Figure 1.--This detail from a portrait taken at an English village school in the early 1900s is a good relection of popular styles for boys and girls. For more views at this school, click on the image. Image courtesy if the MD collection.
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Figure 1.--This detail from a portrait taken at an English village school in the early 1900s is a good relection of popular styles for boys and girls. For more views at this school, click on the image. Image courtesy if the MD collection. |
English boys have worn a wide variety of hair styles. Perhaps the the best known English hair style was the straight back and sides--a severe style. Younger boys wore longer hair, although here there were social class connotations. Long hair was more common for boys from affluent families. The length varied over time. Boys wore long hair both in tight ringles and in natural curls. Bangs were also very commonly worn by primary school age boys, especially the younger boys. As they got older they were more likely to wear hair styles with parts. Short hair styles continued to be popular into the 1960s when the Beatles and other inflluences begn to popularize longer hair. Boys might wear quite long hair in the 1970s, but shorter styles gradually became more popular in the 1980s. Very short almost shaved hair styles appeared in the late 1990s.
Bangs were also very commonly worn by primary school age boys, especially the younger boys. As they got older they were more likely to wear hair styles with parts like a short back and side cut. Many turn of the 20th century school portraits show boys in bangs and girls with long hair, although there were many exceptions here. A good example is the photograph here from an English village school in the early 1900s.
Some English boys had closed cropped hair at the turn of the 20th century, but this style was more common in Germany and othercontinental countries at the time. Very short almost shaved or cropped hair styles appeared in the late 1990s. This style first appeared with the skin heads in the 1980s, but by the turn of the 21st century was being widely worn by boys without the social connotations associated with the skin heads.
Boys wore long hair both in tight ringles and in natural curls.
Younger boys wore longer hair, although here there were social class connotations. Long hair was more common for boys from affluent families. The length varied over time. Short hair styles continued to be popular into the 1960s when the Beatles and other inflluences begn to popularize longer hair. Boys might wear quite long hair in the 1970s, but shorter styles gradually became more popular in the 1980s.
Some boys with long hair had it done in ringlets during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was perhaps not as common as in America, byt more common than on the Continent. There were definite class connotations with this style. Working class boys rarely had their hait done in ringlets. The style did not originate with Mrs, Burnett's book Little Lord Fauntleroy, but this definutely popularized the style.
We know that English boys wore curls and in some cases ringlets. We do not yet, however, have chronological details on the ringlet curl fashion in England. We are
not sure, however, how the fashion compared with that in America. England in the 19th century generally was the source of many American fashions. Thus it seems
likely that the fashion of ringlet curls as a boys' hair style probably priginated in England and was followed in America, at least until the Mrs. Burnett's publication of
Little Lord Fauntleroy gave the fashion a life of its own. The style was seen as an English style in France and in fact called "English curls"--"Cheveux avec des
anglaises". As in America, many images exist of English boys weating ringlet curls. Even so, it does no appear to have been as popular as in America. HBC has the impression that ringles were more likely to be worn by aristocratic boys and the wealthy class and not as common by middle-class boys as was the case in America. Actual information on the subject, however, is still limited at this time.
Perhaps the the best known English hair style was the short back and sides--a severe style. The hair at the side is cropped almost entirely off. The hair on the top of the head is allowed to grow, not real long, but at least enough for a part.
We are not at all sure what to call this style. Perhaps some of our readers will know. There are many variations, but basically it is a style with a large curl or hair knot done at the crown of the head. Gennerally the hair is frawm back from the front and theor bay be a double part. The hair at the side can be done in various ways, from long ringlets to a range of shorter styles. This appears to be an exclusively boy style. We have sen both boys and firls wearing ringlets, but we have not noticed girls wearing these top curls and knots. We have also note American boys wearing these styles. They seem to have been most common in the late 19th century, but we are not sure when the style first appeared. We no longer commonly see this style after the very early 20th century.
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