Figure 1.-- A British reader writes, "I have attached a photograph I took of a CDV in the Museum of Photography in Bradford, England. The boy wears a belted tunic suit with knee pants." The CDV looks to have been taken in the 1870s. I think he is holding his cap on the chair, but the image is not clear enough to make it out very clearly. Notice the white sicks and strap shoes.

We have seen relatively few images of English boys wearing tunics in the early 19th century, but believe that they were widely worn. Tunics were a common style in the early 19th Century and were still being worn at mid-century. The development of photography provides solid evidence of this development. While we have few portraits of boys in tunic suits in the early 19th century, we believe tunics were a popular style. We have several photographic images of English boys wearing tunics at mid-centurty. While we have been able to find few impages from the 1840s and 50s, we know quite a number from the 60s and 70s. We note the Tennyson boys wearing tunics in the 1860s, but are unsure how common that was. Here we see another English boy from the 1860s. We suspect it was a style more popular among affluent than working-class families, but we are not positive about this. Early tunics seem to have been more like smocks. The popularity of tunics appears to have declined in the late-19th century. We note tunics being worn with different type of trousers and this also changed chronologically.

The 1800s

We have seen relatively few images of English boys wearing tunics in the early 19th century, but believe that they were widely worn. Tunics were a common style in the early 19th Century. We think that they were mostly wirn ith long trousers. Some younger boys may have worn them with pantalettes. We note tunics being worn with different type of trousers and this also changed chronologically.

The 1810s

The 1820s

Illustrating fashions in the years befoire photograpjy is difficult, but we have found a few painted portrasits. This unfortuntely, resticts our view to the affluent sector of society. Ewe notyice a Bean boy wearing a belted blue tunic with all kinds of buttons (1829. He has a open ruffled collar. and long pantalettes which might be called drawrs.

The 1830s

We note Henry Elton wearing a belted blue tunic without any buttons at all (1831). Henry also has a open ruffled collarand shorter plain pantalettes. A portrait of Robert and Elizabeth Buxton was painted by Frederick Yeates Hurlstone in 1834. This was at the very end of the Regency. We know nothing about the children, but Buxton was an aristicatic family and they clearly came from a well-to-do family. Robertt wears a burgundy tunic with a large ruffeled collar with what look like long pants rather than pantalettes. Elizabeth wears a white dress with a low-cut top along with a blanket.

The 1840s

English boys were still wearing tunics at mid-century. Photography appeared in the 1840s. The first commercial photographic process was introduced in France (1839). It was the Daguerreotype. The development of photography provides solid evidence of this development. While we do not yet have pgotographic portraits of English boys in tunic during the 1840s, we believe tunics were a popular style. , but the industry did not expand as rapidly in Britain as it did in America. Thus there are far fewer available English Dags. We have not yet found any 1840s Dags of English boys wearing tunics to add to our archive. We do have a painted portrait of the Boyd family. We see Denis Boyd wearing a dark green tunuc wuth a lace collar and tassle. He wears what looks like white pantalettes with his tunic, although they could be white trousers. We are not sure about this.

The 1850s

We do not have many English images from the 1850s because photography was not as inexpensive and thus as common as it was in America. We have found a few English images from the 1850s. While our information is limited, we think thst it was fairly common for younger school-age boys to wear tunics. This would mean mostly boys attending private schools. Free state education was still limited, in this regard lagged behind America and Germany. While as best we can tell, tunics were fairly commin, we believe that it was mostly a fashion for boys from middle- and upper-class familirs. We do not think tunics were commonly worn by working-class boys. We do not have a lot of information on styles, but we notice white collars and stock-tie. The tunics seem to be mostly dark colors, possibly blue. They were worn with long pants, usually not matching the tunic. We note the tunics being worn with belts. While the images we have found all show long pants, our archive is not large enough to show all the boys wore long pants, but as far as we can tell that was by far the most common. We believe that these tunics were common schoolwear, but we are unsure about how commonly tunics were worn for other occassions. We do not know to what extent they were worn for play or formal occassions. They seem to have been the standard daily dress for some boys. The formal portraits provide few clues as to such conventions. We also see the tunics being work with white socks and stockings.

The 1860s

We have several photographic images of English boys wearing tunics at mid-centurty. While we have been able to find few impages from the 1840s and 50s, we have found quite a number from the 60s and 70s, primarily because the appearance of CDVs meant that photographs were taken in far greater numbers. We note the Tennyson boys wearing tunics in the 1860s, but are unsure how common that was. We have acquired a number of portraits that suggest quite a few boys wore tunics in the 1860s. We we see another unidentified English boy from the 1860s (figure 1). It is a knee length tunic wirn with knee pants. We suspect the tunic was a style more popular among affluent than working-class families, but we are not positive about this. Early tunics seem to have been more like smocks. Most portraits show boys wearing tunics with long trousers, but we also note knee pants and bloomer knickers for the first time in the 1860s. An example is the younger brother in an unidentified family portrait of three boys. Based on the images collected so far we get the impression that there were social class conventions. This seems to have been a style foe boys from affluent families and was less common fvof working-class boys. There also seems to be an assiciation with schoolwear. We commonly see books present in the portraits.

The 1870s

We continue to English boys wearing tunics in England as was the case in several other European countries and America. We are not sure, however, just how prevalent they were. The diagonal styling seems less common in England than America. All of the tunics we have found so far are the shorter cut ones, but our archive is still very limited. Just how common tunics were we can not yet say in part because our English 19th archive is still limited. We only see younger boys wearing them up to about 8 years of age. One boys wears a tunic suit wirh pants matching the tunic. We see mostly belted tunics or at least tunics with waistbands. The diagonal styling popular in Anerica does not seem as popular in England although the plain tuics popular in the 1860s seem less common in the 70s. We note one Aylesbury boy in 1873 wearing a tunic with elaborate stripe detailing. He looks to be about 5 years old.

The 1880s

The popularity of tunics in England appears to have declined in the late-19th century. This seems to have been the pattern in America as well.

The 1890s

Created: January 21, 2003
Last updated: 4:35 AM 10/7/2021