English Boys Suits: Usage


Figure 1.--We do not fully understand this mixed group. The dealer my think it is from somewhere in Lancanshire. The placques may indicate boarding houses. We see Brighton House, a Marsden plaque, a Bury & Rsdcliffe House and a Mrs. Dixon plaque. It was apostcard back photograph. We would guess it was taken about 1930. It is a good example of how boys at the time often dressed up in their school uniforms.

Suits were widely worn by English boys in the late-19th and early-20th century. In the 19th century, economics was a factor. The Industrial Revolution gerated great wealth and substabtiated expanded the middle class. This is a little had to follow because there is no photographic record for the early-19th century. We believe that few boys in the still larger rural population and the growing urban working class wore suits. Suits might be worn by the upper- and middle-clas, but not workng-class boys. By the mid-19th century this had begun to changeand Egland became increasingly wealthy. And there is aphotographic record to assess. There are realtively few Dahuerreotypes and Ambrotypes (1840s-50s), by a substanial number of CDVs (beginning in the 1860s). And we see boys wearing mostly suits. Of course most of the portraits look like middle- and upper-class boys. This is often difficult to tell and the cost of the CDV was low enought that unlike Dags and Ambros they were low enough the working-class families. England lagged behind Germany and America in free public education. It finally began in the mid-19th century, but wa finally established (1870). And in the schools we see in the 1870s we see boys wearing suits. Most boys at the time and even into the 20th century did not have large wardrobes. Thus they war suits to school and mamy other occassions that we would never think of today such as play and outings like going to the beach. Thus we often see boys wearing school uniforms outside of school rather than a suit. Some boys made there school uniform or outfit due for both school and special occassins outside of school. This continued until well after World War II when the economy began to improve and the modern more prosperous society began to develop in whivh children might have subdtantial wardrobes.







HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to Main English suit page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Photography] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 4:11 PM 12/6/2016
Last updated: 4:11 PM 12/6/2016