Figure 1.--This little English boy wears wears a huge white collar, but no floppy bow. Theboy wears an open jacket and white short pants. Notice the wide brimmed sailor hat with colored rim. These hats were very popular for younger children at the turn of the 20th century. This cabinet card portrait is undated, but looks like the turn of the century to us. The dealer thought the young woman was a nanny, but nannies commonly wore uniforms. The upscale studio was Churchill in Eastbourne, a seaside resort south of London. The boy is unidentified, but looks to be about 3-4 years old.

We notice Engish boys over time wearing qite a range of different hat types. The hat wear types changed considerably over time. Most 18th century images shows boys wearing tri-corner hats. This would have been a reltively expensive item. We are not sure how many boys would have had them. We see many new styles in the 19th century. We do not have much information on the early-19th century, but we know a great deal about the mid- and late-19th centuy, especially by the 1860s when CDVs appeared. We see a range of rounded-crown hats with brims of varios widths. Younger boys fom middle- and upper-class families in the late-19th century wore wide-brimmed hats with streamers. They were done in many different styles. We also notice boaters which could be worn by younger and older boys as well as girls. Some boys, mostly teenagers, wore bowlers. Caps became increaingly importnt but we see some boys wearing boasters for school and more formal outings and sun hats for informal occasions during the 20th century. More commonly boys wore caps.

Chronology

Hats at one time were a required part of dress for men women and childre. This was not only in England, but other countries as well. Styles and conventions have changed over time. We notice three-corner hats in the 18th century. It was the most characteristic style. Boys and men wore the same hats. We see several types of hats in the 19th century, some of which continued to be worn in the early-20th century. We notice boaters, bowlers, rounded-crown hats, broad-brimmed sailor hats, and top hats. At mid-century with photogaphy we begin to learn a great deal about these hats. The 19th century styles mostly disappeared after World War I as more informal styles became popular. We see bowlers, top hats, and wide-brimmed sailor hats in the early-20th century, but we no longer see them after the War. Here there were social class differences which gradually declined after the War. Sailor hats were especially well knon, but not worn by all boys. They were also worn by girl, but were more common with boys. We continue to see boaters, but mostly at private schools. Caps increasingly replaced hats. The major hat we see see after World War I are sun hats. Then after World War II, headwear in general declined in popularity, but especilly hats. We see caps in the late-20th century, but rarely hats. The only hat we commonly see are sun hats, primarily worn during the summer. This continue to be the case in the 21st century.

Styles

We see quite a range of hats worn by English boys. Most had social class conntations. Working-class boys were more likely to wear caps. Boys and girls mostly wore boaters as part of a private school uniform or activity. We see far fewer after World War I. Many headwear styles developed without any actual inventor, at least that we know of. For bowler hats, however, we know just how they originated. We see bowlers for boys mostly in the 19th century. We see a few in the very early-20th century. We note some teenagers and adults wearing coacahman hats in the 19h century. Rounded crown hats had moderate brims and of ourse rounded crowns. They were also referred to as parson's hats. This as an enormously popular style in America, especially in rural areas throughout the 19th century. We are less sure how common these hats were in England because our English 19th century is much more limited. It was the broad-brimmed sailor hat that was first worn with sailor suits. The Prince of Wales first wore a white sailor suit with a dark broad-brimed sailor hat. Thus we see the broad-brimmed hat from the very beginning of the era in which sailor fashions were worn by boys. The Royal Family wore them in the 1840s. It is a little difficult to tell how quickly they became popular for the general public, in part because photography was just beginning to become popular. For some reason the broad-brimmed sailor hat became an emensely popular. We see different styles and colors from the mid-19th to the early-20th century. It was a paricularly popular style for children, a least children from comfortable families. The one hat that becane popular in the 20th century and is still worn is the sun hat, except for school wear. It was a seasonal style worn during the summer. Top hats were hats that may have been worn by a few wealthy boys. The most common usage for boys was school headwear. They were worn at Eton, Harrow, and a few other public (elite private boarding schools) schools.

Ages

We see English boys of all ages wearing hats. For some eson, headwear was much more common in earloer period than modern timmes for both boys and girls. Tri-corner hats were popular in yhe 18th century. This deprnded, howseverr, on the chronology. Boys commonly wore hats in the 19th century, especiall younger boys. We do not yet have a lot of information on the early-19th century, our general assessment is that hats were not commpn, but we do not yet have suffient imagery to make any valid assessment. We know much more about the second half of the century thanks to the advent of photography. We note large-brimmed hats becoming very popular for younger boys in the late-19th century. After the turn of the 20th centrury, we see 19th cenyury trends persisting until after World War I into the 1910s. By the 1920s we see far fewr boys wearing hats, especilly younger boys. The one haty style that persisted was the boater, but this was largely a style for boys from affluent families. giels continued wering hats, but rarely boys. the school cap became the standard style for school ahe boys and hats rather rater. this persisted until ininto the the 1950s. after mid-century, headwear og ny kind began going out of style.

Gender

Gender was an important factor in headwear. We are not sure about the early-19th century, but thanks to photography, by the mid-19th century we have a very detailed idea of gender trends in hats. English boys and girls wore some of the same style hats, at least younger boys. We see this most pronounced in family portraits. Rounded-crown hats and wide-brimmed hats were worn by both boys and girls. The major difference was decoration. Boys wore their hats plain while girls commonly added elaborate decoration. Girls could wear plain hats like the boys, but they could be highly decorated. Both girls and womens hats could be highly decorated. As boys got older their headwear styles changed and became strictly gender specific. The one hat style worn by older boys and girls as well as men and women was the boater. Other hat styles tended to be gender specific except for occasional times that women wore men's hats for fashionable reasons.

Created: 3:16 AM 7/8/2014
Last updated: 10:54 AM 4/22/2018