14 January 2016

British class system, 1937

"Toffs and Toughs is a 1937 photograph of five English boys: two dressed in the Harrow School uniform including waistcoat, top hat, boutonnière, and cane; and three nearby wearing the plain clothes of pre-war working class youths. The picture was taken by Jimmy Sime on 9 July 1937 outside the Grace Gates at Lord's Cricket Ground during the Eton v Harrow cricket match."

7 comments:

  1. Dressing in the Harrow outfit in my neighbourhood,(in the 50s), would have been hazardous to ones health.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ghastly. The privilege is bad enough, but dressing kids like that is way over the top. They don't do that anymore, do they?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apparently it sounds like they do, at least on Sundays:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_School#Uniform

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hit him with your Smelting stick, Dudley.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Smelting_stick

      Delete
  5. I remember an interesting article a year or so ago in which one of the toffs was interviewed, and said that they'd been looks and catcalls on the street and were actually quite nervous - I think this gets closest to it

    https://saintanselmhistory.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/toffs-and-toughs-the-problem-with-iconic-images/

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...