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The London clothing store, Charles, Baker & Co., offered four sailor outfits. This appears to have been a major London clothing retailer. Most came with lanyards and whistles. The youngr boy wears a sailor cap while the older boys wear sailor hats. These would have been purchased se[arately. The first was askirted outfit described as a kilt suit. The skiert does not, however, seem to have any kilt fetures other than pleats. It loks to be a plain pleated skirt. This outfit was worn by both boys and girls, younger boys but both younger and older girls. The boy sizes are not indicated, but they were availble for girls from age 6-12. The store also had three knee pants sailor suits some of which could also be had with long trousers. The store appears to use the term "knickers" to describe knee pants. They use "trousers" to mean long pants or trousers. There is a blue suit done in serge and a white suit done in drill. And there is a suit done in velvet for special occassions. There is detiled price infornation, but unfortunately little referene to sizes.
The firm was Charles Baker & Co., a retailer that had several outlets in London--in Fleet Street (in the City), in Oxford Street (in the West End), and in Tottenham Court Road. The main headquarters of the firm was located at 271-272 High Holborn in the West End. This company seems to have been a large one, appealing to a large cross-section of the British public. We note quite a number of the store's advertisements duting the 1880s, suggesting that it was a very important store. We are not sure when the store was fouded or when it was closed.
HBC has attempted to standardize the terminology ised in its various pages. The terms used by the company here is a good example. Charles, Baker & Co. refers to "knickers". Yet the garments sepicted are clearly knee pants. This is a common problem in the late 19th and early 20th century in both America and Britain. The terms pants, knickers, lnee pants, and short pants were used variouslyv with o real consistent pattern.
The youngr boy here is shown as wearing a sailor cap while the older boys wear wide-brimmed sailor hats. These would have been purchased separately. Both te caps and hats are shown with stremers. Our experience is that the younger boys were the most likely to wear the wide-brimmed sailor hats, but here the older boys are shown wearing them.
The store offered four different sailor outfits in this advertisement. The first was a skirted outfit described as a kilt suit. The skiert does not, however, seem to have any kilt fetures other than pleats. It loks to be a plain pleated skirt. This outfit was worn by both boys and girls, younger boys but both younger and older girls. The boy sizes are not indicated, but they were availble for girls from age 6-12. The store also had three knee pants sailor suits some of which could also be had with long trousers. The store appears to use the term "knickers" to describe knee pants. They use "trousers" to mean long pants or trousers. There is a blue suit done in serge and a white suit done in drill. And there is a suit done in velvet for special occassions. There is detiled price infornation, but unfortunately little referene to sizes.
The ad copy for the serge suit suit tells us only that it was "complere". I think this means that it included everything pictured, meaning singlet, lanyard, and whistle as well as the blouse and pants. It was apparently made in four sizes. We have the prices for ech size, but unfortunately not the sizes.
This suit is identified as a chlidren's outfit, meaning it could be worn by girls as well as boys. The first was a skirted outfit described as a kilt suit. The skiert does not, however, seem to have any kilt fetures other than pleats. It loks to be a plain pleated skirt. Notice that the illustration shows the boy wearing it with pantalettes. This outfit was worn by both boys and girls, younger boys but both younger and older girls. The boy sizes are not indicated, but they were availble for girls from age 6-12.
The white drill suit was a little more complicated than the other suits. The various items were brought separately. With the blouse mothers could choose knee panys (knickers) or trousers. The blouse was only available in white drill, but the knee pants/trousers could be had in blue serge. Note a blue sailor collar was also available. I am not positive about this, but apparently this was a detachable collar that could replace the standard white collar on the blouse. The blouse is shown with what looks to be asinglet. I'm not sure if thst came with the blouse. The lanyard and whistle had to be purchased separately.
The velvet suit would of course been an outfit for special occassions like parties. It was availavkle in a choice of colors, navy blue, black, and dark brown. And an option for extra quality was available, presumably more plush velvet. A songlet, lanyard, and whistle was available. There is no indication as to size.
We do not have much information on coats. Boys wearing sailor suits commonly wore reefer jackets. Reffe jackets were not depicted, but they are mentioned in the ad copy as being available. They are seen as just the right stle to be worn with sailor suits.
These sailor outfits were not worn with dicklies. Raher they came with singlets, a kind of T-shirt. Most came with lanyards and whistles, although in some cases these accessries had to be purchased separately. Of course every boy would have wanted a whustle with his sailor suit. Presumably they were not quite so popular with the mothers.
Hosiery is depicted in the illustrations. Of course the hosiery wa purchased separately, but the illustrations give an idea as tobthe type of hosiery. It looks like most boys wore three-quarter socks with these sailor outfits. The only exception wasthat the boy wearing the velvet suit is shown wearing long stockings. I'm not sure if this was aeflection of formatilty or just happenstance. In American most boys would have worn long stockings in the 1880s and 90s.
Notice that low-cut footwear including strap shoes are pictured in the illustrations.
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