Figure 1.--This Irish family in 1905 dresses much as a middle-class English family. Notice the one boy still wearing a pinafore.

HBC has little information on boy's clothing before the 19th century. We do, however, have information beginning in the 19th century. English fashions are clearly dominant, but the poverty rife in Ireland often prevented boys from dressing in more than rags. The Potato Famine of the 1840s devestated Ireland and despersed the Irish popultion to America and other countries. Economic conditions gradually improved in Ireland. Clothing styles in the 20th century have been virtually indestinguishable from English styles.

Historical Background

England ruled Ireland for about seven centuries. It had been Irish raiders that had terrorized Roman Britain. St Patrick in fact had been a Britain captured by Irish raiders and brought back to Ireland as a slave. This changed after the Norman conquest of England. For the first time a strong centralized Englisg state was able to projects its power on a Ireland that had not yet coalesed into a nation. After the Reformation the power calculations changed. A still Catholic Ireland was used as tool by a succession of Catholic monarchs (Philip II, Louis XIV, and Napoleon) to threaten England. Catholic power in Ireland was finally broken by William III at the Battle of the Boyne and the last challenge of James II to regain the throne. The Catholic Irish were disenfranchised and lost tutle to their land, become a landless peasantry. While the World War ended in 1918, the IRA led by Michael Collins led a violent struggle for Independence and the English responded in kibnd with the Black and Tans. Britain finally granted indeoendence to the Irish Free State.

The 19th Century

English styles

Ireland in the 19th Century was part of the United Kingdom. Well to do Irish boys dressed just as English boys of the era. Most of the well to do were the Anglo Irish. We notice Irish boys wearing Eton collars. http://histclo.com/style/shirt/collar/eton/cou/ecc-ire.html The Catholic natives of Ireland were disenfranchised and the land divided up among Protestant Englishmen. The Anglo Irish were educated in English schools or English-oriented schools in Ireland and adopted English styles and customs. Thus the English boys clothing page provides a good over view of clothing styles also worn in Ireland. It was in the 19th Century that Gaelic became less commonly spoken. By the end of the Century it was found less and less, except in the more isolated rural areas.

Poverty

The Catholic population dominated the countryside. Poverty was rife in Ireland, even before the Potato Famine. Numerous reports decribe a rural peasantry living in apauling conditions. One visitor to Galway describes people dressed in rags. He wwrites about "... rags insufficient to cover the children and boys of twelve running around absolutely naked...." [Frounde in Dunn, p. 69.] As the Industrial Revolution progressed, the circumstances of rural workers in bothbEngland and reland deterioratd. The conditiin was worse in Ireland because so few people owned land and because there were little alternative to agricultural labor. As bad as conditions were in the early 19th century, conditions became disatrously worse in the 1840s during the Potato Famine. The Irish died by the thousands. The disaster of the Famine and British policies desimated the island's population.

Figure 2.--A rural Irish boy in the early 20th century still wearing a dress at 12 years of age.

Boy dresses

Througout the 19th Century boys were commonly outfitted in dresses until they were 12 or 13 years old. This practice was most common in rural areas, but it was not unknown in towns. Folk lore warned mothers to hide their boys from the "faries," so they were dressed as girls. Rural Irish boys often wore dresses until 12 or 13. The poverty of rural Ireland was one factor. The Irish superstition was that the farries would steal boy children and thus it was necessary to dress them as girls was another factor. The grandfather of the American novelist ????, for example, arrived in America at 12? still wearing a flannel dress. This practice was particularly commen in the wild western counties of Ireland where the Celtic tradition and Irish language persisted throughout the 19th century. The custom became less common in the late 19th Cebtury, but was still prevalent in some areas until after World War I (1914-18).

20th Century

Irish boys in the 20th century have dressed much as British boys, except for the lingering custom for the first few decades when some boys still wore dresses in the western counties as described above.

Early 20th Century (1900-1918)

Irish boys at lest in the cities and townsressed essentially like British boys of comparable economuc circumstances. In the rural areas some boys were still dressed in traditional frocks, especially in the more isolated western counties. Nany Irish youths served with the British Army in France, many of whom had bever before been far from their home. The Easter Rebellion in 1916 began the struggle for independemce.

Inter-War and War Years (1919-45)

We have little information about clothing trends in the inter-war period. While the World War ended in 1918, the IRA led by Michael Collins led a violent struggle for Independence and the English responded in kibnd with the Black and Tans. Britain finally granted indeoendence to the Irish Free State. Despite the animosity toward England, Irish boys continued to dress in almost ientical fashions that English boys wore. Fran McCord's autobiographical book, Angela's Ashes, has some excellent descriptions in the book on clothes worn in the 1940s by poor Irish boys. I would think that the descriptions would apply to any poor household in those days. HBC has not yet, however, been able to review the book.

