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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 thst 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.
The boater was often seen as a kind of sailor hat and this was its origin as the Royal Navy was beginning to develop uniforms for ratings (enlisted men). As can be seen here, however, they were often worn with other outfits and not just sailor suits. We think they were especially popular with well off families. Boaters were very popular in England during the late-19th century and at the turn-of-the 20th century. We do not yet have a complete chronology. We first notice them at mid-century. We presume they were worn earlier, but because English Dags and Ambros are relatively rare, we have not yet found images from the 1840s and 50s. This of course does not mean that they were not yet worn. With the appearanve of the CDV in the 1860s we do see boaters. The earliest boater we have found so far was was worn by Earnst Frederick in 1861. It has a plain dark hat band. We see another example with the Watson boys in 1863, this time with a light-colored hat band. We note a Wade-Gery boy in 1873. Thus we can assume the boys wearing them went to private schools that had uniforms. We note the Gibbs family in 1906. Almost the entire family wore boaters. They were widely worn at many private schools, but in the 19th century were not just schoolwear. After the early-20th century anf World War, the boater becomes less common and most of the boaters we still see were worn as part of school uniforms.
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Many headwear styles developed without any actual inventor, at least that we know of. For bowler hats, however, we know just how they originated. The first bowler hat was created for English landowner, William Coke, in order to protect his head from low branches while out shooting on his Norfolk estate. In 1849, in the St James shop of London hatters, he tested its durability by stamping his foot on it twice--when the hat remained undamaged he happily bought it for 12 shillings. The name of course came from its shpe--it looks like an inverted bowl. Today we see the bowler as an adult hat and associate it with bankers. This convention did not exist in the 19th century. Thus we see see boys wearing bowlers in the late-19th century. We are not sure how common this was. The boys weraring bowlers were school-age boys, normally avout 10-years or older. We only notice boys in suits wearing them, but at the time wearing suits was very common. Our English archive is fairly klimited so we can not assess popularity and other conventions such as age. We do not see boys wearing them much after the turn of the 20th century, although some teenagers may have worn them before World War I.
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The broad-brimmed hat is basiclly a type of sailor hat. No hat style could be more inappropriate for sailors or for young children., especially boys. We list it separately becase it was so destinctive and often refrrered to just as a broad-brimmed hat and not a sailor hat. This was a style for younger childre, both boys and girls at a gime where x=chuldren as well as men coommonly wire hats. They were worn by younger boys, but a wider age range of girls. The small boys generally wearing them often seem dwarfed by the the very large hats. We see them primarily in the late-19th and early-20th century. They are most associated with sailor suits, but were also worn with other outfits like Faunleroy and other juvenile suits. This makes them a little complicated as they were also associated with Fauntleroy outfits. Another complication is that they basically a type of straw hats. The hats had streamers, but this is not observeable as the children wearing them were generally photographed from the front.
We note some teenagers and adults wearing coacahman hats. A good example is an unidentified teenager, we think in the 1870s. A reader tells us, "The hat is similar to two styles of late 19th Century hats. The most similar is the 'Coachman's hat' although some in pictures of coachmen in the Royal Mews history site, they are wearing typical top hats. They would have been of a different status to ordinary coachmen who's top hats would have blow off in the helter skelter of the ride to Dover or York. A lower crown would have been more practicable. Another style is the d'Orsay - a French style worn by both men and women made fashionable by the Marquis d'Orsay in 1890's but also worn in England. I favour the Coachman style, as this lad looks an everyday sort of chap rather than a 'Dandy'."
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. We have found some examples so we know they were worn by boys to some extent. As in America it was a 19th century style. We are less sure about girls, but belive that girls did wear them as well. Some had streamers. We are less sure about the length od the streamers. We do not know about chin straps. The examples we have found so far are dark colors, but we do not know about the actual shades, we suspdct they were mostly brown and black. We are not yet able to develop afe comventions, but suspect they were worn by boys to about 8-9 years of age.
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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. The staw-colored hats seem to have been more popular thsan the dark colors. We see these wide-brimmed hats in various styles. Variations appeared in both the crown and brim. We notice flat and rounded crowns. There were also brims of different widths and configuration. After the turn of the 20th century, some of these hats had turned-down brims. We also note in the 19th century a sailor hat with a narrow brim. It was dark and shiny. It seems to have been a Royal Navy style that was not very popular for boyswear. We have found very few images of boys wearing this hat in the photographic record. We think most of these hats were straw, but there may have been other materials. hey were made with chin straps, but for portraits they commonly do not use them. Many of these hats had stramers, but from the front we do not see them. Sailor hats were worn by both boys and girls.
We are not entirely sure when strawe hats first appeared in England. Some may have appeared fir the ladies (18th century), but they were not for boys ass best we can tell. There is also an issue of origins. As far as we casn tell there were no hugh quality straw hats in England until the earlky-19th century after the Napoleomic Wars. The source of thdse hts as probably Ecuador. Britin help the South Americans zchieve jndepndnce from Spain (1810s-20s). This inclided ecausoe which achieved indepedence from Spain (1822). This opened up British commerce with the new indeobndent countries in Latin America. It is at this time that British bowler hats begin showing up in Bolvia and Peru. And we begin to see younger English boys and their sisters wearing high-quality straw hats. We note the Bean boy (1829) and Henry Elton (1831).
The one hat that became popular in the early-20th century and is still worn is the sun hat. It was not a school style, but rather worn at home during summer vacations. We see many different styles. They were informal styles worn as the name suggests worn during the summer. The dictionary definition is 'a wide-brimmed hat that protects your head from the sun'. This describes the styles that became popular for girls. Here we see many diifrent styles, including a range of flamboyant styles. Women and girls are always willing to experiment and stand out. Boy tend to be more conservative. Any the style that gradually popular for boys over time was as unflamboyant as can be imagined. These were soft hats which could be crumpled up. The geneal style was a flatish top with a variety of brims, mostly narrow brims. They looked like kind of an inverted bucket. Early versions had wide brims which were turned down. But the narrow brims became more popular for boys over time. May girls continue to wear the wide-brimmed styles.
Top hats were an adult hat style. They were worn by a few wealthy boys, but not by middle-class boys and certainly not working-class noys. The most common usage for boys was school headwear, but only at a few prestigious schools. They were worn at Eton, Harrow, and a few other public (elite private boarding schools) schools.
See broad-brimmed hats above.
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