1896 – “Blackboard Rumble in Cloughjordan”

Midland Counties’ Advertiser, 18 June 1896
A little bit of dry humour in the Midland Counties’ Advertiser, as the reporter adds his witty contribution to the report of an unruly Cloughjordan schoolboy. Whilst today the voices demanding the return of “The Birch” are both receding and ageing, this little 120-year-old snippet illustrates that the issue of corporal punishment has long been a contentious one.