Figure 1.--This 1958 photograph shows Form 1B at HGS. The boys wear blazers with short trousers while the girls wear sweaters and gym slips.
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Figure 1.--This 1958 photograph shows Form 1B at HGS. The boys wear blazers with short trousers while the girls wear sweaters and gym slips. |
The Hayes Grammar School appears to have been one of the few such schools that was coeducational. This was unsusual as most English grammar schools were single gender schools. Coeducationnat the secondary level was still relatively new in England, although state primary schools had been for years coeducational. The full name of the school was the Hayes County Grammar School. The school still exists, but became a comprehensive in 1974-75, with the new name Hayes Manor School. When it was a grammar school, the boys wore blazers with colored piping. The girls wore sweaters. The available image from 1958 shows the boys wearing worsted shorts and kneesocks.
Figure 2.--The boys wear a uniform of blazer, tie, short trousers, and kneesocks. Although most of the boys are in the back row, the two boys at the left suggest wear shorts, suggesting that the other boys also wear shorts. |
Form 1 is the new pupils, the youngest group. They would be 11-12 years olds, but as the school photograsph is usually taken toward the end of the year, these children are probably mostly 12 years old. The fact that they are Form "B" probably means that they are not the academically top form. Grammar schools often streamed the different forms.
An examination of the photograph provides some details about the uniform regulations at the school. The students wear boys wear blazers with colored piping. The girls wear sweaters. The available image from 1958 shows the boys wearing short trousers and kneesocks. The fact that all the students are wearing the full uniform suggests that the regulations were strictly enforced.
Caps were often compulsory at grammar schools un the 1950s, except for the older boys. Many schools were by the 1950s beginning to relack enforcement of the cap rule. I'm not sure what the rule was at HGS. The pupils would of course not wear their caps for the photograph. The boys would have worn a traditional peaked cap. I'm not sure what kind of cap the girls would have worn.
The boys wear standard blazers with the school crest. The blazers appear to be grey with colored piping, probably the same color as the ties. Many prep schools had brightly colored blazers, but this was less common at grammar schools. Thus while it is difficult to be sure with a black and white photograph, probablly the blazers were grey. Interestingly only the boys wear them.
All of the pupils, both the girls and the boys wear the same solid-colored tie. I'm not sure what color it would have been. The ties appear to be the only garment worn by both the boys and girls.
It is unclear what kind of shirts the boys wear. For special occasions like the school photograph, the boys may haveworn white shirts. For daily wear, grey shirts were more common.
Figure 3.--The boy at the right and the boy in front of him are both wearing shorts and kneesocks with their school balzers. While you can not tell what the boys in the back row are wearing, the fact that all of the boys at the left andf right are wearing shorts suggest that all of the other boys are also wearing them. |
Many of the boys are wearing plain grey jumpers without thectrim in the school colors that is now common. HBC is not sure if this was not yet a common feature of school uniform in the 1950s.
The girls wear plain grey cardigan sweaters without the school badge or colored trim. Girls at schools by the 1970s commonly wore vlazers just like the boys. HBC is not sure if it was common for girls to wear sweaters rather than blazers like the boys during the 1950s.
The girls wear standard school gym slips as their school uniform. The gym slip was the standard girl's uniform at the time and is still worn in England, but mostly at private schools.
Although most of the boys are in the back row, the boys in the left and right all wear short trousers, suggesting that the other boys also wear shorts as well. It was common in the 1950s for junior boys to wear shorts. Some schools required it. At other schools it was kept up to the parents. HBC does not know what the rule was at HGS, but the fact that all of the boys seem to be wearing shorts suggests that it was a school rule for the Form 1 boys. HBC is unsure about Form 2. The boys wear their shorts at knee-length.
The shorts that the boys are wearing are relatively long, knee-length shorts. HBC assumed that that because it was the 1950s that they were flannel shorts. An English reader, however, indicated that he is not conviced that the shorts are flannel. He reports that dark flannel shorts were not very common. He thinks that the shorts were probably worsted.
All of the boys in shorts are wearing kneesocks. They all are the official school kneesocks with two colored bands, presumably thecsame color as the piping on the blazers. Often parents were so proud of their children making it to the grammar that they would want the full uniform including the official socks. Some schools strctly enforced the uniform regulations. Other schools allowed boys to wear palin grey kneesocks--although the boys in shorts were normally not allowed to wear ankle socks, even grey ankle socks.
The girls all wear short white ankle socks. Presumably this was a school requirement as all of the girls are wearing short white socks. Girls, but not boys, also wore white kneesocks at English schools. HBC is not sure, however, if this was common in the 1950s.
Figure 4.--All of the boys wear blazers while the girls wear rather informal sweaters instead of the school blazer. HBC is not sure how common this was. |
All the boys at the sides are wearing black leather lace up shoes. This also appears to have been a school rule. There seems to have been some flexibility as to what kinds of The girls wear a variety of footwear, both lace up shoes and sandals.
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]