Figure 1.--This portrait shows 5-6 year old children at an unidentified English school. It is not dated. We would guess it was taken in the early--1950s, but we ae not at all sure. We see many of the children wearing front-buttoning smocks. All of the girls are weating them, but the smocks were apparently not mandatory because only some of the boys are wearing them.

The smock was not a common English school garment. Smocks were not an unkown garment in England. They were commonly worn in rural England as part of farm dress in the early and mid-19th century. The Kate Greenaway images suggest that some children wore the same style smovk s as farmers--unbelted smiocks galling below the knees. This was all berfore photiography and we have found no indication of this in the photograophic record. We do not see children wearing them at school, although we do not have many photograpgic images until the advent of the the CDV (1860s). Even after bthevappearance of the CDV, we still do not see boys wearing smocks to any extent in the photographic record, especially at school. The situation is somewaht complicated by the fact that boys wore tunics in the 19th abd eraly-20th century. Many look somewaht like smocks. We have found only a few examples of Ennglish schools where the chulkdren wore smocks. The examples we have found come from pre schools or pre-prep schools, meaning schools for children only through the first two primary years. We do not see themn at all in state primaries. We have found so few images of English school smocks that we are unable to determine any general style trends. The few images we have found mostly show front-buttoning smocks looking like lab coats. We are not sure the images we have found are from different schools. The smocks here are a good eample, we think in the 1940s-50s, although the images are undated. The ikmage here looks like the 1950s (figure 1). The smock was an important school garment in several European countries, especially France and Italy. We think that there were just too few smocks worn at English schools for there to be a general style. And of course when we have a single child photographed as we see on the previous page, we do not know if this was a uniform style or if parents simply had to obtain a smock of any style. And the school images we have found suggest that the children were incouraged to wear smocks, but they were not mandatory. We believe that most of the smocks worn by English children were back buttoning smocks. We note other school groups wearing front-buttoning smocks, but not very many. We are not sure if the images we have archived from different schools. The buttoning approach was not the only stylistic alternative. The collar was another element. We note smocks both with and without collars. What we do not notice is the white collars and bows worn with school smocks in some countries. And of course when we have a single child photographed as we see on the previous page, we do not know if this was a uniform style or if parents simply had to obtain a smock of any style. We believe that most of the smocks worn by English children were front- buttoning smocks. We are not enyirely sure if the images we have archived from different schools. The buttoning approach was not the only stylistic alternative. The collar was another element. We note smocks both with and without collars. What we do not notice is the white collars and bows worn with school smocks in some countries.

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Created: 4:19 AM 4/7/2020
Last updated: 2:09 AM 11/5/2020