The Stracheys was a well conected Victorian family. the family produced politicans, statesmen, and historical and sociological writers. The Strachey family was photographed by the famed French photographer Nadar, presumably while Sir Richard and his family were in Paris (figure 1). Two older boys are

Figure 1.--This Strachey family photograph was taken about 1883 by the famous French photographer Nadar. Lytton is to the left of Lady Strchley -and wears a modest lace collar with a front buttoning Fauntleroy suit or dress. His hair is done similarly to his younger sister Marjorie who wears a larger lace collar and a velvet dress worn with pantalettes and strap shoes.

wearing Eton suits. Lytton and his sister Marjorie look quite similarly dressed with long hair, bangs, and Fautleroy-looking outfits. Some of the best known family members, and details (where available) on their childhood and clothing, include:

Sir Richard Strachey (1817-1908)

Sir Richard was the family patriarch. He was born in Somersetshire. I have no details on his childhood, but he was a noted soldier and colonial administrator. He served in India (1836-50), lived in England for 5 years, and then returned to India. He served in several posts in the colonial civil service associated with public works and the railways. He authored in 1879 a major work on public works, finances and railways of colonial India, jointly with his brother--Sir John Strachey, another colonial administrator. Most of his children were born in India.

(Giles) Lytton Strachey (1880-1932)

One of the best known members of the family was Lytton Strachey. Born at Clapham Common South Side, London, March 1, 1880, died 21st. January 21, 1932. Lytton was a noted British biographer and essayist. His father was Sir Richard Strachey, an Indian civil engineer and soldier. His godfather, Lord Strachey, was Viceroy to India in the late 1800s. His mother was the essayist Lady Jane Strachey. He was the eleventh child and was named after his godfather, the first earl of Lytton, viceroy of India. Lytton attended Abbotshulme School, and then went to Leamington College and Liverpool University where he studied history. Lytton's most famous work was Eminent Victorians (1918), a collection of short biographies. The distinctive stylistic features of this work is an aloof irony, by which the author, through the artful juxtaposition of incongrous or inconsistent facts, makes obstensibly laudatory, but ambiguous statements which relect discredit upon his subjects. He employed this style in his well-regarded (1921). Lytton was part of theBloomsbury literary movement at the turn of the century before World War I. (See below.)

Figure 2.--Lyton was about 3 years old in this photograh. He has carefully curled hair and wears a dress. The dress is front buttoning or at least has front appointments, a common device for dresses to be worn by boys.

Lytton was born in 1880. A photograph taken about 1883 shows Lytton at about the age of 3, gorgeosly attired, chubby, and with long dark locks reaching to below his shoulders (figure 2). This attire is not unusual for a 3-year old boy at this time. Lytton's mother, however, dressed him in petticoats for many years because she thought them prettier and less absurd than knickerbockers. She delighted in attiring Lytton and his sister in stylish outfits. Consequently, Lytton as a young child more closely resembled a girl in appearance than a boy. All of Lytton's brothers had left home for boarding school by the time Lytton was born and he was left with only his sisters to play with. His closest playmate was his sister Marjorie whom he closely resempbled. Lytton and Marjorie both have long ringlets and at times appear to have worn similar outfits, perhaps Fauntleroy dresses/suits (figure 1). The bottom half of Lytton's costume in the photograph is obscured so impossible to tell if he is wearing short pants or a kilt skirt. The bottom half of Marjorie's outfit is also hard to discern but she appears to be wearing lace trimmed pantalettes similar to those worn by little girls and boys earlier in the century.

Lytton and his brothers and sisters were gifted. Three girls and Lytton became well known authors. Lytton early education was at home under the guidance of his mother who wanted all of her children, girls and boys, to succeed at their chosen careers. Therefore all of the children were exposed to intellectual activities at an early age. One of Lytton's accomplishments was learning to read and write French at an early age.

At age 6 Lytton was sent with his younger sister Marjorie to the Hyde Park Kindergarten where he attended for 18 months. I don't know what he worn to this school or whether he still wore long curls. This was in 1886 about the time of the Fauntleroy craze so he might have worn a Faunteroy outfit. He also may have still been wearing dresses along with his younger sister.

Lytton's mother was a great admirer of Marie Souvestre who established a famous girls' school in France and later a girls' school, Allenswood, in England. These school had many famous graduates, including Eleanor Roosevelt! Four of Mrs Strachey's daughters attended these schools, including Marjorie. Lytton also attended this school as a young boy, but not as an official student. I also don't know how he was dressed to attend Souvestre's school. His mother, who had two daughters attending and one teaching Shakespeare spent long visitations at the school. While visiting the school, Lyttons attended regular classes in French and French Literature with the girls. Marie Souvestre was a remarkable woman with a wonderful warm personality and she make a lasting impression on Lytton. Lytton in later life made many unflattering comment about women, but for Marie Souvestre he had only praise.

I don't know when the above events occurred, but it was before 9 years of age. At 9 Lytton was sent to a private tutor to prepare him for public school. He started public school at Abbotsholme at age 11-12. British boys now begin their public school at about 13 years of age, although some public schools have junior houses for younger boys. This pattern was beginning to become fairly widespread, but many schools in the 1880s still had more flexible attendance regulations than is the case today. (In contrast girls often begin public school at 11 years of age.) Lytton at Abbotsholme participed enthusiastically in theatrical productions. He played both male and females roles such as Hippolta, in A Midsummer Night Dream. As well as other female roles, he also played Romeo and other male roles in Shakespeare's plays. It shold be noted that it was not unusual for boys at the time to play female roles. Many British boarding schools were situated in remote locations and as most were seperate schools for boys or girls, if plays were to be done, some of the boys had to play the female roles. Actually this practice was still quite common until the 1960s. Today many schools are coeducational. The ones that are not often have association with other schools to produce plays jointly. The all boy prep schools for younger children, however, still do plays with boys playing female roles. (The same is true for the all girl prep schools.)

The Bloomsbury Movement

For those too young to have known it, the Bloomsbury world is like the memory of a legendary great-aunt; a clever, witty, rather scandalous great-aunt, who was a brilliant pianist, scholar and needlewoman, who could read six languages and make sauces, who collected epigrams and china and daringly turned her back on charity and good works. The influence of Bloomsbury can still be found in the adulation of France; in the mixture of delicious food with civilized values, and in "saying what you mean". Religion was covered by a belief in the importance of human relationships, and the belief seems reasonable enough, though one gets the impression that the milk of human kindness was kept in the larder and that the tea was usually served with lemon. But Bloomsbury, at least in its own eyes, stood for something more important; it stood for tolerance and intelligence, for seriousness about art and scepticism about the pretensions of the

Figure 3.--John Lytton at about 5 or 6 in a photo taken aboy 1907. He is wearing a more boyish looking, plain dress. His hair is still long, but is not curled or worn in bangs as younger Strachley generations. Actually he looks at bit like "Orphan Annie".

self-important, and it carried on a crusade about the conscious philistinism of the English upper classes. Lytton Strachey displayed all these aspects better than any other writer connected with Bloomsbury, and its faults and virtues reflect and explain his own.

Evelyn John St Loe Strachey (1901-1963)

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Created: June 20, 1998
Last updated: March 4, 1999