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English boys wore a wide range of suits The types of suits and age was a major factor in determining what type of suit, both the jacket style and the pants. There were no preecise age range for the boys. Much of this was up to mothers discression. There were destinctive styles for very young boys after breeching. School was a major factor in shifting from juvelile to more mature styles, although this varied from family to family. Another fasctor is that Britain did not create a national public school system until 1870. School is imprtant because it is for most children the first major step beyond the family where chikdren are exposed to the ideas and opinions of children beyond their family. Age 6 years is geberally wheb boys begin school, but in the 19th century this was more bariable. And the age ranges as well as the type of suits changed over time. This was not the case as late as the 18th century. The skeleton suit which appeared in the late-18th century was the first dedicated boy's outfit. And boys commonly wore destinctive suits throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Younger nostly pre-scgool boys might wear kilt suits, Fauntleroy suits and sailor suits. Somewhat older boys might wear Eton suits or suits with Eton collars. As boys moved into their teens they begsan to wear more adult-looking suits, bothe jacket styles and the pants. Social class was another factor thst affected the type of suit worn at different ages. The photographic record in the 19th century consisted of primarily middle class boys, leading to misleading assessments. We have much less information as to suit age trends for working-class boys. More informarion is available for the 20th century as social-class differences narrowed. We have archived quite a number of images, but family portraits like the one here are particularly useful in assessing age conventions. School photography is also very useful.
1 year old boys were not breeched to any extent until into the 20th century.
Most 2 year olds wore dresses until the turn of the 20th century. We see some boys beginning gto wear kilts suits at a bout zafge 2 1/2 years in the 1870s. And gradually we see special juvenile suits for them, Fauntleroy styles were popoular. but not as popular as in America (1880s-90s). After the turn of the 20th century we see a variety of juvenile suits. Tunic suits, Oliver Twist styled outfits, along with rompers were populaar. These were middle-class styles. We are less sure about the working class.
Most boys were breeched by about age 5 years. A few that were not were mostly from upper-class families. We see boys at about age 5 wearing skeleton suits after breeching in the early-19th century. This was first dedicated boy's outfit. The popularity of kilt suits may have extended this after the mid-19th century, largely thanks to Queen Victoria's interest in Scotland. The kilt suit, however, seems more popular in American than England. Tunic suits were also popular for boys in the early-19th century, in this case more popular than in America. We begin to see button on outfits comsisting of blouses made in the same material as the pants (1860s). These outfits also appeared in America and were very common for younger school-age boys. We are not sure yet how common they were in England. Our English archive is growing, but not nearly as large as our American archive.
English boys wore a wide range of suits The types of suits and age was a major factor in determining what tyoe of suit, both the jacket style and the pants. There were no preecise age range for the boys. Much of this was up to mothers discression. There were destinctive styles for very young boys after breeching. School was a major factor in shifting from juvelile to more mature styles, although this varied from family to family. Another factor is that England did not create a national state school system until 1870. School is important because it is for most children the first major step beyond the family where chidren are exposed to the ideas and opinions of children beyond their family. Age 6 years is generally wheb boys begin school, but in the 19th century this was more variable. And the age ranges as well as the type of suits changed over time. This was not the case as late as the 19th century.
The skeleton suit which appeared in the late-18th century was the first dedicated boy's outfit. We see these suits being worn by younger school-age boys (early-19th century). We begin to see school-age boys wearing sailor suits (1860s). We see Cuthbert here at about age 7 years wearing a sailor suit although unfortumnately we are not sure about the year -- perhaps the 1880s (figure 1).
The English began opening preparatory schools aftyerr the mid-19th century. These were private schools for younger boys, preparing them to attend the Public (elite private boading) schools. Many of these schools at first did not have uniforms, but gradually unifoms became standard. The fashion impact was that boys at these schools began wearing uniforms rather than the juvelile styles those boys wore. Of course these were boys from upper income families, but at the time these were the familes have an out-sized impact on popular fashions. This is why we see older boys wearing sailor suits on the continent wearing sailor sits than in Britain. Boys commonly wore destinctive suits throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. This is also the upper aae of styles like fauntleroys suits, kilt suits, and sailor suits.
English boys commonly Eton collars from the mid-19th century. Thecage conventions varied over time. They were worn with different types of suits. The origin was Eton College, the country's most prestigous public school. Public schools were elite private boarding dchools at the secondarylevel. The age range varied and in the early-19th century, younger boys attended. after mid-century, the age level were more standardized at sbout 13-years of age. Eton was son prestigious, that other schools adopted similar uniforms. Here we see a Corwall boy about 10 years old wearing a collar-buttioning Norfolk jacket suit with an Eton collar (figure 1). His older brother wears an Eton suit.
Cut-away jacketrs were a major style for school age boys up 10 years of age. Slightly older boys wore them, but less comonly. A good excample a Cornwall boy who looks to be about 11-years old, we think in the 1860s.
As boys moved into their teens they begsan to wear more adult-looking suits, both jacket styles and the pants. Somewhat older boys might wear Eton suits or suits with Eton collars. Eton suits were at first worn primarily by boys about 13 years old beginning their public school. The boy here is a another good example (figure 1). Social class was still a factor that affected the type of suit worn at different ages in the 19th century. Working-classs boys might not wear Eton suits, but the Eton collar was pervasive in the seconmd half of the 19th and early-20th centuries.
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