Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows younger boys wearing boaters while riding in a donkey cart. We might have thought it was a home portrait, bit as they are dressed like and about the same age. it must have been some kind of school portrait. Three boys are dressed exavrly alike. They look to about 6-7 years old. A fourth boys is dressed simikarly. There is also a girl with a fancy had with them as well as a lady to look after them. We re not sure why the girl is with them. She could be a child of one of th masyets. Or perhaps it is a school for younger childten which had mixed genders. The CDV was much more widely used in Britain than America. We lmost never see an merican CDV shot outdoors.

England is noted for two types of school uniform headgear. The type most associated with England is the peaked school cap. Virtually all British schoolboys wore peaked caps in the 20th century through the 1950s. They were worn at both state and private schools even though the state schools did not have unifirms. They at first in the late-19th century appear to have been used as a kind of sports or games cap at private school. Eventually they became a standard uniform item and were even worn at state schools without uniforms. We assune the schools must haveinsisted that the boys wear them. Pyherwise they would have not been unuversal. A great variety of colors, including circles and school crests decorated these caps which flooded British streets with boys going and coming to school. The second type of headgear is the boater. This was a privte school headwear type. This hat was much less common than the traditional school cap, but we see quite afew images. Like the school cap, it firstvappeared in the 19th century. It was worn at several public schools and still is at a few like Harrow. While these are the two best known school headgear, there were a variety of other types of headgear worn by British boys and even morevby thecgirl. .

Berets

Berets were commonly worn by Frebch boys, but no girls. We see them being worn in other countris. We see quite a few German boys wearing them. In America younger boys might wear berets. And they were very common for girls in the inter-War era, usually called tsns. We virtually never see English boys wearing berrts and we so not see them being worn by boys as part of school uniforms. We do see girls wearing bertet aspart of their school uniform in England, but not boys. Berets were faitky common for the gurls. Boy Scouts after World War II adopted berets, but not schools, at least for boys. We found one portrait of one class of younger boys wearing berets. We do not believe the berets were opart of theur school unifirm, although all the boys are wearing them. It looks like an Anglican or a prep school class. We are not sure what to make of it. We think it might be a class group studying French. Perhaps there is another explanation, but we can not think of it.

Caps

Mortar Boards

Mortar boards are usually associated with schoolmasters (gown and mortar board) and graduation ceremonies, but have also been worn by schoolboys in the past. Academic costumes date back to the Medieval era, around the 13th century. Europe men and women at the time commonly wore gowns or robes in a variety in colors and material. At first there was no great extinction for academics, but gradually distinctive gowns were adopted for different professions, trades and religious orders. Students and teachers at the early medieval universities (Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Cambridge) organized into guilds. These academic costume further evolved into distinctive gowns for Bachelors of Arts (the apprentices), Masters of Arts (the teachers), and Doctors (teachers who had completed postgraduate studies). The gowns were basically the same, much of the distinctive characteristics in the academic costumes were in the hood. The hood was originally a practical element of dress, but gradually evolved into a separate and entirely decorative garment, draped over the down the back. The academic cap was a more modern development. The cap was first conferred as a symbol of the M.A. degree. Some of these Master's caps were stiff, some soft, some square, some round with a tuft in the center. Today's tassel is an elaboration of the tuft. Oxford University's "mortar board" became a standard at schools throughout England. (It also became the standard style used for formal occasions at American schools and universities.) In England the mortar board was actually worn by boys as part of the school uniform. The most common style was the Oxford University mortar board. Not a very practical form of headgear perhaps. Some cathedral choristers still wear mortar boards. We have not noted them to any extent after World War II, with the exception of some cathedral choirs. We note the choristers at Rochester Cathedral choir (Kent) wearing mortar boards.

Peaked Caps

Virtually all British schoolboys wore peaked caps through the 1950s. Both state and private schools required them. They at first in the late 19th century appear to have been used as a kind of sports or games cap. Eventually they became a standard uniform item and were even worn at state schools without uniforms. A great variety of colors, including circles and school crests decorated these caps which flooded British streets with boys going and coming to school. The colorful caps mostly had black linings. Through the 1940s virtually every English boy wore a school cap. The caps, however, were by the 1960s not very popular with the boys. As the fashion of wearing caps and hats waned, school caps began to disappear in the 1960s. Many boys can recall how they dealt with their caps after they reached the age that they no longer had to wear them. Sometimes there were impromptu burnings by groups of boys. By the 1980s only a handful of private schools still required them.

