19th Century ‘back board’ or posture board
Wilderspin School Museum, Lincolnshire, with thanks to Leeds Collection

If you’ve ever been told to sit up straight, you might well relate to this unpleasant object. Known as a back board or posture board, it was a simple wooden device known to have been used from the 1780s onwards. It was designed to force the wearer to have an upright, straight posture. Posture was seen as important for discipline and also for appearing suitably elegant and refined.

Back board at Wilderspin School Museum, courtesy of Leeds Collection

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

How did back boards work and who used them?

The flat section of the back board would rest against the spine, whilst the wearer’s arms would wrap around the two extending sections at either side. As you can imagine, they were uncomfortable devices and restricted movement. They must have been the torment of young learners.

Back boards were more often used to improve the posture of girls, either at school or under the instruction of a governess during Georgian and Victorian times. Amongst the wealthier classes, girls’ education was historically associated with a range of virtues that would equip them for marriage, rather than skills for the world of work.

Girls were expected to be graceful and elegant, and manuals were published to guide young ladies on how to behave, such as ‘The Young Lady’s Book: A Manual of Elegant Recreations, Exercises, and Pursuits’ (1829).

By the Victorian era, interest in posture increased, particularly after the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859, written by Charles Darwin. Darwin introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations by means of natural selection. He also proposed that one of the first steps towards becoming human was standing upright. ‘Good’ posture became viewed as one of the ways that humans were superior to the rest of the animal kingdom.

Victorian school teacher at Ryedale Folk Museum

A different method of education

This back board at Wilderspin School Museum in North Lincolnshire, courtesy of Leeds Collection, is actually used at the museum to demonstrate how Samuel Wilderspin (1781 – 1866) believed young people should not be educated. Wilderspin instead proposed that for learning to take place, instruction should be blended with both exercise and amusement. He is credited with developing the concept of the school playground, with its focus on play in infant schools.

Now considered one of the founding fathers of modern schooling, Wilderspin had a profound impact on educational practice and the design and furnishing of schools and school grounds.

The museum is based in the school in Barton upon Humber that Wilderspin designed and taught in. His original playground, with its rotary swing, trees and flowers, has now been reconstructed, whilst the restored school building houses reconstructions of his infant schoolroom and a Victorian classroom. 

Victorian school teacher at Ryedale Folk Museum

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Activity


Talking Points

Do you ever get told to sit up or stand up straight? If so, who normally tells you? How does it make your feel? Do you think it is a fair criticism?

Do you think there are benefits to sitting up straight?

Do you think the back board would be heavy to hold onto?

In what ways do you think it would feel uncomfortable? 

Why do you think it is no longer appropriate to use back boards? Do you know of other ways of discipling children that are no longer acceptable?

Why do you think that girls were more likely to be forced to use a back board than boys? In what ways were girls and boys treated differently?

Vocabulary

Posture: the position in which a person holds themselves when standing or sitting

In the Classroom

Discuss and Create

Samuel Wilderspin developed his own schools because he believed that play and exercise were important for children. Wilderspin wouldn’t have seen a use for back boards. 

What sorts of things do you think are most important about education? If you could pick 3 principles, what would they be?

If you could pick any thing to get rid of from schools today (like back boards), what would you ban?

Victorian school teacher at Ryedale Folk Museum

Hands on History

You can visit the Wilderspin School Museum in Barton upon Humber in North Lincolnshire to take part in a range of workshops, including to learn about schooling in Victorian times.

There’s also a Victorian school room at Ryedale Folk Museum. You can explore it on self-led trips or via a video on their website, or even try out a Victorian virtual lesson from your own classroom with Miss Periwinkle. 

 

Museum Location

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