Figure 1.--This image is an English boy photographed in 1909 in hisack garden. He wears a smock in his back garden while painting. It is likely that the smock was worn not only for such artistic endeavors, but for general play as well. He wears his back buttoning smock with short pants and knee socks. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

Younger English boys still wore smocks in the early 20th Century. I believe they were common nursery wear, although the photographic record does not seem to support this contention. I believe this is in part due to the fact that the children were often dressed up in their best clothes to have their photographs taken. In H.G. Wells's novel about education, Joan and Peter, he describes the children going to one of the 'barefoot schools' supported by the artistically-inclined, 'progressive' middle class. It turns out from the text, however, that the children were not actually barefoot. They wore the liberated dress of the period: smocks and sandals as illustrated in the Shephard drawings of Christopher Robin a decade later. Smocks were commonly worn by English boys from affluent families for play around the house or perhaps an outing to the park. We have more images of English boys wearing these smocks in the early 20th century than in the alte 19th century. This is primarily because the invention of thde Kodak Brownie and other simple cameras made anmateur snap shots so much easier. We believe that smocks were actually more common in the late 19th century. Mothers did not, however, dress their sons in such an informal play garment for a formal studio portrait.

Image

This image is unidentified, but we believe it is an English boy photographed around 1910. We have sence that the young artist is indeed English. The back of the card identifies the fathers name as Bennett. It was posted from Deptford in London during September 1909. The boy looks to be about 6 years old and not at all happy about having his artistic endevors interupted by the photographer. The boy wears a smock in his back garden while painting. It is likely that the smock was worn not only for such artistic endeavors, but for general play as well. He wears his back buttoning smock with short pants and turn-over-top kneesocks. It is a light-colored smock, but does not look to be white. It has a high waist, but no smocking. The pointed eather than rounded collar looks to be part of the smock rather than a shirt collar worn outside the smock. Notice the water color set it in tin box. These are still available today. You can tell it is water colors he is working on because he has a little cup of water on the chair as well.

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Created: August 20, 2002
Last updated: August 22, 2002