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English boy clothes -- headwear chronology 19th century
English Boys' Headwear: Chronology--The 19th Century
Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows a Cirencester teenager posing in a fashionable hat. The studio was T Walker on Castle Street in Cirencester. We are not sure what the name for this hat was. The CDV was probably taken in the 1870s, but the early-80s is also possible. A reader tells us, "The hat is similar to two styles of late 19th Century hats.
The most similar is the 'Coachman's hat' although some in pictures of coachmen in the Royal Mews history site, they are wearing typical top hats. They would have been of a different status to ordinary coachmen who's top hats would have blow off in the helter skelter of the ride to Dover or York. A lower crown would have been more practicable. Another style is the d'Orsay - a French style worn by both men and women made fashionable by the Marquis d'Orsay in 1890's but also worn in
England. I favour the Coachman style, as this lad looks an everyday sort of chap rather than a 'Dandy'."
By the 19th century we see both caps and hats. We note a kind of peaked military cap in the early- and mid-19th century by better off boys. American boys in the 19th century commonly wore rounded-crown hats. We are not sure how common they were in England. After mid-century we begin seeing the broad-brimmed sailor cap came into style. Subsequent styles of sailor caps were also popular and followed changes in Royal Navy uniforms. The peaked school cap appeared as far as we can tell in the 1860s. It was commonly worn for the following ten decades and is still worn at a few private schools. It first appeared at private schools. We are not sure that it became commonly worn by the wider population. The flat cap was not as popular in England as it was in America, at least for boys. Some boys did wear them, but it became even more common for working-class adults. We see some boys, mostly from affluent families, wearing berets and Tam O'Shanters, called tams. This was style worn by boys, at least younger boys, and girls. We also see boys wearing boaters in the late 19th century. Again this was more common as a school style. We also note boys wearing adult styled headwear as well as headwear styles that we can not yet identify.
The 1820s
By the 19th century we see both caps and hats. We note a kind of peaked military cap in the early- and mid-19th century by better off boys. The caps are sometimes called Oliver Twist caps. We also see high-quality straw hats, such as the one the Bean boy is wearing (1829). Notice the high cylindical styling. This means that English traders were active in Ecuador (where the hats were produced) at the time, or perhaps in Panana (where the hats were marketed). This is earlier than these hats appeared in America. This is more important than it may seem. Left-wing politicans like to blame the United States for the problems in South Amerrica. Yet the United States had very little envolvement in South America during the 19th century. And most of the issues confronting Latin America in the 20th century, even today, were already well stablished before the 19th century.
The 1830s
We continue to see Younger Engkish boys wearing high-quality straw hts in the 1830s. A good example is Henry Elton (1831).
The 1850s
American boys in the 19th century commonly wore rounded-crown felt hats. We are not sure how common they were for boys in England. We note clergymen wearing them. Daguerreotype studios existed in England, but we have been able to find few examples so we know very little about the 1850s.
We know much more about English fashions beginning in the 1860s because this is when the CDV became widekly available. The result was the appearance of huge numbers of photographic images for the first time. Thus we know a good bit about headwear. Hats seem much more common for English boys than caps in the 1860s. We see a range of different styles. After mid-century we begin seeing the broad-brimmed sailor cap come into style. Subsequent styles of sailor caps were also popular and followed changes in Royal Navy uniforms. The peaked school cap appeared as far as we can tell in the 1850s. We note examples in the 1860s. It was commonly worn for the following ten decades and is still worn at a few private schools. It first appeared at private schools. We are not sure that it became commonly worn by the wider population. We also notice boaters. We know that they appeared earlier, but we are unsure just when boys began wearing them. We note them in the 1860s with the increasing number of photographic images available. We see boaters with flat tops as well as rounded-crowns. We also see boys wearing rounded-crown hats in the 60s.
We do not yet have much information on the 1870s. Often headwear was not included in the studio portraits. This seems more true of CDVs than cabinet cards, presumably because of the smaller image area. And CDVs were the dominnt format in Englnd during the 70s. Unlike America, we do not see many of the larger cabinet cards. Thus our archive is still limited and we have a rather small sample size, specially dated images. This has forced us to use images in which we estimate the date. We do this with some trpedation, but invite readers to comment if they believe we are wrong about the date. We can usually get the decade right, but not always and we are more accurate with American than European images. Thanks to internet publishing, we can easily correct the date and move it into the right decade. Hats continue to dominate boys headwear in the 70s. We see these rounded crown boaters in the 60s as well. We see some caps. Peaked caps and sailor caps for the younger boys were worn, but hats seem the primarty headwear type at least for families in comfortable circumstances. We are less sure about working-class boys. We believe the teenager wearing what looks rather like a Coachman's hat (figure 1). It has highsides, but not as high as a top hat.
We see boys wearing a variety of headwear in the 1880s. Hats were the most common headwear types. We note boaters which were mostly worn by boys from affluent families. To some extent that was schoolwear, but we are nor sure to what extent. We see a lot of boys wearing boater-like hats, although we see variations from the classic boater like a slightly rounded crown and a slightly down turned brim. we see some boys, mostly from affluent families, wearing berets and Tam O'Shanters, called tams. This was style worn by boys, at least younger boys, and girls. The flat cap was never as popular in England as it was in America, at least for boys. We do see working-class adults wearing them, but few boys. We are not sure just when they appeared. We do not yet have any 19th century examples, but we think they were being worn at least by the 1880s. We do note boys wearing rounded crown peaked caps which would eventually be known as school caps. We see boys at private schoolswearing them. they were no longer just a games cap. we are not sure how commonly they were at state schools at this time.
We see a variety of headwear worn but English boys in the 1890s. The styles seem very similar to the 1880s. We still see younger boys wearing tams. Wide-brimmed sailor hats were very popular for younger boys in the 1890s. They were worn with variously outfits. They were of course worn with sailor suits, but we also see them worn with other outfits like Fauntleroy suits. The wide-brimmed sailor hat was made with both flat and rounded vrowns and were worn by both boys and girls. Girls also had a variety of more decorative wide-brimmed styles. Bots commonluy wore peaked caps to school. This was the most popular cap style, but we also notice a variety of other stykes worn by school age boys. We note them at private schools with uniforms as well as state schools without unifirms. The syyles were basically the sane although the colors varied. We also see boys wearing boaters in the late 19th century. Again this was more common as a school style. We also note boys wearing adult styled headwear as well as headwear styles that we can not yet identify.
