Figure 1.--This English boy has a top knot with long ringlets. He looks to be about 5-years old. The cabinent card was shot by H. Marriott, Bridge End, Peterborough. Unfortunately we do not know the boy's name. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1890s.

We are not at all sure what to call this hair style. Perhaps some of our readers will know. There are many variations only limited by mother's fashion sence. Basically it is a style with a large curl or hair knot done in different ways at the crown of the head. Gennerally the hair is drawm back from the front and there may be a double part. The hair at the side can be done in various ways, from long ringlets to a range of shorter styles. This appears to be an exclusively boy style. We have seen both boys and girls wearing ringlets, but we have not noticed girls wearing these top curls and knots. We have also note American boys wearing these styles. In fact we have have found many more American boys in the photographic record. Buth this is presumably because we have a much larger American archive. Even so, we suspect the style originated in Britain. They seem to have been most common in the late-19th century, but the limited number of British images in our archive makes it difficult to date in Britain. We are not sure when the style first appeared. And as photograph pnly apperared in the 1840s, we are not sure about the early-19th century. We no longer commonly see this style in either Britain and America after the very early-20th century. This was primarily a style for pre-chool boys, but we note boys with this style up to about age 8 years, although our limited archive makes this difficult to assess with any validity. Presumably they were boys being schooled at home. We do not see examples in school portraits.

Terminology

We are not at all sure what to call this hair style. Perhaps some of our readers will know. We have been calling it a top roll or top knot. We do not know what it was called at the time. We have not yet found written references to it.

Prevalence

We see quite a few English examples of a boy's hair done in top curls or rolls. It seems some what more common in than in america, but this is only a prlininary assessment.

Styling

There are many variations only limited by mother's fashion sence. Basically it is a style with a large curl or hair knot done in different ways at the crown of the head. Gennerally the hair is drawm back from the front and intead of forming long ringlets, the boys' gair is brought to the top and curled. We see both single and double top curls. There may be a double part. Thus unlike standard ringlets, we do not notice it being dome with bangs. The hair at the side can be done in various ways, from long ringlets to a range of shorter styles. Some of these styles were quite elaborate more so than the top curls wehave seen in America.

Social Class

The English boys we hve found with these fancy top curls seem to up unifomily well dressed. This suggests to us they came from well-to-do families. We suspect that the boys hve very fashionanle mothers with time and money to pursue the ltest fashion trends.

Gender

This appears to be an exclusively boy style. We have seen both boys and girls wearing ringlets, but we have not noticed girls wearing these top curls and knots.

Country Trends

We have also noted American boys wearing these styles. In fact we have have found many more American boys in the photographic record. But this is presumably because we have a much larger American archive. Even so, we suspect the style originated in Britain. We see some examples in France, but rarely in other countries.

Chronology

These top roll hair styles seem to have been most common in Britain during the late-19th century, we would say during the 1870s and 80s. So far most of out British images date from that period. The limited number of British images in our archive, however, makes it difficult to date in Britain. We are not sure when the style first appeared. And as photograph only apperared in the 1840s and we have few British Dags and Ambrios, we are not sure about the early-19th century. Only with the appearance of CDVs do we have any photographic information from Britain. We no longer commonly see this style in either Britain and America after the very early-20th century.

Age

These top curls are primarily a style for pre-school boys,. And we now have enough images to have fairly good ifea of the age range. This is theage range for most of the exmples we have found. we have, however, noted these top curl style with children up to about age 8 years/ Although our limited archive makes this difficult to assess with any validity. At age 8 these children should be in school, bit would presumably being taught by private tutors. Presumably they were boys being schooled at home. We do not see examples in school portraits. The boy here looks to be about 5 years old (figure 1). we have never noted this style on our growing archive of school portraits.

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Created: 5:01 AM 9/22/2006
Last edited: 6:43 AM 2/22/2016