Figure 1.--These 11 year old English boys wear their grammar school uniform. This is Form 1A and this is the first year at the school during October 1962.
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Figure 1.--These 11 year old English boys wear their grammar school uniform. This is Form 1A and this is the first year at the school during October 1962. |
The Harrow County School for Boys in 1962 was a grammar school that had been founded in 1911. It was in 1961 still an academically selective secondary school. The boys here are the new entrants from primary school. Most would be 11 years old. but as the year priogresses they will begin to turn 12. The school had a uniform code which required the new boys to wear short trousers. An exception by the 1960s was made for the taller boys.
These photographs were taken in 1962. HBC was not sure just when during the year the school photograph was taken. Generally at English schools the class photograph is taken during the end of the year in May or June, but there is no way of being sure about this. One of the boys informs HBC that these photographs were in fact taken at the beginning of the year in October.
The photographs show the boys in Form 1A and 1B who at the beginning of the year would be mostly 11 years old. At the beginning of the year most boys would be 11 years old. As the ear progressed there would have been a mixture of 11 and 12 year olds. By the end of the year the boys are mostly 12 years old. Boys admitted to a grammar school are the academically capable boys who did well on the 11+ exam which they took in their last year of primary school.
Figure 2.--New entrants at the school in 1962 wore both long and short trousers. The school rule required shorts, but an exception was made for the taller boys. |
These photographs show the boys wearing a traditional uniform of a dark green blazer with the school crest. The boys wear white shirts, ties, and grey trousers. Quite a number of the Form 1 boys wear short pants. All the boys but one wear grey socks. One boy for some reason wears white socks. Some but not all of the boys in shorts have the kneesocks with the colored bands. Others wear plain grey kneesocks. All of the boys wear black leather shoes. The previous year in primary school, some of these boys probably wore sandals.
HBC is unsure just how common it was for Form 1A boys to wear short pants. The 10 boys in the front row are evenly split between short and long trousers (figure 1). It is no clear what the rest of the boys are wearing because there is no way of knowing if this is a repesentaive sample. An older boy at the school at the time reports that probably more than half of the Form 1 boys wore shorts. He reports, "I am stretching my memory a little, but I am sure that more than half of boys of 11/12 would have been wearing shorts. I think the Form 1B photograph is probably a better representation of the clothing fashions for boys of that age at that time (figure 3). Of course, a lot would depend on when in the academic year the pictures were taken. There would have been more boys in shorts at the beginning of the year than at the end." One of the boys in the photograph informs HBC "This was the first form, and the uniform at that time WAS short trousers for the first form. The boys in long trousers were all taller. To the best of my recollection (and I am remenbering 39 years ago!), we wer supposed to wear short trousers and Harrow Country socks. This was the official uniform, perscribed at the satrt of the year and purchased by our mothers at the officail supplier, Leonard Lyle of Harrow, biys outfitters. As soon as the term had started, however, various boys, especially the tall boys, started coming in long trousers and this was allowed. Generally as our short trousers wore out, they were replaced with longs so that by the second form, long trousers were the norm."
HBC is not precisely sure why there would be such a difference between the beginning and the end of the year for boys this age. Probably the primary factor is that the yonger boys saw the older boys wearing long pants, as well as some of their mates, and wanted to wear the more adult looking long pants themselves. Perhaps some of the boys in shorts got teased. Another factor is the weather. As the weather got colder in November and December, some of the boys may have complained to their parents about wearing short pants in the dead of winter.
Figure 3.--This photograph, also taken in 1962 shows the Form 1B boys. A boy at the school in 1962 reports that this Form was a more representative sampling of the boys than Form 1A. |
Boys at the school inform HBC that buy the 2nd form most, but not all boys were wearing long trousers. In the early 1960s it was not uncommon for Form 2 boys to wear shorts and even a few Form 3 boys, but this varied from school to school.
Contributions from English readers suggest that boys had mixed opinions about short trousers, as they call them. Some boys didn't like them as they were a badge of boyhood. They would badger their parents for a pair of longs. Other boys weren't really bothered. Some boys report that their mothers bought them long trousers without even being asked. Some boys complained that shorts were uncomfortable in the cold weather. In fact modern English boys wouldn't think about wearing shorts in the winter.
The boys wore green blazers for the first 6 years. The junior boys wre plain green blazers. Boys in the 5th form wore blue tape switched around the blazer sleeves. The lower 6th wore yellow tape. The advanced 6th form wore black blazers.
The boys had to wear Harrow County socks which had green and blue stripes at the top which were part of the official uniform. Plain grey socks were not allowed.
Caps were worn COMPULSORILY for the first 4 years, outside of school--until about 1968. Although some boys would take them off when out of sight of the school, you were punished if caught.
Figure 4.--Note the two boys in the right and how the colored bands on their kneesocks are different from the boy on the left and the boys in figure 1 above. |
As was the case of many grammar schools, it is apparent from these photographs that the school very strictly enforced the rules on uniforms. Each of the boys is carefully togged out in the uniform. Not one boy has turned up without the blazer or tie. The only variance HBC notes is the trouser lengths and the kneesocks. While the school was fairly strict about the uniform in general, it was no enforcing the ruke requiring the form 1 boys to wear shorts. Not that any boy has worn ankle socks or other than grey colored socks. However a few boys wear kneesocks other than the regulation kneesocks with the correct color band. The regulation kneesocks appears to be a two-color band, including yellow. Some boys, however, wear a twin one color band, probably red. In fact two of the boys have the same kneesocks, suggesting they are socks worn at the local primary school from which they were promoted.
An English HBC contributor reports that "... short trousers on English and European boys were such a given when I was a kid in the '50's. It seemed they all wore them until they were about 14 years old. American kids had mostly abandoned them by 7-8 years. So it surprises me to see that in 1961, only half the 11-12 year olds are in them. Changes must have been well under way even then." Images at Harrow show that all the first year boys wore shorts. There were no exceptions for the taller boys.
An English HBC contributor reports, "I know when I first moved to London in 1964 that the local catholic school had all the first year boys in short trousers. Almost all of the second year boys when shorts became optional chose long trousers. There may have been a few second year boys wearing shorts, almost certainly because their parents insisted, but there were not very many."
Figure 4.--Note the two boys in the right and how the colored bands on their kneesocks are different from the boy on the left and the boys in figure 1 above. |
A decade later the changes mentioned above can be clearly seen at the Harrow School. Almost all the boys were wearing long pants in 1972. At least one of the first year boys, however, was still wearing short pants.
A still unanswered question is whether selevtice education (like the grammar school) or comprehensives are more effectice. This debate is beyond the capabilities of HBC. One old boy, however, points out, "The group of boys in the 1962 photo grew up to include two
professors, a judge, several lawyers and an author of 18 books!"
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