Peaked Military Cap

we notice boys wearing peaked military caoss part of school oufits in the nid-19th century.

Flat Caps

British readers tell us that boys also wore flat caps to school. We are unsure at this time how common this was. One reader tells us that it was more commin in Yorkshier and northern England than the south. We do not yet have images to illustrate this fashion. We do noye that these flat caps are depicted in films like "Lassie Come Home" (1943), but we are not yet sure about the accuracy of these depictions. A far as we know, flat caps were not adopted as part of a school uniform. The one exception to this we know of is the Hill House School in London.

Smoking Caps

The smoking cap is not a cap normally associated with schools. It is a casual adult style, worn with smocking jackets during the Victorian era. They were alternatively called thinking or lounging caps. They were a brimless cap, often ome with tassles. The purpose was to keep the hair of smokers from smelling of smoke. This was the same for somoking jackets which prevented clothes from smelling like smoke. They were also worn to keep the head warm. They were worn by gentlemen, meaning men of means, while smoking in the privacy of their home. They are believed to be of Eastern orgins--whether Chinese, Arabic, or Turkish is unclear. We notice at least one schools where the boys wore these caps. We suspect it was not the only school, but there do not appear to have been very many.

Southwesters

We have no information on southwesters, but know they were worn at some schools. An English reader writes, "Firstly thank you for a fascinating website! Reading through it brought back many memories of my time at an English Public School in East Sussex during the 1960s. I did not, however, see any mention of one particular item of apparel which was the bane of all our lives and thought that I would bring it to your attention. One of the items on the extensive uniform list given to our poor parents was a Sou�wester!! This was a wet weather, rubberized hat similar in style to that worn by fishermen. I believe the name itself derives from the name that fishermen give to a particularly forceful gale--a South Westerly or South Wester. In my day, these awful things came in two colours (black or yellow), however our school specified black. The shaping of the hat was left up to the user a fact that caused less experienced wearers no end of grief (and the more seasoned wearer great amusement!). The basic trick was to shape the hat by folding it at the front to create a �gutter� which would then channel the rain backwards to the (unfolded!) back of the hat. The design of the hat meant that "properly folded" it would channel water down the back of your �gabber� or gabardine raincoat. What invariably happened, however, was one of three alternatives. 1) Some bright spark would surreptitiously create a fold at the back of the victim�s hat. This, unless spotted by a friend or teacher, would begin collecting water until such time that, unable to hold the weight, it would collapse and drench the victim�s neck! 2) Inexperienced users would create too deep a fold at the front thereby collecting too much water and then see 1) above in reverse! 3) The wearer was one of those poor souls whose parents had decided not to purchase the recommended (and costlier) gabber and opted for a cheaper alternative and therefore had to (without complaint!) endure the channeled ice cold water streaming down his back and then slowly seeping through the inadequate gabber and then sweater, shirt and vest! I did a search on Sou�westers on the net and found many descriptions of the offending item it brought back many wonderful, long forgotten episodes in which I was both villain and victim! Keep up the good work it is appreciated!" [Owuadey]

Hats

Boater

The second type of headgear is the boater. The boater hat has a substantial flat brim and flattened crown and has traditionally been made of straw. The hat was reportedly inspired by French sailors. It was adopted in England as children's wear in the mid-19th century, but was eventually worn by both men and women. Many English schools adopted the boater as part of the school uniform. It declined in popularity after World War I. This hat was much less common than the traditional school cap, but it was worn at several public schools and still is at a few like Harrow.

Top Hats

The boys probably most associated with wearing top hats are the students at English public (exclusive private) schools. We do not know any other countries in which top hats were worn. We know the boys at Eton and Harrow wore them. The images we have noted are all of Eton and Harrow. We do not know how common this was. We do not know if they were worn at any other public schools. We are not sure when they were adopted as part of the school uniform. They were phased out as part of the austerities during World War II.

Others

We have noted a few other caps and hats wore at British schools. One informal hat is a kind of sun hat worn informally when playing cricket or some other summer pastime. It is not normally, however, a part of the official school uniform. Some boys also wore baklavas to school in the winter, but again they were not part of a uniform.