Robert Blachford Mansfield

“ I consider mitigated fagging a valuable institution, and I think on this subject I can speak with authority, as when I entered I was junior in College, and during the whole five years that I was there I was always a fag, never having sufficiently advanced in the school to taste the sweets of power. When I went to Winchester the life of a junior was not made very pleasant to him for the first year or two. ”

“ As the day wore on some of the Præfects would subside into the comfortably stuffed seats between their scobs, and set to work “Mugging,” (reading hard,) only occasionally lifting up their voices to call “Junior!”: other boys would take to playing chess, or some other quiet game; while the more noisily disposed would indulge in practising jumps over the Commoners’ tables, playing Hicockolorum, or Crocketts, (miniature cricket, with a stump and a fives ball,) to the great detriment of Præfect of School’s windows. ”

“ A passage between the school and cloister wall leads to the playground [27] or “meads,” adjoining the west side of which, and divided from it by a red brick wall, is the “sick house,” (hospital,) situated in another piece of ground called “sick-house meads.”
The chief of the whole establishment is the Warden, who has nothing to do with the teaching of the boys; he admits and when necessary expels them, confers on them the dignity of “Præfect,” listens to their complaints, and, in fact, in all matters appertaining to the management of the school and the society is omnipotent. ”

“ Such a gathering would be of course impossible, even if death had not cut short the career of very many; scattered through every portion of the globe, working hard in their different professions, or vegetating in luxurious [188] ease or careless indolence, how contrary to all our expectations has many a one turned out; some, neglected and despised while at school, have risen to eminence, while others, whose early youth seemed to give bright promise, have never raised their heads above the common throng. ”

“ Besides the Warden, fellows, masters, and boys, there were twelve “Choristers,” who must by no means be omitted, as they formed an important part of the internal economy. I suppose they were called Choristers because they had not to sing; certainly if ever that was a part of their duty, it had entirely lapsed. Their office was to wait on the boys, in hall and chambers, till seven o’clock, and especially to go on errands in the town,—the boys themselves never being allowed to go there, except when invited by friends on saints’ days. ”

“ On one occasion I saw a Rugby man catch the ball, and, with a complacent [141] smile, was then taking a little run to give impetus to his intended kick off, when Podder, hot from Winchester, darted out, and with one dexterous turn of his leg, laid the Rugbean flat on the ground, and before he could scoop the mud out of his mouth, and compose himself to articulate ejaculation, Podder had carried the ball to the other end of the ground. ”

“ Description of School—Scobs—Officers—Division of Classes—Prizes and Medals—Long and Short Half—Easter Time—Commoners’ Speaking—Cloisters—Latin Composition—Flogging—Scraping and Shirking Out—Latin Verses—Pealing.
On descending Hall stairs, and turning sharp to the right through Seventh Chamber passage, we enter School Court. The School is a spacious edifice, (built in 1687,) ninety feet long, and thirty-six broad; it may be a handsome building by itself, but, like the adjacent Commoners, is not favourably contrasted with the venerable Gothic buildings of the College, of which they form part. ”

“ But if by any chance an individual was likely to receive punishment in consequence of any self-sacrificing fiction, I need not say that the real delinquent always stepped forth at once and claimed his right to the infliction. I never knew an instance of a boy spontaneously informing a Master of any misdemeanour committed by another. This, although commendable as a general rule, might, on some rare occasions, (in cases of bullying by Præfects for example,) be infringed with advantage. ”

“ Football, though a splendid game for boys, does not do in after life, as it requires constant practice both in running and the art of kicking. About three years after I left, I was passing through Winchester, and went down to College to play football, expecting to enjoy myself immensely, and to explain to the degenerate youngsters how football used to be played in our time. ”

“ In the new Chambers there is every necessary appliance for decency and comfort, so that the Junior in winter has no longer to rub his miserable little nose with a bit of ice, and think he is washing himself, but can revel in any amount of fresh water indoors. The [192] old Chambers are mostly used as studies, book-chambers, and toy-time as before; but one is used as a laundry and another as a dressing-room after football, cricket, &c. The boys have tea found for them in Hall, instead of having to go to sick-house for it. The dinner takes place at one o’clock. ”

“ Though, at first sight, this kind of superstitious awe of the Inferiors towards the Præfects may seem unprofitable, yet I am inclined to think that, on the whole, it was not without its advantages. Certainly, in some exceptional cases, a Præfect used to take advantage of his position, and treat those beneath him cruelly; but such, at any rate, was not the general character of the Præfects in my time; and most of them used their power far more in preventing the big Inferiors from bullying their companions, than in inflicting torture themselves. ”

“ Every day, during middle school, the two senior Præfects who intended to play made out the “Roll” (list) of the side,—one was headed “Ad [138] Rubrum Murum” (which meant that that side was to kick towards Sick-house wall,) and the other “Ad Foricam,” (vice versâ.) But Football wasn’t all beer and skittles to the Fags. There was an institution called “Kicking in,” which, while it lasted, was much worse than watching out at cricket, although it had the very great merit of not continuing so long; for even on a whole holiday we seldom had more than two hours of it. ”

“ Such is the natural craving in the human mind for change, that I remember, in my case, I was quite impatient for the time of probation to expire, that I might indulge in the manly exercise of Fagging. ”

“ The first time a boy’s name was ordered, the punishment was remitted on his pleading “Primum tempus.” For a more serious breach of duty, a flogging of six cuts (a “Bibler”) was administered, in which case the culprit had to “order his name to the Bible Clerk,” and that individual, with the help of Ostiarius, performed the office of Jack Ketch. If a boy was detected in a lie, or any very disgraceful [110] proceeding,—a rare occurrence, I am happy to say,—he had to stand up in the centre of Junior row during the whole of the School time, immediately preceding the infliction of the flogging ”

