Figure 1.--Physical training was an important part of the British Borstal training porogram. I'm not sure when this photograph was taken, probably about 1960.

HBC knows of no national borstal uniform, but most of not all borstals adopted a uniform. Photographs from a 1910 photograph shows the boys wearing jackets, long sleeve dark shirts and knickers. References to borstals in the 1940s and 50s usually describe the boys wearing short trousers. Short trousers were very common in England, but often mothers begn buying long trousers for boys at about 12-13 years of age. This varies fro family to family, but except as part of school uniform modst 15-16 year old boys wore long trousers. Many of the boys who hgot in trouble and sent to borstals were wearing long trousers. As most borstals had short trouser uniforms, the miscreants had to change basvck toi short trousers which, a change to which many objected. Cord shorts appear to have been worn at many borstals. After the borstals were closed, I am not sure what the the policies adopted at the new institutions were concerning clothing.

No National Uniform

HBC knows of no national borstal uniform, but most of not all borstals adopted a uniform and there were some similarities.

Chronology

Photographs from a 1910 photograph shows the boys wearing jackets, long sleeve dark shirts and knickers. After the borstals were closed, I am not sure what the the policies adopted at the new institutions were concerning clothing.

Garments

References to borstals in the 1940s and 50s usually describe the boys wearing short trousers. Short trousers were very common in England, but often mothers begn buying long trousers for boys at about 12-13 years of age. This varies fro family to family, but except as part of school uniform modst 15-16 year old boys wore long trousers. Many of the boys who hgot in trouble and sent to borstals were wearing long trousers. As most borstals had short trouser uniforms, the miscreants had to change back toi short trousers which, a change to which many objected. Cord shorts appear to have been worn at many borstals.

Reader Comments

A reader tells us, "I remember one evening when I was 17, one of my friends whose parents had a house, which they used at the weekends during the summer. It was located in a village which was near a Borstal and my friend told me that he quite frequently saw boys from the Borstal going around the vilage in green shirts and cord shorts. Apparently they were on a strictly supervised work detail."

Another British reader writes, "Many years ago I was in conversation with some friends and one of them whose parents who owned a cottage not too far from a Borstal remrked that some of the boys who were trustees were allowed to go out of the Borstal under supervision with two of the warders. He told us that the boys were often seen walking around the village wearing green shirts and shorts, although he never mentioned the material the shorts were made from. Some of these boys would have been well into their teens and early twenties and it must have been humiliating for them to be seen wearing such juvenile attire and I think this was part of the punishment the boys had to endure to show their lowly status in life." [HBC note: Green shorts almost surely means corduroy shorts.]

Created: November 10, 2003
Last update: 6:40 AM 9/9/2005