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{{short description|System of using young school pupils as servants}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Recollections of Eton - Fagging.jpg|thumb|A junior at [[Eton College|Eton]] fagging, illustration by [[Sydney Prior Hall|S. P. Hall]] in C. F. Johnstone's ''Recollections of Eton'' (1870)]]

'''Fagging'''  was a traditional practice in British [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public schools]] and also at many other [[boarding school]]s, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the eldest boys.<ref name="EB1911" /><ref name="Brown" /><ref name="Commission" /> Although probably originating earlier, the first accounts of fagging appeared in the late 17th century.<ref name="BSSyndrome" />{{rp|23}} 
Fagging sometimes involved physical abuse<ref name="BSSyndrome" />{{rp|23–25}} and/or sexual abuse.<ref name="Guardian2005" /> Although lessening in severity over the centuries, the practice continued in some institutions until the end of the 20th century.<ref name="BSSyndrome" />{{rp|23–25}}

==History==
Fagging originated as a structure for maintaining order in boarding schools, when schoolmasters' authority was practically limited to the classroom. [[Thomas Arnold]], headmaster of [[Rugby School|Rugby]] from 1828 to 1841, defined fagging as the power given by the authorities of the school to the Sixth Form, to be exercised by them over younger boys.<ref name="EB1911" /> Fagging was a fully established system at [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's]], [[Eton College|Eton]], and [[Winchester College|Winchester]] in the sixteenth century.<ref name="EB1911" /><ref name="Johnson" />

Fagging carried with it well-defined rights and duties on both sides. The senior, sometimes called the fag-master, was the protector of his fags and responsible for their happiness and good conduct.<ref name="EB1911" /> In case of any problem outside the classroom, such as bullying or injustice, a junior boy's recourse was to him, not to a form master or housemaster, and, except in the gravest cases, all incidents were dealt with by the fag-master on his own responsibility.<ref name="EB1911" />

The duties undertaken by fags, the time taken, and their general treatment varied widely. Each school had its own traditions and expectations. Until around 1900, a fag's duties would include such humble tasks as blacking boots, brushing clothes, and cooking breakfasts, and there was no limit as to hours the fag would be expected to work.<ref name="EB1911" /> Later, fagging was restricted to such tasks as running errands and bringing tea to the fag-master's study.<ref name="EB1911" /> The 1911 ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Britannica]]'' details an evolution of the role at Eton.<ref name="EB1911" /> Under school rules, fagging might involve harsh discipline and [[School corporal punishment|corporal punishment]] when those were standard practices.

In 1930, an inquest into the death of a 14-year-old schoolboy from [[Sedbergh School]] (then in [[West Yorkshire]]) heard that, rather than returning after holidays, he took his life because of his dislike of the fagging system. The jury returned a verdict of suicide and recommended the discontinuation of the practice in public schools.<ref name="nash" /><ref name="thetimes" />

During the late 20th century, fagging became unfashionable in British public schools, as attitudes to boarding education and child development changed. Despite the reluctance of senior boys who had served their time and expected to enjoy the benefits of the system, between the 1960s and 1980s the duties first became less onerous and then the system was abolished at most major public schools;<ref name="nashua telegraph" /> the passing of the [[Children Act 1989]] caused most British schools to ban the practice and it is now obsolete in Britain.<ref name="barekat" />

There is a history of fagging in schools in former British colonies (see [[India#Early modern India|India]],<ref name="indiatimes" /> [[South Africa#British colonisation and the Great Trek|South Africa]]) where fagging continues in a limited form at some schools.<ref name="löser" />

In 2017, the actor [[Simon Williams (actor)|Simon Williams]] described how, as a new pupil at [[Harrow School]] in 1959, he was required to fag for a prefect four years his senior, involving duties such as spit-shining his shoes, making his bed, serving tea, and even warming the toilet seat.<ref name="Fagging" />

==Sexual abuse==
Fagging was sometimes associated with both consensual sexual service and [[sexual abuse]].<ref name="BSSyndrome" />{{rp|215–244}}<ref name="Guardian2005" /> Christopher Tyerman, writing about the history of [[Harrow School]], stated that in some situations, fagging could either encourage or conceal sexual activity between students, and that, at Harrow, fagging began to decline around the same time as the school started actively discouraging homosexual behaviour<ref name="Harrow" />{{rp|477}} but continued in formal school life until the 1990s.<ref name="Harrow" />{{rp|440}}

