English School Uniforms: Personal Experiences--Cord Shorts in the 1950s

I really enjoyed your HBC site, particularly as I came across it completely by chance. I'm certainly happy to write a few lines about my experiences of at Prep school in the 1950's, and the clothes that I wore as a boy growing up on the east coast of England.

Home Wear

At home I always wore shorts. Usually Cords in the Winter, I remember having green and brown pairs, for much of my childhood, always mid calf-length. (Basically I always wore my 'non-uniform' green and brown cords at home in the winter, rarely my charcoal school cords.) I always enjoyed wearing these, as they felt and looked good, and I resisted any suggestion that I should wear jeans (which my uncle, a Manchester businessman, actually manufactured). In the summer I would regularly wear khaki, or navy cotton shorts. Although I would occasionally pull out my brown cords which I especially liked. I'd wear brown sandals in the summer, both at school and for casual wear at home

My School

My school was on the East Coast in Suffolk, I went there aged 6 and a half in 1952. It was a relatively small establishment, with 70 boys aged 6-13 years old.

Organization

The first year was spent in the 'Kindergarten', run by a matron and nurse, whilst teaching was carried out by a 'Governess'. We graduated to the main block, and the harsher realities of boarding school life, in the term before our 8th birthday.

Our Uniform

Our uniform was as follows:

Monday to Saturday : Grey shirt, grey knee-length socks with garters, blue pullover. Striped grey/blue tie and charcoal grey corduroys . These would normally be with fly buttons, unlined, with a 7 and a half inch inside leg, which meant half way between thigh and the knee. They had a normal wale number, I don't remember us or any of the other schools we p;layed at games wearing the large wale shorts. [HBC note, wales are the ribs in corduroy, for background see the HBC cord wale page.] They were obtainable from Ridleys, a schol outfitters in Ipswich. We wore a blue/grey striped snake belt through the loops of our cord shorts. Normally I wore black leather lace-ups, which matched our dark charcoal grey cord shorts. Everyone wore the same uniform. The only exception was that 1 or 2 of the bigger boys who were very tall for their age were allowed to wear long cord trousers. There was no specific height. Actually boy in long trousers were quite a joke to most of us. I think the boys involved felt a little embarressed by it.

Sunday : Grey flannel suits, with short trousers, white shirt, same tie and knee length socks, and of course, a grey cap. The caps we only wore with our suits. We had to wear grey flannel short trousered suits to church on Sundays and special occasions, like when the Queen Mother visited the town. Once over we could change back into the comfort of cord shorts. We were though allowed to go out of the school on (supervised, of course) walks in our cords.

Summer : In summer, we would wear grey blazers instead of the pullover, and corduroy shorts.

I can remember that some boys cords often did have a very washed out appearance. One of my pairs once became so 'worn out' looking, that Mrs Jackson insisted on taking me herself to the uniform shop in Ipswich to get some new ones. She chose some which were unlined, but a very good fit. Interestingly, I think it was the lighter coloured shorts which tendedto fade the fastest (hence, perhaps, why I always liked to be in dark grey).

I honestly can't remember what the other boys thought about our caps. I don't recall it bothering me, though I was always pleased that I didn't have to display my age and status by wearing a cap in the holidays. We only had to raise our caps to females, not doing so meant trouble!

I do not recall us boys discussing the uniform to any great extent. From my recollections it was only the cord shorts which were discussed, not other items of the uniform. I always remember one conversation with a friend when we were out for the statutory sunday afternoon walk, during our last term at Prep School. He was bemoaning the the fact that neither of us would be able to wear cords much longer. I think he liked them as much as I did.

School Regime

The regime at the school wouldn't be tolerated these days. There was quite a young headmaster, but the place was totally dominated by his mother. I had a letter from an old school friend a few years ago which described 'Mrs Jackson' (as we called her) in very stark terms. Let me just say here that she was not the sort of person who should have been working with children. She would patrol the bedrooms at night and was very strict with the least murmur.

The formal reward / punishment system was controlled via a 'stars and stripes' system. The stripes were always read out in morning assembly, followed by the Head's decision about the consequences.

Other Schools

Cord shorts were very common at Prep Schools in East Anglia. In particular I can remember that boys at a prep school near Norwich and another near Ipswich wore them. Some schools now have matcing cord jackets, but I don't remember any of these jackets in my time. I think cord shorts were also pretty popular in the 60's and 70's I remember going to Cricket at Dean park in Bournemouth in the mid-1970s and regulaurly seeing a party of prep school boys wearing cords.

Growing Up

I got my first pair of long trousers in the Summer holidays before I went to Public School - so I would have been 13 and a half. However I continue wearing my shorts, during the holidays until the following summer (14 and a half). When I returned home the next Christmas, my mother had taken my last shorts to the charity shop! I did not have a suit other than my school suit, which I wore for going to Church, weddings etc. after I started at my Public School. We wore blue suits, in fact blue everything!

Scouts and CCF

I was never interested in Cubs or Scouts for some reason. At Public School the thing to do was to join the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). Scouts were considered a touch 'cissy', and Scoutmasters generally made fun of. The CCF was a sort of Junior version of the territorial army. Boys wore scratchy army uniforms, khaki material - the shirts were the most uncomfortable I have ever worn. Fortunately this was only for a few hours a week (on a wednesday pm).

Personal Opinion

I must say I did like my especially the dark charcoal coloured ones. There's a richness and a certain quality about corduroy, which that makes it an excellent fabric for schoolwear. I'm rather surprised that so many schools have now dispensed with them.

Roger Peterson - Clark






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Createdpd: November 6, 2001
Spell checked: November 8, 2001
Last updated: November 13, 2001