Figure 1.-- We note photographas taken og Foununders Day at the Whitgift Grammat School in Croyden during 1920. The older boys in the senior school wore long pants and the hunior boys knickers. An exception for the junior boys was those wearing Eton suits withthe short jckets. They were allowed to wear long pants. Boys in the associated middle school wore a variety of pnts including knickers and knee pants, but a few boys wore short pants and knee socks.

After the turn of the century short trousers appeared, but we do not commonly see them at school until the 1920s. We see knee pants and knickers, but short pants did not become common until the 1920s. This did not begin immediately after World War I. We notice schools with a variety of pants. This included both private schools with uniforms and state schools where the boys wore their own clothes. There were differences from school to school, but the same basic trends were at play. We note photographas taken og Foununders Day at the Whitgift Grammar School in Croyden during 1920. The older boys in the senior school wore long pants and the hunior boys knickers. An exception for the junior boys was those wearing Eton suits withthe short jckets. They were allowed to wear long pants. Boys in the associated middle school wore a variety of pnts including knickers and knee pants, but a few boys wore short pants and knee socks. Only a few years later, short pants had largely replaced both knickers and knee pants. The shorts in private schools were were mostly grey shorts, in part because they were worn with coloful blazers. We also see most short pants in the state primary school. The whole transition occured amazingly rapidly.

Created: 5:36 AM 9/10/2017
Last updated: 5:36 AM 9/10/2017