==In memoirs, literature and art==
{{trivia section|date=July 2022}}
Many authors have written of the experience of the harsh regimes experienced within public or boarding schools; some in novels and others in memoirs.<ref name="Guardian" />
* [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], who entered [[Eton College]] in 1804,<ref name="bieri" /> was bullied for refusing to aid his assigned prefect.<ref name="Brooke-Smith" />
* Fagging is depicted in the 1857 novel ''[[Tom Brown's School Days]]'' by [[Thomas Hughes]], which is set at [[Rugby School]].<ref name="hughes" />
* [[George Augustus Sala]] in his 1859 book ''Twice Round the Clock ''describes the most noble Marquis of Millefleurs, aged ten, at [[Eton College|Eton]], tending to Tom Tucker, 'an army clothier's son' as a fag. He has to clean his shoes but also prepare his bacon and toast for breakfast.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sala |first=George Augustus |url=http://archive.org/details/twiceroundclocko00sala |title=Twice round the clock; or, The hours of the day and night in London |last2=McConnell |first2=William |date=1859 |publisher=London, Houlston and Wright |others=The Library of Congress}}</ref>
* [[E. W. Hornung]]'s stories about fictional gentleman thief [[A. J. Raffles]] (created in 1898) are narrated by Raffles's companion [[Bunny Manders]], who fagged for Raffles in their school years.<ref name="hornung" />
* [[C. S. Lewis]]'s partial autobiography, ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'' (1955), mentions fagging (see Chapter VI, pp.&nbsp;94–95).<ref name="lewis" />
* Some characters in [[P. G. Wodehouse]]'s school stories are fags, such as Reginald Robinson in ''[[The Pothunters]]'' (1902) and Thomas Renford in ''[[The Gold Bat]]'' (1904).<ref name="garrison 1-55882-087-6" />
* In his 1984 autobiography, [[Roald Dahl]] states that when he was a young fag, he was instructed to warm toilet seats for older boys at [[Repton School]], and he wrote a fictional account of the experience of fagging in his short story “[[Galloping Foxley]]”.<ref name="dahl 978-0-14-130305-5" />
* [[Yana Toboso]]'s manga series ''[[Black Butler]]'' showcases the fagging system in its Public School Arc, with the main protagonist, Ciel Phantomhive, becoming a fag when he enrolls to investigate events at Weston College. In the English version, the word drudge is used instead due to the word fag having a historically negative connotation towards gay men.
* ''[[If....]]'' (1968) shows life in a public school and the fagging system, specifically how junior boys are made to act as personal servants for the eldest boys and are discussed as sex objects.

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|fag}}
* [[Batman (military)]]
* [[Dedovshchina]]
* [[Hazing]]
* [[Plebe Summer]]
* [[Ragging]]
* [[Senpai and kōhai]]
* [[Child labor]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Fagging |volume=10 |page=125}}</ref>

<ref name="Brown">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Tamara L. |last2=Parks |first2=Gregory |last3=Phillips |first3=Clarenda M. |title=African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision |date=2005 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-2344-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfTYV_H2XoEC&pg=PA439 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="Commission">{{cite book |title=Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Revenues and Management of Certain Colleges and Schools, and the Studies Pursued and Instruction Given Therein: With an Appendix and Evidence |date=1864 |publisher=G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4dPAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA426 |access-date=22 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="BSSyndrome">{{cite book |last1=Schaverien |first1=Joy |title=Boarding School Syndrome: The psychological trauma of the 'privileged' child |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-50659-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5z7LCQAAQBAJ |access-date=22 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="Johnson">{{cite book |title=Johnson's New Universal Cyclopædia: A Scientific and Popular Treasury of Useful Knowledge |date=1877 |publisher=A. J. Johnson |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Ds6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=22 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="Fagging">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Simon |title=The Archers' Simon Williams on public school 'fagging' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/archers-simon-williams-public-school-fagging/ |access-date=22 August 2020 |work=The Telegraph |date=8 December 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="Harrow">{{cite book |last1=Tyerman |first1=Christopher |title=A History of Harrow School, 1324-1991 |date=October 2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-822796-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jwa8ILtT3X8C&pg=RA3-PA477 |access-date=22 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="indiatimes">{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/Lights-out-bullies-are-out/articleshow/41310278.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |title=Lights out, bullies are out |last=Agarwala |first=Vishant |date=31 August 2014 |access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref>

