Figure 1.--s.

Some short references noted by HBC or submitted by HBC readers are compiled here. Detailed information is not available here for a full page. many Scottish boys clearly had similar experience, but each reports unique experiences. HBC has little information on how common it was for Scottish boys to wear kilts in the late 19th and early 20th century, but by the 1940s only a few boys wore them--most commonly boys from affluent families.

Scottish Cub

I remember a time when I was in the cub scouts. All the troups were to take part in the scout highland games. We were all to wear kilts. At that time I did not know what a kilt was. I was only 8 at the time. I went home and told my mum that I needed a kilt. My mum took me to the local co-op shop and got me to try on what I though was a skirt. I was horrified !! My mum explained that a kilt was a skirt worn by Scottish boys so it was ok to wear it and I would not be a girl. I also had to wear my sisters navy underpants. When I attended the games I was relieved to find all the other boys wearing the kilt. I am not sure how many wore navy knickers though. I also wore mu kilt as a pagee boy at a wedding.

Scottish Boy from Egypt

Friendly family and son moved from Egypt to Scotland 1951. It was of course, in Scotland quite commonplace for the majority of boys to be dressed in a kilt at school and at home. Michael had, to my knowledge, three kilts. For school wear, a kilt not quite so fully pleated as his special weekend kilt. At home, his kilts tended to be wellworn ones no longer suitable for school. The third was quite interesting and reserved for playing in the street. It was made of rather coarsely woven cloth without pleats but still full. It was plain dark brown.

A Bodice Kilt

I at 7 years of age had my new hunting Fraser outfit and had no problems going visiting and on Sundays. It was about 1944. I became used to wearing my kilt on special occasions and Sunday. At this time Mother sent me to elocution classes after school and she insisted that I wear my kilt to school on these days. Most boys wore short trousers with blazers. A few boys wore kilts all the time and others just on special occasions. It was boys from the more affluent families that wore kilts and in the school was in a rich area many boys wore their kilts to school. While kilts were thus not unknown, some of us got tease for what we wore with our kilts. Among other problems, which I won't discuss here, is the fact that my mother had chosen a bodice kilt for me. She did not think I was big enough for a proper kilt. One day at school my blouse buttons were open and it was obvious I was wearing a bodice kilt. From then on if I appeared in my kilt the others laughed and said my mother made me wear a dress like the girls. I had to wear this bodice kilt until I was 9 years old. I always wore a jacket or blazer with my kilt when going out. I sometimes wore my kilt at home with a sweater.

At about age 9, mother removed the bodice from my kilt and I had a proper boys kilt from then on. It was at this point we left Glasgow for Edinburgh.

I eventually went to a state secondary school in Edinburgh. We wore short trousers untill third year then long trousers were allowe. We also wore blazers. Boys as an option were allowed to wear kilts, although few did. I was one of the boys who always wore a kilt to secondary school till I left. Two other boys wore kilts for the first 3 years. We sometimes wore a tweed jacket to school, but some of us had blazer material made into a kilt jacket which we tended to wear to school. We never wore our blazers with kilts out of school where a tweed or dress jacket was always worn with our kilts. Not really at school as many of the boys wore kilts on Sundays or at Scouts. Nothing much was ecver said about our kilts at school. We got teased, however, on the way to and from School by other children and at other times when we were shopping, going to church or Sunday school or just out. Our school did not incourage boys to wear kilts. It was mothers that decided if you wore a kilt or not and it was common in middle and upper classes. Us boys whonwore kilts id discuss the subject among ourselves. Most boys wore kilts for the same reason as me, mothers at the time ruled utill you were 18.

A Northeastern Scottish Boyhood

Reading the accounts of other boys, I realise that with small differences I am sure all we who were kilts as boys could tell similar stories. My boyhood days in which I wore kilts streached from 1949 to about 1960. We lived in northeast Scotland, what is now Grampian Region. My parents were not perhaps quite so overbearing as some and I was asked if I wanted to wear the kilt. I agreed and I got my first kilt at age 6 years. My first kilt was in fact one that was handed down from a very much older sister which had an attached bodice. The bodice meant that the length of the kilt could be easily adjusted by stitching up the shoulders a bit. It didn't seem to take my mother long. What ever that was me into the kilt and it also meant a trip to the kilt shop to try and get the bits and pieces that boys need that girls don't, like a jacket, a sporran and flashes for my socks. I wore the kilt when we went to the shop and was quickly fitted with the required items except for the jacket, then thought to be a bit expensive and the speed that young lads grow at that age. Wearing a kilt with a bodice meant that you couldn't wear a normal shirt you had to have a blouse that had elastic round the waist and which I hated, luckily the blouse was only for dressed up as best and I usually wore a jersey at other times. The bodice stayed on the kilt until my mother decided that I had developed enough of a waist to be able to keep the kilt in place with out it slipping to the floor every time you took a deep breath or streached up for something.

I went to more than one primary school as a boy. From age 5 to age 8 I went to the village primary school. Though several boys wore the kilt from time to time only about four or five of us wore the kilt as our every day wear. The other boys wore shorts and just every day clothes. At that time there was no school uniform as such.

At age 8 I was sent to a private boys school, which in Britain is calle a preparatory school, and lived in the boarding house all week and was allowed to go home at weekends. At that school there was a school uniform which consisted of grey shorts and a navy blazer with the school badge, a school tie and pullover. However many of the primary school boys wore the kilt and this was worn with the school blazer during the week but all term boarders who stayed at the boarding house all term were expected to wear the kilt with a tweed jacket on Sundays and to go to church.

The secondary school was the same school as the private primary. you just moved from the primary buildings to the school proper. Some boys still wore the kilt at secondary school but not nearly as many as did at the primary school. I continued to wear the kilt as normal every day wear up until I was about 15 or so. and then I still wore it on Sundays or for any special occasions, like weddings or parties. Most boys at secondary wore shorts for the first year and then moved into long trousers after that.

John

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing kilt pages:
[Return to the Main Scottish kilt page]
[Return to the Main national kilt page]
[Kilt suits] [Scottish boys clothing] [Scottish school uniform]
[Highland dance] [Scottish pipe band]
[Irish kilts] [Irish boys clothing] [Irish step dancing]
[Greek kilts]

Created: October 14, 1999
Last updated: February 18, 2001