Figure 1.-- The old picture is taken of my father circa 1913. He is wearing a kilt-like skirt (but not a tartan) with big pleats and a petticoat.
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Figure 1.-- The old picture is taken of my father circa 1913. He is wearing a kilt-like skirt (but not a tartan) with big pleats and a petticoat. |
I grew up in Scotland during the 1940s and 50s and wore kilts both at school and at home.
We lived on the West Coast of Scotland in a small coastal town.
My Mother did not work and my father was a hotelier. He joined the army though in 1939 so I never saw very much of him until he left the army in 1951. He was out of the army for 2 years and then he went back so most of my time as a child he was not around much. I had a younger brother and sister and an older sister.
I don't recall a great deal of what I wore as a little boy. One outfit I still remember with some affection is a little soldier outfit. Remember I was born during World War I. My soldier outfit had a really natty campaign cap.
I started primary school in 1943 during World War II. It was a County Council School which would be State. There was the big and the little school. About 40 in a class in those days.
Figure 2.-- These pictures were taken when I was around 4 I would think, perhaps 3. Patriotic Mothers dressed their children in patriotic uniforms during the 1940s. I still remember that outfit with great affection. |
I was probably around 4 or 5 years of age when I was given my first kilt and it was in this that I went to my first classes at our local Primary
School. This was a kilt with a bodice that buttoned up. I remember it being a light blue/green tartan. Under it you would wear a vest (US undershirt) and underwear which for me and many other boys would be school
girl knickers, bottle green or navy blue. I got to wear my sisters. On top you would wear a blouse of some sort and/or a sweater depending on the weather. I would also have white short socks, and black shoes or sandals
again depending on the weather. There was no fixed uniform in the kindergarden. This is what I wore more or less permanently for that year.
The Primary school I went to was part of the Academy. [HBC note: HBC is not yet sure what this means.] I think all Academys had uniforms. I would say that when I was young there were very few schools that did not have a similar uniform. Girls wore same blazers, usually white shirts, and what we called gym tunics.
In an attempt to clear up the Academy designation i offer the following. There are many Academy's that are fee paying and in fact when I quoted Glasgow and Edinburgh it strikes me that they are in fact fee collecting schools. Dollar Academy would be another. However, the name Academy is not just associated with fee paying schools. I think the name imparted some
kind of respectability and status perhaps coined in Victorian Times. My Academy was definitely free and education costs absorbed by the Borough
Council.
Moving into Primary 1 and all the way to Primary 5, our uniform was grey shirt, grey short pants which were lined, school belt, grey long socks
which were supposed to be always pulled up but normally were down round my ankles. I always wore all grey kneesocks without colored tops. School tie which was yellow, grey and blue, blue blazer with school
crest, shoes or sandals in summer. We also had navy blue raincoats and the ubiquitous school cap, also navy blue with the school crest. For PT we
would wear blue shorts and white vests.
In primary school I mainly wore sandals, black leather tie ups or what we called sandshoes. Sandshoes were made out of canvas. Very basic type runners. [HBC note: HBC is not sure that this was the common usage in England for "sanshoes"] We wore them to play most sports and of course on the beach.I liked sandals. They were an umportant part of summer dress. Usually my Mother decided on my shoes when I was young and then at school, whatever was dictated. I also wore "pumps" for dancing.
While at school I participated in an exchange program. A French student came to our school at I chosen to go to their school. Thus was some time ago, so my recollections are vague. Its such a long time ago. The exchange was arranged through a student association.
I do remermber that the French boy that came to our school had very short shorts. Iremember noticing it at the time, but was to polite to say anything to him. He would have been about 10 and I would have been 12. The french boy that came to my school loved it. The exchange was for one term. or about 3 months. We are still friendly to this day.
I went to France in the early 1950s. The school was in the Pyrenees. It was a Catholic equivalent of a junior High and run by nuns who were very strict. I am sorry to be so vague as to clothing although I can remember much more about the area. I added a beret to my outfit at that time that much I remember.
The boys at the French school wore shorts, very much shorter than those we wore in Britain--which at that time I think were at knee length. They dressed also more casually than we did--pullovers and open necked shirts without ties.
It was a coed school. The girls wore smock like garments but again I can't really recall the details. The girls did have a
blue tunic as well but the details are lost. The smock was worn over the top
as I remember. In later life my first real girlfriend was one of the
students. I could write a book on her! Vive L'amour. They had great family
picnics.
My kilt was of course an object of great curiosity and when we went to visit
friends and family I was more often than not, asked to wear it.
Figure 3.--The second picture is of myself aged around 14/15. The picture shows that I did not just wear kilts at school for this picture was taken in England on the way to a party and therefore on holiday. The outfit was regulation school wear. The sporran is a beaver! I still have it. |
For Scottish Country Dancing classes once a week, I would wear my kilt. Somewhere in the first couple
of years I was given a new kilt but you soon outgrew them. Correct measurement of a kilt is that it should just touch the floor when you kneel.
By the time I was 11 it was a long way from my knees for kilts were enormously expensive. Wearing a kilt in those days was more the norm for me for I had to wear it to Church, parties and any special holiday or
occaision.
All my knee socks were plain grey kept up with garters. The single exception was kilt socks which generally were green. More often than not they would have been made by my granny or an aunt.
