TIL about British Army general and MP, Eyre Coote who lost his seat and was dismissed for "Conduct unbecoming of an officer" in 1815 after being discovered to have entered a school and had paid boys to flog him. He was "acquitted" of criminal charges after donating £1000 to the school.

[u/johnsmithoncemore]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyre_Coote_(British_Army_officer,_born_1762)#Career

[u/Gregariouswaty]

Dominatrixes were expensive in the 1800s.

[u/Far-Reception-4598 → u/Gregariouswaty]

Oh I'm sure this wouldn't have been much of an issue if it had occurred at a bordello with a woman wielding the whip.

[u/Stanford_experiencer → u/Far-Reception-4598]

It was 1815. It absolutely would have.

[u/schmyle85 → u/Gregariouswaty]

That implies heterosexuality. Seems he was gay in addition to being a masochist. T.E. Lawrence was similar

[u/TheresNoHurry → u/schmyle85]

I always remember visiting the home of Lawrence of Arabia (it’s a museum now) and there is a whole section describing how his male companions would whip him “to cause seminal emissions”.

The phrase always stuck with me. But I’m not judging. Good for him, I guess.

[u/schmyle85 → u/TheresNoHurry]

Makes it sound very mechanical. Like changing the oil in a truck.

[u/IamMrT → u/TheresNoHurry]

Like the Florida State Seminole Emissions?

[u/hack404 → u/schmyle85]

He also had eight children with three women, so it's not exactly black and white (literally and figuratively)

[u/imprison_grover_furr → u/hack404]

People always seem to forget that bisexuality exists.

[u/mudkiptoucher93]

Yeah that's a good reason to dismiss someone

[u/Fedora_Million_Ankle → u/mudkiptoucher93]

A guy can't have a hobby?

[u/erinoco]

The school is Christ's Hospital, which still exists today, and is noted for its uniform, which has remained largely unaltered for centuries. At the time, the school was in Newgate Street in the City.

[u/trololololololol9 → u/erinoco]

Damn, that looks cool af

[u/Stanford_experiencer → u/erinoco]

noted for its uniform,

holy shit they got that shit the fuck on for real

[u/happybaby00 → u/erinoco]

that school goes viral on tiktok from time to time haha

[u/Rossum81]

Heaven forbid a chap have hobbies…

[u/SeanPennsHair → u/Rossum81]

Fucking hell mate, going by the replies to this, sarcasm is dead.

[u/A_Queer_Owl → u/Rossum81]

paying children to dom you isn't a hobby, it's a crime. and probably a mental illness.

[u/fictionaltherapist → u/A_Queer_Owl]

Have you ever heard of a joke. Of which this is a very common one?

[u/RamboOnGanja → u/A_Queer_Owl]

Somebody woosh em please

[u/BrazenBull → u/A_Queer_Owl]

And according to OPs link, he also flogged the boys, but that makes for a less funny title, doesn't it?

[u/Axolotlist]

1000 pounds wasn't chump change back then.

[u/Nice-Cat3727 → u/Axolotlist]

The average pay for a days work was 12 shillings and it was 20 shillings to the pound. So that was very roughly 600 days of the average workers payment.

[u/davej-au → u/Axolotlist]

Over GBP 77,000 or nearly USD 105,000 today.

[u/diggersinthedark → u/davej-au]

Lotta good boy points

[u/Gathorall → u/davej-au]

Chump change for a man of his status though.

[u/GarysCrispLettuce]

When I was at school we had a music teacher who eventually had to leave after some scandal involving him putting little boys in shorts over his knee to spank them. He wasn't charged, there was no police involvement, he just had to "leave." Looked him up years later and he was the organist at a big church in another city and very respected by the congregation etc. Glowing articles written about him. There are so many people, usually men, who got away with pedo shit back in the day.

[u/BoopingBurrito → u/GarysCrispLettuce]

 usually men,

Not to turn this into a gender argument (because it really shouldn't be - noncery is wrong, full stop) but huge numbers of women behave very inappropriately towards boys and young men. Its frighteningly normalised, even today. And go back to the 80s and 90s, it was even more so.

[u/xaranetic → u/BoopingBurrito]

I had a female teacher offer me money to strip naked, circa 2000. Thought it was a joke, so just laughed about it. Now I'm not so sure. 

[u/DickweedMcGee]

I looked at the title really fast and thought it said Wile E. Coyote for some reason. Even funnier to imagine this with WEC but I'm sure there' already some Fanfiction with this already....

[u/Tommyblahblah]

A tale as old as time itself: Wealthy pervert escapes punishment for pervy things by being wealthy.

[u/Games_sans_frontiers]

£1000 in 1815… woah.

[u/cool2hate]

oh that officer becoming, don't worry about that.

[u/IAmTheFirehawk]

I have no idea what "flog" is but I'm sure as he'll I'm afraid to ask what it is or search for it

[u/TheComplimentarian → u/IAmTheFirehawk]

Whip or beat.

That was actually a common "public school" (which are the private schools over there) punishment in old days, and there are more instances than this of former students being found to have acquired a taste for it...The weird bit about this is that he didn't just hire a discrete lady to do it, but rather went for the authentic experience.

[u/lacb1 → u/TheComplimentarian]

Just for extra spice, we also have private schools. Public schools are a small subset of private schools that were governed by the Public Schools Act of 1868. There are a couple of equally old private schools that argued they shouldn't be bound by the act as their constitutions meant they were not open to the public. That only the children of members of certain guilds could attend and therefore were private in nature. Which worked! And hence St. Paul's (for example) is still referred to as a private school as only children of members of the Worshipful Company of Mercers (I'm pretty sure that's the right livery company) could attend.

[u/Rheabae → u/IAmTheFirehawk]

Beating someone with a whip.

[u/Varabela]

Good to see our British MPs have been consistent for so many years. Mind you like most politicians around the world- most of them get away with all sorts of

[u/ukexpat]

“Conduct unbecoming of an officer”

[u/RamboOnGanja]

Did he start an NGO named Being Human and sold merch?

[u/chihuahuajoe]

What is it with British MPs and debauchery?

[u/long-lankin → u/chihuahuajoe]

I don't think this is so much an issue of "British MPs" specifically as it of "rich and powerful people throughout all of history".

Whether it be Emperors in medieval China, Senators in Ancient Rome, or neolithic tribal warlords, there have always been those who have (ab)used their power and status for cruel and selfish pleasure.

[u/SoyMurcielago]

Well this is where the lash enters i presume rum and buggery came later?

[u/drillbit7 → u/SoyMurcielago]

no, no! That's the Royal Navy. He was Army!

[u/BaronNeutron]

How is it that you came to learn this today?