Figure 1.--While most children wearing pinafores were girls, some boys wore them as well, although it is not always easy to identify who is who. This undated image is from Barnstable in Devon. It shows that it was not just in small village schools where boys wore pinafores. Notice that some of the boys where much more simple than the girls' pinafores. Click on the image to see more children at the school. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
Here we see a school in Barnstaple, North Devon, England. The image is undated, bur we believe that it was taken around the turn of the 20th century. This image looks to HBC like it might have been taken a few tears begore the turn of the century in the 1890s. Normally it is relatively easy to identify boys and girls. Other times it is much more complicated. The photo is not in as good condition as the others but is possibly the most interesting as it the one where it is the most difficult to separate the boys from the girls. Theimage shows that it was not just in small village schools where boys wore pinafores. Notice that some of the boys where much more simple than the girls' pinafores. Some of our readers have written to say that children in the English school portraits who look like boys in pinafores are not boys, but girls with short hair. While many girls wore long hair, it is certainly true that many girls did have short hair. Here I am not sure why they or their mothers decided on short hair styles. Perhaps HBC readers can provide some insights here. We do know that after World War I that short bobbed hair was a popular style, but before the War we believe that long hair was seen as much more stylish. These short hair styles do complicate the identigication of the children. And there are some children that we simply can not identify. There are, however, some children that are very clearly boys. Often but not always their pinafores are more simple than those worn by the girls. The boys, for, example, seem to often have pinafores without the shoulder frills. For example in the image here, the two children to the left and white are dfinitely girls. I am not sure about the two children in the front (bottom) row, but the child in the middle is definitely a boy. Click on the image to see even more boys.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1840s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer]
[School sandals]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Return to Main English school pinafore page]
[Return to Main pinafore country page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]