Figure 1.--These boys were photographed in Cardiff. I'm unsure about the date, but would estimate about 1900. The older brother wears a Norfolk suit and the younger brother a sailor suit. Note the wide white collar both boys wear. These outfits are indistinguishable from popular English styles. Image courtesy of the PH collection.

The conquest of Ireland and Scotland was much more recent and never as thorough as the subgegation of Wales. As a result, we have not noted the kinds of destinctive garments and cultural destinctiveness as is the case for Ireland and Scotland. We have not noted any destinctive Welsh styles for contemporary boys clothing. An English reader writes, "Wales did not develop distinctive clothing styles." A Welsh reader writes, "Of course Wales has its own historical tradition in clothing, and I would suggest that you first of all start your research in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth and then in the archives of St Fagan's museum of Welsh life in Cardiff." As a tourist visting Wales, I was unable to detect any real differences between English and Welsh clothing, but would be interested here in any information readers may have. One Welsh reader writes, "I cannot disagree with any of the claims on clothing since it is a matter very unknown to me, and in fact, given the way pupils were forced to do things the English way I feel it's likely their clothes would have been similar." [Aaron] The portrait here was taken about 1900. We note a portrit of a British soldier taken about 1915 with his brothers. One brother wears a Scout uniform which was identical to the British Scout uniform. The younger brother wears a reefer jacket--another popular English style.

Sources

Aaron, Guto. E-mail message, July 17, 2003.

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[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer] [School sandals] [Flat caps] [Sailor suits] [Pinafores] [Long stockings]

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Created: January 25, 2004
Last updated: January 25, 2004