Figure 1.--This Cananadian boy had his portrait taken at the T. Hess studio in Picton, Ontario. He wears a tunic in the sailor style. This was the most popular type of tunic worn by Canadian boys. Notice the embroidered anchor on the dickey.

We note Canadian boys wearing tunic suits in the 19th and early-20th century. Our knowledge of Canadian tunics are limited because our Canadian archive is relatively small. We know nothing about the early-19th century, but suspect Canadian boys dressed similarly to British boys. The tunic was a popular style not only in Britain, but other European countries as well. As in Britain we have few Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes (1840-50s), presumably Britishblaw was in effect. We do have a 1860 Dag showing John Coll wearing a white, belted tunic. Like many tunic at the time, it buttoned up the front. Only with he CDV do we begin to see large numbers of images (1860s). Canada had a rather small population, thus the photographic record is limited. Thus we have little information evn about the mid- and later-19th century. Only at the turn-of-the 20th century do we find more images of Canadian tunics. What we have been able to find suggests styles that seem rather similar to the suits worn in America, commonly with belts. The tunic seemed less popular in Britain at the time. We notice Canadian boys wearing tunic suits done in the sailor style. One example is a sailor tunic done with polka dot material. But this was unusual. Most were done with more of a nautical look. One image shows Canadian children dressed up, but playing in a park in 1912. The boy wears a white tunic suit. Another unidentified Canadian boy wears a white tunic at about the same time. It is done in the sailor style, but with lace rather than stripped detailing.

Created: 2:55 AM 1/14/2006
Last updated: 8:55 AM 3/15/2014