Figure 1.-- The boy here was taken by a photographer in Mansfield, Notts. The portrait was undated, but was a postcard portrait. Thus we jnow it was taken afterv the turn of the century. We would guess about 1905. The card was postally unused, but mother has apparently written on the bsack in pencil "This is our Alfie, isnt he a lovely boy". Alfie wears a white lacey dress. We would guess that he is about 2 years old. Click on the image to see Alfie a couple years later.

We note several individual English boys wearing dresses. In several cases these are not boys that we can idenify, but we have been able to obtain some information about them. For some we oinly have photographs. For otheer boys we know a good bit about them. The problem here is that many boys wo wore dresses do not really recall it. Often individuals do not have any childhood memories earlier than about 5 years of age, many even later.

Unidentified Boy (1830s)

The water color shown here is unidentified. We know nothing about it. Our assessment, however, is that it was painted in England during the 1830s. It was not paintained by a master artist, it is however a charming image and the dresses and hair styles are painted in some detail. We believe the child in the blue dress is a boy, although there is no way to be certain about this.

Unidentified Boy (18??)

This unidentified and unattributed portrait shows an English boy wearing what looks to be a dark green velvet dress in the 19th century. We do not know who the boys was or the artist. We believe that it is English as it was being sold in England. There are many modern reproductions are even modern pintings purporting to be older works. This with unattributed works you can not be sure, but this may well be a 19th century painting. There is no collar, but a wide square open neck. These open collar dresses were more common in the early and mid-19th century than the late 19th century. Only part of the dress is shown. It loks to be a green velvet dress with puff sleaves. As in America, some boys had their curls cut before and others after breaching. This boys' mother believed in cutting his hair well before breaching.

Unidentified Child (about 1875)

A HBC reader has provided this portrait of an Englishg child about 1875. All we know for sure is that the portrait was taken in Liverpool by the Liverpool & London Photographic Co. She writes, "I don't think this looks like a girl. Could I be right?" It is possible to guess gender based on facial features, but there is no reason to be really positove about such matters. As boys this age commonly wore long hair and dresses, this child could easily be either. And he is not holding any props which often provide us clues. There is, however, a prop on the table--a fan. Such itens do not appear by accident in these old photographs. And of course a fan would suggest the child is a girl.

Ernest Shepherd (1879-1976)

A reader writes, "It is some years since I have read Ernest Shepherd's autobiography, but I recall him mentioning when he was about three having to wear his 'broiderie'. I took it to mean a dress decorated with broiderie anglaise. It was blue with white trim. He used to have to wear it when his mother invited friends over for tea. He used to hide under the dining room table to avoid the ladies who used to want to cuddle the 'sweet' boy. If I find the reference, I shall give it to you verbatem." Sheperd of course is the famed illustrater used by A.A. Milne for his books about Christopher Robin and Winnie the Poo.

Alexander

Alfie--Unknown Notts Boy (about 1905-10)

The boy here was taken by a photographer in Mansfield, Notts (figure 1). The portrait was undated, but was a postcard portrait. Thus we jnow it was taken afterv the turn of the century. We would guess about 1905. The card was postally unused, but mother has apparently written on the bsack in pencil "This is our Alfie, isnt he a lovely boy". Alfie wears a white lacey dress. We would guess that he is about 2 years old. Click on the image to see Alfie a couple years later wearing a sailor suit. Written on the back of that card is "What do you think to our Son, this is just like him, you will see he moved his knee & made it loke a bit funny, best love H & L & A".

Basil Holroyd (1910s)

We see images of Micael's father Basil and his aunt and uncle as children. In the two pictues Kenneth is shown wearing a dress. It looks quite fancy for a boy. He also wears also wearing white ankle socks and white strap shoesI think these pictures were taken on the same day. Basil wears short trousers, a tie knee socks and black strap shoes. He is shirt is white with a Peter Pan colour His tie looks to be a woollen knitted one.

Created: 6:05 AM 7/29/2004
Last updated: 11:48 PM 1/7/2009