Figure 1.--An American Red Cross outing center on the coast near Dieppe, France, during 1918. Belgian school children were able to spend the few happy moments they know. International Film Service. Most of Belgian was occupied by the Germans in 1914 and when the war ended in 1918 they still controlled large areas. Notice that several boys wear sailor suits. Other boys wear smocks with Eton collars--one boy with a large floppy bow.

Short pants began replacing kneepants by the 1910s, although this is difficult to track brcause short pants were very long. School uniforms were not common in Belgium, but were required by some private Catholic schools. We do have some information on smocks. We believe that smocks were still commonly worn at Belgian schools in the early-20th century. The boys here appear to be wearing dark school smocks with wide white collars and floppy bows. Some were worn with Eton collars. We are not yet sure anout Peter Pan collars. The boys here look to be wearing dark blue or black smocks. One bow looks like it might have been red. The styles we see at the turn-of-the century seem all back-buttoning smocks. Other images show boys wearing light-colored smocks without collars. Our archive is very limited so we are not sure about which was more prevalent. We see light and dark colors. Some images suggest that they were not required. HBC believes that the styles and popularity was similar in France and Belgium, at least among French speakers. We are sure, however, to what extent French styles were worn by Flemish boys and if this changed over time.

HBC is not positive just where this photograph was taken. A HBC Dutch HBC reader assures us that the Belgian coast is very flat--one reader tells us that, "... the Belgian coast is a flat as a pancake". I'm not sure about the French coast around Dieppe. To HBC the background looks very much like Dover in England. The boys based on their clothes, however, are definitely not English school boys. Hopefully our French and Belgian readers will help pin point just where this photograph was taken.