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HBC readers have provided us accounts of their school experiences. Some HBC readers have provided us brief accounts of their school uniforms and boyhood clothes. A reader born in 1945, tells us about his strict Methodist parents. Apart fromwearing pyjamas at night, my knees remained uncovered for the first 13 years of my life. Photos as a toddler show him in a knitted outfit with shorts. A reader born in 1943 went to Anfield Road Secondry Modern School in Liverpool. The school uniform consisted of Navy Blue Blazer, with the school badge on the breast pocket, a Peaked school cap also with the school badge on, grey short trousers, either Flannel or more comfortable, poly/cotton material, and long grey turnover top socks. I'm certainly happy to write a few lines about my experiences of at Prep school in the 1950's, and the clothes that he wore as a boy growing up on the east coast of England. Another reader went to three state schools. His first two years were at a mixed (co-educational) infant’s school, from there he went to an all boys' junior school for 4 years. A reader brought up in the home counties (London area) tells about his schooldays were between 1952 and 1964 which was a period during which changes were afoot influencing the way boys dressed. Another reader tells us that his father was Polish as his father came frm Poland during World war II. His mother is English.
Some HBC readers have provided us brief accounts of their school uniforms and boyhood clothes. These interesting accounts have useful information for HBC,
but is not sufficent for an entire new page. Often readers who provide us brief smmaries latter send along more detailed information. We will then provide links to
the expanded pages.
I was born in 1943 and went to Anfield Road Secondry Modern School in Liverpool. The school uniform consisted of Navy Blue Blazer, with the school badge
on the breast pocket, A Peaked school cap also with the school badge on, Grey short trousers, either Flannel or more comfortable, poly/cotton material, and long
grey turnover top socks. During the 1950s most boys at school wore short trousers until they were 14 years old. In my year group, about 10 boys including
my-self, wore short trousers until the day they left school at 15 years old. I went to see my old school some 5 years ago but no signs of our uniform existed any
longer. After school hours, boys changed into Short Trouser Suits for going out to church or formal occassions. Playing out meant wearing any of the above that
were not considered smart enough any longer for schoolor formal wear. A number of schols in Liverpool. especially Grammer schools, had boys wearing shorts
until they reached the age of 15 or 16 years of age.
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. 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.
Derek has provided a fascinating account of his school experiences with very useful details about the school uniforms that he wore. My first memories, backed up by photos found amongst my mother’s effects, are of aertex shirts and shorts of a kind of jersey-knit. These, with a rather shapeless jumper, were worn at home but also to infants’ school. In my last year (from about age six or six-and-a-half), a grey flannel shirt and grey flannel shorts anticipated school uniform at preparatory school from 7+ and a tie was also worn — part of the necessary learning to tie one’s own tie. However there was not a formal uniform at infants’ school.
My education was done at three state schools. My first two years were at a mixed (co-educational) infant’s school, from there I went to an all boys' junior school for 4 years. In my last year at junior school, I had to sit what was called the 11+ exam, which determined whether or not you went to the grammar or secondary modern school. As I failed the exam, I spent the remaining 4 years of my education at a secondary modern, which was also a mixed school. We did not have a uniform. The only schools in the town to have a school uniform were the boys' and girl's separate grammar schools and the town's only private fee-paying school. While I was at school there was increasing discussion of adopting a uniform a most English secondary schools had them.
I was born in England in 1945, the first-born to my fairly strict Methodist parents. Apart from wearing pyjamas at night, my knees remained uncovered for the first 13 years of my life. Photos ofme as a toddler show me in a knitted outfit with shorts. At the age of 5 years I started school, and spent the next 13 years mostly in
school uniform. Even at weekends and for Sunday School it was a grey "knicker" (short pants) suit with jacket and knee-length short trousers, school tie, long
socks and black leathershoes. Only in the summer holidays do I remember wearing anything else, baggy khaki shorts, open-necked shirt and sandals. Mostly my
shoes were black leather lace-ups. Sandals were worn in the summer and during the school holidays as I remember. I may have worn sandals to school, but don't
have a clear memory. I was never really concerned with footwear. I just wore what mum bought. I wore ankle socks in the summer holidays, knee socks for
school and all other occasions when having to dress properly. I don't remember having real any preference. It was just what I had to wear.
