Figure 1.--Older English boys like the boys in this 1910 photograph before World War might wear knickers while their younger brother wears shorts. After the World War fewer English boys wore knickers and shorts became more commonly worn.

The English knickers, almost always referred to as knickerbockers, were close or medium-fitting trousers that came below the knee. We see them in late-19th century photograp[hs and seem to have commonly been worn to school. They were also worn for country outings by young men and adults. This would have been a relatively narrow part of the population. By the 1910s shorts were becoming more important in England, in part we think because of the inluence of Lord Baden Powell's Scout movement. English boys by the 1920s more commonly wore shorts although some older English boys wore knickers. The photographic record suggests that shorts were much more prevalent. Most English boys when they outgrew short pants wore long pants. Knickers in the 1920s and 30s were not nearly as popular in England as in America or even the continent for boys. A British reader writes, "I certainly never saw them being worn here and believe they died out even earlier - maybe the 1920s - at which point most boys were wearing short trousers." Knickers were more common as smart casual wear by the affluent class.

The 19th Century

The 1850s

We notice youngerEnglish boys wearing shortened-length pants, especially knickers in the mid-19th century. We see various type of knicker-length pants, both proper knickers and bloomer knickers. In the 1850s we mostly see bloomer knickers. This would become the standard pants-type for boys as the century progressed. At first they were worn by younger boys, but gradually they became more common for older boys and eventually teenagers as well.

The 1860s

Knicker pants were worn with various suit types. Shortenened-length pants had become ppular for boys from fashionable families in the 1850s. We do not yet see working-class bots commonly wearung knicketrs. This continued into the 1860s with somewaht olderb boys wearing knickers. This depended on the age of the boys. Younger boys might wear cut-way jackets. They were also worn both with fancy suits and tunics. A good example of a boy wearing bloomer knickers is Cyril BickerstethCyril Bickersteth in 1865.

The 1870s

We still see mostly younger boys wearing knicker-length pants in the 1870s. Our English archive is growing, but we do not yet have a lot of images from the 1870s. Most of the portaits we have found are boys wearing long pants, especially older boys. The knickers we do see are often worn by younger boys and are bloomer knickers. , Often they were bloomer knickers. But we see a few boys wearing what look like regular knickers as well. We note them being worn with cut-away jackets, a popular style persidting from the 1860s. We do not yet know how common they were at school. As far as we can tell, school boys still wore mostly long pants. It is not always possible, however, to tell if boys are wearing their school clothes in porttaitgs.

The 1880s

The English knickers, almost always referred to as knickerbockers, were close or medium-fitting trousers that came below the knee. We notice knicker pants being worn with Fauntleroy suits. American boys might wear straight-leg knee pants wih Fauntleroy suits, but English boys were more likly to wear these knicker pants. We see older boys wearing them by the 1880s. We see them in late-19th century photograp[hs and seem to have commonly been worn to school. We increasingly see them in schools. Many private schools adopted them as part of the uniform. The older boys we see wearing these pants seem to werar them as part of a school uniform.

The 1890s

Boys continue to wear knickers with Norfolk jackets.

The 20th Century

The 1900s

English boys commonly wore knicker pants in the late-19th century. Knee pants were also common. We still see knickers at the turn-of-the 20th century. Good examples are George and Ewan McTherson in 1902. They began to decline in popularity as boys began wearing knee pants more commonly.

The 1910s

By the 1910s shorts were becoming more important in England, in part we think because of the inluence of Lord Baden Powell's Scout movement. We still see some Britidh boys wearing knickers at the beginning of the decade, we think mostly as part of school uniforms. They were much les common by the ebd of the decade.

The 1920s

English boys after World War I increasingly wore short pants. We no longer see knickers very commonly. They were also worn for country outings by young men and adults. This would have been a relatively narrow part of the population. English boys by the 1920s more commonly wore shorts although some older English boys wore knickers. The photographic record suggests that shorts were much more prevalent. Most English boys when they outgrew short pants wore long pants. Knickers in the 1920s and 30s were not nearly as popular for boys in England as in America or even the continent.

The 1930s

We see very few British boys wearing knickers in the 1930s. Knickers were still very common in America. But we do see some boys wearung, almost always only teenagers wearing them. We do not see pre-teens wearing them which was the case in the 19th century. We would not call them rare or unusual, but they were much less common than short and long pants. We notice them being worn with brightkyb colored patterned knee socks. Unlike the 19th century, knickers were not schoolwear. They were a kind of intermediate step for youths between short pants and long pants. As best as we can tell they were not casual wear as was the case for adults. We suspect there was a social class factor. We do not think they were work to any extebt by working-class youth. We do note that in the trade that knickers were used interchangeably with short trousers. (The British always say 'short trousers', unlike the Americabs who say 'short pants'. A British reader writes, "I certainly never saw them being worn here and believe they died out even earlier - maybe the 1920s - at which point most boys were wearing short trousers." Knickers were more common as smart casual wear by adults part the affluent class.

The 1940s

We have not yet found images of British boys wearing knickers in the 1940s. That is not to say that they did not exist, but unike the 30s, they seem to ne veey rate. Afctir here was that because of the War, knickers were no longer made because they required extra material.

Navigate the Historic Boys ' Clothing Web chronol ogical pages:
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s]

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web style pages:
[Jackets] [Long pants suits] [Blazers] [Kilts] [S ailor suits] [Short pants suits]
[Ring bearer/page costumes] [Eton suits]

Created: 9:22 PM 9/5/2010
Last edited: 9:35 AM 2/7/2015