Tartan shorts / underwear ? (MacGregor tartan - 1920s/40s) Rare?

[neloon]

The Scottish National Dictionary gives as a secondary meaning for trews "short tartan trunks worn under the kilt" though many people called then "undertrews" to make the distinction. They became standard official wear for army officers around 1800 and were also automatically supplied by civilian kiltmakers until about 1960 and to order for some years after that. Here is an 1875 photograph of competitors at the Aboyne Games - three of them to the left will have removed their kilts for the pole vault or high jump
http://www.electricscotland.com/gath...ings_pic25.jpg
Even in daily life in my young day (1940s/50s), it was not uncommon for boys and even men to remove their kilts in public if the occasion demanded. The undertrews were so standard that the "question" was never asked.
Here are another couple of links
http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-ph...ng-out-of-kilt
Ed Anderson throwing in the 1930s
http://www.electricscotland.com/gath...ings_pic22.jpg
I suspect that the trews in the OP's picture are pre-1930 since, after that date, the waist was normally elasticated
Alan