English boys have worn knee pants, short pants, knickers, and long pants as well as a variety of lesser types. The English use the term "Trousers" and the American usage of pants is reserved for underpants. The popularity of the different troser types varied significantly over time. There were also a variety of conventions associated with them. One of the most important was age conventions. Modern pants developed in the 17th century and gradually evolved into the knee breeches that were commonly worn by men and boys in the 18th century. We notice bloomer knickers in the mid-19th century. They were worn by younger boys, initially as part of a suit. Bloomer knickers were worn rather like knee pants and were more popular in England than in America. Knee pants were one of the styles of shortened-length pants thay appeared for boys in the mid-19th century. They were straight-cut pants and not bloused out like knickers. They eventually became standard for British boys and wre widely worn at schools. Knickers or "knickerbockers" as they are more commonly called in England were developed as country wear for English gentlemen in the late 19th century. They were adopted as a school uniform at many English boarding schools and were worn into the early 20th century. Short pants were first commonly worn in England after the turn of the Century. The emensely popular Boy Scout Movement helped to popularize the new shorts, worn with knee scocks rather than the declining knee pants worn with long stockings. They were worn by most English boys through the 1950s, but began to decline in popularity in the 1960s as fewer and younger boys wore short pants suits. The Scouts dropped short pants as part of the Scout uniform in 1969, although Cubs continued to wear them. By the 1970s they were much less commonly worn, although many schools--especially private preparatory schools and many elementary schools still required them.
Pantalettes were worn by English children for about a century. Pantalettes were extensively worn by English children, both boys and girls in the 19th century. The pattern described for America above appears to have been similar in England. Quite a few available images show English children, including boys wearing pantalettes. They were worn with both dresses, tunics, and skeleton suits. Pantalettes appear to have been more common in England as American travelers to England have commented on the fashion for boys to wear them. Apparently older boys wore them in England than in America. They were worn with a variety of hosiery types.
Modern pants developed in the 17th century and gradually evolved into the knee breeches that were commonly worn by men and boys in the 18th century. There were no age conventions. Both men and boys, after breeching, wore them. Here are infirnmation is limited becuse this was all before photigraohy
We notice bloomer knickers, especilly in the mid-19th century. By bloomer kniclkers we mean pants that were closed at the knee hem by a drawstring like a blouse. Proper knickers were closed with buttons or clasps. The bloomer knickers were worn by younger boys, often with cut-away jackets. Our initial assessmnt is for boys about 4-10 years of age. With only a limited number of images to ork with, we cannot yet be definitive. We mostly see them being worn as part of suits and not stand alone garments. Unlike proper knickers and knee pants, bloomr knickers were wlways closed at or near the knees. We see a lot of these bloomer knickers, at the mid-19th century. Bloomer knickers were worn rather like knee pants and were more popular in England than in America. We see a few in America, mostly the 1860s, other wise we mostly see knee pants and long pants. It was a major difference between Anerivn and English fashions. The only time we see many American boys wearing these bloomer knickers was when tunic suits were popular (1900-20). Britiish boys in contrast commonly wore these bloomer knickers for an extended period. We see them wearing both bloomer knickers and knee pants, but the bloomr knickers were highly common. For example most English Fauntleroy suits were one wih bloomer knickers rather than knee pants. American Fauntleroy suits were done almost exculisively with knee pants.
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Knee pants were one of the styles of shortened-length pants thay appeared for boys in the mid-19th century. They were straight-cut pants and not bloused out like knickers. We note English boys in the second half of he 19th centyry wearing noth knee pants and knickers. This was different from America where the primary type of shortened pants were knee pants in the second half of the 19th century. We do not see many knickers in America until the 20th century. We see both knee pants and knickers in England. We are unsure about the relative importance. We see boys at public (elite private boarding) schools motly wearing knickers and long pants. Knee pants seem less common. Age may be afactor here with younger boys motly weaing knee pants. This is something we have yet to establish, but are working on as our 19th century English archive grows. We are less sure about the general population. Knee pants eventually became standard for British boys and were widely worn at state schools. We see knee pants with rather full cuts, something else we do not see in America. We are not yet sur about how these full cut varied over time. Americans boys mostly wore knee pants with long stockings. We note English boys wearing long stockings in the 19th and even the early 20th century. Knee socks became, however, much more popular after the turn-of-the 20th century. Baden Powell and the new Boy Scout movement may have been a factor here.
