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We have very limited infornation on English schools in the 19th century, especially the early-19th century. A factor here is photography. There was no photography in the early 19th century. There are some paingings, but the lack of photography severely limits the number of images. Some schools like Eton had uniforms. Younger boys might wear tunics. We do not see school phtographs until the 1840s, but the number is limited. More become available in the 1850s. We see many boys wearing military style caps. Large numbers of images do not become available until the 1860s. This is when England began creating a state school system, but most images are from private schools. It was the private schools that had uniforms, but at mid-century there was often considerable diversity. Only in the late 19th century do we see more standardized uniforms. Most boy wore long trousers until the late 19th century when we see knee pants and knickers. By this time England had a substntial system of state schools, but these schools had no require uniforms. Schoolwear thus reflected contemprary fashion trends.
Photography was invented in France (1839). DSoon we begin to see Daguerreotype portraits in England. Thy we not as common as in America, even zt this early stage, but we see some. Most of what we see are individual or small group studio portaits. School portraits are very rare. We have been able to find only a few school portraits from the 1840s. Photographs were Dagurreotypes and these were mostly taken in studios. This meant that school portraits were for the most part not made. There are a few, but they are very rare. We would be very interested in any such images readers may know about.
This is not a school portrait per se, but it does show children at home doing math sums on a slate board. The girl wears adress and the boys seem to be wearing plaid tunics. We assume this is whatvthe children wore to school, although in thec1840s it is possible the children would hsve been schooled at home. We are not entirely sure where the children were from. We thought at first England, but have since come to think that it may be America. Perhaps readers mih\ght have some thoughts here.
This is an outdoor stereoview of a school picnic. It is unidentified and undated. We do not know the name of the school, but the building in the background may provide a clue. We believe it was taken in the 1850s. It is a superb early stereoview featuring a group of school children and teachers having an informal picnic. The male teacher is enjoying a bottle of wine. This is surely a private school. Given the age of the children, we would guess it was a preparatory school. This is, however, a very early stage in the development of preparatory schools. Not only were state schools not well developed in the 1850s, but the unformal scene, large bulding, and the way the children are dressed all suggest a private school. English public (private) schools at the time were just beginning to standardize age levels and develop more prorective preparatory schools for the younger boys. The children are dressed similarly, but not identically. Particularly interesting is their varies headwear. One boy wear a hat, but most wear caps.
An English dealer identifies this CDV portarait as the Karts Boy School. Have been unable tn find any inormation about the school and the dealer provided no other information. It is interesting because it is clearly a very early portrait, we think from the late-1860s, perhaps the early-70s. This is a period for which we don't have all that many English school images. While we have no information about the school, the date and the ages can be deduced as well as their economic situation. The fact that many of the younger boys are wering long pants, strongly suggests the 1860s. And the fact that the boys are well dressed shows that it was a private school with boys coming from families in confortable circumstances. All of this leads us to believe that it was a private school, preumably a preparatory (prep) school. The boys look to be about 8-13 yers of old preparung for one of Britain's public (elite private boarding) schools. There is no uniform, but the boys are all wearing suits. The school may have been in the Leicestershire region.
Here we notice a CDV portrait of a group portrait of children in Carlisle. We see a group of 12 children, mostly girls and a few boys The children are osed arond a lady sitting doen. A second lady is standing. The children look to be about 7-13 years old. The boys are on the younger side. TPresumably older boys would have been enrilled in the many preparatory chools which were appearing. here is no information other than the name of the studio available. We do not know what this group might be other than some sort of school group. We are unsure just what kind of school group. A dame school comes to mind, but this is generally associate with working-class or lower-middle class children. And unlike many dame school, here almost ceratinly, day care was not the major factor. Here educatiion would have been what the parents were seeking. Given how these children are dressed, they look like children from well-to-do families. Given the mix of ages, this does not look like a a class group from a larger school. In short, we are not enirely sure whast type of school this was. Also to be understood, at the time therev were not a lot of established girls schools. The imprtance of edicating girls was just beginning to be understood. The CDV is not dated. We suspect it was taken in the late-1860s, but the early-70s is certainly possible. The studio was Benjamin Scott of Carlisle.
We begin to see quite a number of numerous English school portraits for the first time in the 1870s. SDchool photograph seems to be only at ther berginning phase. A lot of the English school portrait we have found from the 1870s so far look to be from private schools, especially prep school portraits. Families that could afford private schools could easily afford to purchase prints of their children at scchool. We think this was because the idea of school photography was still relatively new. And state schools had not yet begun to regularly organize school photographic sessions. But the introduction of albumen prints (CDVs and cabinet cards) in the 1860s, significntly broughy down the cost of photogrphy. In addition the, the Education Act of 1870 essential launched Britin's public school (meaning state-funded) system. Thousands of board schools, many free public primary schools, began appearing all over the country. They are all outdoor imges, so many show headwear--some hats, but mostly caps. We see a few examples of wehat would become the standard school cap, but there were quite a few popular styles. Most boys are wearuing suits. Long pants are still fairly standard although many were cut above the ankles and we see some boys wearing knee pants with long stockings.
