classroom.

Thomas Arnold Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement. As headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were wide ...

, headmaster of Rugby from 1828 to 1841, defined fagging as the power given by the authorities of the school to the Sixth Form, to be exercised by them over younger boys. Fagging was a fully established system at St Paul's, Eton, and

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

in the sixteenth century. Fagging carried with it well-defined rights and duties on both sides. The senior, sometimes called the fag-master, was the protector of his fags and responsible for their happiness and good conduct. In case of any problem outside the classroom, such as bullying or injustice, a junior boy's recourse was to him, not to a form master or housemaster, and, except in the gravest cases, all incidents were dealt with by the fag-master on his own responsibility. The duties undertaken by fags, the time taken, and their general treatment varied widely. Each school had its own traditions. Until around 1900 a fag's duties might include such humble tasks as blacking boots, brushing clothes and cooking breakfasts, and there was no limit as to hours. Later, fagging was restricted to such light tasks as running errands and bringing tea to the fag-master's study. At many schools, fag-masters were expected to reward their fags with a monetary 'fag tip' at the end of a semester. The 1911 '' Britannica'' details an evolution of the role at Eton. Under school rules, fagging might entail harsh discipline and corporal punishment when those were standard practices. In 1930, an inquest into the death of a 14-year-old schoolboy from Sedbergh School heard that, rather than returning after holidays, he took his life because of his dislike of the fagging system. The jury returned a verdict of suicide and recommended the discontinuation of the practice in public schools. During the late 20th century, fagging became unfashionable in British public schools, as attitudes to boarding education and child development changed. Despite the reluctance of senior boys who had served their time and expected to enjoy the benefits of the system, between the 1960s and 1980s first the duties became less onerous and then the system was abolished at most major public schools. The practice is believed to have become obsolete in Britain. There is a history of fagging in schools in former British colonies (see

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, South Africa) where fagging continues in a limited form at some schools. In 2017, the actor Simon Williams described how, as a new pupil at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

in 1959, he was required to fag for a prefect four years his senior, involving duties such as spit-shining his shoes, making his bed, serving tea, and even warming the toilet seat.

Sexual abuse

Fagging was sometimes associated with sexual abuse. Christopher Tyerman, writing about the history of

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, stated that in some situations, fagging could either encourage or conceal sexual activity between boys, and that at Harrow, fagging began to decline at around the same time as homosexuality was eradicated as an acceptable part of the boarding school environment, but continued in formal school life until the 1990s.

In memoirs, literature and art

Many authors have written of the experience of the harsh regimes experienced within public or boarding schools; some in novels and others in memoirs. *

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

, who entered

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

in 1804, was bullied for refusing to aid his assigned prefect. * Fagging is depicted in the 1857 novel '' Tom Brown's School Days'' by Thomas Hughes, which is set at Rugby School. * E. W. Hornung's stories about fictional gentleman thief A. J. Raffles (created in 1898) are narrated by Raffles's companion Bunny Manders, who fagged for Raffles in their school years. * C. S. Lewis's partial autobiography, ''

Surprised by Joy ''Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life'' is a partial autobiography published by C. S. Lewis in 1955. The work describes Lewis's life from very early childhood (born 1898) until his conversion to Christianity in 1931, but does not go b ...

'' (1955), mentions fagging (see Chapter VI, pp. 94–95). * Some characters in P. G. Wodehouse's school stories are fags, such as Reginald Robinson in '' The Pothunters'' (1902) and Thomas Renford in ''

The Gold Bat ''The Gold Bat'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 13 September 1904 by A & C Black, London. It was originally serialised in ''The Captain''.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 13–14, A4. Set at the fictional public school of Wrykyn, the ...

'' (1904). * In his 1984 autobiography,

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

states that when he was a young fag, he was instructed to warm toilet seats for older boys at Repton School, and he wrote a fictional account of the experience of fagging in his short story ''Galloping Foxley''. * Yana Toboso's manga series ''

Black Butler is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. It has been serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly GFantasy'' since September 2006. The series follows Ciel Phantomhive, the twelve-year-old Ea ...

