We have begun developing information on many different headwear styles worn by English boys. These styles have varied over time as well as the boy's age. Some styles are especially associated with English boys, although as Britain is so important in boys and men fashions, they also becme popular in other countries. The wide-brimmed sailor hat is one such example. English boys also wore different styles of sailor caps. Perhaps no headwear is more associated with British boys than the peaked school cap in different colors and patterns (Circles and pie sections). Many boys also wore flat caop. Youngr boys also wear tams. We have also noted stocking caps and a variety of other styles. In recent years we have also seen English boys wearing baseball caps.
Up until the early to mid 70s Balaclavas were quite a common addition to young childrens winter wardrobe but were rarely worn by those over about ten. Previously they were worn by boys until at least their mid-teens.
Boys began wearing American baseball caps in the 1980s. They were almost never seen before the 1980s, but are now quite commonly worn in Britain for casual wear.
The beret was commonly perceived as a French fashion and thus not widely worn by English boys. While the beret was not widely popular in England, some wealthy families thought it fashionable to adopt stylish French fashions. These families were likely to adopt French childrens clothing, including berets and smocks. One such family was the Llewllyn-Davies family of Peter Pan fame. Few English boys, however, would wear berets after leaving for boarding school, usually at age 8 years. The English appear to have begun the military fashion of wearing berets. The beret gained considerable fame during World War II, especially after Monty adopted it. The English Boy Scouts adopted it as part of their uniform in 1969.
Boaters werevery popular in England at the turn of the 20th century. I think they were especially popular with well off families. We note the Gibbs family in 1906. Almost the entire family wore boaters. They were widely worn at many private schools.
We note some teenagers and adults wearing coaxhman hats. A good example is an unidentified teenager, we think in the 1870s. A reader tells us, "The hat is similar to two styles of late 19th Century hats. The most similar is the 'Coachman's hat' although some in pictures of coachmen in the Royal Mews history site, they are wearing typical top hats. They would have been of a different status to ordinary coachmen who's top hats would have blow off in the helter skelter of the ride to Dover or York. A lower crown would have been more practicable. Another style is the d'Orsay - a French style worn by both men and women made fashionable by the Marquis d'Orsay in 1890's but also worn in England. I favour the Coachman style, as this lad looks an everyday sort of chap rather than a 'Dandy'."
Flat caps were also worn by English boys, normally working-class boys. Boys seem to have worn the traditional school caps more commonly to school. This is probably the primary reason they were not more common. Private schools had uniforms which required the peaked school caps, but we notice at state schools that when boys wore caps, kt was usually the peaked school cap style rather than flat caps. I think there must hsave been school regulations enforced here. We see flat caps more commonly worn outside of school. Also they were more common for boys above primary school age.
Glengaries are normally seen as a Scottish cap style. They were often worn with kilts, but not always. We note portraits of English boys as well wearing glengaries. We are not sure how common this was. We have a feeling it was more of an upper-class style and not very common.Most of the portraits we have noted ae from the 19th century. They may have been worn by boys with Scottish family connections. More likely may have been that the Queen Victoria and the Royal fanily had made Scottish styles popular.
This is another school style worn at some private schools.
The peaked cap is a rounded crown cap, rather like a skull cap, but with a smal peak (or bill) at the front. British styles are notable for the small size of the peak. Unlike a baseball cap, the small size of the peak meant that it was not designed to shade the eyes. (This was also the case of 19h century baseball caps.) Rather it seems more designed to oroivide a handel needed for boys when they needed to tip their caps. We see the cap appearing in the mid-19th century, we believe at private schools in England. We think it may have first been worn as a games cap. The peaked cap grew in popularity during the late 19th century. By the late-19th century it was the primary ap style worn by English boys both in and out of school. This continued in the early 20th century. The flat cap that was so popular n America, was never as wdky worn by boys in Engkland where it was seen as nore of a workingman's cap than a boys' cap. It was worn bu boys going to both private and sate schools. We note numerous photographs before the 1950s, however, with boys wearing peaked caps as a kind of casual cap even when not at school as part of school uniform. These caps have no school crest in front. In many cases the boys involved may not have had large wardrobes and these could be the only caps they owned. The cap rapidly declned in ppularily after World War II (1939-45), especially in the 1950s. Today the peaked cap is primarily seen as a school style as well as the style of the traditional Cub cap. Today the peaked cap has virtually du=isappered in England. Cubs no longer wear them, They are, however, still worn at afew private preparatory schools.
English boys like German boys wore peaked caps with sailor suits. They were not as common in England. Boys in England were much more likely to wear sailor caps or hats with their sailor suits. We have, however, noted a few images of English boys with these peaked militart caps. The English caps don't seem to have been so stiff and tall as the German ones.
Engish boys have worn a wide range of headwear. The sailor hat became popular style in the 1840s when thge Royal Family began dressing the princes in sailor suits. The fashion became popular in England and soon spread to other countries. It was the broad-brimmed sailor hat that was first worn, but gradually boys began wearing sailor caps as well. There were many popular styles of sailor hats and caps. The large number of sailor styles were in part due to the long period in which sailor fashions were popular for boys, about 100 years. We notice sailor hats with various size brims. There were sailor caps with flat tops, soft crowns, tams, and other styles. The styles usually followed the standard uniform styles of the Royal Navy, but some like tams were specifically for children. These were notable in that sailor headwear was often worn by boys and girls.
There were also a variety of school headwear, including both peaked caps and boaters. The styles were not exclusively worn for school, but they were primarily worn as school caps. Peaked caps were especially common and also adopted for Cubs. Some schools like Eton had destinctibe hats, but these generally disappered during world war II. School girls began wearing boaters, but never peaked caps. There were many other school headwear styles for girls, including berets and other styles. School caps went out of style in the 1950s, but were retained at many private schools.
Baden Powell's choice of the Smokey Bear or Lemmon Sqeezer hat set a style which still serves as a virtual symbol of Scouting around the world. I'm not sure what the inspiration was for the hat. It looks more American and British and was in fact the hat worn by the American Army at the time. It was adopted by most other national Scout associations. It continued to be widely worn in Britain and other countries through the 1940s. The British army adopted the beret in the late 1930s. Scouts were still wearing smokey bear style hats, which weren't that popular and were considered a bit old fashioned and impractical. So the British Scouts copied the army and adopted the beret as part of their uniform. Photos show that in the 1940s and 1950s both styles of headgear were worn in tandem but by the late 1950s the old scout hat was more or less extinct. The peaked cap worn by Cubs and now Beavers was almost as widely seen as a symbol of Scouting as the old lenon-sqeezer
hat.
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We also note English boys wearing knit stocking caps. Some in England call them "wooly caps". They do not seem to be nearly as popular as in many other countries. But our information here is limited. This seems to have been basically a casual cold-weather style. We note at least a few boys wearing these stocking caps with sailor suits. Striped stocking caps were considered stylish with sailor suits. We note different styles of stocking caps. Some wee elogated and had tassles or poms.
A tam or Tam O'Shanter is a kind of over sized beret. It is associated with Scotland, but was worn by both girls and younger boys in England. They seem to have been more popular for girls than boys, in part because while younger bots and girls wore them, only younger girls wore them. We see various styles and sizes. We see an example here. The boy wears a white tam with a feather. They were worn with a wide variety of outfits.
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