Four Acts

Philip Nokes, Archivist

ACT ONE:

Heirs of Stalky & Co (1895-1934)

During this early period following the school’s re-foundation the uniform of Dauntsey Agricultural School (as it was officially known until 1930) was not dissimilar to that of many other schools. The 1908 school photograph shows Head Master F O Solomon (1900-1919) flanked by staff and surrounded by 70 or so boys against the backdrop of the school’s main entrance. All the boys appear to be wearing knickerbockers and stockings, the younger boys Eton collars, the older boys Edwardian “Middlesex” collars. They have jackets (some Norfolk jackets), a dark tie with horizontal stripes, and dark caps with a white DAS monogram.

By 1914 there were fewer waistcoats, and senior boys were wearing long trousers. On coming to Dauntsey’s in 1919 G W Olive’s energies were initially focused on finance, buildings and curriculum. Close attention was not paid to the uniform, although there were some changes. The 1921 school photograph shows all boys wearing dark suits and long trousers. A little later caps were dispensed with, and the tie became first a plain dark tie and then was embellished with a thin diagonal stripe for the house colour. Later still many of the boys wore a lighter suit – or was that simply because the photograph was taken (at the Manor after its 1929 acquisition) during the summer term?

ACT TWO: Study in Brown (1934-1969)

By the early 1930s Olive turned his attention to wider areas of school life. From our distant perspective we can easily forget how radical a school he created in the interwar years. It is a sign of Dauntsey’s standing that he was among 21 school heads asked to provide a statement of their aims and methods in The Modern Schools Handbook published by Gollancz in 1934. Others include the heads of Bedales, Frensham Heights, Summerhill, Bryanston, Leighton Park and Badminton.

Looking back over three decades in A School’s Adventure (1951) Olive writes “Much of our story covering the past few years has been taken up with various accounts indicating the phenomenal growth in the School’s buildings. We can now turn to another aspect of progress affecting the boys themselves, namely, the question of a new school costume. After some discussion the Governors [in June 1933] expressed approval in principle of the adoption, on grounds of hygiene and economy, of a new wearing apparel for the boys. This costume was to be a definite departure from the normal, consisting of open necked shirts, stockings and other garments all of a fawn colour. At the time there were some people who were not at all certain that they favoured the change, but this feeling was short-lived, and the costume has been held strongly in favour ever since.” The governors’ minutes record that alterations in the ordinary apparel of the boys was to be such as the Head Master himself might consider expedient. Behind Olive’s use of “apparel” and “costume” one cannot help wondering whether there lurked a fan of the novels of Dornford Yates with their mannered prose.

In its opening School Notes The Dauntseian for July 1934 reports almost lyrically: “At the beginning of this term most of the school, including masters, blossomed out – no other phrase seems so fitting – in the new School costume ..…. There is no doubt that the experiment has been a great success.” The fruits of this sartorial innovation are to be seen in the 1934 school photograph. It is curious that in his account Olive nowhere mentions the short trousers, in the eyes of the general public to be the hallmark of Dauntsey’s for decades to come. Moreover, the shorts were (initially at least) enthusiastically adopted by Olive’s loyal lieutenants, as witnessed by the photograph. The Head Master himself chose to retain a more dignified image.

Dauntsey’s was by no means alone in adopting a less formal uniform. Bryanston and Clayesmore did something similar, as did Sedbergh and Loretto further north. The closest parallel is probably Gordonstoun, established in 1934 by Kurt Hahn on the model of Salem, the school he had founded in Germany shortly after the First War. The Gordonstoun uniform was the same open neck shirts, with brown jumpers, short trousers and knee socks.

Jim Hodges writes of encountering in Oxford in the early 1950s, before he had even heard of the school, a group of Dauntsey boys “appearing by their dress to have been let out from an institution. I have to confess that the thought even crossed my mind (from their appearance, I hasten to add, rather than their behaviour) that they belonged to some local reformatory.” By the time he arrived at Dauntsey’s in 1954 there were grumblings that such were their own, rather self-conscious, feelings on these outings. It was left to Olive’s successor Donald Forbes (1956-69), although no radical, to make the first change not long after his arrival. Long trousers (worn with ties, a brown check with a little green) were to be allowed for School House for formal occasions and for visits. That had been de rigueur for Sunday wear even in the days of shorts. A further change occurred in autumn 1966 when prefects were permitted to wear “sober” suits on formal occasions.

