Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Barnsstaple Bluecoat school is a primary only. I don't know how old the foundation is.

midget wrote:Barnsstaple Bluecoat school is a primary only.

I have an image of toddlers going around in full housey.

Must have been like that when CH was founded.

Is there any record as to when the uniform was first used?

And there's more!! Go to:

http://www.gettyimages.com/Home.aspx?es ... ettyimages

and in the "search" box type "Bluecoat." Make sure you click on the image to get the caption!!

jhopgood wrote:...Is there any record as to when the uniform was first used?.."

On Christmas Day 1552 the children of Christ's Hospital were described as being "all in one livery of russet cotton." There is some dispute about the meaning of "russet" and it may be that this was the yellow undergarment or petticoat, that was the origin of today's yellow lining. It is certainly known that the bluecoats were not purchased until February/March 1553, the lack of which had caused numerous deaths among the children in a bad winter.

Be that as it may, by Easter 1553 they were all in "blewe coats." White linen bands were certainly in use by 1556. The caps were originally red, but changed to blue at some unknown time, and so remained until abolished in 1857. Knee-length breeches, yellow stockings and girdles were worn from the start.

Hope this helps,

Blue Coat C of E Junior School , Pilton, Barnstaple.
Bluecoat C of E Infant and Nursery, Torrington

Local web sites are more or less useless for any further details.

And what about Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln?? Part of the family?

jtaylor wrote:And what about Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln?? Part of the family?

From what I can make out on its web-site it was founded in 1907. However, the name cannot have been chosen by chance.

I think we now need a noun for a group of Bluecoat schools.

A house? A band? A foundation?

Try this

http://www.archivist.f2s.com/bsu/Blcoat.htm

And this!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIVE-TAKE-HISTORY ... dZViewItem

A quote from the archivist site given by Kerren -

"The cuff buttons are also symbolic of status: if the outer button is unfastened on both cuffs then the boys is an academic; if one is unfastened he is both academic and monitor. If neither is unfastened the boy in question is only a monitor."

I never knew this! But then I never had my buttons. What does the band captain do with his cuffs if he isn't a monitor or academic button Gr? My boyfriend was band captain but I wasn't interested in looking at his cuffs.

Just in case anyone is misled by the title, the book referred to by Kerren on e-Bay is about Christ's Hospital, ABINGDON, which is, I believe, alms houses for the elderly, rather than a school. I will check. Afternote: See http://www.ch-of-abingdon.org/

cj wrote: My boyfriend was band captain but I wasn't interested in looking at his cuffs.

Mine had his academic buttons (and was in the band) but I can't say I ever noticed his cuffs either

Re Abingdon... I just meant to draw attention to the fact that here again the name 'Christ's Hospital' is not exclusive.
If you were to browse eBay frequently (as I do...) you would find these references (Abingdon and Lincoln) quite often. And there are some 'Christ's Hospital's in America, too...
Kerren

Kerren,
I was fully aware that you would know about the Abingdon business; I was only pointing that out to other users who might have missed it. As to the US sites, I believe that there are several medical institutions named "Christ Hospital" (ie, without the apostrophe "s" after Christ) - one in New Jersey, one in Ohio and possibly more. There is probably some convoluted grammatical explanation for them using the word in this way!
Did you know that Barclay Hankin has left (among many other gifts) money to finance one place at Housey for the son of a Royal Signals officer? A most generous man.