The Law Until 1889 when the ' Children's Charter' became law no one could intervene between a parent and their child and chastisement beatings of any severity were legal . Sadly for children of the day the act was rarely used and then only in very extenuating circles and it took years of campaigning by the newly formed NSPCC to not only strengthen the law but change attitudes to child discipline. There was little escape for children at school as the parental rights to use physical beatings were transferred to the School Teachers. The situation was clarified even further in workhouses where the board usually approved beating rods that could be used on children in the workhouse with tariffs of strokes for varying levels of disobedience. The justification A religious revival swept the country including eastern Essex in the 1700's led by a new group of evangelical preachers. One of the most prominent and influential of the preachers was John Wesley who with his brother Charles wrote many of our favourite hymns and founded the Methodist Church.  John Wesley 1703 -1791 The Wesley brother had very strict parents who insisted on absolute disciple and used a rod to treat even minor breaches.
	This behaviour was undertaken following their very literal interpretation of the bible in leading their lives. The old testament Book of Proverbs 13 -24 said He that spareth the rod hateth his son . The Wesley's took this literally and strongly endorsed physical discipline to children or he preached that the child would be destined for eternal damnation in hell. John Wesley took that belief into his preaching and his writings encouraging parents to discipline their children. Given the evangelical revival that swept the country in the 1800's it was not surprising that beating children was accepted as the norm even amongst otherwise good, caring and decent people. To the modern eyes it is difficult to reconcile the two below writings from great preacher “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.” John Wesley's Rule quoted by Wesley frequently Whatever pain it costs conquer their stubbornness, break their will, if you would not damn the child Therefore; Let the child from a year old be taught to fear the rod and to cry softly. In order for this Let him have nothing he cries for; absolutely nothing, great or small, else you undo your work At all events from that age, make him do as he is bid, if you whip him ten times running to effect it Let no one persuade you that it is cruelty to do this; it is cruelty not to do it Break his soul now and his soul will live, and he will probably bless you for all eternity A sermon by John Wesley included in the works of John Wesley published in 1840 Eastern Essex At this time Eastern Essex has a strong network of Primitive Methodists and the Peculiar Peoples church who were perhaps even more strict in literal observance than Wesley's Methodists. Even as late as 1950 the famous author , Bernard Cornwell, who was adopted by members of this religion recalls that ' there was no sparing the rod' in his childhood.   As with Wesley it is difficult to equate this belief in violence to their children with the pacifism that saw members of the church face prison as consientious objectors during the world wars.