Figure 1.--This English boy wears an emaculate white Eton collar for his portrait. The image is undated, but an E-Bay seller guesses that it was taken about 1915. The boy looks to be about 13 years old. Note the large tie knot and vest. In the portrait, his shirt waist seems to show over his Eton collar, this should not have been how the Eton collar was worn and is a little surprising in a formal portrait. A British expert on Eton collars wonders if this portrait was not taken earlier, he reports, "This style of necktie with the large, loosely tied knot, is more late 19th century in my experience. By 1915 ties were much more neatly (and tightly) knotted just as collars were more stiffly starched." Click on the image to learn more about this boy and his brother.

No where was the Eton collar more commony worn than in England. We assume that theese broad, stiff white collars were first worn at Eton College, but we are not yet sure just when they were first adopted. Part of the trouble here is that many of the historical references we have found refer to the Eton suit and not specifically the Eton collar. We do know that Eton collars were being worn at Eton College in the early 19th century. As the 19th century progressed, they became increasingly popular and were adopted by other schools as part ogf the school uniform. By the late 19th century they were very common as boys wear. Few English boys grew up in the late 19th and early 20th century without wearing an Eton collar. A typical example would be John Christopher Bradshaw Falleglove. The collar is of course most associated with Eton School, but in fact boys all over England, including most boys that could never dream of attending Eton, wore Eton collars. The Eton collar today has a rather stoggy upper-class look to it, but in fact at the turn of the 20th century, working class boys often wore Eton collars when they dressed up. After World War I (1914-18), the Eton collar rapidly declined in popularity and perhaps acquired its upper-class image at this time because a few exclusive private schools still required it as part of the school uniform into the 1930s. We have noted several different ways in which they were worn, including with or without various forms of neckwear. They were usually worn with vests.

Popularity

No where was the Eton collar more commony worn than in England. At the turn of the century virtually all boys when they dressed up wore Eton collars, from working-class boys to the upper-crust boys attending prestigious schools. The collars rapidly fell from popularity, however, adter World War I when more comfortable, casual styles increased in popularity.

Chronology

We assume that theese broad, stiff white collars were first worn at Eton College, but we are not yet sure just when they were first adopted. Part of the trouble here is that many of the historical references we have found refer to the Eton suit and not specifically the Eton collar. We do know that Eton collars were being worn at Eton College in the early 19th century. As the 19th century progressed, they became increasingly popular and were adopted by other schools as part ogf the school uniform. By the late 19th century they were very common as boys wear. Few English boys grew up in the late 19th and early 20th century without wearing an Eton collar. World War I was the turning point for the Eton collar. The War caused many to rexamine their lives and klife style. Pactical clothes which were usually more comfortable than pre-War fashions were widely adopted. The Eton collar continued to be worn aftyer the War, but rapidly gave way to comfortable soft collars.

Ages

We are not sure about the age conventions for Eton collars over the full chronolohgical range of the Eton collar. These collars seem to have appeared about the same time gthat photograph was developed (1830s-40s). his is a liitle difficult to tell, however, because there are so few photographic images, especially of children in England (1840s-50s). This did not change until the CDV became a major photographic format (1860s). With the CDV we have large number of images and can make an informed assessment of age trends. Our preliminary assessment at this time is that English boys wore Eton collars from school age (in some cases earlier than schhol age) to about 15-16 years of age. There is an association with schools, but the Eton collar was not an exclusively school style. Many boys wore them for dressing up when not at school. Still this was primarily a style for school age boys. We are talking about real, crisp Eton collars like the boy here is wearing (figure 1). We do not mean the smaller, and softer Eton shaped collars worn with junior Eton suits so popular in America. Eton collars

Gender

The Eton collar was primarily a boys's style. We do occasionaly see girls wearing them.

Image

Unfortunately we do not know who this boy was or when the portrait was taken. The E-bay seller estimated that the image here (figure 1) was taken about 1915. A British expert on Eton collars wonders if this portrait was not taken earlier, he reports, "This style of necktie with the large, loosely tied knot, is more late 19th century in my experience. By 1915 ties were much more neatly (and tightly) knotted just as collars were more stiffly starched." A E-bay buyer tells HBC that he has previously purchased two cabinet cards of this boy and his younger brother from this seller but none of them have any identifying marks--not even of the studio where they were taken. The E-bay seller tells us that "The photos of the boy are from a family album that I purchased about 6 months ago. The family is not identified. There were many wonderful photos of these two bothers, some with there father and mother, taken throughout there lives. The older boy went on to become a judge in England. The best of these photos were Cabinet Cards, from a series with the boys seated in front of a beautiful Japanese screen serving tea. They were dressed in delightful velvet suits with lace collars. The age of the boys at the time were approx. 4 and 6 years old. I kept several from that series, and sold several to collectors about 6 months ago. I have listed additional photos from that collection, and titled them according to what I have learned from the collectors that I sold to in the past. The judge was apparently some one of great prominence, but I don't know his identity."

