Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows a Scottish boy who seems to come from a well-to do middle class family. He looks to be about 5-6 years of age. He wears a traditional sailor suit, done in a heavy material and double collar. It is a knee pants suit worn with long stockings. Notice his cap with a Naiad cap tally. This was Appolo-class criser launched in 1890. We had thought that this was an 1870s portrait, but this suggests the portrait was taken in the early-90s. Perhaps there was an earlier ship na,ed Naiad. The studio was John Fergus in Largs, Scotland. Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, about 33 miles from Glasgow.

We do not have much chronological informtion on Scottish sailor suits. Our archive is very limited, but the lack of Scottish images may in part reflect the actual prevalence of sailor suits in Scotland. We are not sure when Scottish boys began wearing sailor suits. We suspect that the time line is very similar to English trends. The fashion was initiated by Queen Victoria amd Prince Albert when their eldest boy was dressed in a Royal Navy ratings (enlisted) uniform (1840s). One would assume that some Scottish boys began wearing sailor suits some time in the same decade. The rarity of Daguerreotypes and other early formats in Scotland makes this difficult to follow. The CDV gretly increased the number of available images (1860s). This is where we begin to see large numbers of sailor suit images in most countries. We do not yet have many Scottish exmples. We have not yet found CDVs of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits in early CDVs. The earliest images that we have found so far date from about 1870. A good example is the unidentified boy on the previous page in the 1870s. The unidentified boy here wears what looks like a replica of a Royal Navy uniform, we think about 1870 (figure 1). all the early sailor suits we see are long pants suits. They look much like the the suit that the British princes wore in the 1840s which was the beginning of the convention of dressing boys in sailor suits. By the 1880s we see more examples. Both traditionally styled suits and more varied style diverging from Royal Navy uniforms to a degree. We see, for example, button jackets rather than just the pull-over blouse Royal Navy sailors wore. We have found several exaples of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits in the 1880s. By this time we begin to see knee pants becoming standrd.

The 1840s

We do not have much chronological informtion on Scottish sailor suits. Our archive is very limited, but the lack of Scottish images may in part reflect the actual prevalence of sailor suits in Scotland. We are not sure when Scottish boys began wearing sailor suits. We suspect that the time line is very similar to English trends. The fashion was initiated by Queen Victoria amd Prince Albert when their eldest boy was dressed in a Royal Navy ratings (enlisted) uniform (1840s). One would assume that some Scottish boys began wearing sailor suits some time in the same decade, but it took aittle time for the fashion to catch on, even in England. The rarity of Daguerreotypes and other early formats in Scotland makes this difficult to follow.

The 1860s

The CDV gretly increased the number of available images (1860s). This is where we begin to see large numbers of sailor suit images in most countries. We do not yet have many Scottish exmples. We have not yet found CDVs of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits in early CDVs.

The 1870s

The earliest Scottish images od sailor suits that we have found so far date from about 1870. A problem of course is that most images are not dated. The unidentified boy on the previous page wears what looks like a replica of a Royal Navy uniform, we think about 1870. The earliest dated sailor suits we see are dark, long pants suits. They look much like the the white suits that the British royal princes wore in the 1840s. This of course was the beginning of the convention of dressing boys in sailor suits. We think that modern looking sailor suits including knee pants appeared during the 1870s, especially by the late-70s. But we are not yet able to confirm this with dated examples. We have found some examples that we believe were taken in the 1870s, but not yet dated examples.

The 1880s

We see many more sailor suits in the photographic record during the 1880s. The sailor suit had become an important style for boys. We see both traditionally styled suits and more varied style diverging from Royal Navy uniforms to a degree. We see a range of styles. We continue to see a range of complications such as mixed collars. We see souble sailor collars or additions such as ruffled collars. The great appeal of the sailor suit was its simplicity, vut mothers during the latre 10-th century could not help temselves by adding a range of decorative touches. Some suits had the three-stripe detailing. There were age conventions. Some younger boys might have velvet sailor suits. We see, for example, button jackets rather than just the pull-over blouse Royal Navy sailors wore. The pants stil might have stripes. We have found several exaples of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits in the 1880s. The styles was well established by this time. We also begin to see knee pants becoming standard, at least for the younger boys. They were mostly worn with long stockings, although younger boys might wear socks, unlike the long stocks commobly white..

The 1890s

The sailor suit was widely worn by British boys in the 1890s. This may have been the peak of the sailor suit's popularity in Scotland, but they were also commonly worn in thw 1900s. This was the pattern in England. Traditional styling was becoming increasingly important. We no ;onger see stripes on the pants. Despite the popularity of the Royal Navy, they were not as popular as in major countries across the Channel. We believe this was primarily because many older boys thast might have worn sailor suits began attending private schools at about age 8 years. These schools had uniforms so the boys, unlike Continental boys, stopped wearing sailor suits. Of course most boys did not attend private schools, butv the boys that did helped set popular styles.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Kilt pages:
[Return to the Main Scottish sailor suit chronology page]
[Return to the Main Scottish sailor suit page]
[Return to the Main Scottish boys suit page]
[Return to the Main Scottish boys clothing page]
[Return to the Main country sailor suit page]
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Created: 3:25 AM 8/7/2015
Last updated: 3:19 PM 8/7/2016