Figure 1.-- This photograph was taken at Chart Sutton Vicarage in 1878 and is of (L-R) William Robinson, Edward Robinson and a friend (probably of William's) named Petley, who features in other photographs in this series. We believe that he one of William's school friends. Note the younger boys' Eton collars. We wonder if this is how they dressed at school. Unfortunately, we do not know what school the boys attended.

An interesting aspect of the album is that the portraits are not just of the family. Also included are friends of the boys and the family. Some of these individuals are identified. Others are not. Thus we have some of the boys' friends. Some are presumably school friends, but here we have few details. Given social conventions atr the time it is likely that after they went away to school that most of their friends would hsve been school friends. Unfortunately, we do not know what school the boys attended.

F. Kite

This image was clearly taken on the same date as the one and is of J Petley on the left and an F Kite on the right (this is the only image in which Kite appears). Again, this was taken in 1878 outside Chart Sutton Vicarage. Kite is yet another person wearing the unusual smoking hat style of cap. It is also interesting to note that in spite of his apparent youth (William Robinson and J Petley appear to be about 14 in these images, and it is likely F. Kite was another firend of William's) he definitely appears to be growing long sideburns. His jacket appears to be very restrictive and one wonders if his slouching in the chair is because of nonchalence or because he couldn't sit up comfortably in it! His suit is probably light grey. It has a very high collar on it and a stiped design of 2 thin light stripes together on the darker material. It looks like his shoes have four lace holes and the shade of them suggests they were brown. He is also wearing a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

J. Petley

This photograph was taken at Chart Sutton Vicarage in 1878 and is of (L-R) William Robinson, Edward Robinson and a friend (probably of William's) named Petley (figure 1). Petley who features in other photographs in this series. This would have been taken against the wall of the Vicarage and is, although posed, quite candid in nature. It is not known how J Petley knew the Robinsons, but it is likely he was a schoolfriend of William's. Chart Sutton was then, as it is now, a small rural village and, given the obvious affluence of the family, it is likely that both boys attended boarding schools, but came home for the holidays. It is possible that J. Petley attended boarding school with William and visited during a school break. (one can't help but think about the "Go Between". Notice the boy's Eton collars. We wonder if the clothes they are wearing is how they were dressed at school. It is also possible that he lived locally, but the likelihood of 2 upper-middle class boys of the same age in a vary small isolated village being friends is not a huge one. Of note here is the shortness of the waistcoats / vests and the possible shortness of the jackets as well. All boys are wearing the same style of interesting cap, very like smoking hats, although these do not have the usual tassle from the crown. They also look like pillbox caps, but are not as stiff making thm look like the smoking caps. We are not at all sure how common these caps were for boys. We have seen older boys like Willian wearing them at public schools, but not younger boys like Edward and his friend. It is also refreshing to see a recurrent feature to these pictures; that the boys seem very relaxed and not at all stiff or formal. This is something that we will be seeing more and more as the series progresses.

R. Morris

Here we see William with two boys that we believe to be school bfriends. This is a perfectly normal image to expect to see from the Victorian era, but in the context of the Robinson album it is very unusual. Nearly all the images of people from the total of 140 in the album were taken at Chart Sutton Vicarage. This is a portrait from 1877 (early in relation to the others) and was taken in a professional studio, before the bulk of these images were made. It shows that William Robinson (here about 12 or 13) and J Petley (who has appeared in other images in this series) had been friends for some time. Petley is on the left, and Robinson on the right. The boy in the middle is an R Morris.

Created: 8:02 PM 1/12/2005
Last updated: 7:02 PM 1/20/2005