Usage

The Eton collar has a very formal look to our modern eyes. And it was worn for formal occassions, usually with various syles of suits. Boys commonly ore Eton collsrs for formal occassions such as paries, church, and other activities. At the time, people including children dressed more formally than is the case today. Boys more commonly wore suits. In fact suits were often the primary garment boys wore for everyday. Most noys had much smaller wardrobes in thw 19th century than is the case dor modern boys. wear. The boy here is a good example. He looks very formally dressed. In this case we believe he is wearing a school uniform. This would have been a private school uniform, surely a public (elite private boarding) school. But it was not just boys at private schools that wore Eton collars. We see them buing widely worn at state primaries and grammar (semi-autonomous secondary) schools. Until the 20 century, Britain did not have a state secondary system. Boys at state primaries did not wear uniforms, but may did wear suits. Eton collars were not reqyired, but many mothers did dress the boys in Eton collsrs as a matter of choice. And boys may have continued wearing these suits and Eton collars after school. Thus boys wearing Eton collars are commonly seen involvd in what today would be beeb as casul everday activities. Of course in the 19th century, the phoofraphic record was primarily styudio photography. The record of what took place outside the studio is much more limited. And this did not change until after the turn-of-the 20th century when the Kodak Brownie and other simple cameras brought the familu snap shot into the reach of average families. School photographt was increasingly common by the 1890-s so we have a good idea of hat children were wearing to school.

School Uniform

The collar is of course most associated with Eton School, but in fact boys all over England, including most boys that could never dream of attending Eton, wore Eton collars.

Eton

Boys at English public schools like Eton in the late 19th and early 19th century were noted for excentric clothes which rather disturbed the more staid school officials. As a result, the tail coat, stiff white collar, white tie, waistcoat, striped trousers and top hat (worn only on special occasions) were adopted to curb these eccentricities in the dress of individuals boys. We assume that the broad, stiff white collar was chosen from an existging fashion, but in fact have few details on this. Unfortunately, most historical accounts focus on the Eton suit and not the collar. A British reader tells us, "I understand that the boys at Eton wear/wore the "Arundel" model of collar from New & Lingwood. The manufacturer was Luke Eyres who also supply Ede & Ravenscroft, Turnbull and Asser, Denny's/Giltsharp, etc. They also made school caps."

Harrow

Other schools

Eton collars were no just worn at public schools (exclusive private secondary schools), but private preparatory schools adopted them as well for the younger boys. They were also widely worn at state primary schools, as class photographs taken at the turn of the 20th century often show.

Youth Groups

The Eton collar is more associated with schools than youth groups. There was one uniformed youth group where the members no uncommonly wore Eton collars--The Boys' Brigade. We have seen both English and Scottish Brigaders wearing Eton collars. The same was probably also true for Brigaders in the Britain's overseas Dommions, although I can not yet substantiate this. The Brigade appraoch to uniform was that different than that of other groups which developed full uniforms. The Brigade founder, William Alexander Smoth wanted to keep the cost of the uniform down so that any boy, no matter how poor, could participate. Thus the Brigade uniform for many years consisted of a pillbox cap, belt, beltbuckle, and havertsack. The boys simply wore these items with their ordinary suits. The Etonncollar in the late 19th and early 20th century was a popular style for boys. Thus we sometimes seeing Brigaders wearing Eton collars when dressed up for Brigade activities or to have a portrait taken.

Accompanying Garments

Eton collars are best remembered as the collar worn with Eton suits, but in fact they were worn with other types of garments as well. While best remembered as being worn with Eton jackets, we have noted many boys, especially middle-class and working class boys, wearing them with other types of suits. Perhaps the most common was the Norfolk suit. We have noted several different ways in which they were worn, including with or without various forms of neckwear. Most boys appear to have worn some kind of neckwear, but we see quite a number without any neckwear at all. Eton collars were usually worn with vests. Many boys wore long trouser suits with Eton collars. Knickers suits were also very common. Kneepants and sghort pants suits with Eton collars were less common. The one exceoption here was prep schools after World War I where short pants school uniforms were often worn with Eton collars, especially in the 1920s. We have noted some English and Scottish boys wearing Eton collars with Highland kilt outfits. Generally they were worn with the black jackets, but nopt always.

