Scottish School Uniform: Individual Schools--Greenock Academy


Figure 1.--Almost all the junior boys at Greenock Academy in 1950 wore short trousers with their blazer. HBC is unsure as to precisely what the rule. There are other differemce among the boys, especially as to socks and ties.

Scottish and English schools have a wide variety of names. Some are misleading. Some comprehensives, for example, kept the name of the grammar schools they replaced. Academies are private schools, often comparable to private day schools. Private schools were often named academies in Scotland, but there were not very many in England. Today in Scotland there are academies that are private schools and others that are state schools.

Location

Greenock is in Scotland. Greenock is on the south bank of the River Clyde (Scotland), just a few miles west of Glasgow.

Type of Schools

The term academy has different comotations in different parts of the United Kingdom.

England

English schools have a wide variety of names. Some are misleading. Some comprehensives, for example, kept the name of the grammar schools they replaced. Academies are private schools, often comparable to private day schools. Private schools were often named academies in Scotland, but there were some in England as well. In England the term "academy" is rare and is usually applied to specialised, usually private, schools, e.g. St Martins-in-the-Fields Academy, which is a music school, or the Royal academy of Dance.

Scotland

English readers inform HBC that "academy" seems to be widely used as an alternative to "school" in Scotland and that it doesn't necessarily indicate a private school. HBC had thought it meant a private school. Certainly the origins were private secondary schools as until the 1940s there were no state secondary schools in Scotland. Terms like "academy" can be mileading, especially since the state took over many academies, but kept the traditional names. Many private schools wee founded in Scotland during the 19th century as academies. These schools wre for the most part for the children from affluent families. Working class children at the time rarely advanced beyond the free state primary schools whch opened in the late-19th century. Today in Scotland tere are acadamies operated as both private fee-paying and tuition-free state schools.

History

Greenock Academy was founded in 1855. It appears to have provide for children of a wide age range. I am not sure just who founded it. It was a fee-paying school, but the fees were relatively low because the state partially financed it. The first building was built to the west of Nelson Street. The first students were from the Grammar and Mathematical Schools. The new school had astaff of 10 teachers. The curriculum included English, Latin and Greek, French and German, Mathematics, Arithmetic, Book-keeping, Writing, Drawing and Geography. The school had grown to 500 pupils (1865). The Greenock Burgh School Board undertook the managemen (1882). The School broadened the curruiculum after the turn-of-th-20th century. The modernized curriculum included: Science, Botany, Shorthand, Drill and Gymnastics. About this time sports (Cricket and Rugby) were added to the school activities. The School erected a separate building for primary-age children off Finnart Street (1910) . The four four infant classes moved into a new wooden annex set up in in the back playground (1931). The Academy developed a strong reputation based on the success of its students in the Scottish Leaving Certificate examinations and the highly competitive Glasgow University Bursary Competitions. The Academy expanded after World War II as the Government significantly expandedcseondary education. The school rolls reached 1,000 pupils. There were more changes to the curriculum. The physical plant was not increased proportionally. A prefabricated buiding was set up in the old school garden. This was used for both homecraft and for preparing school meals. The Academy moved to a new building on Madiera Street. The original Nelson St. building was demolished and thecsite was acquired by James Watt College. Plans call for merging Greenock Academy with Gourock High School, sometime between 2010 and 2014. The merged schools will be located at a new building on the Bayhill site presently occupied by St. Columba's High School. [Kelly]


Figure 2.--All of the boys wear blazers, although the color is unknown. The junior boys--with one exception wear shorts. HBC is unsure what the regulations were.

School Details

Scottish primary school teach children about 5-11 years old. Children from these primary schools advanced to secondary school at about age 11 years. Children to enter Primary 1 at age 5 sat an exam. Children who di not pass went to one of the other state primary schools till you reached Primary 7 when everyone in Scotland sat what was called the "qually", the 'eleven plus', exam to see where you went for your secondary education. If you failed you went on to state secondary school but, if you passed, especially with an 'A' or 'B+' and there were vacancies at The Academy, you could be admitted. Tus the Academy was operated rather like an English grammar school. Theoretically, children who were admitted to Greenock Academy's Primary Department in the first place but failed 'the qually', could have been expelled and have to go to one of the other secondary schools, but this does not seem to have actually occurred. Greenock Academy educated children from Primary 1 right through to the end of secondary school--'Sixth Year'. The school was a protestant school, but there were many schools from mixed marriages. [Kelly]

Age

The Academy was a full term school from primary through to secondary years. The boys in this photograph look to be secondary school age from about 11/12 to about 17 years of age. The age disparity look much to wide for this to have been a form. The school may have been quite small and this may have been the entire school.

Chronology

We do not have details on the earky school uniform in the mid-19th century. There are details from the late 19th century. Boys in 1897 had to wear the school cap which was the only required uniform garment. It was a standard peaked scjool cap done in blue had a badge which incorporated the Arms of the town. This was replaced at an unknown date with a maroon-colored cap with a G.A. monogram on the badge. A 1908 photograph shows the boys wearing different outfits, including Eton colklsars and ayounger boy wearing a sailor suit. There were many different ties rather than a school tie. Many of the boys even some older boys at the time wore knee pants and knee socks. The junir boys in 1950 wore maroon blazers and ties with short trousers and grey knee-length or ankle socks, some wore ordinary grey suits to school. These boys usually had just joined 'The Academy' from other primary schools where school blazers were not commonly worn. Blazers were too expensive for many families, especially right after the War. The Academy relaxed uniform standards and allowed new primary-level boys to wear school ties and the traditional maroon, peaked, school caps along with their school 'house' badges on their jacket lapels. [Kelly]

Uniform Items

The boys of Greenock Academy in 1950 appear to wear a standard British school uniform of blazer, tie, short trousers, and kneesocks. The boys also probably wore caps, but took them off for the photograph. It is unclear if the older boys in the back row are also wearing shorts.