Post War Ireland (1945-69)

Both the ordinary everyday clothes worn by Irish boys and their school uniforms have generally followed British school uniform fashionsd. Boys wore short pants and knee socks through the 1950s. One HBC contributor tells me that through the age of 12 he wore worsted flannel short pants to school and in the summer time "I wore beige cotton shorts which had legs that almost touched my knees". It was some time around the late 1960's that one Irish contributor tells me that he remembers reading an article in the Irish Independent, an national Irish paper, reporting on a childrens' fashions, stating that for 1969 mini-shorts were in for boys. It was almost from that point onwards that Irish boys began wearing shorter shorts. While boys, especially younger boys, began wearing shorter shorts, many older boys in the 1960s began wearing jeans and other long pants.

Figure 3.--This 1966 picture shows that the older Irish boys mostly wearing jeans and other long pants. Two boyscare still wearing short pants, one with school kneesocks.

Regulations at Irish schools varied widely. Many schools required uniforms, but not all schools specified the type of trousers boys had to wear. Some schools instituting uniform regulations requiring boys to wear shorts, but many schools let the parents decide. Some traditional schools still required shorts through the 1980s. One Irish secondary school even required kilts until the early 1990s. School uniforms are still commonly worn--but now mostly with long pants.

In the 1940's and 1950's it was common for boys to wear short trousers right up to age 14 at least. They were worn not just to school but all of the time. One Irish contributor tells me that that there were two boys in his third year secondary class at age 15 who were still wearing short trousers. Some schools had special uniforms but in many cases "ordinary" clothes were worn to school. Unlike today's more affluebnt times, most boys in the 1940s and 50s had only two basic sets of clothes: A set for school and and play, and a "Sunday Best" suit which was worn only on Sundays and, possibly, other special occasions. Any playacting in these Sunday suits was strictly discouraged in order to preserve them. Every boy got a new suit when he made his Confirmation, usually around 11/12 years of age. This suit became the "Sunday Best" and, because it was worn carefully, it lasted longer than others. The new suit was usually a couple of sizes too big (particularly the shorts) so you would grow into it. So, at 13/14, you were still going to Mass on Sundays in the same suit that your were confirmed in 2 years previously. By this time, however, the boy had grown several inches taller and the short trousers began to feel quite small.

Figure 4.--This picture also taken in 1966 shows boys on a school outing in both short pants and knee socks as well as long pants--includingjeans.

One contributor reports that at age 13 and a half, he was still wearing shorts. He says, "I recall walking/running to Church on Sundays in my Confirmation "Sunday Best" suit which consisted of a light brown jacket with similarly coloured short trousers and fawn knee stockings. At this stage the shorts felt much smaller than when I was 12 and I was becoming somewhat self-conscious about seeing so much of my leg--it made me feel like a little boy. On sitting down in the seat, increasingly I found that my legs were feeling excruciatingly itchy from the woollen stockings and the only way to get relief was to roll them down. This, of course meant that more of my legs were exposed so it was a catch-22 situation. I couldn't understand why the itchyness was suddenly there. Funny thing, though, I don't ever recall even once asking my parents for "longs". I just accepted that wearing shorts was the norm and that my time would eventually come, which it did just before my 14th birthday. However, like many boys who got their first "longs" it didn't signal the end of wearing shorts altogether. For the next few months I alternated between longs and shorts until the shorts were just too little for me to wear anymore." -- Mark

Late 20th Century (1970-99)

One conntributor remembers in the 1970s wearing short pants to primary school. His biggest memory is of cold knees in the winter. It was still quite common for Irish mothers to put their sons in short pants until early teens. Long pants except for school were common in the winter. One HBC contributor says he would wear on the non-school days, but shorts all the time in the summer. It was quite progressive in Dublin, as soon as he began secondary school he only wore short pants in the summer, but the countryside was a bit more conservative. The first time he saw his cousin in long pants he was 15 years old!

It was some time around 1988 that the longer "Bermuda" shorts were introduced and were worn by most young boys. Soccer football shorts did not immediately follow the longer fashion trend, but did begin to appear in the longer lkength in 1992. It was around that time that the clubs started introducing shorts that dangled just above the kneecaps. The Irish have their own brand of football and it is administered by a body called the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is an organisation that is opposed to commercial Soccer and when soccer players wore short shorts GAA members wore long shorts. Now that soccer players wear long shorts GAA players wear shorter football shorts. This shorter style has continued to be popular in the 1990s.

Sources

Dunn, Waldo Hilary. James Anthony Frounde: A Biography (1818-1856) (Ocfotd University Press: Oxford, 1961).