Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I've been wondering about the habit of referring to Christ's Hospital as 'Housey'.

I've never done so, and I don't recall any of my contemporaries doing so, (to us it was always C.H.), but I've noticed that earlier generations continue to use the word (e.g. ' going back to Housey for Old Blues Day').

For me, 'Housey' referred to the uniform, and was also a word used, generally at an annoyingly loud volume, by supporters at school sporting events encouraging players to tackle opponents or to attempt to score some points.

Am I wrong about this? Do people still use the term when referring to the school as a physical entity?

To be honest, I'm not altogether sure about the origin of the word, either.

Can anyone shed any light?

We used to call it Housey in an ironice way but nothing more...

From Christ's Hospital by G.A.T. Allan Revised by J.E. Morpurgo:

...."there were at one time many Bluecoat schools, most of them established in the seventeenth century as provincial imitations of the City of London's Foundation.......For us the school is C.H. tout court or, in a usage that has become customary in the last sixty or so years, Housie (as a noun spelt by convention in this way to differentiate it from the much older and exclusively adjectival form Housey). So a boy in the school is a C.H. boy or a Housey boy, his dress Housey uniform and the cheer raised on the touchline, like the response to the Housey Toast, "Housie".

This part of the book is from the original, first published in 1937 and revised 10 years later.

Don't know if this answers your question or not really!

Have heard the Housey Toast on a number of occasions.
Can anyone transcribe it here?

J

palgsm93 wrote:Yup, housey meant the coat and "HOUSEY!" was a word used extremely loudly to annoy people especially at public events.

Inside the ring fence you can say 'Housey' if you really want to. Outside it C.H. suffices (but needs further explanation) - braying 'Housie' just makes you look like a kn*b.

jtaylor wrote:Have heard the Housey Toast on a number of occasions.
Can anyone transcribe it here?

J

"To the religious, royal and ancient foundation of Christ's Hospital May those prosper who love it, and may God increase their number.......... HOUSIE!"

At Hertford we called the boys 'Housey boys' and I thought that somewhere in the archives was a reference to 'this Royal and ancient HOUSE' but I checked my leavers bible and the charge says nothing about it, and if Dave is correct the toast says Foundation not House so it remains a mystery to me.

I didn't have brothers at Horsham although a lot of girls did, and I am learning a lot more about the whole Foundation from these forums,

thanks guys.

My mother was introduced to C.H. by our local vicar, Donald Peyton-Jones, who had a son at Horsham, and I recall him subsequently using Housey to indicate Horsham and Hertford for idem, but C.H for generic.
My brother never used the word " Housey" except to refer to his uniform, neither did my son ( who was in Middleton).

Housey (the adjective) was used in my day to cover a number of CH specific items, certainly coats, but also blankets, stew, buttons, etc. Although I have not discussed the topic with him, I notice from Jonathan that the term is now used almost exclusively to cover coats. Moreover, the adjective has now supplanted the noun so that one "puts on one's Housey" or "he is wearing his Housey". Increasingly, I hear him using the term "full Housey" (to denote the complete kit) or - a totally new development it seems - "half Housey" (which is the full kit minus the coat). This half Housey seems to be quite acceptable and even de riguer at times when proper uniform would be expected. It is not unusual to see whole houses marching into dinner parade thus clad in yellow stockings, breeches, shirt and bands!

Just to add my two-pennorth, as a child of the House, I used to think of 'us' as at CH and 'them' (ie those in Sussex) at Housey. (Thinking only so didn't need to spell it!!) I don't think we would have ever used the word Housey for anything to do with ourselves.

Can't remember what my brother said, so not sure whether my ideas came from him or my father.

DavebytheSea wrote:Housey (the adjective) was used in my day to cover a number of CH specific items, certainly coats, but also blankets, stew, buttons, etc. Although I have not discussed the topic with him, I notice from Jonathan that the term is now used almost exclusively to cover coats. Moreover, the adjective has now supplanted the noun so that one "puts on one's Housey" or "he is wearing his Housey". Increasingly, I hear him using the term "full Housey" (to denote the complete kit) or - a totally new development it seems - "half Housey" (which is the full kit minus the coat). This half Housey seems to be quite acceptable and even de riguer at times when proper uniform would be expected. It is not unusual to see whole houses marching into dinner parade thus clad in yellow stockings, breeches, shirt and bands!

In my day if you wore your blazer with breeches, shirt and bands and yellow socks it was known as "half housey"

Do they still wear blazers? We didn't see any on Rock School, although as this was filmed in the autumn it may be that they are only a summer thing.

englishangel wrote:Do they still wear blazers? We didn't see any on Rock School, although as this was filmed in the autumn it may be that they are only a summer thing.

Good question. I would assume that they still have them, but I'm not sure.

'House' badges were worn on blazers, unless supplanted by School sports colours (e.g. rugby, cricket, shooting etc.). These badges consisted of the C.H. crest together with a reference to the sport concerned, for example 'XV' for rugby, etc.

The only exception I remember was when one of my contemporaries was selected for the England 18 Group rugby squad. He was allowed to wear his England badge.

Richard Ruck wrote:The only exception I remember was when one of my contemporaries was selected for the England 18 Group rugby squad. He was allowed to wear his England badge.

Who was that and did he play at a senior level after school?

John Cullen.

He played in the Varsity match (not sure how many times), had a brief spell at Wasps, I think. Not sure where he ended up after that. Rosslyn Park, maybe?

I remember seeing him captain Middlesex in a televised match. Not sure, but I'll ask him next time I bump into him.