Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
Clothing trends at Scottish schools can be followed by a look at different types of individual schools at various locations
throughout the country. HBC at this time has images from only a few schools but hopes to expand this section. Except for the
kilt, schoolwear styles are quite similar to England--perhaps a bit more conservative. Some information is available on individual schools to illustrate school uniform trends at the various types of schools. Schools have had different uniforms over time, but there is great similarities as so many schools used the same basic styles. This is especually true of the boys' uniforms. There is much more difference over time as schools are constantly updating their uniforms.
Robert Owen and his Quaker partners used used mill profits to build a village school. One author describes teacing in the village school. "In addition to this elementary instruction, those over two were given dancing lessons and those four and upwards taught singing. Military-style exercises were also a major feature of both schools, and the sight of youthful marches led by fife and drum was frequently remarked upon by contemporaries, especially the upper class dignitaries who much approved of such
discipline. Conformity in the children was further reinforced by a 'beautiful dress of tartan cloth, fashioned in its make after the form of a Roman toga'. However, like the kilt and plaid worn by older boys this was thought by some of Robert Owen's partners to encourage sexual promiscuity. According to Captain Donald Macdonald of the Royal Engineers, who like the laird, Archibald Hamilton of Dalzell, had become a convert to the New System and who accompanied Robert Owen on the visit of inspection to Harmonie in 1824-25, the New Lanark dresses and plaids were part of the baggage. Owen showed them to fellow passengers and apparently had them copied in New York to be displayed there and in Washington along with his plans and models of the Village Scheme. The dress code for the new communities was another subject about which Robert Owen said little about unless pressed to do so."
Jura is a beautiful green island off the West coast of Scotland, close to the larger island of Islay. It has a very small poplation. It did have a small coed state primary school on the Isle of Jura. We are not sure when it was fpunded. We know it was functioning in the 1890s. A 1892 photographed showed 33 children and one male tracher. None of the boys wore kilts. The younger boys were all barefoot which was an indication of poverty. The girls all wore dresses, but without pinafores.
We do not know a great deal about the Kirtmichael. It appears to be located in Maybole. A 1911 image shows many of the boys wearing suits with stiff Eton collars to school. One boy wears a sailor suit. The girls wear dresses, a few with large lace collars. Some wear white or colored pinafores. Many girls have hairbows. Most of the boys, at least the younger boys, are barefoot, even the boys wearing Eton collars are barefoot.
A number of Scottish schools seemed to be named after the street where they were located. We have mo information about this school other than it is in Glasgow. We wonder about the name of the school. We are not sure what Queen Mary the street is named after. Surely not English Queen Mary (Bloody Mary). Mary Queen of Scotts is a possibility. Another possibility was the comtemporary Queen Mary, King George V's wife. Another interesting part of the name. English schools used the term public to mean private. The Scotts seem to use the term to mean state school as the term is more commonly used outside England. We have an image giving a interesting view inside the school in 1916.
Here we have a scene from St. Rollox school in Glasgow. It was a state school, but given the name may have been Catholic. Quite a number of Irish immigrants lived in Glasgow and thus there were Catholic schools. Here we see a woodworking class in 1916. While girls were instructed in cookery or needlework, the boys were instructed in "manual skills". The school had a well-equipped carpentry shop. I'm not sure about what type of school this was, but it may have been a primary school. Primay schools at the time had programs for children up to 13-14 years of age. Most primary schools, however, did not have facilities like this.
A 1939 image shows the children well dressed and hosting other children that had been evacuated from Glasgow when World War II began. The school portrait
was taken shortly after the start of World War II (September 3, 1939) after the British conducted a massive evacuation of children from the cities. There is still no
school uniform. Many of the boys are still wearing suits. As far as we can tell they are all short pants suits. The boys all have shoes which they wear with various
colors and styles of kneesocks. Many of the girls wear school uniform-style gym tunics. These look to be some of the older children at the school, perhaps about 12
years old.
Dudley Grammar School is an English school. We mention it here because some of the boys in the 1940s were wearing open collars. We had thought that this was primarily a Scottish style, but it may have been a fashion wich developed during World War II througout Britainan then persisted in Scotland after the War.
English schools have a wide variety of names. Some are misleading. Some comprehensives, for example, kept the name of the grammar schools they replaced. Academies are private schools, often comparable to private day schools. Private schools were often named academies in Scotland, but there were some in England as well, like Grennock Academy.
