Figure 1.-- Here we see Percy at about age 1 year. This portrait was undated. Percy looks to be wearing a velvet dress trimmed in lace. Note the use of the buttons in a vertical line for detailing. His hair is donre in short ringlets, probably because at this age he did not yet hsve much hair. Image coutesy of the RG collection.

A HBC reader has a collection of seven photographs of an English boy. His name was Percy ????. The portraits show him at various stages of his life from toddler to about age 10 years. It is a fascinating collection showing the clothes worn by a boy at various stages of his boyhood. The early portraits show Percy wearing dresses and his hair done in ringlets. The portraits were taken in the 1880s. Some of the portaits were taken at Proctor of Bolton. Each of the images has his name and the date written of the back. Percy wears dresses and long hair in all of the photo except the last one. None of the dresses appear to be "boy" dresses. I would guess he was breeched at 9 or 10 years of age. In the last dress photo, judging from the height of the post he is standing next to, he looks to be the same age as the last photo, which has him in a knicker suit.

Percy

A HBC reader has a collection of seven photographs of an English boy. His name was Percy. Unfortunately we do not know his family name. Ity is clear, however, that Percy comes from aan afflient family. His wonderful clothes look expensive. The fact that he was so wll dressed and had so many portraits taken suggest that he came from a well off family. Note that all the images are separate portraits of Percy. This suggests that he was an only child. Even this is not certain. It is possible that someone sorted a collection of family portrits, but the only-child senario seems the most likely. Not only are no other siblings pictured, but Percy is not pictured with his either of his parents. This also seems unusual. One reader speculates that Percy's father was absent. It is possible that both parents could have been absent and Percy was being raised by a grandmother or aunt.

British Empire

A reader writes, " The 1880s was the height of the British Empire. It is possible that Percy's father, ike many English gentleman of the period, was in the military or British colonial government and stationed abroad in India or another far away place in the empire. Thus, he could have been absence during Percy's early youth. Percy may have been breeched when his father returned home. This would account for both the lack of other children, which was very unusual at the time and maybe the girlish dresses that Percy wore." This is a possibility. Some men did leave their families at home seeing many colonies as having unhealthy climates. This did, however, vary. Many men did bring their families. We believe that families were becoming more common by the 1880s. One trend we believe was common was to raise the younger children overseas, but to send the older children home for their education in Britain. A reader writes, "My comment regarding the absence father is based on a biography I read many years ago, while I was in graduate school. I don't remember the person's name, but he was a famous admiral in the British navy during World War I. His father was in India until he was 10 years old. He had an older sister and lived with his Mother, sister, and Aunt on a Scottish estate. His Aunt was an artist of sorts and painted a portrait of him at age 8 years. In this portrait he is wearing a fancy white dress, slippers tied with ribbons and long hair in blond ringlets. He did not like this portrait and told his Aunt it made him look too much like a girl. However, he usually wore kilts rather than dresses, which I guess were for special occasions. He mentions, when as little boy of 5 or 6 years, meeting the Prince of Wales at church. The Prince apparently complemented his Mother her pretty little girls. He was embarrassed and rudely blurted out to the Prince that he was a boy."

Portraits

The portraits show Percy at various stages of his life from toddler to about age 10 years. It is a fascinating collection showing the clothes worn by a boy at various stages of his boyhood. The early portraits show Percy wearing dresses and his hair done in ringlets. Note that all the images are separate portraits of Percy. This suggests that he was an only child.

Chronology

We thoughjt at first that the portraits were taken in the 1880s. Some of the portraits, however, have the feel of late 1870s portraits. What ever the date, threy are a wonderful record of Percy growing up in the late Victorian era. Each of the images has his name and several have the date written of the back. We are somewhat confused, however, by the dating. Five of the seven photographs are dated. Unfortunately, the dates on don't make a lot of sense. The reason I believe only one of the photographs is an original because it has the photographer's name and address as well as quite an elaborate drawing on the back. It is dated 1886. In this photograph Percy look to be about 2 1/2 years old. His hair is over his ears and parted in the middle. If this date is correct, it means that Percy was born about 1883. This may be the case, although some of the portraits look a little older to us. The other photographs are either undated or dated 1880. All seven have the name Percy on the back.

Location

Some of the portaits were taken at Proctor of Bolton. I think six of the seven photographs are copies of the original photographs make by Fred Proctor located on Bark Street in Bolton, England.

Clothing

Percy wears dresses and long hair in all of the photo except the last one. The curious thing about these images of Percy is that none of the dresses appear to be "boy" dresses. The first image of Percy at age 1 years is a fairky standard baby image. Boys and girls were normally dressed alike at this age. As Percy gets older, however, normally one would expect him to be outfitted in plainer dtresses and be photographed with boyish props. These were the standard conventions of the day. With Percy we see him not only wearing dressing, but fancy dtresses that seem more appropriate fotr a little girl. And we see him wearig girlish bonnets. Dresses were commonly worn by boys at the time. Boinnets for boys beyond age 1 or 2 years were much less common. In additiion, the props that Percy is photographed with seem more appropriate for a little girl. We are left with the conclusion that Percy was an only child that was absoluterly cherished by his mother who may have wanted a girl and almost certainly did not want her little boy to grow up. I would guess he was breeched at 9 or 10 years of age. In the last dress photo, judging from the height of the post he is standing next to, he looks to be the same age as the last photo, which has him in a knicker suit. Our contributor writes, "Two portraits show Percy dressed as a girl, including props and necklace. This is especially true of one image which shows him wearing a bonnet. He also wears a fancy dress and his hair is held back from the face with a narrow ribbon, which is tied in a bow at the top of his head. None of the dresses he weasrs are boys dress. It is interesting to note that Percy's attire seems to become more feminine as he gets older, at least until he is breeched. Percy was breeched rather late, probably around 10 years of age."

Hair Styling

The images show different hair styles. As a toddler, Percy's hair was dione in ringlet curls. It looks as if he had a haircut at about 2 after which it was allowed to grow long."