Miss Winifred Pritchard taught Latin, Scripture and ancient history. She was spare, unsmiling and invariably dressed in grey. Her iron-coloured hair was drawn into a bun so tight that the boys claimed it sharpened her eyesight.
She carried a cane beneath her academic gown.
Unlike Mrs Bellamy’s slipper, Miss Pritchard’s cane was not confined to a desk drawer. It accompanied her from classroom to classroom along with her books, attendance register and red marking pencil.
Latin lessons began with declensions recited in unison.
“Mensa, mensa, mensam—”
The slightest hesitation caused Miss Pritchard to stop beside the unfortunate boy.
“Continue alone.”
A pupil who failed completely might be told to stand at the side of the room until the lesson ended. Three failures in a week resulted in a visit after afternoon prayers.
Miss Pritchard did not cane boys for lack of ability. She caned them for idleness, insolence or failing to learn work that had been properly set.
One old boy recalled:
“She was frightening, but she was just. If you had tried and failed, she helped you. If you had not tried at all, she regarded it as a moral offence.”
Her most famous punishment concerned four boys who stole the answer sheet to a Latin examination. Miss Pritchard discovered the theft when all four reproduced the same printing error.
They were caned in turn and then required to sit the examination again under supervision.
All four obtained lower marks.
Miss Pritchard pinned the results to the noticeboard beneath the words:
HONEST FAILURE IS SUPERIOR TO DISHONEST SUCCESS.
