School uniforms in England

The century opened with the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802 which attempted to ensure children were instructed in reading, writing and religion but it was not effectively policed. Boys continued to wear their own clothes.[7]

Around 1820, the elite public schools formalised their dress code standardising on what upper class children would have already been wearing. Eton introduced the Eton suit for boys under 5 ft 4ins, comprising a short dark ‘bum freezer’ jacket, grey trousers, large starched white collar and top hat. Other public schools had their own interpretations. Town grammar schools followed the trend and many adopted a sober uniform of short jacket and trousers, white Eton collar, bow tie or knotted tie and a round cap as would be worn by cricketers.[6]

In 1870, the Elementary Education Act 1870 made elementary education available for all children in England and Wales. Grammar school headteachers put their pupils into uniform to distinguish them from pupils at the new school board secondary modern schools and elementary schools.[8] Younger board school boys generally wore knickerbockers, black woollen stockings, leather boots, white shirts with starched Eton collars and a lounge or Norfolk jacket. The Norfolk jacket with its cloth belt and vertical stitched-down pleats, originated as a sporting garment and had become popular school and weekend wear during the 1880s/1890s,[6]

Throughout the century girls generally did not wear a uniform. As schools started teaching girls team sports, gymnastics and callisthenics a functional kit evolved. Fitted bodices and long skirts were unsuitable for energetic activities and so stretchy jerseys or loose blouses and knee-length skirts or ‘bloomers’ with coloured waist sashes were worn. By the end of the century this practical sportswear became the general school uniform.[6]

A typical 1950 girls' school uniform.

Throughout the Edwardian era, in the private and grammar schools the established uniform of knickerbockers, Norfolk or lounge jacket, white shirt with Eton collar and bow tie or knotted tie held sway. Short drawers or ‘shorts’ were worn for team sports and athletics.

After the First World War, the old-fashioned knickerbockers gave way to shorts for younger boys, and black stockings and boots were superseded by socks and shoes. Elementary schools had no formal uniform, younger boys continued to wear comfortable knitted sweaters and flannel shorts. Older boys would wear a uniform of grey flannel shorts, shirt, tie, blazer and cap. Older boys progressed from shorts to long flannel trousers. Most schools set an age or height criteria for the transition to the wearing of ‘longs’. Schools developed distinguishing coloured stripes for blazers, sweaters, ties and caps, and their own unique blazer and cap badge. The 1920s school boy's uniform remained little changed until well into the second half of the twentieth century, after the Butler reforms when secondary education was made free to all, and the school leaving age was raised to 15.[6]

Elementary school girls under 14 wore dresses that followed fashionable lines, the loose calf-length smock-frocks of the 1890s and early 1900s, protected beneath a white or coloured pinafore, became shorter shift-style dresses during the 1920s. By the First World War older schoolgirls typically wore a plain tailored calf-length skirt and often a masculine-style shirt and tie. Many middle-class families were sending their daughters to boarding schools. The early twentieth-century schoolgirl was more confident.[6]

The gymslip was originally worn for gymnastics and sports. It developed into a major element of female school uniform by the 1920s, worn with a blouse and tie: in some schools this arrangement continued into the 1960s. Also identifying knitted cardigans or sweaters, blazers with felt hats or straw boaters trimmed with bands in the school colours were also worn, both public schools and local grammar schools insisting on formal uniforms that conformed to precise specifications. At Kidbrooke School, the first LCC comprehensive school that opened in 1954, started out with a uniform of air force blue with coloured berets that identified the girls house.[6]

By the 1960s two parallel debates on the virtue of school uniform had opened up. Parents at schools with strict formal uniform code were battling the governors to relax the rules and follow the example of A. S. Neil at Summerhill and dispense with it, or at least change it into the comfortable sweatshirt and polo shirt with generic grey trousers.

While parents at schools with a more liberal regime were pressurising the head teacher and governors to introduce and enforce a strict formal uniform to make their children look like grammar school children of the 1950s. This they believed would improve discipline and raise standards.[9]

Schools issued parents and potential parents with an equipment list, including many school specific designs. They specified which department stores had agreed to be stockists. In the 1920-1950, families would travel across the country, to London or Manchester on a specific shopping trip. This was a lucrative business for the stores; whole floors were set aside for boys' school uniform and separately for girls' school uniform, they hoped that families would then visit other floors and do a major shop in other departments.

Two visits were essential, firstly for the measuring up and then for the fitting. This was an expensive business for the families, the lists set by minor public schools were extensive and the items were not available elsewhere. Names such as John Lewis, Selfridges, Harrods, Lewis's of Liverpool, Daniel Neal, Gooch's of Knightsbridge, Kendals of Deansgate were well known. There were specialist shops such as Plums, Rowes of Bond Street and Billings and Edmonds. The items had to be marked with a Cash's name tapes. Where the private schools led, the grammar schools followed.

From the late 1950s the use of exclusive uniform has been confined to a few garments. There will still be the expensive blazers but they may be worn with Marks and Spencers trousers. The pre-war woollen blazer has been replaced in some schools by one in polyester.[10]

By means of a survey of over 1100 participants, the average cost of each item of 'required' school clothing was calculated. It is displayed to show the effect on the child's age, and whether their school was a maintained school or a self-governing academy (English school).

All parents/carers where child's school requires uniform (1,183), Source: Survey of parents/carers[2]

As not all these items will be required by each school, and a child will require more of certain items than others, and will grow throughout the year, an attempt has been made to factor in these cost to establish a table of 'total cost of ownership´.

All parents/carers where child's school requires uniform (1,183).[2]

A single average figure has little statistical meaning, but taken as a whole this is a large sum of money for many families, and of course is cumulative. Several government departments are monitoring the situation , Social Services from the point of view of large families poverty and the Office for Fair Trading who sees the uniform suppliers and schools operating an unfair monopoly.

A comparative survey was done in 2015, and this reveals what it costs to kit up a primary child, and a secondary child with respect to items only available at a named supplier. Though generic items are available from major supermarket chains, the vast majority of schools insist that some items are branded with the schools logo.

All parents/carers where child's school requires uniform (1,183).[2]

However parents are also obliged to provide sports kit, and the same sorts of issues apply.

All parents/carers where child's school requires PE kit (1,134).[2] Source: Survey of parents/carers

• Davidson, Alexander (1990). Blazers, badges and boaters : a pictorial history of school uniform. Horndean, Hants [England]: Scope Books. ISBN 0906619254.