Knickers or "knickerbockers" as they are more commonly called in England were developed as country wear for English gentlemen in the late 19th century. They were adopted as a school uniform at many English boarding schools and were worn into the early 20th century. A British reade writes, "As a couple of other contributors have noted, in Britain we do not use the term knickers in the same sense as in America. Knickers is the name given to female underpants. It was also a term used as a 'soft' swear word at least from the early 70s. Knickerbockers (derived from the Dutch) were loose fitting short trousers gathered in at the knee worn by boys in the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras but there is no reference to them ever being refered to as knickers, that being a purely American (Websters) term. Nowadays you will hardly see them except worn by a adult few golfers and young page boys. There are also some ceremonial uniforms in Britain which include such garments or versions of them which date back hundreds of years." We have noted the term "knickers" being used for short pants before World War II.
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Short pants were first commonly worn in England after the turn of the Century. The emensely popular Boy Scout Movement helped to popularize the new shorts, worn with knee socks rather than the declining kneepants worn with long stockings. They were worn by most English boys through the 1950s, but began to decline in popularity in the 1960s as fewer and younger boys wore short pants suits. The Scouts dropped short pants as part of the school uniform in 1969, although Cubs continued to wear them. By the 1970s they were much less commonly worn, although many schools--especially private preparatory schools and many elementary schools still required them. The changing conventions over short trousers engendered aan extensive discussion of the suitability of shorts for boys in the English press. HBC readers should not that the common term for short pants in England is short trousers. "Knickers" has been used in the past, but is no longer used and "short pants" is never used. A British reader writes, "It is also worth pointing out that although the term 'short trousers' is used in the UK it is far more usual for just the word 'shorts' to be used. 'Short pants' is the preserve of the Americans!"
Long pants were at first only worn by boys. They were worn with the skeleton suits that boys began wearing in the late 18th century. Long trousers were sandard in the early 19th century for boys of all ages. Various style of shortened-length trousers became popular for boys beginning in the mid-19th century. At first only little boys wore them, but they gradually became popular for older boys as well. They eventually by the late 19th century became standard for boys. Boys in the early and mid-19th century commonly wore short pants, although knickers were not very common. Long pants began to grow in popularity after World War II, especially by the 1960s. British boys were commonly wearing long pants until the 1970s. Shorts by the end of the century were seen as casual wear for warm weather, although some schools still required them. Long trousers were mich more common.
Most British boys wore standard tousers, extending from the waist down to various lengths from above the ankles. we note a small number of images showing a differentb type of trousers. We ae not sure what the proper name forv these triusers were. They appear to be a type of uni-pants that extend above the waist. We do not have a good idea about the construction of these pants. This is because thaey were part of suits and the photographs we have are with the boys wearing their jackets, thus we can only see the front of these uni-pants and have no idea what the back was like. We do not have as large an English archive as our American archive, but it is large enough to understand that these pants were not very common, but we do see a few. This is not a style that we have observed in America. It was common for Engkish boys to wear vests with therir suits that matched the trousers, but as best we can tell from the available portraits these were one piece garments connecting the vests and pants. We only note these trousers done with long pants.
We have only limited information on rompers in England. A British reader tells us, "In the United Kingdom rompers is the name given to the all in one baby-grow babies are sometimes dressed in. These being a one piece item incorporating arm and legs (including feet) as well as the main body usually fasten using press-studs. I have never seen anyone wear what the unfortunate boys in the French photographs are wearing, although in the late 1950s very young boys would sometimes wear shorts with the same appearance. I can't comment as to whether all in one tops and shorts were available but have never seen them mentioned."
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