<ref name="thetimes">{{cite news |title=Suicide - Dislike of Fagging |url=https://www.thetimes.com/archive/page/1930-05-10/9.html |access-date=23 August 2020 |work=The Times |date=10 May 1930 |pages=9}}</ref>

<ref name="nash">{{cite journal |last1=Nash |first1=Paul |title=Training an Elite: The prefect-fagging system in the English Public School |journal=History of Education Quarterly |date=1961 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=14–21 |doi=10.2307/367195 |jstor=367195 |s2cid=147032008 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/367195 |access-date=23 August 2020 |issn=0018-2680|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="nashua telegraph">{{cite news |author=UPI |author-link=United Press International |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19770303&id=eKgrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6967,805109 |title=Eton students want to carry on fagging tradition |newspaper=[[Nashua Telegraph]] |date=4 March 1977 }}</ref>

<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |last1=Renton |first1=Alex |title=School of hard knocks: the dark underside to boarding school books |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/08/school-boarding-secrets-crimes-alex-renton-kipling-rowling-dahl-churchill |access-date=22 August 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=8 April 2017 |language=en}}</ref>

<ref name="Guardian2005">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/oct/12/publicschools.schools |title=When I was at school ... |date= 12 October 2005|access-date=26 May 2011 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

<ref name="barekat">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/29/posh-boys-english-public-schools-robert-verkaik-review|title=Posh Boys by Robert Verkaik review – how public schools ruin Britain|first=Houman|last=Barekat|date=29 June 2018|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

<ref name="bieri">{{cite book |last=Bieri |first=James |title=Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Biography: Youth's Unextinguished Fire, 1792–1816 |publisher=University of Delaware Press |year=2004 |location=Newark |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agbHUJEnHPMC |isbn=9780874138702}}</ref>

<ref name="Brooke-Smith">{{cite book |pages=36, 44 |title=Gilded Youth: Privilege, Rebellion and the British Public School |last=Brooke-Smith |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McyHDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2019 |isbn=9781789140927}}</ref>

<ref name="hornung">{{cite book|last=Hornung|first=E. W.|author-link=E. W. Hornung|editor=Richard Lancelyn Green|editor-link=Richard Lancelyn Green|title=Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman|orig-year=1899|date=2003|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn= 978-1856132824|location=London|edition=Annotated|page=3}}</ref>

<ref name="hughes">{{cite web |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1480/1480-h/1480-h.htm |website=Project Gutenberg |title=Tom Brown's Schooldays, by Thomas Hughes |access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref>

<ref name="lewis">{{Cite book|title=Surprised by Joy|first=C.S.|last=Lewis|publisher=Harcourt, Brace and World|year=1955|isbn=0-15-687011-8}}</ref>

<ref name="löser">{{cite web |title=The Classics, the Cane and Rugby: The Life of Aubrey Samuel Langley and his Mission to Make Men in the High Schools of Natal, 1871-1939. |last=Löser |first=Dylan Thomas |year=2016 |url=https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/20651/thesis_hum_2016_loser_dylan_thomas.pdf?isAllowed=y |pages=55, 63 |access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref>

<ref name="garrison 1-55882-087-6">{{cite book|last=Garrison|first=Daniel H.|title=Who's Who in Wodehouse|pages=162, 164|orig-year=1987|year=1989|edition=Revised|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|isbn=1-55882-087-6}}</ref>

<ref name="dahl 978-0-14-130305-5">{{Cite book|title=Boy: Tales of Childhood|title-link=Boy (autobiography)|first=Roald|last=Dahl|publisher=Puffin Books|year=1984|isbn= 978-0-14-130305-5}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
*Malet, Sir Alexander (1828) [https://books.google.com/books?id=FDk2ZlqI2eIC&pg=PA3 Some Account of the System of Fagging at Winchester School: With Remarks, and a Correspondence with Dr. Williams on the Late Expulsions Thence for Resistance to the Authority of the Præfects.] Publisher: J. Ridgway
*Wickham, F. (1847) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5BeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA3 Fagging: is it hopelessly inseparable from the discipline of a Public School?] Publisher: J Hatchard & Son, London
*Moberly, Bishop G. (1848) [https://books.google.com/books?id=IVNiAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR1 Sermons preached at Winchester College. Second series, with a preface on “Fagging.”] Publisher: Rivington, London

{{Rites of passage}}

[[Category:Harassment and bullying]]
[[Category:Education issues]]
[[Category:Rites of passage]]
[[Category:Culture of England]]
[[Category:Education in England]]
[[Category:Child labour in the United Kingdom]]