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We have begun to assess the chronology of English school smocks, but our information to date is limited. We have no evidence yet to confirm that boy commonly wore smocks to school in the late-18th and early-19th century a time at which smocks wereworn in rural areas. (Of course that does not mean that they definitively did not.) We suspect that children in rural areas probably did, but we can not prove it. But unlike America there were few schools in rural areas. England lagged begind America and German in creating a public school system. Boys rarely appear in the 19th century images we have found wearing smocks. French schools began requiring smocks at the onset if the Third Republic (1870s). The idea was to create an ethos of equality. Britain of course was a monarchy and never promoted an ethos of republicam eqalitarianism. A few pre-schools may have used smocks did use smocks. This may have been realtively common in the 19th century. We know much more about the 20th century. Private schools did require uniforms, but we know of no private school that required older boys to wear smocks. We have a substantial archive of British school images so we believe smocks would show up if they were very common. We have found a few examples sych as the boy hwre, we think in the 1010s (figure 1). Smocks were worn at some prep schools or even some state pre-schools. They may have just been used at school, primarily for the younger boys or even for older boys when engage in messy activities like art. We see a good example from the 1960s on the previous page.
We have no informatioin on 18th century smocks.
We have begun to assess the chronology of English school smocks, but our information to date is limited. Our early-19th century archive is limited and school images even more so. And what we have found do not show children wearing smocks to school. We have no evidence yet to confirm that boys commonly wore smocks to school in the early-19th century a time at which smocks were worn in rural areas. Photography was invented in France (1839). Even so, we do not see large numbers of Dags, Ambros, and other photographic process from France, England, and other European countries. The large number of these imnages in America was an anomally--unmatched by any other country. Until the advent of the the CDV (1860s) we do not see large numbers of English photographs. And we do not see many English boys wearing smocks, although admittedly English 1860s photography was heavily concentrated on the affluent classes. ew do see We know much more about the 20th century. Private schools did require uniforms, but we know of no private schools that required older boys to wear smocks. We have a substantial archive of British school images so we believe smocks would show up if they were very common. We have found a few examples such as the boy here, we think in the 1910s (figure 1). WEe are not sure if he is wearing a smock or a tunic which were worn to some extent, mostly by the privildged classes. We do not see boys wearing either smocks or tunics to school to any extent in the 20th century. Smocks and tunics are often diffucult to diferenuate. (The primary difference is wether normal street clothes are worn underneath.) Smocks may have been worn at some pre-prep prep schools. This varied somewhat, but most prep schools begin taking boys at about age 8 years. Or they may have been worn in some state pre-schools. As far as we can tell, however, this was not very common, but we do see a few examples. We note one school, we think in the 1950s. Actually we have found several images, but many seen tio have beeb taken at the same school, which comoicated ant effort to assess prevalence.m mThey may have just been used at school, primarily for the younger boys or even for older boys when engage in messy activities like art. We see a good example from the 1960s on the previous page.
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Created: 3:47 AM 9/9/2017
Last updated: 4:34 PM 11/5/2020