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Boys in Ulster (northern Ireland) wore English-style sailor suits. HBC knows of no real difference between the sailors suits worn in Ulster and England. One wonders if rather patriotic-looking sailor suits, however, might have been more popular with the Protestant than the Catholic boys.
HBC would date this image about 1910-15. The fact that it was taken outdoors, probably at home means that it is most likely a 1900s image. The styles look like common pre-World War I (1914-18). The combination of flags suggest a pre-1916 image. The rifle and hat suggest that it may have been talen early in the War.
The younger boy wears a middy suit with many of the classic garments with all the trim and atachments.
Ulster boys in the late 19th century commonly wore wide-brimmed sailor hats. After the tirn of the 20th century sailor caps became more common. The hat does not appear to have a streamer. Notice how mother has carefully placed the younger boys' hat, with a Victoria ribbon, so it would show in the photograph. There is also a dress British military helment in the background, but it is not one that would have been commonly worn by the older boy. The younger boy would have worn the sailor har.
Both middy blouses and reefer suits were popular at the turn of the century. Yjis boy wears a middy blouse suit.
The youngervboy wears knee-length short pants. At the time, British boys were gradually changing from kneepants to short pants. Sailor suits were one of the few outfits that were also made with long pants sailor, but the short pants suit were more common.
The younger boy wears kneesocks which had been popularized by Baden Powell's Boy Scout movement. His older brother probaly also wears kneesocks, but it can't be determined as he wears knickers. A HBC reader believes that the older boy appears to be wearing long stockings and the younger boy is wearing knee socks. It is hard to be certain because the older boy is wearing below the knee knickers. HBC believes that long stockings in general were more common in America than Britain. We can not yet confirm this, however, in part because iof tghe lack of British mail order catalog information.
HBC is not psitive about age destinctions in hosiery. A good source of information are mail order catalogs. HBC does not yet have details about turn of the century mail order catalogs. In fact we are not yet sure if there were any. There were, however, many American catalogs, such as Montgomery Wards, Sears, and B. Altmans. In those catalogs, very young children are depicted in socks and older children are depicted in stockings. This may be a confirmation of the accuracy of those ads being representative of the general public and not just an image to attract the mother (buyer's) attention.
The younger boy wears strap shoes. I'm not sure what kind of shoes his older brother is wearing. A HBC reader provides a more detaile assessment. think the shoes are very interesting. The child in the wide collar suit appears to be wearing tie shoes, a more mature style, with two tone black shoes. The bottom part appears to be patent leather. It gives the shoes a look as if he is wearing spats. I could be mistaken and this could just be the picture quality. The younger boy is wearing button strap shoes, also patent leather but very worn (were they hand me downs?)
Several comventions can be seen here. Sailor suits, short pants, and wide-brimmed sailor hats were seen by their mother as appropriate for a younger boy. The same was true of the wide-brimmed sailor suit. Wide white Peter Pan collars were seen appropriate for somewhat older boys. In another year or two he would becwearing an Eton collar.
Sailor suits in England were primarily worn by boys up to about 8-years of age. This was the age that affluent boys were sent off to their prep schools. They would then begin to wear Eton collars suits and by the 1920s blazers with soft collars. The image here shows the younger boy wearing a short pants sailor suit with strap shoes. His older brother wears a rather knicker suit with a very plain jacket, but a very large Peter Pan collar
The younger boy wears a classic middy blouse suit. Notice the traditional three stripes. Except for the short pants, this was a replica of the uniform worn by British enlisted sailors. Boys in Ulster wore English-style sailor suits. HBC knows of no real difference between the sailors suits worn in Ulster and England.
Younger British boys, especially boys from affluent familie, still commonly had long hair at the turn of the century. It was often cut before the boy began school. Notice that his older brother whi had already began school has a short hair cut. British boys were less likely to wear ringlets than American boys.
The flags in ghis image lead HBC to believe that this photograph was taken in Ulster. They appear to be the Union Jack, the Ulster flag, and the Irish flag. HBC is not sure of this, hopefully our British readers will help us here. The interesting fact is that after 1916 (the Easter rebellion) or at least 1922 (craetion of the Irish Free State--Eire), the Ulster and Irish flags woulkd not have been seen together. Then agaim after thinking about it, the Ulster may have only been created in 1922. At any rate the Irish tri-color probably did not have the association with Catholic Ireland as is the case today. One wonders if rather patriotic-looking sailor suits, however, might have been more popular with the Protestant than the Catholic boys.
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