HBC at this time has little information about Greenock High School or indeed Scottish high schools in general. In England during the 1950s there were selective grammar schools for the academically talented boys and secondary modern schools for the less capable boys. HBC is unsure if Scotland had the same selective system and how a high school fitted into it. While we do not at this time fully unerstand the academic program, we do know a little about the uniform. The uniform at Grennock high school in the 1950s looks to have been similar to that of Greenock Academy, although the school appaers to have permitted more individual choice.
Boys at Scottish primary schools mostly wore short pants and kneesocks during the 1950s--at least uring the warmer summer months. HBC is less sure about the winter. Boys at this school near Glasgow did not wear kilts. But this may have been different in more traitional areas of Scotland.
Here we a photograph of the entire staff and pupils of a small rural primary school (ages 5-11+) in the Northern Highlands of Scotland. It was taken in 1957, at Pitcalnie School. There are 20 boys and fifteen girls: an unusual ratio but some girls may have been absent. There was no school uniform although many children wear school uniform items. All the children have a spruced-up air, presumably for the school photograph. At least eight boys are wearing kilts, perhaps more as it is not possible to tell about all of them. Even eight boys wearing kilts seems a high proportion. It is unlikely that all these boys wore their kilts to school every day, but very likely that all did some of the time, and some did all the time.
We note a class portrait from St Marys Senior Secondary School in February 1957. It was Form 3A. The school did not seem to have a strict uniform code. There apparently was a school blazer, but few of the pupils wore it. Some boys wear leather jackets, rather unsusual in British schools. We do not know much about the school, but assume that it is a Catholic school. The school is now called St Marys Academy. It is located in Bathgate, Edinburgh.
One of the most famous school in Scotland is Gordonstoun. The school interestingly was founded by Kurt Hann, a German who believed in providing a challenging physical as well as educational experience. Added to the normal challenging sport program of a British chool was a novel new outward bound experiences. Hann also believe in community service. Gordonstoun was also the public (private secondary) school chosen for Prince Charles.
This school is one of the major secondary schools in Glasgow, one of Scotland's two large cities. It is one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. At this time we only have information on the Cadet Corps.
Boys at the Jean Street Primary in 1966 were wearing short pants and kneesocks. The primary as many such schools in Scotland and England had adopted uniforms in the 1960s. Both boys anf girls wore white shirts and ties, at least for the school photograph in 1969.
Here we see boys from the Kiel School, a Scottish private boarding school, in 1967. The school is located near Glasgow. They are on a field trip to a nearby U.S. naval base. The bnoys for special occassions dessed up in caps, blazers, and kilts. This was a little unusual because more commonly Scottish boys wore tweed jsckets with kilts.
This St. Ninians is a state primary school. As most Scottish primary by the 1960s, it was a coeducational school. The school in the 1960s require a standard British school uniform, although there was considerable differences among the chilren as to what they wore. The boys wore blazers jumpers, and mostly short trousers. The girls wear gymslips an suspener skirts. All the children wear ties.
Scotland is predominately Protestant, but there are a number of Catholic schools--especially in the Glasgow area because of the Irish imigrants. Scottish primary schools began introducing uniforms in the 1960s. Not all schools did so, but most catholic schools did. I'm not positive when the Catholic schools introduced uniforms, but they appear, like St. Patricks, to all have basic uniforms by the 1970s.
Dollar Academy, located at Dollar near Sterling, is Scotland's (and apparently) the United Kingdom's oldest co-educational day and boarding school. Coeducation in private sdchools, especially at the secondary level, was not common in Scotland and England until the 1960s. The uniform is a black blazer. The girls wears a light-colored skirt and white kneesocks. The boys wear black trousers or shorts with black kneesocks, depending on their age. Presumably there once was a cap, but I am not sure when that was dropped. Through the 1980s, younger boys wore open-necked shirts while the senior boys wore neckties. The dress uniform is a tweed jacket and kilt for both the boys and girls.
Many Scottish schools are called "accademies". This term is not used in England. I am not sure precisely what the term accademy denoted. Thet were founded as private schools, I think mostly as secondary schools. Some are operated today along the lines of an English public (private secondary) school. Several Scottish accademies unlike public schools have junioir (primary) sections. This is the case of Morrison's Accademy. We have not yet restriced the school, but we have archived a phoyograph of a rugby team at the schools, probably from the 1980s. A former student tells us that the BBC program, "Who Rules the School" was filmed there. The school uniform was notable for the red kneesocks that the boys wore. (The girls wore white kneesicks.) Several Scottish schools had colored kneesocks whereas most English boys wore grey kneesocks.
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
