In 1860 a teacher named Thomas Hopley beat a boy to death. The boy was 14-year-old Reginald Chancellor and he had a learning disability. Among other things, the teacher hit him with a candlestick because he could not repeat the multiplication table.
The teacher was charged with manslaughter, not murder, because the intent to kill could not be proved. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Discipline in the 19th century was brutal but even by their standards, beating a child to death was going a bit too far.
Corporal punishment was made illegal in state schools in Britain in 1987. It was made illegal in private schools in 1999.
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