Figure 1.--. |
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The schoolwear and school uniform garments worn in Ireland are the same as those wore in England. The authors know of no specifically Irish garment worn by school boys. This of course reflects the fact that until the 1920s, Ireland was part of Britain and the Irish school system was founded and set up by British authorities. Private schools also followed British patterns. We see the same style of caps, blazers, ties, and other Britih school uniform garments. It is impossible to identify Irish boys by the school uniforms they wear, even destinguishing them from the British. And the tendency to wear these school uniform items followed the same basic trend as in Britain. The private schools were the first to wear unifoerms with the state schools following after World war II. The one destinctive Irish trend was the flannel dresses boys wore in the 19th and early 20th century. This was different than the kilt style in Scotland as these flannel dresses were in no way considered to be a national costume.
We have little information about Irish schoolwear. We think the boys in the cities may have worn English-style peaked scchool caps. They were virtually universal in England, Scotland, and Wales. They do not seem nearly as common in Ireland, but we vdo not have a large Irish archive so we are not entirely sure. We are not entirely sure just how common school headwear in general was in ireland. We do not notice much in the way of headwear in the images we have archived to date. This oncludes both the boys and girls. We are nit bsure why this was. The endemic ppverty may have been a factor. One group of boys show the children wearing tams with ponsalong jackets and flannel dresses looking almost like kilts. The flannel dresses were widely worn, but we see few examples of the tams. Tey woukd nit have been specifically school headwear, but the normal everyday headwear that the boys wore.
The wearing of blazers depended on the type of school. HBC reader G. Jones reports that statre school boys did not commonly wear blazers as late as the early 1960s. Blazers were commonly worn at most boys at private schools, in part because the private schools were stronly influenced by English styles and parents at the schools were generally affluent and could aford a more expensive school kit than state school boys. The blazers at private schools, especially the prep schools, were more colorful--although often not as colorful as the English prep school blazers.
HBC is somewhat confused as we have some photographs showing the boys wearing blazers. We had thought that blazers were common. A HBC readers, however, tells us that they were not common at state schoolls through the 1960s. G. Jones tell us, "I would imagine that the photographs you have are for private schools if they relate to the late -1950s or early-60s. Most of the State Schools were run by the Religious Orders and were essentially set up by the religious orders to provide free education. The cost of unifroms etc. would have been a major consideration and I would be surprised if very many of them would have had a uniform incorporating a blazer. That is not to say that some boys were a dark blazer, even though it wasn't a uniform. I also suspect that some state schools, although I do think they would be rare, in the Dublin area, might have had a uniform incorporating a blazer. As I said I believe it wouldn't have been imposed because of the cost factor. Incidently, mixed sex schools would have been extremely rare both at Primary Level and Secondary Level."
Primary boys commonly wore sweaters to school rather than blazers.
Most secondary schools requited ties, but this varied over time. Few state prmary schools required them with the exception of the private prep schools.
Most boys at state elementary schools mostly wore short pants until the 1970s. It was not a school requirement. It was because that was mostly what the boys wore. Boys through the 1950s also pften wore short pants to secondry schools, at least the first 1-2 years. This became increasingly less common in the 1960s, although there were still a few older boys wearing shorts. They would often be teased by the boys already in longs. Private schools usually had much more elaborate uniform requirements. Most prep schools until the 1980s required short pants. Some private secondary schools required shorts for junior boys, although most had long pants uniforms by the 1980s.
Kilts were not normally worn by Irish school children. A HBC reader tells us about his school in the 1980s run by Scottish nuns whih required kilts. An Irish reader in 2003 reports that there are a few other Irish schools that have a uniform consisting of a sweater, tie, and kilt. A HBC reader knows there are several schools with kilt uniforms as the clerk in a Dublin uniform shop told him. We do not have information on all of the schools, but one school we know about is a Catholic semi-private school. We know that some schools had kilt uniforms in the 1980s. We are less sure about the 1990s. Some schools may have continued the kilt uniform in the 1990s, but some appear to have introduced it in the 2002. We are not sure why these schools have returned to a traditional uniform. Some reports suggest that the schools are trying to address discipline problems. The kilt uniform with a tie and sweater was the evry day uniform for the boys. The girls wear a skirt and sweater. The kilts in the shop were navy and green with a little yellow. They were worn with a green sweater. This did not appear to be the first year for thekilt uniform. Our English reader reports, "They took up the uniform in September. The shopassistant said that the girls uniform has always been the same. They wore a tartan skirt and a sweater. The school asked the shop to get the same tartan in a kilt for the boys. She said that they had ordered the kilts before the summer. They had to measure all the existing students and arrange for the new students to visit for mesurments. They ordered in enough for September, but they stock a range of sizes for replacments and new students who might join midterm. My guess is that the boys are not impressed, but then again its only a uniform. I know if the school that my boys went to decided to change their uniform I would back it. And I don't think my guys would have a problem with that. I wore a kilt for school for 14 weeks and it did not kill me."
The one destinctive Irish trend was the flannel dresses boys wore in the 19th and early 20th century. This was different than the kilt style in Scotland as these flannel dresses were in no way considered to be a national costume. Mothers apparently began wearing these flannel dresses to confuse the farries who prone to steal little boys. We are not sure just when this practice started. We know it was common in the 19th century, but are less sure before tghuis. Of course younger boys commonly wore dresses before the 20th century. But this practice in Ireland was for older boys than the younger boys who wore dresses before brreching. We see school-age boys wearing these flannel dresses. It should not be thought that these were school outfits. We believe these boys wore these dresses all the time. Many of the available photographs are at school, probably because this was a convenient place to photograph them. The practice was most pronounced in isolated rural areas. These boys did not come from affluent families. They would not have had large wardrobes. We suspect they may have worn these dresses all the time. The boys may have had one dress for school and best, and another dress for play. Here w are unsure. They also may have had jsckets and sweaters worn with the dresses in cooler weather.
Pinafores were a very commom garment worn at Irish schools during the 19th century and early-20th centuries. This was common in many European and American schools. Girls in many countries, including Ireland wore them. We also see boys at some pre-schools wearing them in various countries. We note Irish boys wearing dresses to school in the 19th and early-20 centuries. Pre-schools werenot, however, very common until well into the 20th century. This was esoeciallybthe casein poor countries like Ireland. And these were not just pre-school boys, but boys in the early primary years. Mothers wanted to confuse the faries. Most of the photographs show the boys just wearing dresses. But at some schools the boys also wore pinafores, just like the girls. At many schools just the girls and very young boys wore pinafores. But we see some where the yoinger primary boys wore ponafores. We only see the boys wearing pinafores with dresses. We do not know any other country where school boys wore dresses and piafores as was the case in Ireland. A good examole is the Kilglass National School in Galway during 1902.
School boys very commonly wore knees ocks to schoolw hen shorts were common. Mos boys now wear ankle socks.
We have little information about the shoes worn at Irish schools. Before World War Ii, manynschools went barefoot to school. Children that did wear shies wire letter shoes. We begin to see sneakers (trainers) (1870s). Sandals were worn by Irish school boys, butwe do not think that school sandals were as commonly worn as in England, although I have no information confirming that. Boys generally wore leather shoes, until the 1980s, children were not encouraged to wear sneakers.
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