Figure 1.--This looks to us like the second or third year of a secondary school. The children look to be about 13 years old. We would guess that it was taken in the 195os. It is definitely not a primary school because of both the ages of the children and their uniforms. Nor do we think it was a prep school. Not only were most prepschools single gender schools, but the girls tended to go on to their senior schools 1-2 years earlier than the boys. So I think we are talking about a public (private boarding) schools or a grammar school. The portrait is interesting in that coed schools were not all that common at the time. Something else we don't undrstnd about this portrait is that many of the sudents have their winter clothes on even though they are indoors. We have never seen this before. The only thing we can think of to explain this is British economic problems in the 1950s. Britain at the end of World War II voted in a Labour (socialist) government. They intoduced a wide range of social welfare and economic policies, including the nationalization of basic industry. As a result, Britain did not recover from the War as rapidly as other countries, including Germany. As a result, Britain had to maintain World war II rationing into the 1950s. There were wdespread hortages, including coal. Perhaps the school was not able to heat the building properly.

Our major source of information is the very ample supply of school photogrphy. Here we are mostly trying to figure out what type of school is represented in various school images we have found. Often these images are not identified. Many we can figure out, but quite a number are not so easy to identify. We can generally but not precisely figure out the age groups and dates, butthere are some conuding elements to some of the imaes we have found. Hopefully our British readers can help figure out what type of school we are looking at.

Unknown Class Portrait (1870s)

Here we see a class group. We know that because the boys are all about the same age. We would say about 11 years old. So it woulf be a primary school class of some kind. It is a CDV portrait. We would guess it was taken in the 1870s, although the late-60s would be possible. Notice almost all of the boys are wearing long pants. Some of the boys seem rather roughly dressed while other seem more smartly dressed. We see both cut-awy and lapel jackets. We are guessing. this is a state primary, but some of the boys sem more roughly dressed than we would have expected. Parliament passed a major Education Act in 1870, greatly expanding the state free primary system. This may be an early impact of the Act. Meaning boys of varies economic background attending school. This was the reason that the French Third Republic at about the same time required children wear school smocks to make everyone hve a more equal appearance. W have arcived a number of English school portaits, the differences seem more apparent here thn in most of the portraits we have found. here are about 30 boys. A master may be located at the center with his face inked out. Perhaps he was not very well liked by the boys.

Unknown Group (1900s)

This cabinet card portrait is a large size. The photograph measured approximately 6" x 4". The mount is 9.75" x 8". The boys are a mixed-age group, perhaos 8-10 years of age. There is an older boy with them whoi may be about 14 years old. We re not sure just what to make of the group. Given thy way they are dresses, all with smart suits including one boy wearing a a sailor suit, we would guess this is a private school group. We thought it might be a small prep school, but that would not explain the older boy. And the shrouded background provides no clues. The best idea we can think of is that it was a junior house at a college, meaning a private school wih both primary and secondary sections. We are not sold on this, perhsaps readers might have some thoughts. The only aspect we are sure aboiut is that the studio was M. Higgens in Newcastele-on-Tyne. The style of the mounts suggess to us that it was taken in the vert early 1900s, but our ability to date British mounts is still at a fairly basic stage so we are not real sure.

Unknown Class Portrit (1950s)

This looks to us like the second or third year of a secondary school (figure 1). The children look to be about 13 years old. We would guess that it was taken in the 195os. It is definitely not a primary school because of both the ages of the children and their uniforms. Nor do we think it was a prep school. Not only were most prepschools single gender schools, but the girls tended to go on to their senior schools 1-2 years earlier than the boys. So I think we are talking about a public (private boarding) schools or a grammar school. A British reader tells us, "I think it is a grammmar school. The students are probably having a photograph taken before they go on an education visit." The portrait is interesting in that coed schools were not all that common at the time. Something else we don't undrstnd about this portrait is that many of the students have their winter clothes on even though they are indoors. We have never seen this bfore. The only thing we can think of to explain this is Brtain economic problems in the 1950s. Britain at the end of World War II voted in a Labour (socialist) government. They intoduced a wide range of social welfare and economic policies, including the nationalization of basic industry. As a result, Britain did not recover from the War as rapidly as other countries, including Germany. As a result, Britain had to maintain World War II rationing into the 1950s. There were wdespread hortages, icluding coal. Perhaps the school was not able to heat the building properly.

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Created: 9:04 AM 12/23/2016
Last updated: 4:19 AM 12/24/2016