Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I recall that boys were instructed when meeting masters outside C H premises, which usually meant in Horsham, that they were required to salute them.
As no headgear was worn I suppose that this would have been strictly against military discipline had this been appropriate.
I was once later reprimanded by Mrs. Cooke, one of the first female staff employed in WW 2 for not doing so when out with my parents.

I don't recall this in my day.

Saluting was not only to greet masters, but also their wives. It continued up to the very early 1950s, when it seemed to die a natural death. In Horsham a favourite way of avoiding the necessity of saluting was to look intently into a shop window, when first noticing the approach of a person who had to be saluted, and to continue to examine the display until he or she had passed. This was so common that I recollect on one occasion a message was given to all house captains, for announcement to the house just before the housemaster was invited to come to evening duty, forbidding this subterfuge and ordering boys to salute as was the rule at that time.