Figure 1.--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. We are not sure why he is wearing a smock and why he is not having his picture taken with the other boys. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
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 school seems especially well organized and strictly run. We believe that the boy did not appear in the window by accident. He was almost surely placed there by the headmaster so he would be in the portrait, but not along with the other boys. A HBC reader writes, "It intrigued me when I saw it, I was wondering whether he was sick and had
to be kept from immediate contact with the other boys, and this was a clever way of him still being in the photo." This is of course a possibility. The question arises was the smock just used for children in sickbay or was it as mentioned above the normal school attire. Particularly interesting here is the fact that even a sick boy had to don his Eton collar, "stiff upper lip and all that". We might have thought that if he was sick that he would be excused from the Eton collar.
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.
Smocks or pinafores are not associated with English boys schools. Smocks were of course commonly worn accross the Channel in French schools, by both boys and girls. Pinafores were very common for girls. We do know, however, that both smocks and to a lesser extent pinafores were worn by some English school boys. We believe that it was fairly common for English boys in nursery-level schools or classess to wear smocks or even pinafores in the 19th century. This becomes less common in the 20th century, but was not unknown. We only know of one school, a song school, where the boys wore smocks as there ordinary daily school uniorm. It is not impossible, however, that there could have been more. We know that the pre-prep boys at some prep schools wore smocks at least while at school even in the 20th century, although this was not very common.
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 school seems especially well organized and strictly run. We believe that the boy did not appear in the window by accident. He was almost surely placed there by the headmaster so he would be in the portrait, but not along with the other boys.
A HBC reader writes, "It intrigued me when I saw it, I was wondering whether he was sick and had to be kept from immediate contact with the other boys, and this was a clever way of him still being in the photo." Another English reader agrees, "My thought was that the boy might have been ill on the day the photograph was taken." This is of course a possibility. The question arises was the smock just used for children in sickbay or was it as mentioned above the normal school attire. Particularly interesting here is the fact that even a sick boy had to don his Eton collar, "stiff upper lip and all that". We might have thought that if he was sick that he would be excused from the Eton collar.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1890s]
[The 1900s]
[The 1910s]
[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer]
[School sandals]