Thirty Years on! A Private View of Public Schools

The British public school system has, for centuries, been the envy of the civilized world. Not only for its high standards of education, but also for its unyielding propensity for producing Empire builders and leaders in the fields of politics, science, economics, sport and the arts. Over the course of centuries, public schools have accumulated a bewildering array of quirky traditions. With the possible exception of the Church, no institutions so fervently hold onto their rituals, customs and costumes as the public schools, be it the Tudor uniforms of Christ’s Hospital and the straw hats of Harrow, or the Eton Wall Game and Wincoll football. This, combined with often magnificent buildings set in the most beautiful of British countryside, means that they are remarkably visually interesting. In the late 1980s, photographer Mark Draisey was given privileged access to these usually closed and private worlds, to produce a stunning record of life inside institutions that were, as a rule, out of bounds to the majority of the population. This collection was taken at a time just prior to major changes in the boarding house conditions and the general modernisation of facilities at many of the schools, brought about by a more competitive market, plus the introduction of girls into these once male dominated institutions. This supremely evocative collection is a unique insight into the life within twenty-five of Britain’s leading boy’s public schools just before they changed forever. Images of austere dormitories and bleak bathrooms, beagling on the moors and Sunday Chapel, cadet training and early morning rowing, will remind thousands of Spartan but more certain times when tradition and eccentricity mingled with educational excellence to produce generations of boys destined to succeed.