St Gertrude’s is the ultimate male fantasy about British girls’ boarding schools, brought to life through Tom Poulton’s inimitable drawings and a text by ‘Anonymous’ (most probably Jamie Maclean of the Erotic Print Society). The story behind these drawings is that they were created during the 1950s, probably as a commission, and found their way into the hands of Beecher Moore, who was Poulton’s main client for his erotic work. Moore ‘forgot about them’ until they were unearthed after the publication of two volumes of Poulton’s work by the EPS, when they conveniently appeared as part of the EPS’s successful Poulton series in 2002, as the second part of Tom Poulton: The Secret Drawings. There’s nothing like a bit of mystery to accompany a good fantasy.
The story to go with the drawings is a fine romp. French teacher Nigel Claythorne takes up a new post at St Gertrude’s School for Girls, a noble pile set in the depths of the English countryside, with something of a reputation for liberal education. He leaves his young wife Violet for a while, as she is busy as a typist in the City of London (but it’s useful to know that she too had been a pupil at Gert’s, as had her sister Babs). Before long the girls are involving Nigel in their sexual explorations – the rest is all downhill.