Figure 1.--These unidentified Edwardian children were photographed in their back garden in the 1900s. The garden (yard) suggests that they were a wealthy family. This is not apark, but a family back garden. The brothers look to be about 6-9 years old and are geared up for badminton. The boys are dressed alike in boaters abd cut-away jacket. The only easy to see differene is the huge collar the younger boy has. The younger boy has bloomer knickers and the older noy srraight-leg knee pants which seems strange as the the jackets and vests are identical. These are not school hats, but worn in the summer with their suits. Note the hat bandsare a solid color. Thir little ister is also gussied up.

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.

Created: 4:23 AM 9/28/2017
Last updated: 4:23 AM 9/28/2017