Figure 1.--Secondary schools in the 1950s, both private and state, generally required boys to wear blazers and ties. Often the younger boys wore short pants and kneesocks.

Short pants continued to be common at primary schools, although more and more boys bdegan swearing long pants as the decade progressed. Most schools had no uniform are requirement concerning dress. Prep schools generally had short pants uniforms. Many state secondary schools instituted short pants requirements for the younger boys. Private secondary scools (public schools) varied. Some allowed all boys to wear longs. Others required shorts for the younger boys, although rules varied from school to school. Some set age limits, others did it by form. Others set a height limit. A few schools required short pants for all the boys.

Vocabulary

A note on vocabulary. The British generally refer to trousers. By itself that usually means long trousers. When shorts are involved they generally specify short trousers. Americans more commonly use the word pants which in America is interchangavle with trousers. The same is not true in Britain where pants is used to describe underwear.

Types of Trousers

British school boys wore either short or long pants. Knickers were still seen in the erarly 1950s but not commonly and were not worn as a school uniform except for a prep school Prince Charles attended in London--Hill House. Both shorts and longs were worn by both primary and secondary schools--although most older secondary schoolboys worec longs. Only a few private schools required all boys to wear shorts.

Material

Flannel pants or other wool fabrics were very common in the 1940s. By the 1950s new synthetic blend materials became available and by the late 1950s has substantially replaced pure wool trousers. Some prep schools

Types of Schools

Short pants continued to be common at primary schools, although more and more boys began wearing long pants as the decade progressed. Most schools had no uniform are requirement concerning dress. Prep schools generally had short pants uniforms. Many state secondary schools instituted short pants requirements for the younger boys. Private secondary scools (public schools) varied. Some allowed all boys to wear longs. Others required shorts for the younger boys.

Regulations

Only a few primary schools had regulations about wearing short pants, although most prep dchools required them. Many secondary sdchoosl required shorts for the younger boys. Rules about wearing short pants varied from school to school. Some schools set age limits. The most common requirement was to do it by form. Most commonly the boys in the first two forms had to wear them. Other scghoos set a height limit. This was perhaps the leastvpopular option as dsometimes older boys of sdhort stature had to wear d\shorts like the junior boys. A few schools required short pants for all the boys.

Created: October 5, 2000
Last updated: October 5, 2000