Figure 1.-- This is another indated portrai, but as it is a photo postcard we can approximate he dae. It has a 'K Ltd' stamp box. Some sources report this fates it to as early as 1918. We would have guessed this wasa litle earlier. The children look to be asbout 6-10 years old. The boy weas a flat cap with his knicker suit. The girls wears a summery white dress and matching helmet-like white dress. The studio was S.J. Priest in Barrow-in-Furness.

Headwear is difficult to assess. Headwear was a necessary part of dress in the 19th and early-20th century. This was true for both children and adults. Most people when they left home put on some kind of headwear. You do not get a good feeling for this because of the nature of 19th century photography. Most 19th century photography was studio portaits. Photographic technology in the 19th century made the family snapshot impossible. Most mothers wanted the children to remove their headwear to get a better image which included all of the face and hair. Thus we see relatively few portraits with hair. Fortunately, the American photograpic record is huge. And as a result, there are substantial numbers of portraits wth headwear. Whilewe often don't see portraiys with headwear, in some instances the headwear is placed on furniture or on the ground. The case of the image here, the boys were photgraphed just outside their home so they did nt bother to put on headewear tomstep ouside. Boys wore both caps and hats. With these knicker suits we see motly caps. On the knicker suits we have found with headwear we have found Flats caps seem common. By he 1920s, the iconic peaked schooll caps had become, but by this time knicker suits were becoming less common.

Created: 12:09 AM 1/12/2025
Last updated: 12:09 AM 1/12/2025