Figure 1.--This detail from the 1901 Eaton Spring and Summer catalog shows one Highland kilt outfit along with several outfits referred to as kilt suits which were middy blouses worn with skirted garments. Click on the imge for more details. |
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We have begun to collect information on boys in different regions of Canada wearing kilts. We believe that there were substantial regional variations, but we do not yet have a lot of information as our acrchive of Canadian images is still limited. They were not just worn by boys in Nova Scotia. The Scottish inflience was also very strong in Ontario. As Ontario was a larger provinces, we have more portraits of boys wearing kilts there. One might think that boys in Quenec, with the Province's large French population, might be the least likely to wear kilts. Because wealthy Scottish mrchants (Allan, Fraser, McGill, McTavish, etc) played a prominent role in Montrel, nurmerous boys there wore kilts. We are less sure about the western Prarie provinces.
One report indivates that at least some boys in Nova Scotia wore kilts during the 19th century. This appears to have been the case for sone boys whose fathers were soldiers in St. Johns. We are less sure how common it was or most boys.
The Scottish inflience was also very strong in Ontario. Thus we thinks quite a number of Ontario boys wore kilts. We are entirely sure just how Scottish ancestry or lack of it affected whether boys wore kilt outfits. As Ontario was a larger provinces, we have more portraits of boys wearing kilts there.
One might think that boys in Quenec, with the Province's large French population, might be the least likely to wear kilts. Because wealthy Scottish mrchants (Allan, Fraser, McGill, McTavish, etc) played a prominent role in Montrel, nurmerous boys there wore kilts. William Notman, who was an outstanding Montreal photographer, took innumerable pictures of boys in kilts. The kilt outfit we see here from the 1860s wear Highland kilt outfits and not the kilt suits that were becoming popular in America (figure 2). We also notice portraits of boys in plaid dresses. The McCord Museum in Montréal has his entire collection. We believe that most of these boys come from cottish families. We do not kno to what extent the French boys in Quebec wore kilts. A Canadian reader writes, "Children (2 to
10 years old) were like ambassadors wear kilts to demonstrate pride in their Scottish heritage. [HBC note: HBC is not positive that the boys chose the kilts out of pride in their Scottish heritage. It seems more likelythat their parents wanted to make a show of their Scottush heritage. We do not have, however, any actual contemporary evidence to subsantiate this one way or the other.]
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