|
Some readers remember being very concerned about clothing and have clear recollections of their school clothes. Other readers recall being not especially concerned about clothes. Many state primary schools had iniforms in the 1970s. Uniforms were worn at most secondary schools. Uniform reqirements varied. Church of England schools tended to be stricter than other state schools. At one school boys wore shorts, but there was no other uniform requirement. Most primary uniforms were short trouser uniform. Many primary schools, however, did not have uniforms. Boys had some wore jeans. School sandals were becoming less common in primary schools. At grammar schools (academically selective secondary schools) and other secondary schools, first year boys still sometimes wore the uniform with short tousers, but most schools had dropped this requirement by mid-decade. Syyntheic fibers were becoming more important and a readr recalls his nylon shirts. Private schools continued to give great attention to uniform. Some prep schools still had very traditional uniforms. Most preparatory shools had short pants uniforms, but caps were becoming less common. Some schools had cord short. Knee socks were common, but many boys wore ankle socks in the summer.
Some readers have provided brief accounts of their school experiences. We will archieve those here. One account indicates, "Like most boys I plagued my Mum to get me long trousers from 11 onwards and I got my first pair when I was 12 years old. What I've never been able to understand is, as soon as I was 11 I wanted longs, yet I was quite willing to wear shorts for PE and games up until I left school at 15. Boys seem to accept that it's perfectly normal to wear shorts for PE and sports, but if you asked them to wear the kind of short trousers that I used to wear to school then it would be a different matter."
An English reader tells us about his prep school experiences in the 1970s. He begana year earlier than most children at 7 years of age. Here is a photos of me in uniform at age 6 just before I was sent sent away to board. I seem cheerful here but life for me at the school as I remember it was not enjoyable being so young was a huge upheaval. Also I had undiagnosed dyslexia so my school work was not great or appreciated. Dyslexia as a learning disability was not understood at the time.
I grew up in England during the 1970s. I was born 12 November 1961 in Northwest England. Started infants Sept 1966, moved to Juniors September 1969, and Grammar school September 1973. I attended the local infant school from age 4 to 7. It was mixed, and all boys wore grey shorts, other than that there were no uniform requirements. Girls could wear
anything, but they all wore dresses or skirts. No girl ever wore trousers or shorts, it was unthinkable. The boys all wore long socks, usually grey, but sometimes patterned fawn or brown, even black. We never wore white socks, only girls wore white socks. The girls did wear tights, thick woolly things, never nylons.
I am 35 years old and went to three schools in the south in England during my childhood.
I was at an all boys private infants school (part of larger prep school). We wore black shoes, long grey socks with blue tops, grey corduroy shorts, grey shirt, blue jumper, navy blazer and navy cap. I have some old photographs. of me going off for my first day so I can be quite detailed even though it was a long time ago. I can't remember much about how I felt wearing it etc. but I do remember feeling very smart. I can remember having awful trouble doing my tie and having to ask for help from a teacher after Games etc. to put it back on. We moved out to Surrey when my father got a new job and my brother and I were sent as day boys to a traditional prep school in a nearby town. As I was older I can remember much more about it and the various items that we wore.
My brothers and I attended several different schools as a boy. These schools had different outlooks on both education and school uniform. As a resiult we boys had
somewhat different educational expderiences. We attended regular state primarie and Church of England (C of E) primaries and regular and direct grant grammar schools. This was i part because we moved and our parents choice of schools. Of course we had to do well academically to get into the grmmar schools. School uniforms were adopted by each individual schools so there were differentsin how we dressed for school. Changing fashion trend were also a factor here. My primary school was a traditional Church of England school in West London. I started there in September 1964. We had a strict uniform: cap, blazer, shirt and
tie, shorts (grey), gartered socks with green rings around the tops, black shoes even from the earliest years (age 5). My friend who I used to play with started at the school on the same day as me, but his parents took him out of the school after a few weeks and sent him to a more relaxed school up the road (a low-level post war school - ours was an old Victorian building). His school had no uniform and I remember noticing that at an early
age. I too had donewell on my 11+ and had been accepted at a grammar school, but a different one to my brother. We had moved in the Summer of 1970 to another
district of London and I was due to start at my secondary school. This was what was known as a "Direct Grant Grammar School" My new items of school uniform were the school blazer, tie and long kneesocks in the school colours. Shorts were not compulsory in the main school but some of those who were moving up from the "prep" department wore them to start with along with those of us who were still had our primary school shorts in reasonable condition to wear out. My younger brother had meanwhile been enrolled at a new primary school in the area that we had moved to which did not require a uniform so he started the new school year in jeans!.
went to an English primary school for most of my primary school years. I was at a state primary (Grange Park Infants and Juniors) then a state secondary (Hayes Grammar) for one year, then it was off to Belgium.
During the 1970s the typical school appearal for junior boys was a grey school uniform, shirt, tie, v-neck jumper, short trousers and kneesocks. Until the age of 11,
I wore that typical uniform. Your web site has brought back a few memories. In my younger years, I always hated having to wear shorts, either for school or casual play clothes. It made me feel infantile as I had such respect for my father I wanted to be like him and short trousers wasn't what he wore, so I didn't belive I should wear them. However I remember at about the age of 8, I must of harrased my mother so much she finaly gave in and bought me some longs for school.
