Figure 1.--These Cubs were photographed in 1992 at a museum visit. The Cubs are wearing turn-over-top socks with the offical green flashes. Notice boy in the background wearing his school socks with the colored bands.

English Cubs have traditionally worn short pants uniforms with grey grey kneesocks. Of course boys in more recent years have begun wearing long pants. Here the hosiery is no longer important because the socks are covered up. Boys wearing short pants, however wear knee socks. Any plain color kneesocks were allowed, but most boys wore grey kneesocks. The official uniforn, however, was kneesocks. They were worn turned down below the knee, with green tabbed garter showing on the outside (to keep the socks up). The flashed on the garters were green. One element of the uniform that does not appear to be consistent was the kneesocks. Many boys in the early Cub groups did wearing plain grey kneesocks. Many were also wearing dark kneesocks or grey kneesocks with patterned cuffs. Note: different coloured garter tabs were worn by older scouts and leaders, clearly an influence from Baden-Powell's background. A changed occurred in the 1970s. It was not an official change, but many boys began wearing the less expensive kneesocks that did not have turn over tops. An English reader writes, "Cubs wore garters with green flashes on them. Some prep schools did too but in their school colours, but this changed with the wearing of non-turnover-top kneesocks. I noticed this on the HBC "national descriptions" page where the Cub on the left has the new style of kneesocks and no garters and the one third from left seems to have created a turn-over-top in order to accommadate the garters shortening his socks to well below the knee."

Trousers

English Cubs have traditionally worn short pants uniforms with grey grey kneesocks. Of course boys in more recent years have begun wearing long pants. Here the hosiery is no longer important because the socks are covered up. Boys wearing short pants, however wear knee socks. Any plain color kneesocks were allowed, but most boys wore grey kneesocks.

Official Knee Socks

The official uniforn was grey kneesocks. The Official uniform was turn-over-top socks. The socks were longer and heavier and thus more expensive than the plain kneesocks that became common in the 1970s. These socks were also worn at many prep schools, often with colored bands in the school colors. The Cubs kneesocks were plain grey. The extra length allowed the socks to be cuffed at the knee. Here garters were used under the cuffs to hold up the socks.

Flashes

The turn-over-top socks were worn turned down below the knee. The garters had green flashes. The green tabbed garter showed on the outside, but had the practical purpose of keeping the socks up. The flashes on the Scout garter were green. Scouts had red flashes before the uniform was changed to long pants. Note: different coloured garter tabs were worn by older scouts and leaders, clearly an influence from Baden-Powell's background. An English reader writes, "Cubs wore garters with green flashes on them. Some prep schools did too but in their school colours, but this changed with the wearing of non-turnover-top kneesocks. I noticed this on the HBC "national descriptions" page where the Cub on the left has the new style of kneesocks and no garters and the one third from left seems to have created a turn-over-top in order to accommadate the garters shortening his socks to well below the knee."

Non-official Kneesocks

One element of the uniform that does not appear to be consistent in many photographs of Cubs was the kneesocks. Many boys in the early Cub groups did wear plain grey kneesocks. Many were also wearing dark kneesocks. Before World War II many Cubs wore grey kneesocks with patterned cuffs. A changed occurred in the 1970s. It was not an official change, but many boys began wearing the less expensive kneesocks that did not have turn over tops. These were the same socks they commonly wore to school. Many primary schools required boys to wear short pants and kneesicks, but did not specify specific types of kneesocks. Usually the schools required grey shorts and kneesocks and thus many boys wore the same shorts and socvks for Cubs.