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England's academically selective secondary-level grammar schools sougth to emulate the ethos of the public schools. While they were not boarding schools, they did try to follow the academic trends and emphasis on sport at the public schools. For the same reason, many grammar schools put considerable emphasis on uniform, but for financial reasons, many of the boys could not afford the rather substntial outlays involved in the miriad of public school uniform items. Grammar school boys in the 1940s and 50s commonly wore caps and blazers. The younger boys at many grammar schools also wore short trousers. Some schools required it. At other schools it was the parents choice.
The modern English grammar school has evolved from the grammar schools which begun to appear in the 16th century as England emerged from the Middle Ages. The grammar schools were the first important English schools to adopt humanist education, moving away from a curiculum fully devoted to religion. The term grammr school is confusing to Americans as "grammar school" is commonly used alonmg with "elementary school"to mean primary school. The term in England has a very different meaning. There is also a diiference between the original grammar schools founded in the 16th century and the modern grammar schools in England. The grammar schools, except for the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, were more the most important school in the city. These were fee paying institutions, primarily for the children of England's middle class. Nobel families did not send their children to these schools, they were tutored at home. Poor families could not afford the fees. Rather merchants and successful artisans sent their sons here to be educated so they could participate in the family business. The grammar schools were called grammar schools, the taught Latin grammar. Latin at the time was the language of educated people and coomunications througout Europe were written in Latin. No man was considered educated without a firm grasp of Latin. Also included in the curriculum was mathamatics and theology. The academic program at the grammar school was demanding. The schools were run by a Master who instructed the older chukdren. The master at a Grammar school also had a usher, often a former student, who instructed the younger children. There were no uniforms required at early grammar schools.
The English grammer school was in many ways a very democratic institution. Admission was based on ability as measured by performance on the 11 plus examination. HBC has been impressed by the numbers of Brits thatvwe have encountered with grammar school rather than public school educations. The grammar school was the object of a ideolgical attack by Britain's left-oriented Labour Party. Labour felt that age 11 was was to young to allow a test to determine a child's future. They also objected to separate clever (Brit english for bright) children from less academically capable children. The demise of the frammar school, however, can not be blamed entirely on Labour. Actually the British politician presided over the demise of more grammar schools than any other was Margaret Thatcher, then serving as Education Minister in the Heath government (1970-74). In other words, comprehensivisation had by then become the received wisdom and the Conservative Party was equally culpable in the destruction of the grammar schools. Grammar schools remain in the odd county such as Kent that steadfastly resisted the central edicts. HBC wonders if that clever children from less affluent families have a better chance at accelling academically at a traditional grammar school or the American-style comprehensives that replaced them. This is certainly a matter open to debate, but few can deny that the grammar schools provided a first rate education to the boys that suceeded in qualifying for admission.
HBC has relialed primarily on contributions from English readers for the information presented here on English schools. HBC has noted that a very large percentage of the contributions have come from old grammar school boys. HBC has speculated as to just why this was the case.
A valued HBC contributor, and a grammar school boy himself offered the following insights: Look at it statistically. Secretary modern boys mostly proceeded to manual or clerical jobs and are probably coming late to the internet, if at all. Most of them won't be using
the web to find information or to do research and therefore probably won't be as likely alight upon HBC's absorbing webpages. There's a great divide here in England between the ill educated who read tabloid papers and watch ITV and the educated who read broadsheet and watch BBC2! Grammar school boys mostly proceeded to university and a lot of them will have been early adopters of home computer technology and hence the web. Public school boys are statistically a much smaller sample (say 3 percent of British schoolboys) so you're bound to have fewer of them discovering HBC/HBU. There just aren't so many of them around. Also grammar schools tended to have more traditional uniforms and probably remember them better. Many of the public schools had/have very bland uniforms featuring sports jackets or grey suits.
Some of the garments traditionally worn at grammar schools have included the following.
Grammar schools normally required boys to wear a standard blazer. The blazers I have seen appear to be black or dark blue, normally with the school crest. Grammar schools did bot generally have bright colored blazers, although some did. I do not know of a grammar school that did not have a formal school uniform with a blazer or grey suit.
Boys entering grammar schools in the 1950s often wore short trousers for the first few years. Many grammar schools in the 1960s made shorts compulsory for the junior boys. By the 1970s as the Government began to convert the grammar chools to comprehensives, most of the schools had made shorts optional which meant that few boys wore them.
Almost all schools required boys to wear grey socks. Boys wear ing shorts had to wear grey kneesocks. Often the school had special kneesocks with the school colors in bands at the top. Some schools did not insist on the special kneesocks being worn and allowed the boys to wear plain grey kneesocks. Usually schools were not very strict about the socks worn by boys in long pants, but were stricter with the boys in short pants.
Following the history of the English grammar scool is a little complicated, especially when assessing existing schools. A grammar school in the modern sence is a rigorsly academically selective state secondary school. Some schools now called grammar schools are really private schools that call themselves grammar schools. There are also a number of comprehensive schools that have retained the names of old grammar schools that they replaced.
Some information is available on individual schools to illustrate school uniform trends at the Ebglish grammar schools. Many of the uniforms at these schools look quite similar. There were many differences, however, at the different schools.
Old boys at English grammar schools have provided the following memories about the uniform and their experiences at grammar school. HBC is impressed with the number of grammar school boys that have such clear memories of their schools and school experieces. Many grammer schools were quite strict about the uniform, but many grammar schools in the 1970s were converted into comprehensives.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 16th century]
[The 17th century]
[The 18th century]
[The 19th century]