It was probably more common in areas that were more affluent. I came from a reasonably well to do area where everyone was employed in the tourist business. As well it was a navy base so there was a lot of money around. This would not be the case in Glasgow, for example, unless you were at a private school. Several boys of primary school age wore kilts like me and it didn't change much as they became older primary students. But at the senior level in state schools there would not have been any kilts worn to school generally speaking except perhaps for special events.
I dont honestly recall how many other boys wore kilts but it was not unusual. Since kilts were our national dress there was never any rule
against them. I am sure that if someone had insisted on wearing a kilt nobody would have said anything. Fact is however that most would not chose to wear a kilt to school as an everyday thing as you got older. At boarding school kilt was only on specific days.
I can recall with some ease that at least 7 or 8 of us wore kilts at Primary school on a frequent basis.
4.Did the teacher ever comment? I honestly dont recall the teacher saying any thing at the Primary level. It was not an issue.
In the social circle of my school friends in my home town probably most of them had kilts. Kilts were usually worn by families that were financially
sound. There was a certain status I think to dressing your son or daughter in a kilt. Obviously at boarding school they all did.
Some boys that wore kilts were in the same boat as me so they didn't say anything. Other boys were curious and would lift your kilt to take a peek and there was
some teasing. Some might have thought you a sissy and others I think kind
of wished they could wear kilts themselves. Girls also commented and surprisingly when I was in my teens most girls accepted them.
I can remember being asked if I felt uncomfortable kilts and also why I wore them by
different adults. I was also asked what it was like to wear them by other boys. I truthfully told them that I felt fine in them.
My Mother was the one who chose kilts for me. First, I should stress that my Mother never really dictated kilts to me. It was the style at the time. My father wore a kilt, my granfather wore a kilt (which I still have). There was nothing unusual about dressing your child in a kilt. Also at a young age there was probably nothing unusual in wearing girls knickers underneath them. Most boys I knew wore the same when young and probably still continue to do.
When very young I did not wear a sporran. Somewhere around I have a picture of myself at around 6 dressed in a kilt which when I find, I will copy and
send. I always wore a sporran in my older years. I would keep a handkerchief in my sporran, money (if I had any), sweeties (Candy), and odds and bobs. Sporrans were originally much rougher looking and were intended
for carrying oatmeal and other food items.
After school for play I might have kept my kilt on
>or possibly put on shorts. I spent a lot of time in boats from an early age so I would certainly have worn shorts then. They could have been any colour. Ankle socks for sure and sandshoes.
When I was 12 I was packed off to a boarding school. For the record, I hated boarding school This school required a lot of uniform. Summer wear was a blazer, white shirt, school tie unless it was hot, grey short pants, grey socks. Winter wear was an ugly tweed
jacket, grey shirt,socks, school tie. Long pants could only be worn when we were 15 years of age. Special occaisions, Sundays and speech days required
us to wear a kilt with yet another tweed jacket and vest, green socks to match my kilt kept up with garters to which was sown red flashes, black brogues, white shirts, tie to match your outfit and a balmoral. Regulations
required red or green underwear beneath the kilt. Those that had lots of
money had trews, specially made shorts for under a kilt. In my case it was
still navy blue or green school knickers which were made by Cherub. There
were other boys who wore the same type of underwear as myself. Our kilts
had to be worn for every activity on Sundays and as I mentioned earlier on
special days. Navy blue gaberdine raincoats were also required. Sports
wear was rugby style shirts, socks, and shorts. We also had school caps
which were royal blue to match our blazers with the school crest.
When at home I continued to always wear my kilt to parties, weddings or
any other events.
At home I would wear a jersey with my kilt or a tweed jacket which had a
vest. The buttons were bone. The jacker was always bought too big for you
in order for you to keep it a few years. Jackets like this was nearly always bought second hand in our family because they were expensive. I also had a dress jacket which was made out of green velvet material with
silver buttons. It was designed to be worn with a jabot, which is a lace fall at the neck. I would wear tartan socks when wearing this jacket. This would originally have been worn by me at family weddings and major events. Sometimes when I danced as well. I had a Bonnie Prince Charlie jacket in my teens and still have one to this day. Wore it on New Years Eve in fact complete with medals and an antique sporran.
In cold weather as young children we would also wear balaclavas (Americans would say ski masks) on very cold days. This was a knitted helmet which covered your entire head and neck but not your face. Most often they were knitted by someone in the family. We also wore school scarves which matched the uniform at the primary and boarding school. All school scarves matched. In those days if you were wearing a uniform and were around town and misbehaved, your conduct would be reported to the Headmaster.
At some point when I was at Primary School, I can't remember what age but I
would suspect around 9 or 10, I joined the Boys Brigade. I really enjoyed
it during the time that I was in. We dressed in our grey short pants, grey
socks, shirt and I think I had a navy blue jersey around d the waist of
which we wore the Boys Brigade Belt which had a chunky buckle on it with an
anchor engraved on it. Across my lefts shoulder I wore a white cloth strap which had a message pouch. You put the belt over the strap so the pouch
hung under the belt and on the right of your body. To complete the ensemble so to speak, I wore a navy blue pill box hat that had white piping on it and
the number "1" which was the battalion I belonged to. We did all kinds of marching, camping, various activities and my favourite, parades where we got
to march as a body. On church parades I wore my kilt with the same accoutrements. I sometimes played the drum in the pipe band but had
trouble keeping the beat.