August 02, 2012

Gross Cruelty by a Pupil Teacher

The Sheffield School Board on Thursday investigated a gross case of cruelty to a lad eight years of age, named Turton, at Newhall Board School.  The boy was taken home by some of his schoolmates in a state of great agony.  A medical gentleman who examined him found the boy's head discoloured from the back to his eye, and both ears swollen and black.  Punishment was inflicted by a pupil teacher, named Sykes, in the absence of the head master, who wrote, "I never saw such marks ; it appeared as if the teacher had used his fists.  The child must have received many severe blows.  His face for a couple of inches on each side in front of the ears, and the ears themselves, were quite blue.  The injured boy is a most harmless, inoffensive, and gentle boy, not too intelligent, and very delicate."  Legal proceedings are instituted against Sykes.  (Yorkshire Post, April 6th, 1878)

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