Figure 1.--Here we see a cabinet card portrait of an unidentified English boy, probably in the 1910s wearing a smock. It cvould be a tunic. His cap suggests it was schoolwear. We are unsure if it was part of a school uniform or just an outfit mother chose.

We have begun to assess the chronology of English school smocks, but our information to date is limited. We have no evidence yet to confirm that boy commonly wore smocks to school in the late-18th and early-19th century a time at which smocks wereworn in rural areas. (Of course that does not mean that they definitively did not.) We suspect that children in rural areas probably did, but we can not prove it. But unlike America there were few schools in rural areas. England lagged begind America and German in creating a public school system. Boys rarely appear in the 19th century images we have found wearing smocks. French schools began requiring smocks at the onset if the Third Republic (1870s). The idea was to create an ethos of equality. Britain of course was a monarchy and never promoted an ethos of republicam eqalitarianism. A few pre-schools may have used smocks did use smocks. This may have been realtively common in the 19th century. We know much more about the 20th century. Private schools did require uniforms, but we know of no private school that required older boys to wear smocks. We have a substantial archive of British school images so we believe smocks would show up if they were very common. We have found a few examples sych as the boy hwre, we think in the 1010s (figure 1). Smocks were worn at some prep schools or even some state pre-schools. They may have just been used at school, primarily for the younger boys or even for older boys when engage in messy activities like art. We see a good example from the 1960s on the previous page.

The 18th Century

We have no informatioin on 18th century smocks.

The 19th Century

We have begun to assess the chronology of English school smocks, but our information to date is limited. Our early-19th century archive is limited and school images even more so. And what we have found do not show children wearing smocks to school. We have no evidence yet to confirm that boys commonly wore smocks to school in the early-19th century a time at which smocks were worn in rural areas. Photography was invented in France (1839). Even so, we do not see large numbers of Dags, Ambros, and other photographic process from France, England, and other European countries. The large number of these imnages in America was an anomally--unmatched by any other country. Until the advent of the the CDV (1860s) we do not see large numbers of English photographs. And we do not see many English boys wearing smocks, although admittedly English 1860s photography was heavily concentrated on the affluent classes. ew do see tunics, some of which were worn to school by boys--but not girls. Gradually as portrait prices declined, we see a wider spectrum of society as well as school photography. We do not, horver, see children wearing smocks to school in ythe 19th century photographic record. At the time, uniforms were only worn at private schools and grammar (state supported selective secondary) schools. Children attending primary schools wore their own clothes to school. The girls did commonly wear pinafores, but not smocks. (Of course that does not mean that they definitively did not.) This is very well documented in the 19th cebtury photographic record. We suspect that children in rural areas probably did, but we can not prove it. But unlike America there were few schools in rural areas. England lagged begind America and German in creating a public school system. Boys rarely appear in the 19th century images we have found wearing smocks. French schools began requiring smocks at the onset if the Third Republic (1870s). The idea was to create an ethos of equality. Britain of course was a monarchy and never promoted an ethos of republican eqalitarianism. A few pre-schools may have used smocks. This may have been the case in the late-19th century, but we cannot yet confirm it.

The 20th Century

We know much more about the 20th century. Private schools did require uniforms, but we know of no private schools that required older boys to wear smocks. We have a substantial archive of British school images so we believe smocks would show up if they were very common. We have found a few examples such as the boy here, we think in the 1910s (figure 1). WEe are not sure if he is wearing a smock or a tunic which were worn to some extent, mostly by the privildged classes. We do not see boys wearing either smocks or tunics to school to any extent in the 20th century. Smocks and tunics are often diffucult to diferenuate. (The primary difference is wether normal street clothes are worn underneath.) Smocks may have been worn at some pre-prep prep schools. This varied somewhat, but most prep schools begin taking boys at about age 8 years. Or they may have been worn in some state pre-schools. As far as we can tell, however, this was not very common, but we do see a few examples. We note one school, we think in the 1950s. Actually we have found several images, but many seen tio have beeb taken at the same school, which comoicated ant effort to assess prevalence.m mThey may have just been used at school, primarily for the younger boys or even for older boys when engage in messy activities like art. We see a good example from the 1960s on the previous page.

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web chronological pages:
[The 1890s] [The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s]
[The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s]

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web style pages:
[Return to the Main English school smock page]
[Return to the Main smocks page]
[Return to the Main English school garment page]
[Dresses] [Bodice dresses] [Kilts] [Smocks] [Sailor suits] [Sailor hats]
[Ring bearer/page costumes] [Pinafores] [Shortalls]

Created: 3:47 AM 9/9/2017
Last updated: 4:34 PM 11/5/2020