Figure 1.--This Cork boy wears a stylish knickers sailor suit. He is identified, but we can't read the writing. (Click on the image to see the writing on the back.) The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1870s to us. We think protraits like this are likely Protestantb families from the Anglo-Irish Accecendency.

We do note Irish boys wearing sailor suits in the photograpic record. We suspect that the fashion was limited to middle- and upper-class families and was concentrated in the cities. This of corse meant the children of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Accendancy. English control over Cstholic Ireland, mean that the Cstholic majority was disenfrachised and landless. The photographic record is thus misleading because the Cstholic majority could for the miost part not afford a portait even after albumen photography substantially reduced the cost. The children of the rural Catholic peasantry rarely had portraits taken. Their parents could not affotrd it, especially in the 19th century. Fashionable clothing required families wityh income to aford it. All of this is suggested by the few images we have archived, but the number of images are too small to provide a reliable sample. We have only a small numbrr of 19th century portraits. And many rural and low-income families could not afford to have portraits taken. We do have some 19th century photographs of the rural peasantry. They are not studio portraits, but genre-type photogrsphs of village life. And we have not found examples of any of these children wearing sailor suits.