Figure 1.--This little English boy was 2 yeats old in 1913 when he had his portrait taken. The back reads, "what do you think of your baby now. This was taken just after he was 2. I am sure you will be pleased to see him.’ It was sent to Nurse Gurr in Eastbourne, the local midwife. The card was published by the Bijou Studios, Seaside Road, Eastbourne, Tunbridge Wells and Guildford.

We have noted English children wearing smocks in a wide variety of smocks. The smocks worn by younger children in urban communities at home appear to be mostly back-buttoning smocks. This is primarily because during the period in which they were most commonly worn, back buttoning smocks were prevalent. Unfortunately we have very few 19th century images. Front buttoning smocks did not appear until the 1950s and by that time smocks were little worn by English boys. There are many other stylistic elements. We note diffrences in slee length, collar treatement, smocking, waitabands, and oher elements. The smocks worn by English boys generally had plain collars. They were not generally worn with wide white collars and large floppy bows as was common in Italy. As far as we know both boys and girls wore the same style of smocks.

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Created: September 18, 2003

Last updated: September 18, 2003