Caps

The boys also probably wore caps, but took them off for the photograph. Caps were still very common in England and Scotland in 1950, but many schools began to drop them in the 1950s or only require that junior bpoys wear them.

Blazers

The school had a maroon blazers. Both boys and girls wore them. They came from either Shannon's, at the corner of Nicolson Street and West Blackhall Street or from 'The Co-op', in Roxburgh Street. There was a color difference. One source reports, "The dye of Shannon's, slightly brighter coloured, blazers qickly rotted the cloth and, as most mothers woefully discovered, not only did the wire-embroidered school crest pocket badges quickly tear holes on the inside left forearm of the blazer sleeves but they too soon discovered that the elbows of these expensive garments also quickly wore through and needed leather 'patches' sewn on both sleeves. 'The Co-op' blazers, though a darker maroon, were undoubtedly much harder wearing products - Only Shannon's however sold the 'sports' blazers' with the white piping round the blazer collars and edges." All of the boys at Greenock Academy in the photographs here wear blazers. They mostly wear dark colored blazers. A few boys (but none of the junior boys) appear to be wearing grey suits. Some schools had grey blazers, but not that the grey jackets do not have the badges on them--suggesting that they are suit jackets. These apparently are mostly boys who had just arrived at the school. [Kelly]


Figure 3.--A few of the junior boys wore sandals rather than shoes. There were also a few boys wearing open necked shirts without ties. Note the variety of socks.

Shirts

Both boys and girls wore long-sleeved white shirts and blouses. In winter, some of the boys wore grey shirts. The heavier quality was warmer than the white shirts and did not showing up stains and dirt as much. The boys in the photographs here appear to be wearing white shirts. A few wear open neck shirts, a style more common in Scotland than England. HBC is not yet sure what the rule about wearing open necked shirts was.

Ties

iThe school had diagonally, maroon and white, striped ties. Most of the boys in the photographs here wear ties, but a few boys wear their white shirts iopen without ties. HBC is unusure as to just what the actual rule was. It is likely that ties were required, but HBC does not know why sone boys were not wearing them. One would assume that even if the tie requirement was not normally enforced. it would have been on school photography day.

Jumpers

It is hard to see if any of the boys wore jumpers (sweaters). One boy does appear to be wearing a white jumper.

Trousers

Almost all the junior boys in the photographs here in 1950 wore short trousers with their blazer. HBC is unsure as to precisely what the rule. It is likely that several of the boys in the second row were wearing shorts. Most of the older boys, however, are probably wearing longs. Up until entering 'Second Year', the boys continued to wear short grey trousers. The junior 'First Year' boys continued to wear short grey trousers into the early 1970s.

Kilts

Although Greenock is a Scottish school, there is no indication that any of the boys were wearing kilts. HBC is not sure, however, if none of the boys are wearing kilts or if they just are not visible because of the way the photograph was taken. You might have thought that at least a few boys in the 1950s would have been wearing kilts. It is possible that some of the boys in grey jackets are wearing kilts. At many Scottish schools, kilts were a permissible option. At this time HBC is nor sure if kilts would have been more or less common in the 1950s at Scottish schools. HBC can report that kilts by the 1980s were not commonly worn with blazer, but rather with tweed jackets. Presumably the same convention would perrain to the 1950s.


Figure 4.--Note the different socks that the junior boys wear. One boy wears shoes without socks. Boys wear both plain grey and kneesocks with bands in the school colors. Several boys have let their kneesocks fall down. One boy wears lace up shoes with ankle socks.

Hosiery

Boys at Greenock wore a wide variety of socks, although kneesocks were the most common. Some boys wear no socks. Others wear short ankle socks or kneesocks. Some of the kneesocks have colored bands--presumably the school colors. Other boys wear plain grey kneesocks. The type of shoe does seem to affect the socks worn--at least to some extent. Two of the boys in sandals wear ankle sockls. One of the boys without socks, however wears lace up shoes. The knee-length grey socks were either plain or topped with maroon and white striped school color bands. Junior girls wore white ankle socks. When they reached 'Second Year' they were allowed to wear tan-colored nylon stockings. This was called the dreaded 'American Tan' for ordinary school days and thick black stockings for games days. [Kelley]

Shoes

Almost all of the boys wear lace up shoes with a variety of socks. At least two of the junior boys, however, wear school sandals. As this photograph was probably taken near the end of the year, sandals had not yet gone out of style for boys of secondary age. HBC dos not know what these boys wore sandals during the winter.mmBlack shoes were expected to be worn by both boys and girls, the exception being in summer when everybody seemed to turn up in brown sandals.

School Website

A reader writes, "Having read your article about Greenock Academy in Scotland I would draw your attention to my own Greenock Academy website school uniform pages where you will find a comprehensive history and in depth study of both boys and girls uniforms from 1897 onwards, the school, as you will see from other pages on the website, founded back in 1856." [Kelly]

Sources

Kelly, Donald. Webmaster. Greenock Academy website and eMail, July 22, 2007.







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Created: January 2, 2001
Last updated: 12:34 AM 7/23/2007