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individual English schools: The 1870s Sutton Coldfield
Individual English School: Sutton Coldfield Primary School (about 1870)
Figure 1.-- This cabinet card portrait looks more like CDV with red edges and a thin white border. The name of the sydio is stamped on the back. There is no front information. There is not date on the card, but the style of the card helps to date it. We would probably date it to the late-1860s. The dealer dates into the early-70s. All told we think about 1870 is a good approximation. There is no information about the school, but we think it is a state primary in or near Sutton-Coldfield, which as it was located 7 miles northeast of Brimingham became a commuter town and now suburb. England at the time was finally beginning to build a comprehaensive free public education system. There are about 50 boys there. We think this was all one class. We suspect that the child sitting on the man's lap is his sdon. Notice he seems better dressed thn the ither boys.
Click on tyhe image to see the rest of the class.
Here we see an uidentified primary sdcgool class with about 50 students (figure 1). This cabinet card portrait looks more like CDV with red edges and a thin white border. The name of the studio is stamped on the back. There is no front information. There is not date on the card, but the style of the card helps to date it. We would probably date it to the late-1860s. The dealer dates into the early-70s. All told we think about 1870 is a good approximation. There is no information about the school, but we think it is a state primary in or near Sutton-Coldfield, which as it was located 7 miles northeast of Brimingham became a commuter town and now suburb. England at the time was finally beginning to build a comprehaensive free public education system. There are two men with the boys, presunably the teacher and headmaster/principal. The boys are mostly wearing headwear, many caps but some hats. In America, hats were more common at the time. We see all kinds of different cap styles. We see some caps that look a liitle like the classic peaked school cap that that would become so popular, but there are several other styles, including the military cap with a polished leather peak. Also notice the caps without any peal. We are not sxure what to call them. The boys are wearing a wide variety of suits with varyiing button arrangements. We only see one sailor suit. Several boys have white collars. The boys seem to be mostly wearing long pants. We see some knee pants and long stockings. The studio information on the back is T.H. Abell, Crystal Palace, Sutton Coldfield.
