Figure 1.-- Robert Nelson Bailey had his photograph taken on September 16 1907. He was 3 years old at the time. He wears a sailor tunic with matching large soft cap. The tunc suit was fairly standard, the material rather unusual. It is notable because it was made in polkadot (actually small anchors) material. Presumably his mother bought the material and made it from the pattern. Image courtesy of the CS collection.

Robert Nelson Bailey had his photograph taken on September 16 1907. He was 3 years old at the time. He wears a sailor tunic with matching large soft cap. The tunc suit was fairly standard, the material rather unusual. It is notable because it was made in polka dot material. Presumably his mother bought the material and made it from the pattern. The sailor cap looks to be in the same color without the olkadots. Because of the way it is set on his head, it is difficukt to see just how it was fashioned. We believe that the boy was from New Brunswick, probably southern New Brunswick. There are side buttons. Note the tunic does not open all the way to the bottom of the tunic. There are matching polkadot bloomer knickers. Here poladot knickers are a bit unusual. Note the white dickey with embroidered anchor. Robert wears long black stockings with the outfit. Our HBC reader writes, "On the reverse it reads; "Robert Nelson Bailey, Sept. 16 1907, 3 years" I purchased this image because I have some relatives that are Bailey's and thought that is may be one of my distant relatives. I've yet to confirm this with any evidence. The sailor suit he is wearing is interesting in it's material and it appears almost home-made to my eyes. I was told by the same local Saint John "antiques & collectibles" dealer that he acquired this image locally here in the Southern New Brunswick area. Unfortunately the bottom of the card had been cracked and torn away many years ago, it may have named the photographer."

Chronology

Robert Nelson Bailey had his photograph taken on September 16 1907. We know this for sure as it is ritten on the bsack of the portrit.

Age

Robert was 3 years old at the time. We also know this for sure because it was written on the back of the portrait.

Family

We know nothing about Robert's family. The fact that Robert is so smarly done up suggests to us that his mother was a very stylish lady which would suggest that Robert came from a family in comfortable if not affluent family. Yje outfit also suggests that mother either made Robert's clothing or had it mde after choosing the material. Tunic suits were very common garmnts, but the material here does not look like ome commonly available in mass market clothing.

Location

Because of the way it is set on his head, it is difficukt to see just how it was fashioned. We believe that the boy was from New Brunswick, probably southern New Brunswick. Our HBC reader writes, "On the reverse it reads; "Robert Nelson Bailey, Sept. 16 1907, 3 years" I purchased this image because I have some relatives that are Bailey's and thought that is may be one of my distant relatives. I've yet to confirm this with any evidence. The sailor suit he is wearing is interesting in it's material and it appears almost home-made to my eyes. I was told by the same local Saint John "antiques & collectibles" dealer that he aquired this image locally here in the Southern New Brunswick area. Unfortunately the bottom of the card had been cracked and torn away many years ago, it may have named the photographer."

Outfit

He wears a sailor tunic with matching large soft cap. The tunc suit was fairly standard, the material rather unusual. It is notable because it was made in polka dot material. Presumably his mother bought the material and made it from the pattern. The sailor cap looks to be in the same color without the polkadots. There are side buttons. Note the tunic does not open all the way to the bottom of the tunic. There are matching polkadot bloomer knickers. Here poladot knickers are a bit unusual. Note the white dickey with embroidered anchor. Robert wears long black stockings with the outfit. The HBC reader who contributed this image tells us that the suit is not really a polkadot suit. He writes, "One note. Although you cannot make it out in the image, those "polka dots" printed on the material are actually miniature anchors with a length of rope tied to each. Nautical cloth for a nautical suit! You can distinguish this from the actual image on close inspection or with a magnifying glass. The achors point in different directions, and look similar to what you can see on the dicky."

Created: 9:03 PM 8/31/2004
Last edited: 9:03 PM 8/31/2004