I was born in England in 1945, the first-born to my fairly strict Methodist parents. Apart fromwearing pyjamas at night, my knees remained uncovered for the first 13 years of my life. Photos ofme as a toddler show me in a knitted outfit with shorts. At the age of 5 years I started school, and spent the next 13 years mostly in school uniform. Even at weekends and for Sunday School it was a grey "knicker" (short pants) suit with jacket and knee-length short trousers, school tie, long socks and black leathershoes. Only in the summer holidays do I remember wearing anything else, baggy khaki shorts, open-necked shirt and sandals. Mostly my shoes were black leather lace-ups. Sandals were worn in the summer and during the school holidays as I remember. I may have worn sandals to school, but don't have a clear memory. I was never really concerned with footwear. I just wore what mum bought. I wore ankle socks in the summer holidays, knee socks for school and all other occasions when having to dress properly. I don't remember having real any preference. It was just what I had to wear.

I suppose with clothes either rationed or just come off rationing early in the 1950s (Idon't know which) there wasn't a lot of spare cash around, and my parents who had twins 4 yearsafter I was born certainly couldn't afford to buy clothes that weren't going to get worn to the full. I think this was quite common in England at the time.

From the age of 5 to 11 years of age I attended primary school and wore a red uniform: red and grey peaked cap, grey school knee socks with red bands on the turnover, grey shirt and plain red tie, grey short trousers. There was noquestion about the trousers: in England at that time it was very unusual for boys under 11 to wear long trousers.

On moving to Grammar School (academically selective secondary school) in 1956 I had to wear a similar uniform except the predominantcolour was maroon. It was my first day at this school which brought me into contact with long trousered schoolboys for the first time: about half of the class of 25 or so had been given longtrousers to mark their transition from primary to secondary school.

During my 2nd year at Grammar School the number of boys in shorts gradually reduced, until by July1958 there were only four of us in that year still permanently in short trousers. Every month Iexpected to be given long trousers. I remember during 1957 being told to go to my bedroom whereI would find some new clothes laid on the bed for me. (There was no question of me being given anychoice in the matter). Perhaps my parents did it that way because they knew I would bedisappointed at finding yet more short trousers to wear, and didn't want to face me directly. When Isaw the short trousers I fell on to the bed weeping; here was I, 12 years old, condemned to yetanother year in short trousers. (Incidentally, we never used the term "shorts", shorts were what you wore for sporting activities).

There was also a secondary modern school nearby. As far as I'm aware there wasn't any real differences over uniforms. The local secondary modern schools actually were also quite strict on uniforms. I do remember seeing boys from the local secondary modern (which was on myway to the station) wearing shorts. I don't remember any teasing or friction between us.

School caps were a real concern with us junior boys. We had to wear them all the time. We worn caps proudly to Infant and Junior school, but increasingly reluctantly as the secondary years progressed. At my second grammar school (1958-1963) it was compulsory for all boys up to Form IV to wear caps. The rule stated that we had to wear it at all timesbetween home and school. I went to school 6 miles away by train, and therewere especially appointed train prefects whose main job was to see that we wore our caps. Of course we didn't, especially getting off at our home stationon the way home. It became the done thing to wear the caps as far back on thehead as possible. Only "creeps" wore their caps pulled down over their foreheads.

My shorts were on the long side, even for the late 50s. My father was in the trade (knickers as he called them) and was of the opinion that short trousers should be knee length. Actually I would have preffered slightly shorter shorts. I rember being teased about it. As one of the few boys wearing short trousers in a class largely of long trousered boys, I was further agonised by a boy who taunted me with "Long shorts, short longs" whenever I passedhim in the corridor.

In the summer of 1958, just before moving to another school, I was given long trousers: the uniform this time was blue and silver, with all the same elements as previous schools, except that I did notever wear long socks in those colours. There was one boy in this class who was still in shorts, and hewas ragged unmercifully by the other boys, until he was also given longs after Christmas.

Actually I didn't personally mind wearing shorts. I was not strong enough, however, toresist peer pressure and go against the norms of the day. Once I had beengiven longs at the age of 13 years, 7 months, I rarely wore shorts, (apart from compulsory PE and games which I hated) for the next 10 years or so. I find it incredible now, as a full time shorts wearer, that in my mid-teens Iwould go out for bike rides in the hilly Isle of Wight countryside on hot summerdays wearing an open-necked and sleeveless shirt, DARK GREY LONGTROUSERS AND CYCLE CLIPS!

My twin brothers who were 4 years younger also wore short trouser school uniforms. They actually went into longs just after their 12th birthday, in the middle of the second year at Grammar School. I suppose by that time even myparents couldn't swim against the tide, though there were a few stricter than them.

Chris Cinngram, May 10, 1998

If you found Chris's account of his boyhood clothes of interest, you might want to have a look at some of the other personal accounts:

Austrlalia
The 1960s
The 1970s
England:
The 1940s
The 1950s
The 1970s
Ireland:
The 1980s
New Zealand:
Various
The 1990s
Norway:
The 1950s
Scotland:
The 1960s
The 1980s (An American boy)
United States:
The 1940s
The 1940s
The 1940s
The 1940s-50s
The 1950s
The 1960s