Figure 1.--This unidentified English boy looks to be about 4 years old. Notice the shoulder bows representing leading strings. He wears socks rather than long stockings as were more common in America. The CDV isundated, but we would guess was tken in the 1880s. The studio was L.R. Goodman in Fort Hill, Margate.

Most of the English boys wearing dresses were pre-school boys. This included 4-year olds. We do not yet have many example of Enhlish boys wearing dresses. We believe that this is primarily because our English archive is still fairly limited. As a result we are unsure at this time about how common it was for 4-year olds to wear dresses. We believe that quite a number, perhaps the majority of boys were being breeched at this age, especially boys from affluent families. Social class was probably a factor. We believe that working-class boys tended to be breeched earlier than boys from affluent families. There was, however, condiderable variation from family to family. We hope to be able to pursue some of these idssues as our English srchive expands. As it is so small we also can not yet discuss styles. We do believe that kilt suits were not as common n Englsnd as in America. Thus boys not yet breeched were peibably more likely to wear dresses than american boys. By the same token, the greater afflunce in America by the late-19th century may have bment that breeching was being delayed more thn in Britain.

Created: 8:44 AM 10/9/2014
Last updated: 8:44 AM 10/9/2014