Fagging

[4]: 23–25 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 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.

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.

[7][8] During the late 20th century, fagging became unfashionable in British public schools, as attitudes to boarding education and child development changed.

[12] In 2017, the 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.