Figure 1.--This family snapshot done as a caninet card is unidntified, but we think it is English because of the dog breeds and the boy's clothes, especially the cap and kilt. The children are pictured in a Frances Hodgson Burnett type secret garden. It could be American or Scottish, but English seems more likely. The secret garden also argues for England. Actually we now think that they lived onnthe Isle of Man. And the fact that it is a snapshot and the mount style helps confirm the indicated 1904 date. The fact that the children have a secret garden to play in of course suggests a wealthy family.

After the turn-of-the 20th century, the kilt rapidly disappeared as a boy's garment of any importance. Upper-class and even middle-class boys English boys continued to wear kilts in the Edwardian era during the early 20th century before World War I. We do not see working-class or even lower-middle class boys wearing these outfits. Here both praticality and cost may be factors. This was mostly outfits for special occassions. Although we think that wealth was a factor. Boys from wealthy families might wear wear these outfits even for play. The image here in 1904 seems a good example (figure 1). We think it was less common than in the late-19th century. We notice the Royal Family. But the boys generally only wore kilts when they went up to the royal residence, Balmoral in Scotland. This seemed to have been the case based on prevalnce in the photographic record. We see a few examples, but this was increasingly only for formall occassions. This changed after World War I (1914-18). This is one of countless fshin changes we have noticed. Our English archive is not huge, but there were definitely fewer examples after the war and even more so after the 1920s. And always just for formal occassions. We see very few such portraits after the War,

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Created: 3:39 AM 1/17/2016
Last updated: 3:39 AM 1/17/2016