Figure 1.--The Englisg children were photographed in Woolrich. The image is undated, but we would estimate about 1885. We are unsure as to the identity of these two children. It does appaer to be an Easter portrait. A HBC reader believes that they are brothers. Here the paliness of their outfits is a clue. Girls would have more likely worn colored dresses. The children appear to be wearing sailor tams. Tams would have been appropriate for both boys and girls. Image courtesy of the RD collection.

Engish boys have worn a wide range of headwear. There were many popular styles of sailor hats and caps. The large number of sailor styles were in part due to the long period in which sailor fashions were popular for boys, about 100 years. We notice sailor hats with various size brims. There were sailor caps with flat tops, soft crowns, tams, and other styles. The styles usually followed the standard uniform styles of the Royal Navy, but some like tams were specifically for children. These were notable in that sailor headwear was often worn by boys and girls. There were also a variety of school headwear, including both peaked caps and boaters. Paeked caps were especially common and also adopted for Cubs. School girls began wearing boaters, but never peaked caps. There were many other school headwear styles for girls, including berets and other styles. Flat caps were also worn by English boys, normally working-class boys. We also note boys wearing stocking caps. School caps went out of style in the 1950s, but were retained at many private schools. Boys began wearing American baseball caps in the 1980s.

Chronology

English boys headwear has varied considerably over the years. We note a kind of peaked military cap in the mid-19th century. At this time the broad-brimmed sailor cap came into style. Sunsequent styles of sailor caps were also popular and followed changes in Royal Navy uniforms. The peaked school cap appeared as far as we can tell in the 1860s. At the turn of the century, the peaked school cap was the dominant style for boys. We notice some boys wearing stocking caps. It was even adopted by the Cubs in 1916. Older boys might wear various styles of flat caps. The school cap began going out of style after World War II, especially in the 1950s. Boys began wearing American baseball caps in the 1980s.

Headwear Styles

We have begun developing information on many different headwear styles worn by English boys. These styles have varied over time as well as the boy's age. Some styles are especially associated with English boys, although as Britain is so important in boys and men fashions, they also becme popular in other countries. The wide-brimmed sailor hat is one such example. English boys also wore different styles of sailor caps. Perhaps no headwear is more associated with British boys than the peaked school cap in different colors and patterns (Circles and pie sections). Many boys also wore flat caop. Youngr boys also wear tams. We have also noted stocking caps and a variety of other styles. In recent years we have also seen English boys wearing baseball caps.

Gender

Boys and girls wore detinctive headwear styles. There are very fe styles which both both boys and girls wore. The most obvious are sailor hats. Most sailor caps are, however, only one by boys. We also see both boys and girls wearing berets and tams, although only younger boys wore them. The exception here is the Scouting beret.

Created: March 7, 2003
Last updated: 12:44 AM 7/9/2005