Next Stop England II-St. James's School for Young Ladies
A few days into our time at St. James’s, Mademoiselle, the assistant matron on assignment for a year from France, took us into Great Malvern to shop for the essentials that we hadn’t purchased in London when we got our uniforms. We got brown lace-up shoes, which were to be used for dress-up occasions and walking, and button-strapped shoes for every day. We got woolen underwear, including undershirts and navy wool bloomers, a garment that was archaic, itchy, and puzzling, to be worn over our regular underpants. Mademoiselle was also instructed to get us dressing gowns, eider down quilts, and tartan blankets which were called “rugs” in England. Once we were back in school we had to sew name tags into every item that we owned, since everyone in the school had essentially the same clothes, and ownership could be confusing. I still have my blanket with my name tag sewn on. It was clear that in the badly heated school, we would need supplemental warmth. There were about 200 gi