Figure 1.--Private schools in England were noted for their school uniforms. Virtually all prep schools like the ones here had and continue to have uniforms. Uniforms were not, however, commonly worn at state primaries. This began to change after World War II. Quite a number of the new primaries that replaced the old full-term primaries adopted basic uniforms.

When I first started primary school boys would wear all sorts of different clothes that generally fitted the uniform requirements. The schools commonly required grey shirts and shorts, but there were many different styles and shades of grey. The shirts and shorts made by different manufacturers and bought in various shops. The same was true of other items such as jumers and kneesocks. They fitted the bsic uniform requirements but some would have knitted socks or jumpers (which didn't have colours on them - they just had to be grey). Mass production and the big chain stores like BHS getting into school uniforms changed things during the time that I was at primary school. There was a notable stardisation of the uniform items we wore.

Education Reform

Britain passed a major education reform during World War II which fundamentally changed the country's school system. Before the War only a snall number of children entered primary schools. Most children attended full term primaries to about 14 years of age. The Educational Reform Act (1944) entailed setting up primaries tht only went to about age 11. After this children would enter secondary schools. The law envisioned a much larger proprtion of children persuing secondary educations. The Government's ability to consumate these reforms was limited during the War and in the difficult economic conditions following the war. But gradully the changes were made.

Uniforms at State Schools

The educational reform hd a major impact on school uniform. Before the War it was mostly children attending primary schools that wore uniforms. State secndary schools also had uniforms, but only a small proportion of children attended these schools. Uniforms were not common at state primaries. As a result of the 1944 reforms more children attended secondary schools where uniforms were worn. In addition, many of the new primaries which replaced the full term primaries adopted basic uniforms. This was up to the local school. Not all adopted uniforms, but quite a number did.

British Home Stores (BHS)

The increasing number of children wearing uniforms created a demand for basic school uniform items. Mass production and the big chain stores like BHS getting into school uniforms changed things during the time that I was at primary school. There were other important chain stores such as C&A and Marks and Spencers. I am more familiar with BHS because that was where mum shopped. I am not entirely sure why she chose BHS, but assume it was because the prices were reasonable. There was, as a result, a notable standardisation of the uniform items we wore.

Uniforms When I Began

When I first started primary school boys would wear all sorts of different clothes that generally fitted the uniform requirements. The schools commonly required grey shirts and shorts, but there were many different styles and shades of grey. The shirts and shorts made by different manufacturers and bought in various shops. The same was true of other items such as jumers and kneesocks. They fitted the bsic uniform requirements but some would have knitted socks or jumpers (which didn't have colours on them - they just had to be grey).

Our School Shorts

We had a variety of school shorts as I have mentioned before and there was always a fight between me and my brother as to who wore the "best" (meaning most up to date or easy to get into/out of) ones. By the time that I was in the top class (1970) and my brother had moved on to secondary school nearly all the boys in my class had exactly the same type of school clothes bought at BHS and those who didn't were teased even though their clothes were perfectly acceptable. That is why I begged my Mum for the new-style BHS shorts and was upset if they were not ready for me to start on Monday in and I had to wear a pair of our older style shorts.

School Socks

I do vaguely recall boys wearing hand knitted kneesocks when I first began school. I don't think that any boy, however, wore other then BHS standard school socks by the time that I was in the top class and certainly not knitted ones - although some did still wear knitted jumpers.

School Ties

Ties were standard too then - not found at BHS but in a school outfitters which had pointed ties with diagonal stripes in all of the various school colours (mainly two for state primary schools - ours were green and yellow). When I fist started some boys had green and yellow ties with horizontal bars and straight ends and these were seen as old-fashioned.

