EXTREME cruelty by a schoolmaster at the Worcester Workhouse towards small boys in his charge was publicly exposed at this time 150 years ago.

In its edition for this week of 1853, Berrow's Journal carried the following report under the headline: "Brutal Ill-treatment":

"Members of the Worcester Board of Guardians" (the workhouse administrators) "went to the Tallow Hill institution on Sunday in consequence of a note received from the Master of the Workhouse.

"In the presence of the Master, the Guardians examined six of the boys. On them taking off their clothes, the Guardians were horrified to see the state of the boys' backs as a result of recent ill-treatment. A little boy aged seven had eight weals on his left arm, 13 on his right arm and 28 on his back.

"The other boys also exhibited marks of severe beating which had evidently been most recklessly administered, there being marks of it on their hands and faces as well as on other portions of their bodies.

"The schoolmaster responsible for this brutality has since been compelled to resign and was reproved by the Chairman of the Board of Guardians for his inhumanity."