Figure 1.--This prep school was for boys 8-13 years of age. It had a short pants uniform. In the early 1980s, only boys 13 years old could wear long trousers.
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Figure 1.--This prep school was for boys 8-13 years of age. It had a short pants uniform. In the early 1980s, only boys 13 years old could wear long trousers. |
The trousers worn by English schoolboys at diiferent ages have varied over time. The type of school attended was another factor. Boys of all ages wore long trousrs for school until the late 19th century. An exceotin here was a few special schools, the famed hospital schools where the boys wore nreeches as part of a traditional uniform. We see some private schools adopting knickers as the uniform trousers for younger boys. Generally speaking from this point younger boys often wore various types of shortened-length trousers. By the 1890s, British boys commonly wore kneepants to school. This gradually shifted to short pants in the early 20th century. After World War I, only a few schools still had knickers uniforms. Short pants became very common for primary-age children. They also became very common at preparatory schools. The younger boys at grammar schools (selective secondaty schools) and public schools (private secondary schools) often wore short pants. A few private schools made short pants the uniform for the entire school. Short pants were still very common in the 1960s, but graduallu long pants became more common. Shorts were still quite common at prepschools into the 1980s, although usually the older boys were allowed to wear long pants. The ages involved varied from scgool to school.
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