Victorian dress of children--girls in trousers??

malcatgala · Post by **malcatgala** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:13 pm

Were little girls ever dressed in trousers in Victorian times?
I have an old family photo taken around 1860 (a posed family photo and of a poor working class family) and its been annotated in the past with the names of my GG grandparents and their three eldest children.
However, I now find , after researching birth dates, that the birth order and sex of these children doesn't match the photo....unless a child of about 3 wearing trousers is a little girl!
Can anyone advise whether this is at all likely?
Thanks
Malcolm

Post by **SarahND** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:27 pm

Interesting, Malcolm!
I have seen many pictures of boys in frocks, but never the other way around. Will be interested to read what others say.
Regards,
Sarah

Post by **emanday** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:55 pm

I've seen many photographs of wee boys in dresses as well! Don't remember ever seeing girls in trousers.

In fact, the term, "being breeched" usually referred to boys becoming of and age to be put in trousers.

Post by **HeatherH** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:56 am

Hi there,
I remember reading an article about women wearing breaches to go down in the pits but that was before the Victorian time. Haven't come across any mention of wee girls wearing trousers.
HH

Post by **marilyn morning** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:01 am

Hi Malcom,

Have a look over here

http://www.cartes.freeuk.com/time/time.htm

Regards
Marilyn

G.Love · Post by **G.Love** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:49 am

Malcolm, are you able to let us see the photo?

malcatgala · Post by **malcatgala** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:47 pm

Thank you everyone!

Marilyn - that is an excellent website resource for dating old photographs-many thanks.

I think the view is that my wee 3 year old in long trousers must indeed be a boy. (That makes the photgraph difficult to interpret as it is not the grouping we had assumed)

I'm afraid I can't see a way of making the photograph available as I don't have access to a website which will be available to the Forum (I understand from FAQs that a Yahoo-based website won't do)

Best wishes to all

Malcolm

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:19 pm

Hi Malcolm
See this article in the "How to" section for uploading an image to the Talking Scot gallery:
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6496

Best wishes
Lesley

malcatgala · Post by **malcatgala** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 7:42 pm

Thanks Lesley I've now uploaded the picture to the gallery
The trousered child in question is standing on the left of the photograph...but should be a girl from our recent charting of the order of the children's births.

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1114

Best wishes
Malcolm

Gallery URL added - AndrewP

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:07 pm

Are you sure that it's trousers?

my thoughts:
Hair: caught up in a ponytail from the front = girl
top slicked up in a quiff = boy

Jacket: buttons to the right side =boy

Bottom half : could be trousers as the hem is closer to the ankles than the sister's =boy
equally could be just caught between her legs slightly = girl

remember how long the poor things had to stand for a photo , no nipping out to rearrange a dress and take another shot!