Figure 1.--

English boys wore a range of different culed hair stylss. Curls of course exceptg for very young bos eas a hair style generally seen as a style for girls and women. This was not a peculiarly 19th century style. We see men wearin elkaborate curls in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were, however mostly wigs. This was not common for boys. We have paintins which show these styles. But we do not have a guge archive of hair fasion trends until the invention of photography (1839). In America we have a large arcive of dags abd ambros (1840s-50s), but far fewer in England and the rest of Europe. This changes with the appearance of the CDV (1860s). This gives us the ability to follow English hair styling in great detail, both chilfren and adults. And we see many types of curls. Many youngr boys had natural curls. We see different lenths of hir, some curled some not. We see curls done in different ways on top of the head, both sinle and dounlr cirls or eolls. We see ringlets in various lengths and styles. English mothers seemed to have liked hair styling for boys. we do not see much of this cropped hair which was commin Germany, Russia, and much of Central and eastern Europe. Ringlet curls seem more popular in England thab any other European country where long hair was often not curled. Rinlets were, however, even more common in America where you almost neversee uncurled long hair, at least until the 1970s.

Natural Curls

Many mothers allowed the hair of their young children to grow. Some children do not much have much hair. Others have quite a bit. Mothers seem to have liked to allow to allow natural curls to grow.

Figure 2.--This unidentified English boy looks to be abiut 3 years old. His hair is done in ringlet curls. He wears a sailor cap which is rather rare because in most cases boys with ringlets were photographed without caps and hats. The cabinet car mount suggests that it was tken about 1890s. The studio was Mrs. Osguilthorpe in Scarlborough.

Ringlet Curls

Some boys with long hair had it done in ringlets during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was perhaps not as common as in America, byt more common than on the Continent. There were definite class connotations with this style. Working class boys rarely had their hait done in ringlets. The style did not originate with Mrs, Burnett's book Little Lord Fauntleroy, but this definutely popularized the style. We know that English boys wore curls and in some cases ringlets. We do not yet, however, have chronological details on the ringlet curl fashion in England. We are not sure, however, how the fashion compared with that in America. England in the 19th century generally was the source of many American fashions. Thus it seems likely that the fashion of ringlet curls as a boys' hair style probably priginated in England and was followed in America, at least until the Mrs. Burnett's publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy gave the fashion a life of its own. The style was seen as an English style in France and in fact called "English curls"--"Cheveux avec des anglaises". As in America, many images exist of English boys weating ringlet curls. Even so, it does no appear to have been as popular as in America. HBC has the impression that ringles were more likely to be worn by aristocratic boys and the wealthy class and not as common by middle-class boys as was the case in America. Actual information on the subject, however, is still limited at this time.

Figure 2.-- This English boys identified as Frank Eastman (possibly Cortman). He looks to be about 5 year old. Frank has short hair with two top rolls (curls). He wears a kilt suit with dark long stockings. Note the military detiling on the sleeve cuffs. And he holds a great toy cannon. I would have given my eye teeth for a cannon like that. We are not sure how to date the CDV, but would guess the 1870s, although we are not yet confident about our British dating. The studio was T. Fall, London (9-10 Baker Street, Portman Square, W).

Top Curl or Knot

We are not at all sure what to call this style. Perhaps some of our readers will know. There are many variations, but basically it is a style with a large curl or hair knot done at the crown of the head. Gennerally the hair is frawm back from the front and theor bay be a double part. The hair at the side can be done in various ways, from long ringlets to a range of shorter styles. This appears to be an exclusively boy style. We have sen both boys and firls wearing ringlets, but we have not noticed girls wearing these top curls and knots. We have also note American boys wearing these styles. They seem to have been most common in the late 19th century, but we are not sure when the style first appeared. We no longer commonly see this style after the very early 20th century.

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Created: 6:12 AM 2/18/2014
Last edited: 6:12 AM 2/18/2014