Toward
the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, children
no longer dressed like tiny adults, but had their own style of
clothes. But boys were often still dressed in skirts for their early years - as in this early photograph of my cousin's father.
In the first half of the 20th century, for boys the main characteristic was short trousers, worn whatever the weather, with knee length socks. Boys did not go into long trousers until the age of around 13-14 - something of a rite of passage - I remember this from my own brother.
Young Arthur Smith, born in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1908
The Smith family originated from Unst inthe Shetland Isles - the most northerly point of Britian, moving to the mainland in the mid 19th century. Perhaps the tartan dress worn by Arthur here is a nod to his Scottish ancestry. But I was a bit surprised that as late as 1908 in Blackpool the fashion persisted of very young boys in a dress.
In the first half of the 20th century, for boys the main characteristic was short trousers, worn whatever the weather, with knee length socks. Boys did not go into long trousers until the age of around 13-14 - something of a rite of passage - I remember this from my own brother.
The note on the back of this photograph says:
"Arthur in his first pair of trousers", c.1910
"Arthur in his first pair of trousers", c.1910
Harry Rawcliffe Danson, born 1912
in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire
Harry's middle name came from his grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe. This
is a section of a larger family photograph taken in 1916 when his father William Danson went off
to war in Flanders. 24 years later Harry survived the evacuation from Dunkirk. He retained his good dark looks all his life.
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In the early 20th century, large hats for boys seemed to be the style for formal photographs - wherever you might be across England - north east, north west or the midlands - as illustrated in these family photographs.
Joseph Prince Oldham (1855-1921)
founder of a carters and coal merchant business in Blackpool.
My husband's uncle - Matthew Iley White, born 1915.
Photograph taken by T. W. H. Liddle, Photographer, South Shields.
Frederick Henry Weston (my Unclle Fred), born 1905
In Wolverhampton, Staffordshire.
Surely
Fred must have been dressed up for a special occasion in this fancy
coat and white socks and big hat? Unfortunately there is no longer
anyone alive from the immediate family to ask.
This
photograph came to me via a connection of my cousin and is one of the very few early photographs I have of my
father's Weston family. The story was that photographs were thrown out following a death. What a crime!
In
the 1911 census the Weston family were living in Lunt Lane, Lunt
Gardens, Bilston, Wolverhampton in the heart of industrial English Midlands. A
photograph in Wolverhampton Archives indicated that Lunt Lane was the
location of the Bilston Sewers - so not exactly garden country!
Jackie Threlfall, wearing the popular sailor suit.
Taken by ? Watson, 13 Wellington Terrace, Blackpool
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Moving onto the 1940's
My husband and his older brother. My husband in his winter coat -
My husband - look at those baggy shorts,
worn with a sports jacket and V neck pullover
My cousin Stuart with his sister and how angelic they look, with their blond locks obviously inherited form their father Arthur (above)
My brother happy at play!
This was taken on holiday in Bournemouth where a paddling stream ran through the park, My mother \always knew to take a change of clothes with us for my brother who inevitably managed to fall in the water at some point. Seeing he is wearing a jumper, it cannot have been that warm a warm summer.
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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers
to share their family history through photographs
View more tales from other Sepia Saturday bloggers by clicking HERE
What a great collection of family boys in their youthful attire!
ReplyDeleteI love that shorts were then considered child’s first set of “trousers.” How fortunate that you have such a wide selection of your ancestors’ childhood photos — event with the unfortunate loss of the Weston photos. I love the sailor suits. I have photos of my grand uncle dressed similarly — it must have been an international fashion trend :-)
ReplyDeleteA marvelous array of young family boys in their first 'trousers'. I agree with Molly - you are so lucky to have so many wonderful photos of family members when they were young. Great post!
ReplyDeleteA really lovely selection of photos. Joseph Prince Oldham's hat brim looks really furry doesn't it? Quite unusual.
ReplyDeleteUsing our Sepia theme to focus on boys' fashions is a splendid idea. It's always interesting to see how garments evolve in different regions and male clothing deserves more attention. Some of your photos are a good match to the early catalog illustrations. I've wondered about the short pants tradition, and suspect it persisted because children's clothing was costly or mostly handmade and it had a practical benefit of still fitting even as a boy grew taller. And if there was a prize model Arthur wins hands down.
ReplyDeleteThey're all so cute. I'd like to bring back short pants for young boys.
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures of the children and their fashion of the day!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool post. Loved looking at the boys through the ages.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind comments. This was a fun post to pull together, and I did not realise initially that I had so many family photographs that fitted my theme.
ReplyDelete