Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait comes without any provinance. We believe it is English. We would date it to about 1890, but would welcome any insights readers might have. It looks to us like a small prearatory school that the master hopes to grow into a much larger school. Notice his faithfull ppoch. The boys look to be about 6-13 years old. Thus it is clearly not a class group. Another possibility is a prep schoolhouse group. Britain lagged behind America and Germany in building a state school system, but by the time that this portrait was taken had begun to do so. The country's education system at the beginning of the 19th century were private schools were based on what were called public schools, but were actually private boarding schools. The Duke of Wellington famously said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton--the most famous of the public schools. These schools proved very influential in both state school organization and curriculum as well as the development of modern sports. Small schools like this were founded beginning in the mid-19th century to meet the needsofyounger boys. Britain's public schools in the early- and mid-19th century could be very rough places, largely because the boys were left to govern themselves. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the class.

We know much more about schools an education in the 19th century than any previous century. This is because more and more countries came to understand the importance of public educatin and an educated citzenry. At the beginning of the century only America and German states had important public education systems. Prussia in particular had made an important commitment to public education. America had a long history of public education, but in vasrid from colony to colony. The Federal Gverment laid the foundatin for public education in the late-19th century, but it was up to each state to actually administer the system. And decade by decade these state ecucation systems grew into one of the jewels of the American Republic, a major factor in the development of American Exceptionalism. Europe incluing England ws still dominated by power elites who were still uneasy about educating the vast majority of their population. This was especially te case in Catholic countries. But even in Protesnt countries, landowners and the rising industrial class saw dangers in their ability to maintain power if the general public was educated. While landonbers and dustrialists may hve had dounts, the rising middle class created by the Indudstrial Revoluton strongly supported public education. Slowly the Protestant empetus to make sure people could read the Bible and the power competition between contries created the driving force behind public eduction. Interestingly Britain was one of the countries that lagged behind this trend. Britain would, however, have a major impact on education, largely because of its highly developed private school system and its influnce within its huge Empire. ghoography appeared at mid-century which for the first tme provide fascnating imafes of schools. Many modern school uniform styles first appeard in the 19th century. These uniforms were adopted first at Britain's elite public schools. It was not until the 20th century that boys at state schools began to wear school uniforms. This in part explains why school uniforms have been seen, especially in Britain, as a fashion for boys from affluent schools that went to exspensive private schools. In fact these schools in the 19th and early 20th century had enormous lists of uniform and sports items that were required, making it quite expensive to outfit a pupil. Another approach appeared in France where school smocks were instituted for boys and girls in the 1870s.

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Created: October 2, 2000
Last updated: 6:03 AM 3/16/2012