Figure 1.--Only the ounger bother in the Arundel family wears a smock. His older brother has a short pants suit. I'm not sure what their sister is wearing. The portrait was taken in 1906.

Families varied on how they used smoocks and this varied over time. We are just beginning to acquire information on these variations. We believe that smocks in the early 19th century may have been more of a style worn by the rural working-class. We know that agricultural workers wore smocks. We assume their sons did also. By the late 19th centuy, smpcks were less common in England. We note that thy were used in some families, more commonly affluent families. There were variations among families as to which children wore smocks. We observer quite a variety of approaches. We note that in some families that all of the children wore smocks. In some only the girls. Often both boys and girls wore smocks, but the boys stoppe once they began preparatory school, usually atabout age 8 years. In other families only the younger children wore smocks, and both older boys and girls did not wear them. We note quite old girls wearing them, but it was usually younger boys. English boys continued wearing smocks in the early 20th century, but this became less common after World War I and even more so the 1920.

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Created: July 29, 2002
Last updated: July 29, 2002