Figure 1.--You just know that this lot had a great time together. The children we think came from a wealthy English family in 1904. The boy wears a Highland kilt outfit for play. It includes a peaked cap, Eton collar, cut-away jacket, and kilt with a sporan. Notice the cap has a badge, but the boy looks a little young to have begun school. His sister wears a broad-brimmed hat and simple frock. The cap may help locate the image. An English reader tells us, "The photograph could be of a family who lives on the Isle of Man. The photograph could have been taken there. The badge on the boy's cap appears to be the three Legs of Man. The symbol of the Isle of Man." The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea.

We do not yet know much about the headwear English boys wore with Highland kilts. This is because most of the available images were studio portraits in which the boys did not wear their headwear. This was not always the case, but some mums wanted the headwear in the portrauts. Based on our limited infirmtion, the most common headwear seems to be Glenngaries and school caps. Glengaries seem more common than Balmorals. We are not sure why. By 'school cap' we mean the style, not necessarily an actual school uniform peaked cap. School caps by the turn of the 20th century became almost universally worn by English boys. Several seem to match the jackets which do not seem to be school blazers. Some of the boys may not have begun school yet, both because of their age and the fact that they came from well-to-do familles. This is, however, just our prelimary assessment which we hope to refine as our archive expands.

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Created: 5:31 AM 1/17/2016
Last updated: 5:31 AM 1/17/2016