Boys' Attitude

HBC does not have much actual documentation indicating what English boys thought of their Eton collars. The attitudes may have varied over time. We can imagine that they were not very popular. We note that one fictional English boy hated them with a passion. William Brown (aka Just William) was pictured in the early drawings as sometimes (rather reluctantly) wearing Eton collars.

Social Class

The Eton collar today has a rather stoggy upper-class look to it, but in fact at the turn of the 20th century, working class boys often wore Eton collars when they dressed up. An English reader wries, "Eton collars were worn by many children not just in more wealthy families but in modest income familes too. Certainly in photographs showing children in school settings." 【Fergusson.】 An analysis of school uniforms tells us, "The original Eton collar proved so prestigious a garment that it eventually became worn by all classes of boy, featuring prominately in the Army & Navy store photograph of the 1890s. This collar was in essence an appendage of the Eton suit." 【Davidson, p. 69.】 We are not syre about the chrobology here. We think for most of the 19th century, the Eton collar was primarily an upper-class style and than adopted by the middle class. School photography would tell us more, but this only became widesporead in the 1890s. We don't see working-class boys wearing Eton collars in the 1870s and still few in the 1880s, but school photography was limited, other than indivuidual portarits which are mostly boys from families in comfortable circumstances. The collars do seem wide spread by the 90s when school photography was becoming more established. Only boys from affluent families would wear the Eton collar with an actual Eton suit, but middle and working-class boys commonly wore Eton collars with their Norfolk and other suits until World War I. After World War I (1914-18), the Eton collar rapidly declined in popularity and perhaps acquired its upper-class image at this time because a few exclusive private schools still required it as part of the school uniform into the 1930s. HBC has reports from America and Scotland of boys being teased as being upity for wearing Eton collars. This may have been less true in England where the Eton collar from about 1890?-1915 was very commonly worn. We note that even such a down to earth as William Brown (aka Just William) was pictured in the early drawings as sometimes (rather reluctantly) wearing Eton collars. The attitude of boys depended on the time period. Boys wearing Eton collars, especially after the mid-1920s might indeed have been seen as upity by working-class boys even in England.

Individual Boys

Christopher Bradshaw Falleglove

A typical example of a probably middle-class boy wearing an Eton collar would be John Christopher Bradshaw Falleglove. We know little about John, but a portrait shows a very English face. The portrait reads, "John Christopher Bradshaw Falleglove born on Chrismas day, 1887. The second date reads ij...poix April 1898." The word before April is very hard to read I will tell you what I get J (then three dots) poix or pox. I believe this is a portrait of a child who died in 1898. Presumably the portrait was made in 1898.

Eddie Chapman

Eddie Chapman has a very clear memory of buying a new suit on Whit week when he was about 11 years old. He remembers the Eton collar--but even more a whistle added to the suit. He writes, "Then I went home to my dinner, then it were off to Binns in the town for my suit. Binns in Cambridge Street. They mostly used to shove a whistle in the pocket, and it used to be the first thing I used to do, when I were trying the suit on, were to feel if there were a whistle in the pocket. Of course the suit that I would get would be breeches just below the knee, Norfolk jacket, Eton collar which were made of celluloid. I can't remember anything about costs. It was a bit of advertising like,because they knew it were something that kids liked, and it was a case of can we go to Binns Dad for my suit? Of course mostly they were blue surge, because it were really the only fast colour at that time, and you didn't see much, other than grey, black and blue. You see, if you got other colours then they would run, when they got wet." 【Adult Education】

Wm. Olaf Stapledon

English writer and social sage, Wm. Olaf Stapledon, in one of his essays writes, "I remember being a schoolboy with an ink-splashed Eton collar and a passion for model boats." This would have been in the 1900s.

Sources

Adult Education. "Heeley's History" Workshop From menmorues and other material collected at the open meetings on Monday afternoons at Heeley Bank School Community Rooms, No. 6 (May 1987)

Davidson, Alexander. Blazers, Badges & Boaters: A Pictoral History of School Uniform (Scope Books Ltd.: Horndean, Hants., 1990).

Fergusson, William. E-mail message, (Janyaury 14, 2023].

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Created: April 4, 2002
Last updated: 9:54 PM 1/13/2023