Figure 1.-- A HBC reader sent us this account he found of an American boy named Howard Prichett. "It was under the shadow of this matriarchal monopoly that my father, Howard Pritchartt, spent his childhood. His mother, Bessie Rose, was Katherine's sister, and boy, was she disappointed when her only child wasn’t the girl she’d always wanted. She'd had visions of playing dress-up with a beautiful little girl. Not to worry. Bessie Rose decided she'd dress him any way she darned well pleased, and that's exactly what she did. ...." We are not entirely sure about this account, but there is a family snapshot associated with it.

A HBC reader sent us this account he found of an American boy named Howard Prichett. The image and text is not dated, bur we would guess dates to the 1920s. His mother was intenton dressing him up in fancy clothes

Posted Account

The account reads: It was under the shadow of this matriarchal monopoly that my father, Howard Pritchartt, spent his childhood. His mother, Bessie Rose, was Katherine's sister, and boy, was she disappointed when her only child wasn’t the girl she’d always wanted. She'd had visions of playing dress-up with a beautiful little girl. Not to worry. Bessie Rose decided she'd dress him any way she darned well pleased, and that's exactly what she did. ...." We are not entirely sure about this account, but there is a family snapshot associated with it. Every morning she'd send young Master Howard off to school in a sailor suit or Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, where he'd get beaten up for wearing sissy clothes. When he got home, she would rage at him because he'd ruined his outfit. He remembers one incident in particular, when she ripped off his jacket and started jumping up and down on it in a fit of fury as he backed away, awed and terror stricken. Like my great aunt Katherine, Bessie Rose worshipped at the altar of high society, and for her, every night was a party. Nearly every evening, they’d leave Howard at home with his elderly grandmother. He and the old lady took care of each other. He would bring her milquetoast and they would keep each other company in the silent house. It was a lonely time. One night, he begged, "Please don't go. Stay home, please? Just once." "You ought to be ashamed,” his mother replied. “You ought to be happy so many people want us to join them.” So he grew to hate social events and all that they entailed. As he grew older, my grandmother and her sister tried teaching my father the importance of the social graces. The harder they tried, the more he rebelled. He wanted nothing more than to be a man’s man, happiest when he was out on the river with his friends, hunting and exploring the muddy banks and back bayous of the Mississippi. Handsome though he was, he always felt at odds when dressed for a party. And though he did his part by participating in the springtime madness that is the Natchez pilgrimage, he never tired of thumbing his nose at it all.

HBC Assessment

HBC is not sure about the accuracy of this account. Sending a boy to school in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit does not sound reasonble. But we do note the sampshot so there must be someting to the account. This looks to be some kind of pagent. There is no way Howard would have gone to school dressed like that. We suspect he was not to keen to dress like that even for a pagent. The photograph does not provide a clue as to how the children dressed ordinarily.

Reader Comments

HBC readers have commented on the snpshot here. A British reader writes, "It looks to me that with all the children are wearing period costume, including the girls. They looked to be dressed up for some kind of pageant or perhaops some period re-enactment occasion. There is a second boy at the far left of the photo wearing a white outfit with pantalettes. The phpto looks amateurish, perhaps taken by another member of the family with a Brownie camera." An American reader writes, "If you will notice there are three boys in the image. The one on the far right Howard Pritchard who looks to be about 10 years old. A 4-5 year old is next to the nanny (standing to the right) in curls. And a boy in white on the far left maybe he is about 9 years old."

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Created: 4:22 AM 7/15/2009
Last edited: 7:38 PM 11/5/2012