*** Scottish school uniform : chronologies 19th century decades
Scottish School Uniform: Chronologies--19th Century Decades
Figure 1.--Here we see a small coed Scottish class, we think in the 1880s. The studio was Wohlgemuth & Co in Glasgow. We suspect, however that the school was not in Glasgow, one of Scotlands's major cties. City schools erre more likely to have large classes. This is more likely a village school. We thought it might be a private school as the head master looks so dapper. But the coed class looks more like a village school. One boys wears a kilt outfit. That night suggest a private school, but boys in the Highlands (not Glasgow) did wear kilts in village school. The other boys mostly wear suits. Many of the girls wear pimnafores.
We have found some 19th century Scottish school images. Not very many, but we have found some. Scotland is a small country and we have difficulty finding needed images from small countries to assess fahion trends. And many of the ones we have found have no descriptive information. We have virtually no information on the early-19th century before the oappearance of photography. Most are not dated. We can not always differentiate between these decacdes, but what we have found so far seem to come from the late-19th ecntury. se two decades. As far as we can tell, the images we have found date to the 1870s-90s. So we have to our best to date the images and to figure out what type of school. The school on the previous page looks to be a state primary school. The portrait is not dated, but the mount and the clothes shown suggest the late-1870s or early-80s. The school here looks like it might be a small private school, probably taken in the 1880s (figure 1). Mixing boys and girls at a private school would have been unusual, especially at private schools at the time. The studio was Wohlgemuth & Co in Glasgow. We suspect, however that the school was not in Glasgow, one of Scotlands's major cties. City schools erre more likely to have large classes. This is more likely a village school. We thought it might be a private school as the head master looks so dapper But the coed class looks more like a village school. One boys wears a kilt outfit. That night suggest a private school, but boys in the Highlands (not Glasgow) did wear kilts in village school. The other boys mostly wear suits. Many oif the girls wear pinafores.
The 1800s
We have virtually no information on the early-19th century before the appearance of photography.
The 1840s
Photography was invented in France (1839), Daggereotye studios appeared in Scotland, but we have found very few exanples and no school examples. School photogaphy is not just for the parents who wanto send copies to family and friends. But Dagueotypes and other early bphtographic types obly involvd one shot. from which copies could not be made.
The 1850s
New procesdsdes appeared (1850s). But we still see few Scottish examoles. And we acan not always differentiate between these early decacdes.
The 1860s
The CDV emerged as the standard photographic process (1860s), quickly followed by the larger cabinet cards. Finally we have negatie processfrom which cpies could be made. We do not yet see school portraits. The CDV was too small for a class portrait. The cabinet card wslarger, but it took time for the idea of school photography to become a tradition. We have not yet found any Scotish examples.
What we have found so far in terms of Scotish schoolmportraits seem to come from the late-19th century. The school photograph begin to appear (1870s). As far as we can tell, the school images date to the 1870s-90s. So we have to our best to date the images and to figure out what type of school. The school on the previous page looks to be a state primary school. The portrait is not dated, but the mount and the clothes shown suggest the late-1870s or early-80s. We note a Glasgow school portrait. It is undated, but the seller believes it was taken in the 1870s. The boys are mostly wearing a variety of suits. A few boys are wearing outfits without button fronts. We are not sure exactly what that was. We see a few detachable Eton collars and some neckwear.. It is difficult to make out the full outfit, but they all seem to be wearing pants. We do not see any kilts.
The 1880s
The school here looks like it might be a small private school, probably taken in the 1880s (figure 1). Mixing boys and girls at a private school would have been unusual, especially at private schools at the time. The studio was Wohlgemuth & Co in Glasgow. We suspect, however that the school was not in Glasgow, one of Scotlands's major cties. City schools erre more likely to have large classes. This is more likely a village school. We thought it might be a private school as the head master looks so dapper But the coed class looks more like a village school. One boy wears a kilt outfit. That night suggest a private school, but boys in the Highlands (not Glasgow and the low lands) did wear kilts in village school. The other boys mostly wear suits, largely lapel suits. . Many of the girls wear pinafores.
