There are lots of entries in Victorian school Log Books or diaries about children who got into fights, but this one tells of a fight between the head teacher of Bwlch-y-sarnau School and the father of one of the boys from the school !
The teacher met the boy and his father one evening in 1885 when they were out on the road with a cart load of peat...

The entry is from July, 1885 and it says:
"The week ending Friday the 17th.
Better attendance than the previous week. In going to Pantydwr on Monday evening after school, I met with Evan Reese, Bryndraenog, and his son, a boy eleven years of age with a load of turf [peat for the fire]. I told him he was breaking the law by keeping the boy from school, so he gave me a heavy blow with his fist on my cheek. I had a club in my hand, and he had to feel the weight of it a few times on his back, so he scampered off as fast as he could, making a very ugly face..."
We're not sure if the head teacher always walked about with a club in his hand, but it seems to have come in handy this time !
Getting children to turn up for school was always a problem in the early days, so perhaps he was trying a new method !

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