Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified group of English boys, we think in the 1890s. They look to be brothers, but there is always the possibility a couusine may have been thrown in. The age range looks to be about 2-7 years old. Areader thinks we are little off in our age estimates. The older boy has what looks like a pointed collar shirt added to his sailor blouse. One of the younger boys (but not the youngest) has a large lace collar covering his blouse so we are not sure it is a sailor blouse. This was amounted photograph, a rather unusual size (11 X 8 cm / 4.3 X 3.1 in). There was no studio information. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

We see large numbers of English boys wearing sailor suits at age 6 years. This was the age that most boys began school. We see 5 year olds in schools, but virtually all 6 yearr olds by the 1980s were going to school. And we see anpt of 5-6 year old boys wearing sailor suits in the late-19th century. A good example is the Knowle Board School in 1898 wearing sailor suits. A board school was by this time a free state school so clothing at these schools are a good example of what ordinry English children were wearing, both the workingclass and lower middle class children. We are not sure about mid-century because we have so few English Dags and Ambros. But with the appearace of the CDV, we have a very good idea. We do not see many sailor suits in the 1860s, but by the 1870s t ws clealy become a major style. And bythe end of the century, most middle-class boys had sailor suits. A good example is Douglas Purdy in Maidendtone during 1895. We are assessing how common it was for younger primary boys to wear sailor suits to school. We note them wearing both sailor caps at the turn-of-the century included noth broad-brimmed hats and boters.

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Created: 4:33 AM 1/31/2019
Last updated: 4:33 AM 1/31/2019