Figure 1.--This photograph shows form 1C of Dudley Grammar School in 1947-48. The boys wear similar colored short pants suits, many with open collars. |
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Boys at Dudley grammar school in the 1940s all appear to be wearing similar colored suits. One boy wears a datk suit. Another boy wears a double breasted suit. They do not appear to be blazers. There are no school badges on their coat jackets. Available photographs show what looks like all of the boys wearing short pants and kneesocks. The uniformity of their uniforms suggests that it was a school rule. We do not not know at this time what the rule was for the other forms. Quite a few of the boys in the late 1940s do not have ties and wear rather sporty open collar shirts. HBC had thought that this informal style a characteristic of Scotland, but it may have been a post-War British style that persisted in Scotland more than England.
Quite a number of English schools have amazing histoies. The Dudley Grammar School was founded in 1562. As the name suggests, the school was located in Dudley, England. The school over the years had several different locatioins in Dudley. The final location was in St James's Road (1897). Over thast time it was a boy's school. A Dudley Girls High School wa opened (1910). It wa located close to the boys' school in Priory Road. The two schools were separate institutions, but copperated in areas such as drama. Sonme of the teachers at both schools. There wre a few mixed classes such as sixth form Physics lessons. Discussions began to form a comined comprehensive school (1966). Dudley Grammar School (DGS) closed as a separate school after 413 years (1975). It merged with the Girls High School to form The Dudley School. Also involved in the merger was the Park Secondary School sso named because of its location close to the town's Grange Park. Subsequently Sudley School merged with another gistoric city school, the Dudley Blue Coat School (1989). The facilities were expanded to accomofate a growing enrollment (1990s). The old High School building have been demolished.
We are not sure about the age arange of the boys in the historic Dudley Grammasr School. As a modern grammar school the age range was 11-18 years. Bots took the 11+ examoination in primary school to ear admission. The age ramge was changed to 12-18 as part of a reorganisation approved by by Dudley council (1972).
The Dudley Grammar School has a variety of facilities. The actual school buildings used in the 20th century wasopened in 1897. There was a spacious gym. Images from the 1930s show some of the gym activities. A swimming pool was opened as a memorial to the former grammar school pupils who had died in the two world Wars (1951). It was demolished to make way for part of a major expansion program (1990).
Secindary education in Britain was highly selective bedore World War II. Most schools only accepted children doing well on their 11+ examination. After World War II, Britain greatly expanded its secondary system. Amnd most of the new schools were non-selective. Dudley Grammar was only one of many selective grammar schools conerted to non-selective comprehensives.
Some photographs are avaialble from the late 1940s. At the time, the United Kingdom (UK) was still devastated from World War II. A HBC reader reports, "I was in the UK in 1947 and clothing was still being rationed. Although the Brits had prevailed in the War, it was a more accurate description that they had survived. Economically they had paid a huge price. Britain was hugely in debt. The process of losing their empire had begun. The post-war years were very difficult. It took about 10 years after the War before some type of normacly prevailed in Britain." This may in part explain why some of the boys are not wearing uniform items, like double beasted and dark suits.
A grammar school in the 1940s was an academically selective secondary school. As part of Britain's post-War social reforms, the country for the first time created free state secondary schools. These grammar schools were for boys who ha done well on their 11+ exam. Other boys went to secondary modern schools. HBC knows nothing little about this specific school at this time. Dudley is a school at Worcestershire in the English Midlands. Worcestershire is a few kilometers west of Birmingham.
English schools like English schools organized the school into forms. The new entrants were form 1. Presumably the senior boys were form 6, however HBC has no details on the school at this time.
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Information on Duddley is currently available for the immediate post-World War II era, 1948 and 1951.
A HBC reader tells us, "I was a pupil attending Dudley Grammar School from 1941 to 1947. The required dress was a mid-grey uniform. One wore shorts until the third year, and then long trousers were permitted.
Blazers were allowed during the summer term, consisting of a very dark blue worsted material. The school badge, consisting of an outline of a castle, with the leters D G S intertwined, was displayed on the breast pocket, as it was on the standard jacket and trousers uniform. Blazers were a luxury during the war, and were only purchased by the well-off families.
Ties, of diagonal medium blue and navy blue stripes were worn as part of the uniform. Caps, originally consisting of light blue and dark blue horizontal circles, and later of light blue and dark blue vertical quadrants, also had to be worn. Open-neck shirts were allowed during the summer term.
The school had its own Scout Troop, hence the photo of a teacher in scoutmaster uniform (figure 1). The school also boasted its own Army Cadet Force, and the Officer in charge was was Mr. Wilmott, one of the masters. Photos can be found of Mr Wilmott in Army uniform with his class. Other clothing items, such as pullovers, socks and scarves, were generally of mid grey wool, with the traditional dark blue and light blue rings. The school was divided into "Houses", comprising North, East, South and West. The colours for Football jerseys and team ribands were Red for North, Yellow for East, Blue for South, and Green for West. Boys were allocated to a "house" according to the magnetic area of the district in which they lived in relation to the school." [Bedford]
Form 1 were the new entrants at the school who had just moved up from their primary school. Most of these boys would still be age 11. At this time we only ave information on form 1. The school apparently required the form 1 boys to wear short trousers. No information is available on the other forms.
Form 1A: Some schools numbered the form in terms of their academic ability. Thus form 1A might be the top form. It is unclear what the practice was a Dudley.
Form 1C: As mentioned above, it is unclear if the boys at Dudly were divided selectively by form. The Form 1C boys in 1947-48 all appear to be wearing similar colored suits. One boy wears a dark suit. Another boy wears a double breasted suit. They do not appear to be blazers. There are no school badges on their coat jackets. A
photograph of form 1C shows what looks like all of the boys wearing short pants and kneesocks.
Some information is available on Duddley in 1951. The boys wear jackets and ties, although many boys are wearing darker colored school blazers. The school in 1951 was sifting over to a new blazer uniform. None of the boys have open collars as was the case in the 1940s. A few of the form 3 boys in 1951 were wearing short trousers. It is likely that they were required in forms 1 and 2.
Boys at Dudley grammar school in 1947-48 all appear to be wearing similar colored suits. One boy wears a datk suit. Another boy wears a double breasted suit. They do not appear to be blazers. There are no school badges on their coat jackets. Many boys wear sweaters. None of then have the colored rim that was to become so common. A
photograph of form 1C shows what looks like all of the boys wearing short pants and kneesocks. The uniformity of their
uniforms suggests that it was a school rule. We do not not know at this time what the rule was for the other forms. As was the case of many Scottish schools, quite a few of the boys do not have ties
and wear rather sporty open collar shirts. This was much less common in England. HBC is not sure why this more informal style was so prevalent in Scotland. Most boys appear to wear plain turn-over-top kneesocks, but one boy wear kneesocks with a c olore band at the cuff. Most boys wear Oxford low-cut shoes, but one boy wears old-fashioned high-top shoes.
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Quite a few of the boys in the late 1940s do not have ties and wear rather sporty open collar shirts. HBC had thought that this informal style a characteristic of Scotland, but it may have been a post-War British style that persisted in Scotland more than England. HBC does no know when British boys began wearing open collars. We have not noted this in the 1930s before World War II (1939-45). Peraps this was a style which developed during the War years when rationing and practical styles affected clothing. We had earlier thought that it was a Scottish style, but perhaps it was more a War-time fasion. Most English schools by the 1950s were requiring ties, but the open neck style continued at many Scottish schools.
Bedford, Derek. E-mail message, February 18, 2004.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer]
[School sandals]
