Figure 1.--This cabinet card shows an unidentified Scottish boy wearing a button bouse knee pants sailor suit. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1890s. The studio was Wilhelm Hess in Ayr. |
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We have not found many images of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits. It may have been that the sailor suit was less popular in Scotland than England, but our Scottish archive is still very limited, so we are unable to make any definitive assessments at this time. We do not notice any spcific Scottish stylistic trends. As far as we can tell, the sailor suits worn in scotland were essentially the same as the styles in England. Of course as both were based on Royal Navy uniforms, there were unlikely to be any great differences. We do not have much chronological informtion yet because our archive is so limited. Our earliest images date from about 1870. They look much like the the suit that the British princes wor in the 1840s which ws the beginning of the convention of dressing boys in sailor suits. By the 1880s we see more varied style divering from Royal Navy uniforms to a degree. We see, for example, button jackets rather than just the pull-over blouse Royal Navy sailors wore. We notice the various different types of pants, long pants, knee pants, and short pants. As in England, well-to-do boys went to private schools and wore school uniforms beginning about 8 years of age. This affected the prevalence and age conventions for sailor suits. Sailor suits in Europe were generally most popular with middle-class and upper class boys. This seems to be true in Scotland as well. There may have been some regional differences. The examples we have found so far have been in the Lowlands and not the Highlands. The Lowlands are the area of Scotland where English influences are the most pronounced. We note an unidentified boy from Grenock in the Lowlands south of Glasgow, we think about 1870. We also see an unidentified Scottish boy wearing a sailor suit, probably in the 1890s (figure 1). It is like the sailor suits worn in England. Ayr is in the Scottish Lowlands where english styles were dominant.
We have not found many images of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits. It may have been that the sailor suit was less popular in Scotland than England, but our Scottish archive is still very limited, so we are unable to make any definitive assessments at this time. It is clear that many Scottish boys wore sailor suits. We do not know how this compared wih England, America, and other countries.
We do not notice any spcific Scottish stylistic trends. As far as we can tell, the sailor suits worn in Scotland were essentially the same as the styles in England. Of course as both were based on Royal Navy uniforms, there were unlikely to be any great differences. Scottish and Irish regiments in the British Army had some Of course British sailor suits were made in wide range of styles. The Royal Navy was diferent, there was one standard uniform on the entire service. While the Royal Navy had a standard unifirm, but sailor suits for boys throughout Britain were made with a wide range of detailing. Most had the standard icomic 'V' collar, but beyond that the detailing varied widely, especially in the 19th centurry. In fact most of the sailor suits cottish and english boys wore were not the tradituinal 3-strip styles worn by the Royal Navy. Most sailor suits we see boys wearing un fact did not have any stripes at all. We see many boys with V-collars done in the same color as the blouse or done in contrasting colors, but without stripes. Here we think that there were social class differences. We see these plain suits in the availavle school portraits, but in formal studio portraits done for boys from well-to-do families we are more likely to see the traditional suits with the three-stripe detailing. The same was true of English boys. The only difference we have noted in Scotland is that sailors suits were somewhay less common in Scotland, at least that is our preliminary ssessment. We have not yet noted any stylistic differences.
We do not have much chronological informtion yet because our archive is so limited. We are not sure when Scottish boys began wearing ailor suits. The fashion was initiated by Queen Victoria amd Prince Albert when their eldest boy was dressed in a Royal Navy ratings (enlisted) uniform (1840s). One would assume that some Scottish boys began wearing sailor suits some time in the same decade. The rarity of Daguerreotypes and other early formats in Scoitland makes this difficult to follow. Our earliest images date from about 1870. They look much like the the suit that the British princes wore in the 1840s which was the beginning of the convention of dressing boys in sailor suits. By the 1880s we see more varied style divering from Royal Navy uniforms to a degree. We see, for example, button jackets rather than just the pull-over blouse Royal Navy sailors wore. A good example is the unidentified boy here, we believe in the 1890s (figure 1). We do not yet habe any examples from the 20th century, but we suspect tht sailor suits were worn in the early-20th century before World War I. As in England they probably declined in popularity after the War in the 1920s.
We note a wide range of pull over and buttoned blouses and wll as jacket tops. They are the same sailor tops worn in Englnd. We notice the various different types of pants, long pants, knee pants, and short pants. We notice no difference between the sailor suits worn in England. Of course we have a lot more English images to illustrate the various garments, but that is because England has a much larger population. Unless the images are identified, it is not possible to tell that they are Scottish. We see Scottish boys wearing classic traditionally styled sailor suits with three-stripe detailing by the 1880s.
As in England, well-to-do boys went to private schools and wore school uniforms beginning about 8 years of age. This affected the prevalence and age conventions for sailor suits. Sailor suits in Europe were generally most popular with middle-class and upper class boys. This seems to be true in Scotland as well. We do nnot notice many wirking-class boys wearing sailir suits in th big cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
There may have been some regional differences. The examples we have found so far have been in the Lowlands and not the Highlands. The Lowlands are the area of Scotland where English influences are the most pronounced. We note an unidentified boy from Grenock in the Lowlands south of Glasgow, we think about 1870. We also see an unidentified Scottish boy wearing a sailor suit, probably in the 1890s (figure 1). It is like the sailor suits worn in England. Ayr is in the Scottish Lowlands where English influences such as clothing styles were dominant.
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