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We do not have many details concerning the history of the Farnworth Grammar School. It was founded in 1715. The school was closed about 1983 and demolished in 1988. It was a small grammar school in the north-west of England. The school appears to have had a strict uniform requirement after World War II. We are unsure what the uniformn was like in earlier years.
The town of Farnworth is located in Lancashire, between Manchester and Bolton. This is in the center of the ndustrial heartland of Eirope where the industrial revolution began. The economy was coal, cotton and chemical engineering.
We do not have many details concerning the history of the Farnworth Grammar School. It was a small grammar school in the north-west of England. Tt was a coed school, although I am unsure just when girls were first admitted. It was founded in 1715. The original school was the Dixon Green School. The school was founded to educate thec poor children of Farnworth. They were to be taught English, Latin and the Protestan faith. The people in Farnworth in 1905 began to push for the foundation of a secondary school. The County Education Committee decided to build the Farnworth and District Secondary School. The school committe decided to build a facility that could serve as a secondary school during the day and a technical school during the evening. Plans were later changed to extend the work of the Old Grammar School, but facilities could not accomodate the applicants. Plans to build the school were delayed by World War I. The New Jerysalem School was used for some time. The new school building was opened in 1922. The school was coeducationa, but out of the oiriginal 191 students in 1922, there were only 37 girls. It appears to have been a traditional grammar school that insisted on high standards. One former student writes on an internet site dedicated to the school, "The town's Grammar School never subscribed to the trendy fashions in education which have demonstrably damaged at least two generations of British children. Instead, its dedicated staff did their utmost to ensure that even the most unpromising among us emerged into the world with a decent grounding in the basics, and with the foundations of our future careers firmly in place." The school was closed about 1983 and the building demolished in 1988.
The school appears to have had a strict uniform requirement both before and after after World War II. The boys were not required to wear ties in the 1930s, but by the 1950s, ties were required. We are unsure what the uniformn was like in earlier years.
The school in the 1930s seems to have had a strict dress code. A portrait of the Lower IV in 1933-34 shows almost all of the students smartly outfitted in the school uniform. The portrait shows the girls wearing colored dressed with larger white collars in various sizes and shapes. The girls wear long stockings. I'm not sure what color the dresses were. The boys wear dark blazers, some with piping. Most of the boys have white shirts with open collars. A few boys wear ties.
A portrait at the school during World war II shows the girls wearing similar dresses but with short white socks instead of dark long stockings. The boys are wearing the same dark blazers. More boys are wearing ties, but it is stull not a requirement. A photograph of a III Form class shows the boys wearing short trousers. I'm not sure if that was a school requirement. Some boys have shoulder straps. I think that might be their gas mask bags.
Almost all of the junior boys in 1950 wear the school blazer, but only a few of the senior boys have them. The girls wear gym frocks which was a seasonal uniform, but may have been adopted year round. Unlike some schools, few girls seem to wear the blazer. By the mid 1950s modt of the boys are wearing the blazer, but it does not appear to have been required for the senior boys. The younger boys seem to almostv all wear short trousers with grey kneesocks. I'm not sure what the actual scgool uniform regulation was. The school color in the 1930s was blue, but we notice green uniform items in the 1950s.
All the boys at the school in 1961 seem to be wearing the school blazer. We suspect that the school may have begun requiring it. Earlier portraits from the school during the 1950s suggest that the blazer was not required, although by the lste 50s was widely worn. All the junior boys were wearing short trousers in 1961. This also suggests that the regulations were changed requiring the first or even second years boys wear them. The girls look to be wrearing the same uniform worn in the 1950s. Blazers continued to be worn throughout the 1960s, but by 1965 very few boys were wearing shorts trousers.
Very little about the uniform appears to have changed in the 1970s from the 1960s. A school photograph from the 1970s shows the boys all wearing the school blazer with long trousers. Even the junior boys now all wear long trousers. The most noticeable change is in the hair styles. Boys wear all kinds of long hair styles. We also notive many gurls wearing sweaters and ties whivh e had not noted earlier.
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]
