John Straffen - Early Life

Early Life

Straffen's father, John Senior, was a soldier in the British Army. He was the third child in the family; his older sister was regarded as a "high grade mental defective" who died in 1952. Straffen was born at Bordon Camp in Hampshire where his father was then based, but at the age of two his father was posted abroad and the family spent six years in India. Returning to Britain in March 1938, Straffen's father took a discharge from the Army and the family settled in Bath, Somerset.

In October 1938 Straffen was referred to a Child Guidance Clinic for stealing and truancy. In June 1939 he first came before a Juvenile Court for stealing a purse from a girl, and was given two years' probation. His probation officer found that Straffen did not understand the difference between right and wrong, or the meaning of probation. The family was living in crowded lodgings at the time and Straffen's mother had no time to help, so the probation officer took the boy to a psychiatrist. As a result, Straffen was certified as a mental defective under the Mental Deficiency Act 1927. A report was compiled on him in 1940 which gave his Intelligence Quotient as 58 and placed his mental age at six. From June 1940, the local authority sent him to a residential school for mentally defective children, St Joseph's School in Sambourne.

Two years later Straffen moved to Besford Court, a senior school. He was noted as a solitary boy who took correction very badly. In one incident when Straffen was 14, he was strongly suspected of being responsible for strangling two prize geese owned by one of the officers of the school; however, no proof was found and it was not noted on his records. At the age of 16 the school authorities undertook a review which found his I.Q. was 64 and his mental age 9 years 6 months and recommended his discharge.