'' showcases the fagging system in its Public School Arc, with the main protagonist, Ciel Phantomhive, becoming a fag when he enrolls to investigate events at Weston College. * '' If....'' (1968) shows life in a public school and the fagging system, specifically how junior boys are made to act as personal servants for the eldest boys and are discussed as sex objects.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite EB1911 , wstitle=Fagging , volume=10 , page=125 {{cite book , last1=Brown , first1=Tamara L. , last2=Parks , first2=Gregory , last3=Phillips , first3=Clarenda M. , title=African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision , date=2005 , publisher=University Press of Kentucky , isbn=978-0-8131-2344-8 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfTYV_H2XoEC&pg=PA439 , language=en {{cite book , title=Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Revenues and Management of Certain Colleges and Schools, and the Studies Pursued and Instruction Given Therein: With an Appendix and Evidence , date=1864 , publisher=G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode , location=London , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4dPAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA426 , access-date=22 August 2020 , language=en {{cite book , last1=Schaverien , first1=Joy , title=Boarding School Syndrome: The psychological trauma of the 'privileged' child , date=2015 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-317-50659-1 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5z7LCQAAQBAJ , access-date=22 August 2020 , language=en {{cite book , title=Johnson's New Universal Cyclopædia: A Scientific and Popular Treasury of Useful Knowledge , date=1877 , publisher=A. J. Johnson , page=7 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Ds6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7 , access-date=22 August 2020 , language=en {{cite news , last1=Williams , first1=Simon , title=The Archers' Simon Williams on public school 'fagging' , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/archers-simon-williams-public-school-fagging/ , access-date=22 August 2020 , work=The Telegraph , date=8 December 2017 {{cite book , last1=Tyerman , first1=Christopher , title=A History of Harrow School, 1324-1991 , date=October 2000 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-822796-0 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jwa8ILtT3X8C&pg=RA3-PA477 , access-date=22 August 2020 , language=en {{cite news , url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/Lights-out-bullies-are-out/articleshow/41310278.cms , newspaper=The Times of India , title=Lights out, bullies are out , last=Agarwala , first=Vishant , date=31 August 2014 , access-date=23 August 2020 {{cite news , title=Suicide - Dislike of Fagging , url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/page/1930-05-10/9.html , access-date=23 August 2020 , work=The Times , date=10 May 1930 , pages=9 {{cite journal , last1=Nash , first1=Paul , title=Training an Elite: The prefect-fagging system in the English Public School , journal=History of Education Quarterly , date=1961 , volume=1 , issue=1 , pages=14–21 , doi=10.2307/367195 , jstor=367195 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/367195 , access-date=23 August 2020 , issn=0018-2680 {{cite news , author=UPI , author-link=United Press International , url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19770303&id=eKgrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6967,805109 , title=Eton students want to carry on fagging tradition , newspaper= Nashua Telegraph , date=4 March 1977 {{cite news , last1=Renton , first1=Alex , title=School of hard knocks: the dark underside to boarding school books , url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/08/school-boarding-secrets-crimes-alex-renton-kipling-rowling-dahl-churchill , access-date=22 August 2020 , work=The Guardian , date=8 April 2017 , language=en {{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/oct/12/publicschools.schools , title=When I was at school ... , date= 12 October 2005, access-date=26 May 2011 , newspaper=

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

{{Cite web, url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/29/posh-boys-english-public-schools-robert-verkaik-review, title=Posh Boys by Robert Verkaik review – how public schools ruin Britain, first=Houman, last=Barekat, date=29 June 2018, via=www.theguardian.com {{cite book , last=Bieri , first=James , title=Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Biography: Youth's Unextinguished Fire, 1792–1816 , publisher=University of Delaware Press , year=2004 , location=Newark , page=81 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agbHUJEnHPMC , isbn=9780874138702 {{cite book , pages=36, 44 , title=Gilded Youth: Privilege, Rebellion and the British Public School , last=Brooke-Smith , first=James , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McyHDwAAQBAJ , publisher=Reaktion Books , year=2019 , isbn=9781789140927 {{cite book, last=Hornung, first=E. W., author-link=E. W. Hornung, editor=Richard Lancelyn Green, editor-link=Richard Lancelyn Green, title=Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, orig-year=1899, date=2003, publisher=Penguin Books, isbn= 978-1856132824, location=London, edition=Annotated, page=3 {{cite web , url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1480/1480-h/1480-h.htm , website=Project Gutenberg , title=Tom Brown's Schooldays, by Thomas Hughes , access-date=23 August 2020 {{Cite book, title=Surprised by Joy, first=C.S., last=Lewis, publisher=Harcourt, Brace and World, year=1955, isbn=0-15-687011-8 {{cite web , title=The Classics, the Cane and Rugby: The Life of Aubrey Samuel Langley and his Mission to Make Men in the High Schools of Natal, 1871-1939. , last=Löser , first=Dylan Thomas , year=2016 , url=https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/20651/thesis_hum_2016_loser_dylan_thomas.pdf?isAllowed=y , pages=55, 63 , access-date=23 August 2020 {{cite book, last=Garrison, first=Daniel H., title=Who's Who in Wodehouse, pages=162, 164, orig-year=1987, year=1989, edition=Revised, publisher=Peter Lang Publishing, isbn=1-55882-087-6 {{Cite book, title=Boy: Tales of Childhood, title-link=Boy (book), first=Roald, last=Dahl, publisher=Puffin Books, year=1984, isbn= 978-0-14-130305-5

History

Sexual abuse

In memoirs, literature and art

See also

References

Further reading