My first photograph on the theme has a poignancy about it. For here c.1903 in the group of schoolboys is my great uncle George
Danson - on the left
sporting a flat cap. George was killed in the First World War at the
Battle of the Somme in 1916, a week after his 22nd birthday. I wonder how many of the other boys and their master survived that carnage.This photograph was in the collection of my great aunT Jennie, George's younger sister and she very fortunately had written the names on the back of images - what a boon for family historians!
I am not too sure if the two men on the right are wearing berets or flat caps - but it is one of my favourite photographs and the only one I have of my great grandfather James Danson - the merry bearded figure in the stocks in the Square in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.
Below is a photograph of my grandfather William Danson, a labourer, seated with a group of workers at the ICI factory at Thornton, near Fleetwood, Lancashire. Was this some special occasion with Grandad given the pride of place, seated at the front? It is difficult to assess the date - 1930's?
Below is my husband aged about one with his maternal grandparents Matthew Iley White (a boilermaker) and Alice Armitage of South Shields, County Durham. c. 1938.
Stepping out oblivious of the camera is Grandfather Donaldson, a signwriter and painter, again in South Shields, County Durham. His son and one of his grandsons followed him in his trade
From my cousin's collection are photographs of the Oldham family business of carters and coalmen in Blackpool. Lancashire, overseen by three generations - Joseph Prince Oldham (1855-1921), his son John William Oldham (1880-1939) and his daughter Elsie Smith, nee Oldham (1906-1989)
The
business was founded around 1890, steadily became prosperous and in
1905 moved to near North Station, Blackpool in a house with a large
yard, hay loft, tack room. and stabling for seven horses.
Time moved on and the first Oldham road vehicle was bought in 1921 to replace the horses - but the flat caps remained the fashion!
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In
Britain flat caps were generally associated with workers in the north of
England. Think of old photographs and newsreels of men streaming
from the mills, or cheering from the football terraces or enlisting for
the First World War.
I think
of them too as worn by coster-mongers in London - think of Eliza
Doolittle's father in the film of "My Fair Lady"; or Del Boy in the TV
comedy "Only Fools and Horses".
At the
other end of the social scale, the Duke of Windsor as Edward Prince of
Wales, in the 1920s and 30s was photographed in a flat cap as part of a golfing outfit. Nowadays
finer versions are still popular rural wear at farming events, countryside
fairs, horse race meetings etc.
And if you have the youth and looks to
get away with it, flat caps are being worn as fashion statements by
"celebrities" - men and women.
My own father would not be seen dead in a flat cap -
He much preferred a trilby as headgear!
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I especially like the "merry bearded figure" photo! Flat caps remain popular across the pond too, including with my teen grandsons in Massachusetts.
ReplyDeleteI had to look up trilby...which I usually call a fedora. The images seemed the same, but there may be a fine difference. I enjoyed seeing the flat-capped family members you shared today.
ReplyDeleteMy grandson has taken to wearing flat caps - especially a particular plaid one I brought back from Scotland. He liked it so much I sent back to the same shop in Pitlochry where I'd bought it to get another one I remembered seeing there to give him for Christmas. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your approach. It's great that there's latitude for creativity with Sepia Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThose subtle class and regional hat styles are some of the best clues for dating old British photos and postcards. I get annoyed when a movie or TV series set in an historic era sometimes overlook the way hats were once a required fashion accessory for both men and women. What I'd like to learn are the "rules" for when different hats were worn, where they weren't worn, and how they were acquired.
ReplyDeleteGreat finds, and perfect to match the theme image :)
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind comments.
ReplyDelete