Stinky Cabbage, Cow's Udder and Custard Skin - a Brief History of School Dinners

by John Sadden

Hungry pupils queue up for school dinners in 1963
(with thanks to Maurice Walsh for the image)

The introduction of new arrangements for school lunch by Mr Reg Way and his dedicated and hard working team provides us with a good opportunity to reflect on the early history of school dinners at PGS, when food was regarded solely as a fuel to sustain pupils through their school day and there was little regard for satisfying palates. In this brief article, we look at what was dished up to pupils and staff in those days. 

In 1887, a Mrs Green of 45, St Thomas's Street in Old Portsmouth combined her cooking skills with an entrepreneurial spirit and offered PGS pupils a home-prepared midday meal. Her young guests could have a "meat luncheon" consisting of a meat and two veg with bread and butter for ninepence. For smaller appetites or pockets, a "plain lunch" of soup, jam or milk pudding or bread and/or cheese with salad was available for sixpence. It is not known how many hungry pupils made their way down St Thomas's Street, under the supervision of the Maths master, Mr Griffiths, but it was reported to be popular. However, the majority of pupils went home or brought packed lunches. 

At this time, perhaps surprisingly for the Victorian era, corporal punishment was used very rarely at PGS. However, one public caning which was long remembered by those who witnessed it, was that of a greedy pupil who had eaten another boy's packed lunch. Stealing, in any event, was, of course, a serious offence, but the fact that the crime had deprived another boy of his "lunchtime tarts" made a thrashing inevitable. 

It was not until 1927, when the Cambridge Barracks High Street site was acquired, that space was available for school dinners to be provided on the school site. The service was declared a great success with pupils who lived some distance from the school premises, rather than re-heated, were introduced by Headmaster, Mr Stork, in the late 1930s and cost a shilling (12 old pence). These were described as "excellent" and were very popular up until the outbreak of war when pupils were evacuated out of the city. 

In exile at Southbourne, with shortages and rationing, new culinary experiences were introduced. Kenneth Shimmings (OP 1938-43), remembered eating horsemeat and cows' udders. Other pupils, luckier in their billets were better fed. At one school boarding house, David Miles (OP 1941-45) recalled the food being "routinely awful" but that, in retrospect, he marvelled at Mrs Asher's ability, under such wartime shortages, to turn out nourishing, if unappetising, meals each day. Her response to any complaints was the assertion that "It's luverly". Older pupils, who volunteered to work on local farms at harvest time, like Eric Wheeler (OP 1938-45), enjoyed plenty of meat and veg. Ken Bailey (OP 1939-44) recalls the excellent cooking skills of Mrs Johnson, one of five different householders who looked after him before he left school to join up. She was a farmer's wife whose garden provided poultry and vegetables. However, when served whale meat, Ken and his fellow boarder would discreetly slide it off their plates and hide it. Disposing of pieces of rotting whale in a local copes became something of a ritual. 

Back at PGS, post-war food was delivered by a contractor. An inspection report in 1949 tells us that there were two daily sittings, attended by 260 pupils, and that it was "of poor quality and looked and tasted most unappetising". They remarked that "quantity appears generous because there was so little demand for large or second portions". The inspectors recommended the school have its own kitchen to help improve the quality. But, eleven years later, things had not improved much. The service was still contracted out and the meals were re-heated in a new school kitchen, but the food remained "below standard in quality and variety". The chipped serving dishes, inadequate cutlery and old tables in the old Assembly Hall did not help. As a result, firm action was taken and arrangements were made with the City Council to provide meals. David Jones (1957-66) remembers, these arriving in large, insulated aluminium containers which were manhandled up the old science block stairs and into the Assembly Hall by pupils during morning break. Later, an external dumb waiter was installed to hoist the containers up from the quad to the hall above the gym, though this was short lived. In 1963-64, the "New Hall" (on the site of the current theatre and dining hall) was built on land and newly acquired from the Ministry of Defence. This incorporated a kitchen servery and enabled the improved, midday meals to be served quickly and efficiently in two sessions. 

With many thanks to all OPs who contributed memories.

"Dinner" and "Lunch" are used interchangeably in this article to reflect its usage according to generation and class.