Figure 1.--This red line border CDV schoolm portrait shows an all boys school. We are not sure if it is a private or state school, probably a pivate school because the boys are so well dressed. Over 30 boys seated and standing, probably outside heir bbrick a school building. On the reverse, is handwriting which includes "From Joseph to Dai" and "Jones".The boys looked to be about 8 years old. There was no uniform, but the boys wore suits. Cut-away jackets with vests seem particularly popular. Almost all the boys still wore long pants even at this young age. There was no studio informtion. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the class.

These trouser styles have changed significantly over time. Boys in the early 19th century wore long trousers. The popular style wss skeleton suits. Later in the century we see boys wearing tunic suits ti school, with long trousers. England at the time did not yet have a state school system. Lrgely cvhurch groups begn founding primary schools. There were no uniforms at the time for these charity band cgurch schools. Private schools did have uniforms. The primary private school at the time was the public school, meaning that anyone could attend that could pay the fees, nit gthat they wre state funded. Eton College was he most famous public schoola nd was very influential in establishing styles, a large white collar, short jacket, and long trousers. This was adopted as a uniform at Eton and several other public (private boarding) schools. Other public schools had uniforms, all wuth long trousers. These public schools coulld be rough places so by mid -century we begin to see preparatory schools for the younger boys. These prep schools at first did not have uniforms, although thuy might have dress standards. More groups and municipalities began founding schools as the century progressed. School wear trends are difficult to follow in detail until photography developed, but in the first half of the century boys almost entirely wore long pants as schoolwear. We begin to see shortened-length pants at mid-century, but mostly for yonger boys. Photography was invented in France (1839), but thec eaaly formats like Dags anbd Ambrios are mist less common than in America (1840s-50s). This we do not have a lot of images revealing schoolwear. This changed as the CDV bevame appear and they were dnme in large numbers (1860s). At virst we mostly see individual portraits, but by the 1879s we begin to see increasing numbers of school portraits as the tradition of school photography began to develop. We continue to see boys mostly wearing long pants. This gradully chngesd nnd we begin to see shottenbed-lernth pants ar school (1870s). This was not universals abnd we continue to see evn yhounger boys wearinh blomg pants. A good example is an unidentified Guildford school. Many boys wore knickers in the late-19th century. We see knickers as part of the school uniform at quite a numbr of pjublic schools. Boys in state day schools wore knickers much less commonly. We note knee pants less commonly.

Created: 10:56 AM 5/15/2022
Last updated: 10:56 AM 5/15/2022