You have to factor in that he's British. The Brits, as a people, are notoriously prone to cane beatings, especially in this era. This particular episode would have taken place just over a year after Ringo famously lost that cane fight against Australian serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke and had to be replaced on the Beatles' tour of Australia by Jimmie Nicol.
Also, I think Jared Harris was paying tribute to his old man taking that surprise pistol whipping as English Bob in Unforgiven.