Dear Lorraine,
I have been reading your pages recently, and have been very interested in your letters concerning school gaberdine raincoats.
I wore a gaberdine raincoat for the first time when I went to the local girls' Grammar School in 1956. Before that I wore a wool coat, which was double breasted but open at the neck, with a beret or scarf on my head. In wet weather I had a rubber-coated cotton mac, which had an integral hood and a belt, and I wore it buttoned up with the hood up over my other coat. I often carried it over my arm if rain was forecast, but only in the last summer at primary school did I wear it on its own, open necked with the hood down, as I had grown out of my wool coat by then.
Some of the girls at primary school wore gaberdines, and most of the boys did. The girls' coats nearly all had a hood, and were usually worn buttoned to the neck, but the boys wore theirs without a hood, usually open necked. One boy had a hooded gaberdine, which had been handed down from his sister: he came in for a lot of teasing and even bullying from the other boys. One wet day he was brought to school by his mother, fully buttoned up and wearing the hood. Being taken to school by your mother was a terrible indignity at that time, since most of us went to school with other children by the time we were six or seven. He was beaten up on the the way home, and the headmistress insisted to his mother that he must not wear the hood to school again.
School uniform was only worn by children who went to Grammar Schools (sometimes called High Schools) or to fee-paying private schools. If you passed your 11+ exam, you were offered a Grammar School place, but if your parents accepted it they had to commit themselves and the child to remain at school until the end of the fifth form, at age 16. This could be up to five terms later than the leaving age at the local senior schools, which were sometimes simply a senior class or department on the same premises as the primary school.
Uniform was a major expense, and for girls, who were not expected to grow hugely after the age of eleven or twelve, the uniform was often bought large enough for her to grow into by the time she was leaving at sixteen. Its durability meant that one outlay covered the main wardrobe for five years or more, as the uniform was often the "going out" outfit as well, worn for formal occasions, Church, and smart wear generally. The gaberdine coat was usually the only coat a girl possessed, so the fact that it could be worn for five years, and often be handed on to someone else afterwards, shows how well made they were. The Secondary Modern schools which began to open in about 1957-59 in many areas heralded the start of a fairly universal wearing of school uniform at senior level.
On my first day at Grammar School, my friend Ann and I (Ann lived just down the road) walked together to school, about a half hour walk. Our uniform was a navy gymslip and blazer, white blouse and school tie, white ankle socks or long grey socks, and a hat, rather like the ones in your photograph in the "gaberdine" section. This was the typical pattern of girls' school hats at the time. We also had to wear a navy double-breasted gaberdine raincoat, with a belt and hood. It had to be properly buttoned up, the belt fastened neatly, and the hood fastened shut with a button when it was not being worn, so that the lining was not visible. Only the top button was allowed to be undone, and this was supposed to be at the discretion of the parents, as an exception rather than the rule. In practice, many parents appeared to exercise discretion, though quite a few did not! The gaberdine was not optional, at least in the first three years, but had to be worn at all times with the winter uniform between September and Easter. The summer uniform was a cotton dress in a particular material made for the school, with a blazer and hat or straw boater. I saw very few of those, and they were abandoned a year or two after I started. The gaberdine raincoat could obviously be worn if necessary with the summer uniform, and some girls wore theirs quite often. Most girls, though, were glad to be allowed to leave them off, as they were not particularly liked.
Ann and I arrived at school hot and uncomfortable in our heavy winter outfits, although we both had our gaberdines open at the neck. We both had gymslips down past out sock tops, blazers with sleeves halfway down out fingers, and our gaberdines were each almost big enough for us to share one. About 150 girls were gathered in the playground by the time we were called into the building; the rest of the school started an hour later on the first day of the new school year. All wore gaberdines, of course, many fully buttoned to the neck, and probably a dozen or so wore hoods. You were allowed to wear your hood in place of the hat in wet weather, or if your parents decided you must. If the hood was worn it had to be properly fastened, with the ties provided tied in a secure bow, the top button of the coat properly fastened, and a school scarf had to be worn in a clearly visible manner. Navy blue gloves also had to be worn if the hood was worn - why, I have no idea, but it was just one of the silly rules which seemed to abound at the time. I found that many of those who wore hoods on the first day did so because their parents had been unable to afford the very expensive hats, so they wore their hoods for the whole first year, perhaps to buy a hat later on. A couple of girls, I remember, wore a hood all through school and never had a hat. It must have been uncomfortable on warm autumn and spring days, with the scarf as well, but they never seemed to complain.
Since the uniforms were so big at the start of school, it was always a gamble as to whether or not a girl grew into it. Most did, and those who grew through it had the sleeves and hem lengthened, as the coats were built with a special extra hem to allow an extra four inches in the body and about two inches in the sleeves. I cannot remember anyone who was completely grown through her uniform raincoat by the end of school, though I do remember a couple who never grew into their uniforms. My friend Angie was still wearing her gymslip halfway down her calves, and her raincoat to just above her ankles at sixteen. When I last saw her, in the mid 1960s, she was wearing the shortest miniskirt I had ever seen, and we joked about it after her long uniform.
By 1960, the school had a new headmistress, who began to relax the uniform rules a little. The hat was replaced by a beret, much more practical when it was raining at home time, as you didn't have to decide between wearing a hat and getting wet, or carrying the hat in order to wear your hood. The hood simply fastened over the beret. Also, skirts began to replace gymslips, and the hooded raincoat was no longer quite so strictly enforced. A few girls began to wear single breasted gaberdines, and some sixth-formers began to wear very stylish coats with no hood or belt, and no top button. Stylish, but not very good on a cold wet morning!
On my first wet day, my mother insisted that I had to wear my scarf wrapped round my face, with the ends tucked into the front of my coat before the top button was done up, with my hood over it. It seemed to be unnecessarily warm and overprotected, but I had to wear it. When Ann came to call for me, she almost burst out laughing, but managed to keep a straight face until we were away from the house. Her own scarf was simply wrapped round her neck, with one end thrown back over her shoulder. However, when I got to school my face was dry and warm, and only a small bit of my scarf was wet, so I had to agree that Mum was right. I often wore my scarf that way when it was raining, and a few other girls eventually did the same.
In the sixth form I had a new gaberdine, which was also double breasted, but had five buttons instead of four, with the top button full sized, like a modern trench coat. The hood was more rounded, and the coat was actually made to fit the female form, so it looked very smart. I wore it to university as well, and found that quite a few other girls were wearing their old school gaberdine raincoats. By the time I graduated, of course, the gaberdine was not really appropriate for my age, and I actually bought a trenchcoat when I began work. I still wear one often as they are smart and practical.
I hope you don't mind my sharing a few memories with you, but they do seem relevant to your most interesting pages. I wonder what memories other readers have of the gaberdines of that time. The early 1970s were the period which marked the sudden death of the gaberdine coat, I remember, when the new comprehensive schools reduced the uniform requirements very drastically.
Kind Regards,
Susan
Dear Susan
Very nice of you to write, thank you. I do hope it will prompt some more memories ... and pictures maybe? What you say about graduating into a trenchcoat sets me wondering whether it is the gaberdine that those who love trenchcoats are half remembering - perhaps for some against their better judgment - because as you say for every one who loved their school mac there quite a few who longed to get out of it ....
Lovely of you to write!
Best wishes
Lorraine
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