The Greeholme Mill School was established in 1856 before the British Government was providing free schools for children. The children also worked in the local mills. We have small images of some of the children in front of the school dated about 1880 and 1890.
Hexham is a small market town in Northumberland, England, located south of the River Tyne. Here is a CDV portrait of what looks like a class. We are not sure what kind of school it was. We suspect it may be a preparatory school as the boys seem rather well dressed and well grommed, but we are not at all positive about this. (The Corchester Towers Preparatory School was launched in 1890.) Many prep schools in the 19th century dud not have unifirms. It could, however, be a state school. At the time it was more common to take photographs at private schools than state schools because the photographer was more likely to sell images to the more prosperous parents of private school children. The boys wear knee pants suits. One boy wears a sailor suit. There is a stone wall behind them, perhaps the wall of the school building. The portrait is undated, but we believe was taken in the 1880s. Notice the striped stockings. There probably would be more of these if the portrait was taken in the 1870s. Also some of the boys probably would have been wearing long pants in the 1870s. And striped stockings were not common in the 1890s.
All we know anout this school is that it was surely talen in Stilton because the class portrait was taken by a Stilton photographer. It is a cabinet card. Stilton is a town in Cambridgeshire near Huntingdon. This looks to be a state primary school and the boys about 7-8 years old. There are 23 boys in the class. They wear collar-buttoning jackes, several with Eton collars. Most have knee pants and long stockings. Notice the substantial brick school building. We are not entirely sure about the chronology. We believe the portrait was taken in the 1880s. We do mot think it was an 1890s portrait because of the cabinet mount style and the boys have simple bows rather than the floppy bows popular in the 1890s. It is possible that tht could have been taken in the 1870s, but unlike america, We see mostly CDVs in Britain during the 1870s. The mount has rule kines like early CDVs and rather than a printed back, the card has a simple studio stamp which we also see in early CDVs. Perhaps readers will have some idea about dating. The studio was Migfall and Dunn in Stilton.
We know very little about the Llanwnog School. Llanwnog is a village in Powys. The Llanwnog School seems to have been a church school. We note a formal school portrait, we think in 1891. We see both the children and teachers. The staff seems rather large for a school this size. As with most early Welsh schools, it is a substantial stone building. The group seems rather serious, common in these early school portraits. This portrait is notable for showing the children's headwear. Most of the boys wear knee pants or knicker suits. One boy wears long pants. The girls wear dresses, some with pinafores. All wear stout boots, in part because many children had quite a long walk to school along stony paths.
This one is a little tricky. It is a coed school primary school. We would guess the class portrait was taken in the 1890s. There is a chalk board in front of the boys with the name of the school. The problem is that we are not sure about the writing. We would guess it reads 'Kea School', but we are not sure, the Kea is not very clear. There is a Kea School in Cornwall and it looks to be a 19th century building. The problem is the Kea School in Cornwall is a stone building and this one is brick. So we may be reading board incorrectly. Also we are not sure what Mo. 5 means. We have not noticed schools being referred to by numbers like this. And these look to be younger children. We have not notice forms (grades) being referred to like this and usually the forms for youunger children are lower numbers. Perhaps our English readers will have some insights. The children look to us to be about 6 years old, some look like they may be only 5 yers old. Age 6 years of course is the age English children began school. Quite a number of the boys wear sailor suits. .Most of the others wear collar-buttoning suit jackets with Eton collars, albeit rather moderare sized Eton collars. The boys seems to be wearing knee pants, mostly with long stockings. There are fewer girls than boys and the way they are placed we can not tell much about the dresses they are wearing.
Board Schools were a critical step on public education. They were the first state run schools in England. They began with Education Act of 1870 which authorized the creaion of local school boards. The Act gave the local boards the authority to raise funds for schools from local rates (taxes) which we think meant realestate taxes. The local boads had the authority to build and operate non-denominational schools when existing voluntary (primarily denominational) schools were inadequate to meet community needs. The local boards also had the alternative of subsidising existing denominational schools. And the boards has the autority of pay the fees of indigent children, but were not required to do so. The local school boards were also given the authority to pass a municipal by-law making school attendance compulsory for children between 5�13 years of age. The 1870 law did not require any religious education beyond basic Bible reading. We believe the school here is the Knowle Board School in Sprinfield, Dudley, Staffordshire. (There is also a historic Knowle School in Bristol so we are not positive.) It was one of thousands of primary schools opened across Britain as aesult of the ground-breaking 1870 Education Act. The schools were not free, although fees were very low. The Knowle School was one of the schools built by the Rowley Regis School Board and opened February 12th, 1877. There were 32 pupils on that first day. They were under the care of Miss Edith Davison. Probably fee requirements limited attendance. The local iron works were expanding and both clay and coal mines brought families to Rowley Regis and their children needed an education. The first head mistriss, Edith Davison, wrote in her school log book, "from February 26th � March 2nd eleven admittances, order improved, still the children are in a wild state, owing to some of them never having been to school before." Finally in 1880 as a result of further legislation the local boards assumed the full cost of educationand made attendance compulsory for children through age 10 years.
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