Boys Puzzle

[Muggins in Sussex]

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o112/djangocrystal/boys_croppedplus.jpg

Apologies to anyone who has seen this before - but does anyone have any opinions as to whether this photo might be of boys at a school, or at a children's home or maybe at a Sunday School ? - or anywhere else? I think it was taken in about 1925 in the Altrincham area.

Thanks

[Merry]

Hmmmm....18 boys of the same age - no teachers, girls or adults in the photo.

Just stating the obvious, in case anyone thinks it makes a difference!

Personally, I've not seen a school group photo without any teachers, as far as I can remember.

Also, 18 would be too small for a normal school class, I think (unless it was somewhere posh!)

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thanks, Merry - I certainly don't think it was taken anywhere posh!!

Yet all the boys seem to be "dressed in their best" - with freshly-combed hair and scrubbed knees :d

Sorry the pic isn't very clear...I don't have the original

[Merry]

If it was a sunday school they wouldn't all be the same age, I wouldn't have thought.

[Muggins in Sussex]

I hadn't thought of that! - :o Thanks, Merry :)

[Durham Lady]

The small village school my father went to had only a few pupils in the class and didn't have a teacher on the photo. Can't show it as it went missing from my album, I think one of my sisters took it but neither owned up.

Would a childrens home not have all the children dressed in the same style clothes or uniform?

[Langley Vale Sue]

Just a thought.

In those days, boys & girls were kept separate in most schools I think, except in class. Maybe the boy and girl pupils were not photographed together either, which may explain why there are only 18 boys in the photo.

[Merry]

Just a thought.

In those days, boys & girls were kept separate in most schools I think, except in class. Maybe the boy and girl pupils were not photographed together either, which may explain why there are only 18 boys in the photo.

That's possible, as a class with nearly 40 in it would be quite normal.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Ooh that makes sense, Sue...thank you ..and Merry- we cross-posted!

[Uncle John]

Is the variety of dress a clue? From a 3-piece suit to a shirt and tie, with no uniformity at all. Fashion experts - when did square-ended ties go out of fashion? I think they are different ages, judging by heights, oldest standing at the back, youngest at the front. I think it could be a Sunday School or boys' club.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thanks UJ - yes, the variety of dress is a puzzle...including a sailor suit...yet they all look fairly smart and scrubbed up :confused:

[Langley Vale Sue]

Fashion experts - when did square-ended ties go out of fashion?


When I first started school in 1954 my tie was a square ended striped knitted type. We moved house from SW London to Surrey in 1957 and my new school tie was the type children wear today with the pointed ends.

[Kit]

Fashion experts - when did square-ended ties go out of fashion?

I didn't know ties ever had square ends. lol

If it was a school photo wouldn't it have a sign or something to say what class or year?

I've not seen a school photo without a sign.

[maggie_4_7]

Joan

The person you're interested in - do you know which boy he is?

I think its a school photo and like some others have said they may have in those days took the boys and girls photos separately.

I remember in my primary school there were two entrances one for BOYS and one for GIRLS although by then in 1964 they weren't used as such. But perhaps back then they were and also thought photos should be separate too!

[Muggins in Sussex]

Joan

The person you're interested in - do you know which boy he is?

I think its a school photo and like some others have said they may have in those days took the boys and girls photos separately.

I remember in my primary school there were two entrances one for BOYS and one for GIRLS although by then in 1964 they weren't used as such. But perhaps back then they were and also thought photos should be separate too!

Thanks Maggie

The person I am interested in is the front row on the right hand end (hope I can say that) It's unmistakeable.

They all look a bit dressed-up for school - although maybe they were told to come to school in their best clothes because the photographer was coming in!

[Muggins in Sussex]

Its probably impossible to say - but do you think the photo could have been taken at Eccleshall Bierlow Workhouse? There are photos of it here http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?EcclesallBierlow/EcclesallBierlow.shtml

- with the boys all dressed up for some sort of publicity stunt? :confused:

[Rosie Knees]

what are their faces like Joan? I would have though if a school picture they would be moderately cheerful. Workhouse picture I would have though they'd look rather more glum?

[Muggins in Sussex]

I hadn't thought about that, Rosie - thanks

Looking at the original, it's quite a mixture - some look hapy, some look quite dejected.

One is wearing glasses - I don't know whether workhouse children would have been issued with glasses.

