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English family - comfortable middle-class family 1890s
English Families: Comfortable Middle-class Family (about-1895)
Figure 1.-- This cabinet card portrait shows a comfortable young middle-class family, perhaps visiting Weymouth. Mother looks like an fashionable lady. The puffed sleeves help to date the portrait. It is undated, but was probbly taken about 1895. Father is also well dressed. Notice the modretrn-looking nustacje. He notably wears a jacket and pants that do not match. The children look to be about 6-10 years of age. The boy wears a standard sailor suit. Unlike the Continent, we mostly see younger boys in England wearing sailor suits, specially by the 1890s. His older sister wears a smock-like dress. The portrait is well posed, but notice that no one is holding hands. Weymouth is a picturesque port in Dorset (southwest England) that had become popular with the tourit trade. The studio was W.G. Dovey in Weymouth.
This cabinet card portrait shows a comfortable young middle-class, perhaps spending a holiday in Weymouth. Mother looks like an fashionable lady. The puffed sleeves help to date the portrait. It is undated, but was probbly taken about 1895. Father is also well dressed. Notice the modrern-looking nustacje. He notably wears a jacket and pants that do not match. The children look to be about 6-10 years of age. The boy wears a standard sailor suit. Interestingly it does not look to us like a very expensive or dress up sailor suit. It is not heavily detailed and has a very small bow. It is also a color that probbly did not show the dirt like a shite suit. We are not entirely sure if this reflects a kind of play or casual sailor suit that a boy might wear on vacation for play on the beach. You might think mother would dress him up more for the portrait, but the girl is also not dressed up for the portrit. Another factor may be the a modest income, although they seem affluent enoug to take a holiday in Weymouth. Unlike the Continent, we mostly see younger boys in England wearing sailor suits, specially by the 1890s. His older sister wears a smock-like dress. The portrait is well posed, but notice that no one is holding hands. Weymouth is a picturesque port in Dorset (southwest England) that had become popular with the tourit trade.
