Boys' Brigade Uniform Garments: Headwear

Figure 1.--This English boy wears the pillbox cap that was commonly worn by Brigaders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This image is undated, but probably taken in the 1910s. Note that the badge on the cap has the Boys' Brigade symbol.

The Boy's Brigade has used most of the same uniform garments as the other uniformed youth groups. There have been some destinctive styles, especially for headwear. The Brigade for a while used the pillbox cap, principal group to do so. The most common headwear assocaited with the Boys' Brigade is the camapign, perhaps a aftifact of the Boys' Brigade Scottish origins.

Pillbox Caps

We note that Brigaders commonly wore pillbox caps, a popular army style, in the late 19th and early 20th century. This appears to have continued into the 1910s. After World War I, however, the Glengarry-style campaign caps become more common and are still associated with the Boys Brogade today. We do not yet, hoever, have a precise timeline. The caps appear quite similar. We assume they were blue. Available images show two horizontal stripes and a button top. The bagges on the front of the caps, however varied.

Campaign Caps

The Boys' Brigade also adopted the campaign cap. A popular style was blue with white piping. I'm not sure just when they adopted the campaign cap, it presumably varied from country to county. Actually as the Boys' Brigade originated in Scotland, they may have first worn actual Glengarry bonnets with plaid or check trim. This the Boys' Brigade may have wiorn the campaign cap before either the Italian Balial or the Hitler Youth, but we can not yet confirm this. We have noted the Boys' Brigade wearing many different styles of campaign camps. Some like the New Zealand boys seen here had extensive white piping or trim. The Boys Brrigade today is the only uniformed youth group that we know of that continues to wear the campaign cap as the official headgear.