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We do not note English boys wearing ethnic clothing go any extent. One of the few exceptions is Scottish Highlands dress. Scotish-style clothing was not only worn in Scotland. Scottish clothes were made and worn in England. This began in the 19th century as the cult of Scotland grew in England. Scotland had been looked doen by most English, especially in the 18th century after the suppression of the '45 Jacobite Rising at Culloden. This changed only gradually. The Scottish regiments in the Napoleonic Wars brought great credit on Scotland. Romantic novels and poems about Scotland also affected public thinking. Even the Hanovarians which had replaced the Stuarts gradually were swept up with the public enthusiasm over Scotland. The last Hanlvarian, Princess Victoria loved to read about Scotland. Affter becoming queen, she and Prince Albert began dressing the boys in Highland outfits. This was both a political statement and a relection of her love of Scotland. Other well to do English families also dressed their boys in Highland outfits. As far as we know this affectatiin was served for the affluent class, but this meant well to do middle-class families.
We do not note English boys wearing ethnic clothing go any extent. One of the few exceptions is Scottish Highlands dress. Scotish-style clothing was not only worn in Scotland. Scottish clothes were made and worn in England.
The interest interest uin Scotland began in the 19th century as the cult of Scotland grew in England. Scotland had been looked doen by most English, especially in the 18th century after the suppression of the '45 Jacobite Rising at Culloden. This changed only gradually. The Scottish regiments in the Napoleonic Wars brought great credit on Scotland. Romantic novels and poems about Scotland also affected public thinking.
Even the Hanovarians which had replaced the Stuarts gradually were swept up with the public enthusiasm over Scotland. The last Hanlvarian, Princess Victoria loved to read about Scotland. Affter becoming queen, she and Prince Albert began dressing the boys in Highland outfits. This was both a political statement and a relection of her love of Scotland. Other well to do English families also dressed their boys in Highland outfits.
As far as we know this affectatiin was served for the affluent class, but this meant well to do middle-class families. We notice quite a number of photographic portraits in which English boys were outfitted in complete Highland outfits
We note one English-made Scottish outfit. We know it was made in England because the insignia of the London tailor can be found in the Glengerry cap. Interestingly, this was an elborate Highland outfit, but was made with kneepants rather than a kilt. We suspect that this may have been because a visiting American mother bought it for her son.
An English monarch, Queen Victoria, popularized the Scottish kilt for boys. We have noted a number of English boys wearing highland kilts. We are unsure to what extent this mean Scotish ancestry as opposed to simply a fashion statement. We also have noted a few English boys wearing kiltsuits. The kilt is generally associated today with Scotland or the Gaelic peoples of the British Isles and Normandy. The kilts use as a style of boys' clothing is much more recent in origin. In the British Isles, the kilt is mostly associated with Scotland and to a lesser extent Ireland. Boys in England itself, however, also occasuinally wore kilts, especially after Queen Victorian began dressing
the princes in Highland kilts during the 1840s. The full extent to which boys wore kilts is somewhat difficult to determine. Available photographs often do not indicate who the boy is or where he is from. Thus it is difficilt to determine if it is an English or Scottish boy involved.
We are not sure precisely why English boys wore Scottish highland outfits. Some boys may have had Scottish family connections. We suspect that it was primarily mothers with a fashion flare who may have been intrigued with Scotland or just following what they considered an attrctive style. English boys appear to have worn highland outfits as their best or party outfits. A good example here is Ernest Shepard.
We see quite a few English boy dressing up in Highland outfits. We have acquired images of several English boys wearing kilt outfits. Unfortunately many were uploaded before we created this page. We have begun to link these pages here. One such example is an unidentified portrait of English brothers, we think in the 1890s. Another example is the Durham family about 1910. Another boy is Cedric Arthur Mason about 1919.
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