Figure 1.--These two English brothers, Charles and John (Jack) Hardy, are a perfectly matched pair, down to the handkerchiefs in their breast poackets. The only real difference is that the older brother has a watch fob. The only other minor difference is that their hair is combed slightly differently. I am not sure if their mother liked to dress them alike or this is their school uniform. I woukd guess the pirtrait was taken about 1900. The portrait was taken in Canterbury. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

The two boys names are Charles and John (Jack) Hardy, they are the sons of Charles Stewart Hardy and Fanny Alice Hardy of Chilham Castle, Chilham, Kent. The brothers had two sisters Violet and Mabel. At the time of the 1881 census Violet was 9 years old and Charles was 7 years old, Charles was the older boy so I think that dates the photo to around 1885. This portrait is one of a batch of photos. They all came from one large album which has been lost. II total there are 82 photos (42 CDVs and 40 Cabinet Cards). One of the individual portraits has a sliver of a newspaper cutting glued to the front. It reads: "On the 11th July [year not specified] at Westgate on Sea, JOHN, second son of C.S.Hardy of Chilham, Kent, aged 11 years." I'm fairly confident that this is a death notice, I cannot think of any other circumstance in which such words would be used. While best remembered as being worn with Eton jackets, we have noted many boys, especially middle-class and working class boys, wearing them with other types of suits. Perhaps the most common was the Norfolk suit. These boys, boviously from an affluent familt, look to be wearing their Eton collars with flannel suits. Here we are not sure if this is a school uniform or mother just liked ton dress the boys identically.

Family

The two boys names are Charles and John (Jack) Hardy, they are the sons of Charles Stewart Hardy and Fanny Alice Hardy of Chilham Castle, Chilham, Kent. The brothers had two sisters Violet and Mabel. At the time of the 1881 census Violet was 9 years old and Charles was 7 years old, Charles was the older boy so I think that dates the photo to around 1885.

Album

This portrait is one of a batch of photos. They all came from one large album which has been lost. II total there are 82 photos (42 CDVs and 40 Cabinet Cards). Interestingly, some families stuck to one format while others like this family had portraits made in both formats. Only a very few pictures are identified, I think they may be of two closely related families, similar to the Capper album where several families are represented. There are some interesting photos in this batch, most are in fair condition, some are in quite remarkable condition considering their age. I'll need a little time to scan them though.

John Dies

One of the individual portraits has a sliver of a newspaper cutting glued to the front. It reads: "On the 11th July [year not specified] at Westgate on Sea, JOHN, second son of C.S.Hardy of Chilham, Kent, aged 11 years." I'm fairly confident that this is a death notice, I cannot think of any other circumstance in which such words would be used.

Census Record

I have been unable to trace John Hardy in the 1881 census (or Mabel as of yet), I'm sure from the photo and the relative ages of the brothers that he was alive then.

Clothing

Eton collars are best remembered as the collar worn with Eton suits, but in fact they were worn with other types of garments as well. While best remembered as being worn with Eton jackets, we have noted many boys, especially middle-class and working class boys, wearing them with other types of suits. Perhaps the most common was the Norfolk suit. We have noted several different ways in which they were worn, including with or without various forms of neckwear. Most boys appear to have worn some kind of neckwear, but we see quite a number without any neckwear at all. Eton collars were usually worn with vests. Many boys wore long trouser suits with Eton collars. Knickers suits were also very common. Kneepants and sghort pants suits with Eton collars were less common. The one exceoption here was prep schools after World War I where short pants school uniforms were often worn with Eton collars, especially in the 1920s. We have noted some English and Scottish boys wearing Eton collars with Highland kilt outfits. Generally they were worn with the black jackets, but not always.

Jackets

While best remembered as being worn with Eton jackets, we have noted many boys, especially middle-class and working class boys, wearing them with other types of suits. Perhaps the most common was the Norfolk suit. These boys, boviously from an affluent familt, look to be wearing their Eton collars with flannel suits. Here we are not sure if this is a school uniform or mother just liked ton dress the boys identically.

Neckwear

We have noted several different ways in which they were worn, including with or without various forms of neckwear. Most boys appear to have worn some kind of neckwear, but we see quite a number without any neckwear at all. We also see quite a wide variety of neckwear. Usually the ties were very sober. In the portrait here the boys wear a tie done in a large knot, but is hard to see because of the waistcoat whichbegins quite near the collar. In America, younger boysmight wear large floppy bows with Eton collars, but this seems much less common in England. While the Eton collars changed slightly over the years, the neckwear baried much more. Thus the style of neckwear employed can be useful in dating the images.

Vests

Eton collars were usually worn with vests (waistcoats). Most boys wore their Eton collars over their vests, like these boys here. Some boys, however, have tucked them inside the vest. Notice that the boys here have all their vest buttons buttoned (figure 1). This would tend to date the portrait in the early 1900s before the style set by Edward VII of leaving the bottom button undome was ewidely established.

Trousers

Many boys wore long trouser suits with Eton collars. Knickers suits were also very common. Kneepants and sghort pants suits with Eton collars were less common. The one exceoption here was prep schools after World War I where short pants school uniforms were often worn with Eton collars, especially in the 1920s.

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Created: July 4, 2003
Last updated: July 7, 2003