I am a 50 year old Englishman born and brought up in the home counties (London area). My schooldays were between 1952 and 1964 which was a period during
which changes were afoot influencing the way boys dressed. These were slowly happening in the 1950's and accelerated after about 1963 but they did not affect
me. I cannot remember what I wore before I went to school at five years old but at school I was certainly wearing grey flannel shorts on my first day and remained in
them until I was nearly 14. I did not think of them as shorts. To me they were trousers. Every boy wore them. I only began to think of them as short trousers when
I was about ten or so by which time a handful of boys that went to my primary school would wear jeans or long trousers of some description, not usually to school,
but when out playing.
I am a British male in my forties. I have a Polish surname because my father came from Poland during WWII. My mother is English. Looking at your site about
British boys' clothing brought back memories for me; not all of them happy because of the very traditional atitude of my parents. My parents were (and still are) quite strict, religious and very traditional. My father came from Poland, my mother is English. I was an only child. My father's memory is not good. Because of the war, the family has very few photos from his childhood. He only has one of himself as a young man--aged about 16. He is wearing conventional dress. Dark baggy long trousered suit with tie and pale shirt. He thinks he wore shorts in the short hot summers and trousers in the long cold winters. He thinks his shorts were usually made from some woollen type of material. If it was very hot he wore no socks at all; usually he wore short socks. Soemtimes he wore tights with his shorts. This would be in the 1920s and early 1930s. That's about all he remembers at the moment.
I am the eldest of three brothers and we lived in England except for two periods in Germany, (1957-60 and 1963-65), when our father was serving there in the British armed forces. We were a middle class family and we boys wore the clothes typical of the times. I was at primary school in Oxfordshire until I was eleven and, like my male classmates, wore cotton shirt with a tie, grey shorts, pullover and Clark’s shoes year-round. When I was eleven, we moved to West Germany, to a huge NATO base not far from Düsseldorf and I entered my first secondary school. It was all British and there were several hundred kids there. I wore the uniform: long grey trousers, white shirt, school tie, school blazer and school cap. I thought it was very smart. We were a bit segregated from the German population except for trips into the countryside but the school bus conveyed us through the local towns. Some of the English boys wore lederhosen at home but my modesty precluded me from doing likewise as it seemed to me that they were far too brief. As for the clothes we wore at home, photographs show that we wore our school uniform for all but the most casual pastimes. We became friendly with a German family during a 1958 camping holiday in Holland. They pitched their tent next to ours. There was a boy of my age, named Jurgen, and we became good friends, visiting each other’s homes during the following year. I returned to England alone at 13, to start at a boarding school in Dorset, an experience I loathed. It was back into grey shorts for me, which I hated. The next year I moved to a different school where I wa happier. During our second tour in Germany, this time at an RAF base, all three brothers were at boarding school in England so we visited our parents only in the holidays. It was clear that the German boys of my age still wore shorts. We took a trip to the Netherlands during one of those visits.
I was born in 1951, and was at school from 1956 to 1969. These notes describe my memories of the clothing I wore as a child: at home, at (all boys) prep school and at (mixed) grammar school. I refer to girls’ clothes only when relevant for comparison with boys’. I remember little of my clothing until I was about five. Beginning about that time I have a fairly detailed recollection of my boyhood clothing. I go into some detail about PE kit, which is often not mentioned in many HBC personal experience articles and not covered in detail in the school garments section. I've tried to use terminology that will not be misunderstood by American readers (notably I always refer to underpants, rather than as I would always have called them--pants). Otherwise, I use terminology more or less as I would have at the time: this includes the inconsistency that what I called a jersey at home would be a sweater as part of PE kit!
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