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Artist like Helen Allingham provide some charming images of English girls and boys wearing smocks. Smocks continued to be popular for girls in the late-19th Century, but by the late 19th Century, especially by the 1890s were becoming less common for boys. This was in part because of the increasing level of school attendance, both in private and state schools. English schools, unlike French schools did not require children to wear smocks. English private schools had school uniforms and once boys began wearing their school uniforms they no longer wanted to wear smocks at home. Some English boys at the turn of the century did wear smocks. The boys involved were primarily from affluent families. It was increasingly being viewed, however, as a French fashion. The families involved were often families who liked to stress their cosmopolitan commections and outlook. One such family was the The Llewellyn-Davies Family. The family was importalized By J.M. Barie in the children's classic, Peter Pan. The boys helped inspired Barie's book. The were commonly outfitted in smocks and even berets, giving them even more of a Frebch look. We also note that Reginald Birch in his classic illustrations for Little Lord Faintleroy depicted the children on the estate wearing smocks. Cedric of course did not wear smocks, but the children of the agricultural laborers did. We are not sure how common this was in England by 1885 when he did the illustrations. This may have been a bit of nostalgia. We have no photographic images to substantiate this. Presumably because estate workers could not aford photographic portraits and if they did would not have worn a smock which was considered work clothes. We have very limited information on smocks during the 19th century. The CDV portrait here looks like a late 19th century portrait of a boy in a smock, but we are not positive (figure 1). A photographic expert tells us, "Difficult - but I feel that this is late 1880s to early 1890s - I think I would put c.1892. Note also the wide sleeves of the 1890s. The design of the card and the name design is later than 1870s and more typical late 1880s but used up to 1900. Sometimes I feel confident of a date - in this case less so." [Vaughan]
Artist like Helen Allingham provide some charming images of English girls and boys wearing smocks. Until photography was invented (1839) drawings and paintings were the only images we had. Unfortunatel, the photographic industry did not grow as rapidly in Europe, even Britain and France, as it did in America. We have been able to find very few English Dags and Ambros during the 1840s-50s. It is only with the CDV and the 1860s that we begin to see any substantial number of images.
Smocks continued to be popular for girls in the late-19th Century, but by the late 19th Century, especially by the 1890s were becoming less common for boys. This was in part because of the increasing level of school attendance, both in private and state schools. English schools, unlike French schools did not require children to wear smocks. English private schools had school uniforms and once boys began wearing their school uniforms they no longer wanted to wear smocks at home.
we are not sure how prevalent snocls were in the late-19th century. Farm workers commonly wore smocks in the early- / mid-19th century. We are less sure about children. And we are not at all sure about how prevalent smocks were in the late-19th century, even in the countryside. Some English boys at the turn of the century did wear smocks.
The boys seen involved were primarily from affluent families, which is interesting because for adults, it was pimarily worling class men that wore smocks. This preliminary assessment may be because most of our information comes from studio photography and the c=ost affected the social class comppsition of the images. The smock, at least the smock for children, was increasingly being viewed as a French fashion. This is largely because the French Thord Republic after the Franco Prussian War (1870-71) introduced major eductional reforms which imncluded in addition to other matters introducing the school smnock for both boys and girls. The families involved were often families who liked to stress their cosmopolitan commections and outlook. One such family was the The Llewellyn-Davies Family. The family was importalized By J.M. Barie in the children's classic, Peter Pan. The boys helped inspired Barie's book. The were commonly outfitted in smocks and even berets, giving them even more of a Frebch look. We also note that Reginald Birch in his classic illustrations for Little Lord Faintleroy depicted the children on the estate wearing smocks. Cedric of course did not wear smocks, but the children of the agricultural laborers did. We are not sure how common this was in England by 1885 when he did the illustrations. This may have been a bit of nostalgia. We have no photographic images to substantiate this. Presumably because estate workers could not aford photographic portraits and if they did would not have worn a smock which was considered work clothes. We have very limited information on smocks during the 19th century.
The CDV portrait here looks like a late 19th century portrait of a boy in a smock, but we are not positive (figure 1). A photographic expert tells us, "Difficult - but I feel that this is late 1880s to early 1890s - I think I would put c.1892. Note also the wide sleeves of the 1890s. The design of the card and the name design is later than 1870s and more typical late 1880s but used up to 1900. Sometimes I feel confident of a date - in this case less so." [Vaughan]
Most 19th century photography was studio photography, meaning indoor images in which people usually dressed up in their best outfits. This is perhaps why there are so few portraits of children wearing smocks in the photographic record. The smpck was a utilitarian garment designed o protect clothing, noy the way in whivh children were dressed up for to have their portraits taken. We have found a few amateur photographs taken outside the studio. While the photographic industry in America was moke widespread than in England, we seem to see more ammateur photographers in England than in America. Amateur photography was both expensive and complicated in the late-19th century. Thus we have found a few images of children wearing smocks in the everyday life away from home and photographic studios. We are not sure how common this was, but it may have been more common than outside the photographic studio images that constitute much of the photographic record. We do not have many such images, ut there are not aot od smock studio images either.
Vaughan, Roger. E-mail message, May 4, 2004. Roger is extremely knowledgeable about English fashion and old pictures. Readers interested in Victorian and Edwardian photographs may wabnt to visit Roger's site.
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