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A HBC reader has forwarded us a fascinating portrait of a preparatory school, we believe in Eastbourne. Unfortunately theportrait is unidentified. we do not know the name of the school, although we hope to learn which one it was because the portrait was taken in the front of the main building at the school. And a reader has identified it as Hydneye House Prep School.
The portrait was taken by Lavis who had a studio at Eastbourne in Sussex. The portrait is undated, but our HBC contributor estimates that it was taken about 1902-03. The portrait is interesting in that all the boys are wearing the same identical suits, or virtually all. There are a few obvious variations in the school cap. Few of the early prep school portraits we have seen show the boys so uniformily outfitted. Curiously a bow in the window looks out at the others and he is wearing a smock.
A HBC reader has forwarded us a fascinating portrait of a preparatory school, we believe in Eastbourne. The portrait was taken by the Lavis studio, a well-respected studio in Eastbourne, Sussex. It is unteresting just how the population of European countries and cities in those countries expanded in the 19th century. The population of Eadstbourne was only about 5,000 people in the 1860s. As ea bathing became increasingly popular and with easy rail connections to London, the population began to rapidly grow.
hile Eastbourne was still a small town, there was only two studios. As the town began to grow, so did the number of studios. The London firm of G & R Lavis purchased Henry Niblett's large studio at 42 Terminus Place (summer 1866). This was a marital partnership. George and Rebecca Lavis. Most early photographers were men. The small number of lafy photographers entered the trade as marital partners of photographers. Yje Lavises had been operating a high class studio at 135 Regent Street, London. They decided to establish a branch studio at a Sussex seaside resort. Teir studio became the largest in Eastbourne and dominated the photographic trade fduring thelate 19th and early 20th century.
Unfortunately the image was unidentified. We believe that it is Hydneye House Prep School. The portrait was taken in the front of the main building at the school. Fortuntel one of ourreaders recognized the school. The school evetuly moved away from Eastboure into more spcous quarters. They evetually closed down in the 1970s. Many prep schools were owned by the headmaster and did not survived when he retired. Many other prep schools closed in the difficult economic times after World War II. Prep schools along the southern coast in places like Eastbourne were almost all evacuated during the War. .
The portrait is undated, but our HBC contributor estimates that it was taken about 1902-03. This is an estimate based on the fact that this portrait came with some photos from Eton that are are dated 1905 and 1906. (One of the boys in the portrait went on to Eton.) So we believe that this portrait was taken a couple of years before that.
The portrait is interesting in that all the boys are wearing the same identical suits, or virtually all. There are a few obvious variations in the school cap. Few of the early prep school portraits we have seen show the boys so uniformily outfitted. All of the suits that the boys are wearing are the same color. I'm not sure what color it was, perhaps a light grey. They are al wearing identical Eton collrs. All the same size and perfetly starched. They obviously had instructions to put on brand new collars. There was probably a prefect assigned to be the collar monitor. There are diiferences. While most boys wear double breasted suits, some of the suits are single breasted. There are also fifferences in the lapels. Most boys wear dark caps with light-colored piping. A few boys have caps without the piping and a round badge. Presumably these are boys who won their "colors". Also notable is the large trouser cuffs. Also all of the boys wear low-cut oxford shoes.
Curiously a bow in the window looks out at the others and he is wearing a smock. I'm not sure what color, but it looks like it might have been a light blue. Surely he is one of the boys. He is the right age and note that he wears an Eton collar identical to the one the other boys are wearing. We can not tell if he had a necktie on as his smock covers it. We have no idea why he is wearing a smock and not having his photograph taken with the rest of the boys. Could it be that the normal school uniform that the boys wore for classes was a smock? Perhaps the boys just wore their jackets for special occassions. Perhaps he had come to school without his jacket or lost his cap. Perhaps he spilled ink on his jacket or otherwise rined it. Perhaps he was in conventry (being punished) for some infraction and this not permitted to have his picture taken with the other chaps. Eastbourne is on the Channel close to France. Could there be a French influence at the school.
This photo and several others are of the family of Tory MP George Gibbs the Baron Lord Wraxall and his family. The collectioin of photographs were mostly taken at Tyntesfield (the family estate), Eton, and this currently unidentified prep school). One of the boys in the prep school photo is George Gibbs, but we do not know which boy. He also appears in the Eton photos and some family photos. Their home Tyntesfield is a spectacular Victorian house.
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