Ranks! The Fag
There were several grades – or ranks – of boys in 1948. These were The Fag , The Prep Room Boy, The Study Boy, The House-Prefect, and finally – The School Prefect. Each level held a duty or responsibility, and each was denoted by the tie that he wore.
So, welcome, new boy – you are a fag and you will be denoted by the wearing of your house tie. In the case of The Priory House, this is a black tie carrying a blue diagonal series of stripes.
Your duties, boy, are to be at the beck and hall of any prefect and to do his bidding. When you hear an authoritive voice shout “FAG!! “, you are to run in the direction of that voice – and the last fag to arrive is to carry out the instruction given him by that voice.
In addition, you will be allocated to the personal authority of a prefect along with another fag who will teach you the personal requirements of that prefect, and these you are to carry out. These would include sweeping and dusting his study, his bedroom, his shoes, his cadet bots and the blancoeing of his cadet webbing.
House prefects could only use their authority within their house, whereas school prefects had authority anywhere.
Those who were cunning, like me, would soon learn the places to successfully hide on hearing the dreaded call. Behind the changing room door, in the outside toilets, in the dining-room behind the trophy cupboard. We soon learnt.
At this point may I express my apologies to Byron, whose fag I was, Chamberlain and Price-Forbes, whose calls I sometimes managed to avoid.
In addition to fagging duties, it was the duty of fags and prep-room boys to carry out domestic duties, over which the house-prefects had control. There would be the floors to sweep, the corridors to dus, the yard to tidy and everyone, fags and prep-room boys had to take it in turns to “wait at table” ! In fact, as added punishments, sweeps and waiting might be added to the routine of your normal duties.
As to the argument that fagging was cruel, my own view is that it was not so. I believe that these arduous duties taught us two very important lessons:
- Before anyone uses a given authority, he should first understand what it is like to have to underg the tasks onself.
- To achieve any purpose or success in life, it always helps to start on the workshop floor.
Next time: The prep room boy
