Figure 1.--Here we see English boys and girls in 1969 doing their First Communion. We think this may be a church rather than a school group. We see two different school uniforms. Parents clearly more attention to how they dressed their daughrets than their sons. The girls all wear junior wedding dresses bought especially for the occassion. The boys are dressed very differently. Only three boys here or wearing white suits bought especially for the occassion. Most of the boys are wearing their ordinary suits or school uniforms. Several boys wear white ankle sovks ans white sandals an shoes besides those waring white outfits. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the group.

We note boys commonly wearing short pants suits, in some cases white suits bought, especially for the ceremony. We see this during the 1940s and 50s. We have found portraits showing that white suits were woirn, although we also see boys wearing other short pants suits and even their school uniforms. We believe this was primarily a finction of economics. Many English Catholiv families were working-class families awhich may not have been able to afford a suit which would just be worn for the First Communuion ceremony or a few other special occassions. Another factor is that Britain was bankrupt after World War II (1939-45). The country was in such despeate conditions that Britain had to continue World War II ratrioning into the 1950s. And the Labour Party socialist reforms adversely affected the country's economic recovery. As a result, Britain which had been the most affluent country in Europe, lagged far behind the post-War European Economic Miracle. Families whatever their economic condition, seemed more disposed to splurge on their daugters than sons as regards First Communion. It was very common to find all the girls wearing white junior wedding dresses. Many English Catholics were Irish immigrant families. Many Catholic children attended separate Catholic schools. Unlike America, state fuunding was availasble for schools with rligious foundation. The most common were Anglican schools, but there was also support for Catholic school. The children here seem to have attended regular state schools or possibly private schools and did their First Communion through their church. In some cases the boys, like the boy on the previous page, are wearing white knee socks. This was, however, not as common as in America and Germany. This is interesting as regrds America because knee socks in genral were not nearly as common as in England.

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Created: 8:33 PM 12/4/2014
Last edited: 8:33 PM 12/4/2014