For many years there were two school outfitters, town and country. The former was Daniel Neal in London (and Cheltenham), the latter Robert Kemp & Son at 31 The Brittox, Devizes – which closed in 1996, prompting Jim Hodges to write an amusing and nostalgic piece for the parish magazine. It was probably at this time that sales were brought in-house, although a link has survived with the presence in the school shop of two of the counters from Kemps.

Whole School photo, 1939

Jim Hodges writes of encountering in Oxford in the early 1950s, before he had even heard of the school, a group of Dauntsey boys “appearing by their dress to have been let out from an institution. I have to confess that the thought even crossed my mind (from their appearance, I hasten to add, rather than their behaviour) that they belonged to some local reformatory.” By the time he arrived at Dauntsey’s in 1954 there were grumblings that such were their own, rather self-conscious, feelings on these outings. It was left to Olive’s successor Donald Forbes (1956-69), although no radical, to make the first change not long after his arrival. Long trousers (worn with ties, a brown check with a little green) were to be allowed for School House for formal occasions and for visits. That had been de rigueur for Sunday wear even in the days of shorts. A further change occurred in autumn 1966 when prefects were permitted to wear “sober” suits on formal occasions.

For many years there were two school outfitters, town and country. The former was Daniel Neal in London (and Cheltenham), the latter Robert Kemp & Son at 31 The Brittox, Devizes – which closed in 1996, prompting Jim Hodges to write an amusing and nostalgic piece for the parish magazine. It was probably at this time that sales were brought in-house, although a link has survived with the presence in the school shop of two of the counters from Kemps.

ACT THREE: Decades When Not Much Happened (1969-2001)

Unhappy as Donald Forbes’ successor was with the increasing ease (and perversity?) with which a pupil would sometimes let his uniform descend into scruffiness, Guy King-Reynolds (1969-85) made no immediate changes.

Although girls first crossed the threshold in 1971, until 1976 they were only in the Sixth Form and no special uniform was created for them. Within limits they wore their own choice of clothes, as by now did the senior boys. There were some guidelines, but the essence of it was that clothes should be casual but presentable. Then in 1976 co-education proper began, girls being admitted into the First Form. This necessitated introduction of a uniform for girls, and a polyester darker brown was adopted for both blazer and skirt, with dark cardigans or (later) the same fawn pullover as boys. At the same time junior boys were permitted to wear long trousers, a gradual process working its way through the forms until reaching the First Form in 1983 – almost fifty years after the introduction of short trousers. Sic transit gloria scholae.

In autumn 1990, during the headship of Christopher Evans (1985-97), the girls switched to the same fawn blazers as the boys, but retaining the dark skirts. The blazers, traditionally a woollen fabric, were by this time polyester and wool.

In the Sixth Form, continues Caroline, “the girls had a uniform of sorts. They had to wear a grey skirt, plain blouse and V-neck jumper. When summer uniform was declared, girls were allowed to wear a patterned skirt, which at the time seemed very exciting! For boys it was grey trousers, shirt and tie with a jacket. We also had around four ‘best dress’ days in the year when Sixth Formers (boys and girls) had to wear suits. These days included commemoration day, speech day, etc.”

Caroline Haywood (1985-92) recalls that it was probably earlier in the year that Senior Mistress Gwen Randall “reintroduced a summer dress for the girls, which you could only buy second hand from the school shop and the choice was either brown and white gingham check or a floral brown and white pattern. They were hideous, incredibly unfashionable and unflattering as they were all at least a decade old with A line skirts to the dress and ‘nose picker’ collars and had to be worn with white ankle socks. We were all disgusted at the time. I think only Fourth and Fifth Form had to wear them for the summer term and I’m pretty sure it was short lived and only lasted one summer!”

In the Sixth Form, continues Caroline, “the girls had a uniform of sorts. They had to wear a grey skirt, plain blouse and V-neck jumper. When summer uniform was declared, girls were allowed to wear a patterned skirt, which at the time seemed very exciting! For boys it was grey trousers, shirt and tie with a jacket. We also had around four ‘best dress’ days in the year when Sixth Formers (boys and girls) had to wear suits. These days included commemoration day, speech day, etc.”