Termagant Flaybum
Miss (or Lady) Termagant Flaybum is an 18th, 19th and 20th century spanker character.
In art
She apparently made her first appearance in 1786 in an etching by the British caricaturist and printmaker James Gillray. This caricature actually depicts a real person, Mary Eleanor Lyon (née Bowes), Countess of Strathmore (1749-1800), wife of John Lyon, 9th Earl of Strathmore. The boy who is about to get a birching in the scene, his daily "dessert after dinner", might depict John, 10th Earl of Strathmore. "Lady Termagant Flaybum" is obviously a humorous name Gilray chose for this caricature.
The etching is today in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In literature
Miss Flaybum next appeared as a character in the novel Library Illustrative of Social Progress, in volume VI, "Sublime of Flagellation". The author of this book is unknown. The volumes were allegedly assembled by the English historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862) and were printed in 1872 by Hotten, London. The originals are said to date from 1761-1777. If this were true they would predate Gillray's caricature which is unlikely; it's more likely that the novel character was inspired in the 19th century by the etching.
In 1879, the series Miss Coote's Confession by Rosa Coote in the erotic magazine The Pearl features Miss Flaybum as headmistress of an English boarding school for girls.
In comic
The comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill features both Miss Termagant Flaybum and Miss Coote as headmistresses of the Correctional Academy for Wayward Gentlewomen, an academy in Edmonton, inspired by the series in The Pearl.
External links
- Wikipedia article: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- Sublime of Flagellation (full text/PDF) on the Internet Archive
- Termagant Flaybum on "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" wiki
- Correctional Academy for Wayward Gentlewomen on "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" wiki
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