The earliest recollections I have of the type of clothes I wore as a boy growing up in the north of Englad during the early 1970's are about my school uniform. I was a day boy at school and a lot of my friends at home thought I was very posh because of the full uniform. Most of them wore shorts to primary school, but didn't have to wear blazers or caps. My friends Mothers would comment on how smart I looked. When I was younger, I suppose I had an angelic look, with very blond hair and my school uniform with its blue and white colours--looking back, I am sure that I did look very smart. Even as a child I always took a lot of care over my appearance and would not be seen with one sock down round my ankles. I'm not sure where that came from. Looking back. there are probably two reasons. I think I am particular about my clothes for two reasons. At home my mother always inspected us
before we left the house and believed that untidy children reflected badly on the parents and how they were brought up.At school any teacher would tell you to tidy
yourself up especialy if your socks had fallen down.As I said earlier, this was often emphasised with a slap on the back of your legs.Most of my friends understood
that I went to a different school that had very different views,but I think they were glad that their school was not so strict.
As a boy growing up in the 1970's those are the pages that have most interested me. I also generally had clothes handed down to me which made them not so fashionable as other people. I grew up in Staffordshire in the Midlands. When I went to school I didn't wear school uniform until the comprehensive school. My elementary school didn't requirte a uniform. I do remember, however, the humiliation of being out of fashion when I wore 'drainpipes', trousers with very narrow legs, rather than flares, which I didn't possess. It was also embarrassing when getting changed for PE when I still had white pants, which were obviously seen by others as being childish.
I attended two primary schools (the first one from the age of 5 to 6 and the second one from 6 to 7 years (1969 to 1971). Although no uniform was specified, I wore grey shorts and white nylon shirts. I then attended a boarding School (aged 7 to 10 years). Again, no uniform specified which was unusual for a boarding school. The majority of pupils, however, wore white nylon shirts, including myself. I was a keen Cub. I wore grey shorts and a bottle green top. I attended another boarding school (aged 10 to 14). The uniform specified for the boys was a grey cotton shirt (the girls wore white nylon blouses), grey trousers, a black and red striped tie and a navy blue pullover. The white P.E. shorts were made of nylon. White nylon shirts were only worn by boys on special occasions, such as church services, sports days etc. As a child growing up in the 1970s, I can recall the comprehensive school uniform that me (I was 14 to 15) and my younger brother (he was aged 12 years) had to wear.
I was born in 1966. My school days dragged through the 1970s and early 80s. I had a mix of education as my father was in the RAF and as a result I managed to attend several schools before settling before the serious examinations loomed! A mix of state primary, secondary, prep & independent senior schools. The RAF bit is important as it was a relatively closed environment
with strong views concerning behaviour, manners, dress etc of servicemen and especially snco's or officers children. I initially attended school in Cyprus, had a short stint in Germany but was
mainly educated in the UK; even the overseas schools were essentially British. I somehow ended up teaching and working as Head of Boarding in the Independent sector. I'm still not quite sure how that happened as it was never an aim or intention of mine!
I attended an English prep school in the early 1970s from age 7 to 13. The school was very traditional and the uniform regulations were strictly enforced. The uniform had to be purchased from the schools recommended suppliers which was a boys clothes shop in the local town. I suppose they wanted all boys in exactly the same uniform and did not want anyone interpreting the rules and wearing something even slightly different. I remember
going to the shop at the end of every summer to get my new uniform for the items I had either outgrown or worn out. The uniform was very boring as it was mainly grey. I guess it was like this so it would not show the dirt too easily. The full uniform was grey shirt, red and white tie, heavy wool pullover with red trim round the neck, grey cord shorts and grey socks with obligatory garters.
I was a scholarship boy which meant that no actual school-fees would
be payable. Two shopping expeditions were necessary, however. The first, to a well-known stationers, to equip me with a long list of regulation pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, compasses, dividers etc. The other would be to the school shop to buy the uniform. I say �the uniform� but, when my mother and I left the school premises to return home, we had considerably more than either of us had bargained for, all of which would have to be name-tagged (sewn, not ironed, on) over the following week.
Mum dressed my brother and I the same for most of the time until I was about 10 or 11. This I hated. To look like my younger brother was so humiliating. My brother was never bothered about such unimportant things such as clothes, his mind was only on football all
the time. We have become very close these days but he doesn't have many interests in life unlike me who has done many things such as kung fu instructer, glider pilot, football player and coach, plus even more... Our personalities are very differrent. He is like my dad and I am more like my mother who has to be on the go!! Unlike my father and brother who generally sit around and could not be bothered.
This English reader has noted that many HBC personal experience accounts do not mention gym or physical education uniforms. He has provided us information on gym at his secondary school as well as general information on his school uniform. I was at secondary school from the mid-1970s to 1982, my older brother the mid-1960s and my younger brother the 1980s. We all went to the same secondary school. It was a grammar school (selective secondary school) that had changed to a comprehensive just before I arrived. Nothing to add to the information HBC already has on the existing school uniform pages. What I have not seen much information about is the P.E.kit, for boys now as well as boys in the past. This was a vital part of school clothing.
Richard tellsus about his school experiences in bith primary and prep chools during the 1970s-80s. He reports, "Of everything I remember about school uniform, the issue of having to wear short trousers was the most significant for me."
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