Changing at School

This standardisation made labelling even more important depending on the circumstances. When we were little we did P.E. in our underwear and undressed in the classroom and left our clothes on our own desks so we normally found them easily enough when we got back to class. Even then some clothes did get mixed up and teacher had to sort it out. Other times - like for "music and movement" we went down into the hall and undressed there leaving our clothes in a pile on the bench at the back. Sometimes boys thigs did get mixed up and boys would put on each others clothes without realising it until they got to the shoes and realised that they didn't fit! (most boys had the same type of shoes then - standard Clarke's school shoes although sandals were easier as they had different patterns). The teachers would then get annoyed and made us check the labels before starting getting dressed and those boys whose clothes weren't labelled were told off I normally could tell my clothes easily I did check the labels and I knew my type of shorts because I had normally noted them that morning when waitng to see which pair Mum decided I was going to wear and which were for my brother - I was never satisfied! As I said at that age there was a variety of types of shorts some even had strap shorts which would be hard to mix up but some did!. Later on when clothes became more standardised it was not so easy. When we got to be older - the top two classes - we boys kept on our shirts and shorts for P.E. except on one occaision when a trainee teacher made us take them off and that did lead to our clothes getting all mixed up. I think that I have told you about that. Socks did not get so mixed up because we tucked them into our shoes and by that age we could tell our own shoes apart even though they might be similar styles. Swimming was another matter - in the rush to get changed afterwards some boys did get clothes mixed up and didn't even realise. Mums would notice at home though and boys sometimes boys were sent in by them the next day to return ties, socks, underpants and sometimes even shorts, shirts and blazers to their rightful owners and ask for their own back! Like I say I didn't have this problem as I normally checked my clothes because I knew that Mum went to a lot of trouble over them.

Scouts

My brother sometimes did come back with all sorts of clothes from cub or scout camp though Mum labelled all of his clothes for camp too - which included labelling non-uniform clothes which he would wear once they got to camp. Mum normally labelled any just before he set off so consequently lots of our clothes ended up being labelled not just our school clothes. Because he lost clothes often at camp Mum tended to send him off in uniform but with our older playclothes to wear at camp. I resented this because our older playclothes were some of my favourites to wear (I liked the feel of well-worn clothes and looking "scruffy" for play as a change from the times I was dressed up for school and so on). My brother on the other hand wanted to wear the smarter clothes even for play and camp but Mum wouldn't let him - at least as far as cub/scout camp was concerned. Sometimes she packed a pair of my favourite cords for him and I worried that he might lose them all of the time that he was away - and he didn't even like cords so I suspected he mightTo be fair he never lost anything major like shirts, shorts jumpers or shoes but he often came back with odd socks and missing pairs of underpants but this was compensated by the fact that he had gained others. I sometimes noticed this as it was my job to help Mum with the washing and I could spot clothes that weren't familiar. Otherwise Mum would notice when she was ironing. If the items were labelled Mum asked my brother to take them back to the boy who owned them at their next cub meeting - and to ask around for any of his missing clothes. If they weren't labelled they just became part of our clothes - and sometimes even when they were labelled no-one claimed them which meant that they came from a completely different cub pack or scout troop. Sometimes several cub packs and scout troops from the district or even nationally had joint camps or "jamborees" and I suppose sharing a big tent meant things did get mixed up.

Underwear

So long as he came back with roughly the same ammount of clothing as he went with and with no major items missing Mum did not make too much of a fuss but I did. I was quite possessive of our clothes especially my favourites and that included undewear and socks which was the most likely to go missing when he went off to camp despite my Mum labelling them and making a list for him to check once he was packing up to come home. Once he came home with a pair of blue "Y-front" underpants. At this time I was going through my "faddy phase" as Mum out it and I liked to wear the new style coloured briefs that Mum had bought me to go to Germany in. This wasn't just me being faddy it was also because those briefs were mine and were not among the clothes that I had to share with my brother. If they had been and he had lost the green pair (my favourites) at camp I would have gone mad but luckily that didn't arise as he was quite happy wearing the standard white underpants that we had shared up until then. On the other hand I saw the blue "Y-fronts" that he had brought back from camp as definetely his. The problem was that he would only wear the white underwear (or the Winter set that Gran bought us and Mum made us both wear when the weather got colder which was a sort of off-white not being bleached) and because Mum rotated our clothes to get the full wear out of them it would come round from time to time that Mum put out the bule "Y-fronts" for me. I complained bitterly but there was no way that she was going to iron another pair so I had to wear them. Even though once they were on I soon forgot that I was wearing them I did resent the fact and complained again to Mum once I ws reminded of having had to wear them when I was reminded of the fact when I was getting ready for my bath that evening. She just told me not to be silly and threatened me with a smack for "whining" but it was important to me at that stage. On the other hand she normally searched out my favourite green briefs (or my second favourite ones which were blue but not light blue like the "Y-fronts" and of a different style!) for me to wear the next morning so I appreciated that.

Created: 7:05 PM 8/31/2006
Last updated: 7:05 PM 8/31/2006