Anglais

Documents civilisation – culture

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When artists or cartoonists wish to conjure up the image of a typical English schoolboy, they invariably dress their model in a cap, blazer and short trousers and give him a brown leather satchel to hold. This uniform was indeed relatively commonplace until the 1970s, and was often featured in illustrations to school stories in books (such as the Jennings novels) and childrens' comics, but nowadays a schoolboy dressed in this traditional style is a much rarer sight.

The stronghold of the traditional boys' school uniform is undoubtedly the private preparatory schools, educating boys between the ages of seven and thirteen. There are old established boarding schools which coach boys for entry to expensive public schools, together with numerous dayboy prep schools. The pupils' traditional blazers and caps, worn with juvenile short trousers and knee-length 'stockings' certainly mark them out from their state school counterparts.
This summer 1998 window display in a suburban boys' outfitters demonstrates that the traditional English schoolboy uniform is still very much alive and kicking in the private education sector.
Grammar school boys

In the 1950s and 1960s, when there were still hundreds of grammar schools in Britain, pupils in these state schools were usually uniformed in a very traditional way. As this picture of pupils of Manchester Grammar School shows, boys were often kept in short trousers until the age of 13 or 14.
·  View more pictures of Manchester Grammar School boys, from a 1958 TV documentary.
·  In this grammar school class photo from 1956 the majority of boys have graduated to longs, but a couple of pupils are still bare-kneed.
There were also a number of independent (private) grammar schools and the prospectus for Wallington Independent Grammar School in Surrey specified a classic schoolboy uniform for its pupils: Every boy must wear the school uniform which consists of a cap, tie, blazer, grey flannel shirt (white shirts may be worn in the summer term), dark grey trousers or shorts, grey socks or stockings, dark blue raincoat and black shoes. If a pullover is worn it must be grey. School scarves (optional) may also be obtained
A British boy, who had been living in the USA and going to school there, recalled the shock of returning to England and having to exchange his comfortable American casuals for the standard grammar school uniform:
I was divested of my New World clothing and fitted out with the uniform of an English schoolboy: grey blazer with school badge, grey short trousers; long grey socks; grey shirt; striped red and grey tie; and red and grey peaked schoolcap. I had worn long trousers in America but now my knees were once again on view. They stuck out like two red grinning faces between the bottom of the shorts and the tops of the socks.
These school clothing advertisements of the period provide some idea of the uniform this newly fledged grammar school boy would have had to wear.
·  Grammar school uniform regulations from the early 1960s.
·  Grammar school rules from 1962.
School caps

Nowadays school caps are a relatively uncommon sight and it is easy to forget how ubiquitous this item of uniform once was. Caps came in an astonishing range of designs and colours and one could usually identify a boy's school from his headgear. However, times changed and older boys came to regard the school cap as juvenile and resented having to wear it. There has been a general abandonment of caps by British schools, although a number of preparatory schools retain this item as part of their uniform.

Cap styles formerly worn at Lord Wandsworth College, a Hampshire boarding school (Photos kindly supplied by Mike Millichamp)
·  More information about school caps, with pictures.
·  View a collection of cap and blazer badges.
·  The design of the school tie usually complimented that of the cap and blazer. Here is a selection.
Gabardine mackintoshes

Another item of traditional schoolboy uniform which was once a familiar sight is the gabardine mackintosh. Navy blue gabardines in a smart double-breasted style were the regulation topcoat in many schools for both junior and senior pupils. Nowadays this once almost universal style of schoolboy overcoat is mostly confined to preparatory schools.
I attended a very traditional boys' preparatory school in an outer London suburb. All the pupils were dayboys and I always walked the one and a half miles to and from school. In bad weather I wore a regulation double-breasted navy blue gabardine which, in combination with my peaked school cap offered good protection in wet weather. During the winter I wore my gabardine with a warm lining which kept me pretty snug. I wore shorts throughout my time at the prep and my only complaint about my gabardine was the fact that it was not long enough to protect my knees. I can vividly recall setting out for school on a freezing winter's morning and having to suffer the frosty wind nipping my exposed knees while the rest of me felt reasonably warm!
·  See this page for more information about garbardine raincoats, with pictures.

Past and Present

A 1996 newspaper story told how pupils in an inner-city comprehensive school had voted to 'turn their back on casual clothes and return to traditional school uniforms.' Pupils voted nine to one in favour of adopting a uniform of blazer, shirt and tie, dark grey trousers and plain black shoes. Such stories would appear to indicate that at least some elements of the traditional English school uniform are staging a comeback, although it is doubtful if modern schoolboys would vote to wear a cap and shorts, or wish to carry leather satchels in place of their practical holdalls.

Newly enrolled grammar school boys of the mid-1950s
·  View a selection of images of traditionally dressed English schoolboys.
·  Some more pictures of traditionally uniformed schoolboys.
·  'Shorts versus Longs': read more about the days when bare knees were the norm for younger schoolboys.
·  Schoolboy hair: short hair is now back in fashion, but 30 years ago schools waged a losing battle against long hair.
·  View photographs ofitems of traditional schoolboy uniform.
·  Some stills from the 1956 film 'It's Great to be Young', showing colourful school uniforms of the time.
·  Off to school in the golden age of boys' school uniforms - a picture gallery.
·  Wearing shorts in the 1950s: a brief reminiscence.
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Bluecoat Schools...... School Scout Troops
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