Classic Broad-brimmed Sailor Hats: England

Figure 1.--This English boy wears a double-breasted sailor tunic (notice the belt) with a wide-brimmed sailor hat about 1905 Notice the knee pants and knee socks with strap shoes. The boy has a non-standard sailor collar.

We believe the fashion of the wide-brimmed sailor hat for boys originated in England along with the sailor suit for boys. The style also influenced women's millenery. The hat was first worn by a British boys in the 1840s when the young princes wore them. Queen Victoria and Prinnce Albert saw it as a way of popularizing the monarchy. The famous Winter hatlter Portrait for Queen Victoria shows Prince Bertie wearing a sailor ht with a moderate brim. We do not think it became a widely popular style, however, until later, possibly the 1860s. This is difficult to assess because we have so few English photographs from mid-century. We do note that it launched a major children's fadhion style. The wide-brimmed ailor hat was not as common as the sailor suit itself, but it was a major stule in the late-19th and early-20th century. We continue to see moderate brims in the 1870s. An unidentified Berwick boy, we think in the 1870s is a good example. Wide-brimmed sailor hats were not only worn with sailor suits, but became associated with the Fauntleroy craze. The boy here is aood example of the wider brimmed styles that appeared in the 1880s and continued tobe worn inthe early-20th century (figure 1). Notice how for portraits the wide-brimmed hats werevtuerned up so you got a few of the boy's face and hir. This does not mean that this was how the children actully ore them. The heyday for the wide-brimmed hats was more limited than the sailor suit. They were primarily wotn by younger boys, pre-school and early primary school children. Some of the hats seem to almost engulf the small boys who wore them. Many had elastic chin straps and hats bands with trailing streamers of various lengths

Created: August 4, 2000
Last updated: 5:44 PM 11/8/2014