Figure 1.--This school portrait was taken in May 1877. The school is not identified, but it almost certainly was from a private preparatory school (or the prep duivision of a public (senior private) school. These were boarding schools. The boys look to be about 9-10 years old so they were not the youngest form. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

This school portrait was taken in May 1877. The school is not identified, but it almost certainly was from a private preparatory school (or the prep duivision of a public (senior private) school. These were boarding schools. The boys look to be about 9-10 years old so they were not the youngest form. The boys all have short hair, but several have hair just at their ears. Mos of the boys have left parts, but we notice center and right parts as well. Note that they do not wear a uniform. This was fairly common at prep schools in the 19th century. The school was a boarding school and the parents would have been given a clothing list. Probably the list just mentined a "suit" without any specuifics about the style. The public schools that these boys were preparing for, however, probably did have uniforms. The boys all wear suits, Note the many varied styles of suits jackets. There are both cut-away jackets, all with vests (waistcoats), as well as lapel sack suits--mostly double breasted. One boy seems to bewearing a blazer. We see both small bows and ties worn with small collars. Most of the boys seem to be wearing long pants, even though they are qyuite young. This is a good indicator that shortened-length pants were still not widely woirn by school-age boys in the 1870s. Note the many varied styles of suits jackets. There ate two young-looking masers with them. Presumably one is the form master. I'm not sure about the other one. Notice the beards and their hats. A British reader writes, "Charming image. The boys look like the characters in a Jennings story."

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Created: 11:07 PM 2/6/2008
Last updated: 9:15 PM 2/7/2008