Torment Diana’s brother suffered at school was evil

I read with interest Charles Spencer’s recollections of his days at Maidwell Hall school in last week’s Mail on Sunday.

In those days it was not uncommon for the cane to be used and blackboard rubbers to be aimed at pupils.

I went to a choir school where corporal punishment was a regular part of life. But at the end of the day, the school produced some well-educated and polite gentlemen.

Granville Thompson, Bitchfield, Lincolnshire

I wept reading the excerpt from Earl Spencer’s book. What he endured was evil. My brother attended an elite prep school in the US where he was abused by a teacher and a priest. After he spoke up, the people who were supposed to protect him failed him and it was not until 40 years later that the truth came out and a lawsuit was instigated. Being from a wealthy background maybe nice but it didn’t make up for what happened to him.

Amelia Anderson, Salford

The outrageous incidents recalled by Earl Spencer were reasonably common in certain outposts of education, usually privately run institutions where secrecy could be upheld easily.

I was packed off to a school in

the 1950s where the hostility towards its scholars was wellknown. Discipline was a regular aspect of school life, with two or three of the teachers there regularly beating the pupils.

M. Prentis, Nottingham

While the reports of abuse at boarding schools are abhorrent, shouldn’t the parents take most of the blame for sending their offspring to these establishments? Parents send their children to these schools so they can have an easy life without them. Many of these children are conceived simply to maintain a blood line.

Paul Constable, Colchester, Essex

Last week’s front page revealing Earl Spencer’s sadistic schooling

will put fear into any parent who may wish to send their children to a boarding school. Some of these parents don’t have lots of money but are seeking a decent education for their children, which many comprehensives cannot offer. I went to a wonderful school in Dorset where the headmaster was like a surrogate father and the matrons like surrogate mothers.

Dorian Jones, Westbury, Wiltshire

I went to a prep school in Bridlington in 1954. The quality of food and unpleasantness of the place made Oliver Twist’s residence in London look like the Hilton. Thank God it closed down 40 years ago.

Ethan Murray, Stotfold, Bedfordshire