“ I am certain, however, that there is no school where, at the present day, the authorities take a more personal and careful interest in the moral and physical wellbeing of the boys; and this is rendered more practicable at Winchester than at most other public schools, owing to the number being limited to about two hundred, instead of being allowed to expand till it becomes rather a cluster of small schools than one solid establishment. ”

“ But it is quite possible to have too much of a good thing. I have been, on a Saint’s-day, (this, however, was an extreme case, and did not occur often,) ordered down to watch out in Meads early in the morning before breakfast, and not allowed to quit the ground, (except to attend chapel,) till dark, the whole time without a hat, often in a broiling sun; at breakfast time and one o’clock one of the Fags would be sent up to bring down food, which we ate on the ground. ”

“ On a fine summer afternoon, the Doctor might accidentally cast his eye over School, and observing that it had rather a deserted expression, would send out the Bible Clerk and Ostiarius to make a foray in Meads, who would presently return with a flock of truants; it being impossible to flog such a number, [113] it was usual to make them “cut in a book,” [7] to settle which half-a-dozen should be distinguished in this manner.
SCHOOL.
The educational system at Winchester is, I believe, most excellent, and turns out a very superior article in many cases. ”

“ I would in those days stop a ball with my left hand, which, if I now saw coming towards me, I should diligently avoid touching at all. So “there is no cloud but has its silver lining;” and, perhaps, if in these latter days Winchester has not held the laurels in cricket quite so firmly as of old, it is in some respects owing to the mitigated apprenticeship served by the boys in their Fagging days. ”

“ In College the office of Præfect of Tub has been abolished, and a Præfect of Library installed [191] in his place. There are now only two half remedies (Tuesdays and Thursdays) in each week; but Thursday is a whole remedy in the Summer term, and there is a vacation of three weeks at Easter. Going in procession to “Hills” is discontinued, and the boys may go where they like (except into the town) out of school hours. Watching-out at cricket is considerably limited, and “kicking-in” at football entirely abolished. ”

“ The boys get crockery instead of trenchers to eat their meals off, and knives and forks to eat them with. [14] Prime joints are carved by the servants, and a master is present. The pandemonium which took place when I was a Junior at the six o’clock dinner has happily entirely departed. At supper gaslight illumines the Hall, instead of the feeble flickering of a few dips. The ceremony of the oath is abolished. The Morning Service in chapel is at 7.50, on Saturday evenings at 5.30, on Sundays at 9, 11, and 5, and on Saints’ days at 9 A.M. Only the members of the Choir wear surplices. ”

“ The head master, or “the Doctor” as he is always called, lives in “Commoners’ buildings,” the inhabitants of which are supposed to be more particularly under his jurisdiction. The second master, who has the more immediate superintendence of the College boys, has, as above-mentioned, his apartments in “chamber court.” There was also an assistant master, who superintended the [28] instruction of the boys in the lower classes, and who did not live in College ”

“ These were the seven inferiors who had been longest in the school, quite independently of their position in it; they were generally old and tough. Of these, the senior had almost as much power as a præfect; he had a “valet” in chambers, one or two “breakfast fags,” and the power of fagging the twenty juniors when in school, or in meads. The junior candlekeeper was called “the Deputy,” [31] and had also some slight privileges besides that of having a valet and breakfast-fag, which was common to all of them. ”

“ It has been, I believe, often suggested that the boys at Winchester were not allowed sufficient exercise in the open air. I do not think there was any ground for this complaint as regards the College boys at any rate, who were sent at least three times a week to the top of Hills, besides having Meads close at hand during all play hours. Commoners [148] were not so well off, as they only had one hour on school-days to breathe fresh air, in which time they had to walk half a mile out and back to the indifferent field forming their gymnasium; doubtless they now have access to Meads. ”

“ Mother Maskell, the worthy old nurse at Sick-House, used to preside over the tea department; and as the distance from Hall to Kitchen and back was at least a quarter of a mile, the breakfast fags had a lively time of it, and were not altogether sorry when middle school began at ten o’clock.
At one P.M. Hall was opened again, and a repast of boiled beef or pudding, with bread and cheese and beer, was served; the attendance on a fine day was generally limited to the grace singers, and the Præfect of Hall or Tub. ”

“ There were twelve Præfects in Commoners, who had the right of fagging all the rest except those in the class immediately below them, (called senior part the fifth,) who were exempt; when they required the services of a Fag, they did not call “Junior!” but “Here!” They also had an officer whose duties and privileges were somewhat similar to those of Senior Candlekeeper and Deputy in College; his office, however, was conferred by election among the Præfects. ”

“ Such was the usual routine of the Inferiors on hills; but the Præfects and their Teejays had a more lively time of it. For them there were ducks and green peas at Twyford, bathing in “Pot,” (if [152] summer time,) a foray on the young rooks, chariot races, and, last and greatest, the chase of the immortal badger. If one can’t follow a fox on horseback, one may do worse than follow a badger on foot—that is, if one’s lungs and legs are in as good condition as ours used to be in those days. ”

“ Inferiors were never allowed to wear hats inside the College walls; the præfects seldom doffed theirs, except in the presence of a master and when they went to bed; all were obliged to wear white neckcloths and bands, except when on leave out; and surplices in chapel on Sundays and saints’ days.
OLD COMMONERS.
During the years 1839-1841 the picturesque Old Commoners was demolished. It was built by Dr Burton, and formed an irregular quadrangle. On the west side were the head-master’s house, an excellent ball-court, and upper and lower cloister galleries, built over a small cloister ”