Also the boys I would guess range in age from about 6 to 12.

[Merry]

All the photos in the link to the workhouse page are of stone buildings, but the photo of the boys shows them lined up against a brick building. I notised there is an interesting pattern with the window ledges, where there is a divide between the left window ledge and the middle one, but a continuous ledge between the middle window and the one on the right. There's also a plinth running along roughly half way between the windows and the ground. So, a search of all the buildings in the country you should be able to draw up a shortlist! (as long as it hasn't been demolished!!) It's a pity there's not more detail of the (sash?) windows in the photo.

[Uncle John]

For architectural "students", the brickwork looks like bog-standard late Victorian English bond brickwork. But the window sills are interesting, being made in 4 sections where a more modern one would be a single lump of pre-cast concrete. The colour of the bricks would give us a clue if they weren't just variegated grey!

[maggie_4_7]

Joan

I do not think it was a Workhouse or a children's home I think it was a 'normal' school photo.

[Merry]

I think you'll find the left (smaller) ledge is made of bricks laid with their header ends showing and at 90 degrees to a normal course. The longer ledge is made of long sections. I wonder if the left window was an afterthought/addition?

[Hopeful]

Hi Joan..........the Manchester Evening News has an 'In Touch' section where you could post the picture to see if anyone recognises it. The paper is distributed throughout the Gtr Manchester area

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/community/in_touch/

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thank you for all your replies.

You have noticed far more detail than I did!

I do now think the buildng is a school, in which case it would almost certainly have been in Altrincham - many thanks for the link to the Manchester Evening News, Hopeful - I will try that.

I've just noticed an odd thing about the photo - the boys in the back row don't seem to have any legs :confused: I don't think they can be standing on the bench that the boys in front of them are sitting on because that would make them out of proportion - and yet their legs can't be behind the bench, because the bench seems to be pushed right up to the wall :confused:

[Merry]

I've just noticed an odd thing about the photo - the boys in the back row don't seem to have any legs :confused: I don't think they can be standing on the bench that the boys in front of them are sitting on because that would make them out of proportion - and yet their legs can't be behind the bench, because the bench seems to be pushed right up to the wall :confused:


*sigh* lol *removes clutched straw*

Don't you think the boys to the back left of the photo are standing behind the bench and the ones to the back right are kneeling on the back edge of the bench, which is why the one to the far right is clutching the shoulders of the boys in front, so he doesn't fall off?! The left back row look further back than the right back row do.

I would think this was to make them as even in height as possible.

[Merry]

I'd say three are standing and three are kneeling.

[Muggins in Sussex]

*sigh* lol *removes clutched straw*

Don't you think the boys to the back left of the photo are standing behind the bench and the ones to the back right are kneeling on the back edge of the bench, which is why the one to the far right is clutching the shoulders of the boys in front, so he doesn't fall off?! The left back row look further back than the right back row do.

I would think this was to make them as even in height as possible.

I'd say three are standing and three are kneeling.

Thanks Merry :) That does all make sense - except that in the original it looks as though the bench is touching the wall LOL!

[Merry]

Thanks Merry :) That does all make sense - except that in the original it looks as though the bench is touching the wall LOL!

It may look like that, but you know it can't be, don't you?!! :d

[garstonite]

The boys at the front are sat on a Tarpaulin....so it`s NOT a workhouse...the staff wouldn`t be that kind.........allan:)

[Muggins in Sussex]

Ooh thank you Allan :) I hadn't noticed that :o I am sure you are right.:)

[garstonite]

My dad was born in 1926....and he told me that there was many a boy went to school in NO socks as people were very poor...and on a few occasions boys who were "absent" because they had NO shoes were SENT for to come into school with NO shoes...sounds very very harsh, but evidently true....ALL these boys have shoes / socks/ ties / jumpers....so they don`t look like a poor area...allan;)

[Phoenix]

Their socks are neat and well pulled up. As a girl, I didn't have the martyrdom of garters, but boys socks, even in the fifties, had a tendency to fall down.

If this had been a club (football, say) mightn't they have some evidence of what it was for?

The building in the background suggests it is some kind of primary school photo. Had it been a grammar or technical school, wouldn't they have had some sort of uniform? Similarly, in a workhouse, they would probably be better clothed than in the community, but surely far more uniformly?