Figure 1.--Here we see the Drummond children in 1885. They looked all dressed up. One HBC reader thinks they are going to church. HBC thinks going to church in a goat cart is unlikekly, but we are not positive. Rather HBC thinks this is simply a reflection of greater formality in dress prevalent in the 19th century.

A reader has sent us an image of the Drummond children from Montreal. This delightful antique photograph of Montreal children ws taken in 1885. We know nothing about the children in the goat cart (wggon) except that they are the offspring of a certain "Mrs. Drummond." Notice the boy's large-brimmed straw hat. He seems to be quite dressed up. One reader thought the children might be going to church because they are so dressed up. HBC thinks it is unlikely that they would go to church in a goat cart because that was more of a play conveyance. Our reader writes, "I don't know whether kids would go to church in a goat cart. Maybe not but they are very dressed up. The veiled bonnets on the girls looked churchy to me." Perhaps our French Canadian readers will have some insights here. The boy wears a white jacket. This is interesting because we note few other images of boys in the late 19th century wearing white jackets. It is difficult to make out, but it looks like he is wearing some sort of white tie and a chain (perhaps a watch chain) coming out of one of his lower pockets. He wears black knee pants and the traditional long black stockings. The boy seems to be about 9 years old. His two younger sisters are dressed all in white with lace-trimmed dresses and bonnets that include lace veils. These would be appropriate for Sunday Mass, because in those days girls and women always went to church with their heads covered.

The Family

We know nothing about the children in the goat cart (wggon) except that they are the offspring of a certain "Mrs. Drummond." The Drummond family was another wealthy English-speaking family like the Van Hornes. As it was with the van Horne, those families lived on the slopes of the Mount-Royal Mountain in opulent palaces . The place where they lived was called the "Golden Square Mile". Some of those castles are still there and they are protected against demolition by laws. This "Elite" enriched in fur trades before extending their power all over Canada with railroads which was the main reason why Canada confederated as an answer to the extending United States which bought Alaska from Russia around 1867, the year of the Confederation. At that time, Montreal was the leading city in Canada like Toronto is now. George A. Drummond was a business man who contributed to the founding of the McGill University, well-renowned in North-America. At that time, there were no such elite among French-Canadians who were contained in the country or in the poorest parts of Montreal. As Catholics, they were perceived as backward people like Americans looked on the Irish.

Location

A reader has sent us an image of the Drummond children from Montreal.

Chronology

This delightful antique photograph of Montreal children ws taken in 1885.

Scene

One reader thought the children might be going to church because they are so dressed up. HBC thinks it is unlikely that they would go to church in a goat cart because that was more of a play conveyance. Our reader writes, "I don't know whether kids would go to church in a goat cart. Maybe not but they are very dressed up. The veiled bonnets on the girls looked churchy to me." Perhaps our French Canadian readers will have some insights here. The girls' bonnets would be appropriate for Sunday Mass, because in those days girls and women always went to church with their heads covered." We at first thought the family was Catholic, but a French reader has explained that the Drummonds were an English Protestant family.

Clothing

Notice the boy's large-brimmed straw hat. He seems to be quite dressed up. The boy wears a white jacket. This is interesting because we note few other images of boys in the late 19th century wearing white jackets. It is difficult to make out, but it looks like he is wearing some sort of white tie and a chain (perhaps a watch chain) coming out of one of his lower pockets. He wears black knee pants and the traditional long black stockings. The boy seems to be about 9 years old. His two younger sisters are dressed all in white with lace-trimmed dresses and bonnets that include lace veils.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor hats] [Bonnets] [Sailor suits] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores] [Kneepants] [Long stockings]

Created: 9:52 PM 3/24/2005
Last updated: 1:19 AM 3/25/2005