Entertainment in redemption

30Jan12

Here are four pictures from TipTopper. All but the bottom right has been seen here before but it was worth another look.

All four of the pictures depict what the Victorians and Edwardians would have a called a ‘Great Girl’ getting her comeuppance. That is to say a young woman who might ordinarily be considered an adult, but yet finds herself under the hand of another.

The first picture may be a maid, although it is more likely a young woman who has to submit to the added humiliation of wearing more juvenile attire. From the disarray of her clothing it is clear that she is one easy lift of a hem away from exposing her bare bottom while the lady of the house looks on with disappointment or is that expectation. Is she excited or sad? Or is that a hint of amusement on her face? In any case the governess or housekeeper holding the birch who is about to do the deed, certainly looks up to the task.

The look on the young woman’s face is one of nervous acceptance and we can well imagine that she had been birched many times before.

The next picture below is the most fun. The governess is clearly enjoying her task and the woman in question is in full adult dress. However, she is evidentially not too old to be taken down a peg or two. Notice that the spanking is about to be followed by a session with the birch. Is her younger sister taken aback by the scene or is she next?

The last two pictures are of a more conventional and arguably harsher correction. The one on the bottom right uses an almost judicial stance for the correction. The girl’s legs are spread and elevated lengthways using a narrow bench. In this position no amount of struggling will gain the girl relief and it leaves her open to a Victorian technique called ‘whipping-in,’ the precise operation of which can be left to the imagination.

However, despite the obvious potential for cruelty, here too the chastiser seems to be enjoying herself.

Filed under: art, domestic, history, Tip Top   |  2 Comments
Tags: 1800s, 1900s, adult daughters, birching, corporal punishment, daughters, domestic discipline, Edwardian, edwardian governess, governess, governesses, public humiliation, public spanking, punishment, spanking, spanking adult daughters, the birch, Victorian