Figure 1.--This portrait purports to show a working-class boy during the English vicorian era. He wears a destinctive cloth cap and vest (waistcoat). The artist is unidentified and we do not know when the portrait was painted. Click on the omage for an enlargement f the cap. |
Information on how working children dressed is very limited. One of the principal sources of information here are available images of the children. We have some paintings from the 19th century of working children, but the number of such images is very limited. Photographic evidence, as explained above, come from a very limited time period. Most photographs of working children were taken after the turn of the 20th century. Some notable photograohes were interested in documenting social conditions. As a result, we note that many images show boys wearing overalls. Kneepants with long sockings are also common, but it appears to have been more common for working boys to wear long trousers than boys in general. Children in southern states might go barefoot during the summer.
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