Victorian Schoolroom at Reading Museum

At the museum we have a supply of pinafores for girls, waistcoats and Eton collars for boys. Some schools do like to come to the session in their own costume. If you would like to do this, the following suggestions may be helpful for you.

Male Teachers: Female Teachers: • Black tail coat or black frock coat - • Long black or plain dark coloured • or any dark jacket • Victorian style dress or a dark • Dark trousers • plain blouse and long dark skirt • White shirt and stiff, stand up, wing • Alternatively a white blouse and dark • collar • skirt which was beginning to become • Neck tie or small silk scarf used as a • fashionable in the later Victorian era • cravat • Suitable dark coloured shawl or short • Top hat useful for an authentic look • fitted jacket • on special occasions • Shoes which need to be dark and • Dark socks and shoes • flat, worn with dark thick tights • Other details such as watch chain or • Hair tied up or drawn off face, • old spectacles are also useful • minimal make up or none at all N.B. in general a mortar board and • A lace cap or other hat gown would be unusual in an • Props such as Victorian jewellery, elementary school since the • spectacles or keys attached to the headmaster would probably not have • belt would be useful, but remember had a university degree. • that Victorian teachers were not well • paid! Boys can wear: • Plain knee length socks or thick tights • Dark jacket or waistcoat • Long hair should be tied back off the • 'Granddad' shirt (cut off the collar • face with a plain hair ribbon at the • from a ragged old shirt) or a long- • nape of the neck. A section of hair can • sleeved white or grey school shirt. • be gathered up and tied with a ribbon • Avoid jumpers, tee shirts or track suit • • high on the back of the head but pony • tops but in the winter the • tails are not authentic. Hair can be • schoolroom can be cold so wear • plaited in plain plaits. Girls who have • extra layers underneath if needed. • long hair might choose to tie it in rags • Dark school trousers. Avoid jeans or • the night before to have ringlets. • tracksuit trousers • Cotton sun bonnet or straw hat • Dark socks into which trousers can • Girls did not wear trousers in the • be tucked • Victorian period • Alternatives: sailor collar, jacket and • stiff white Eton collar, countryman's We suggest that pupils do not wear • smock jewellery, watches, plastic hair • Muffler or neckerchief - worn inside ornaments, nail varnish and other 21st • the shirt collar to keep it clean century items. In the Victorian era • Fingerless gloves children would have been expected to • Baker boy cap can be worn, but bring a cotton rag or handkerchief, • remove before entering the possibly pinned to the clothes, rather • schoolroom. It is also advisable to label than paper tissues. It is also worth • caps as they do often get left behind! remembering that sticking plasters had • Dark shoes not been invented. You could cover up • Hair could be parted and smoothed any obvious plasters with cotton rags. • down • Ragged clothes could be worn if the • boys are dressing as urchins For more information visit our website www.readingmuseum.org.uk Girls can wear: • Pinafore worn over a long sleeved • and dark calf-length skirt or long dress • which is plain and dark, or which has a • small flowered print • Most children at a national school • would have been very poorly dressed • in shabby, torn hand-me-downs that • did not fit properly • Flat, dark shoes