Can you tell me more about the stripe on this man’s trousers?
QWe have this family photograph of an unknown gentleman, and I am interested to know about his trousers. Was the stripe down the side a fashion detail, connected to the military, or perhaps he’s a postal worker? One side of our family were drapers at a big department store in Leicestershire. Could the stripes be linked to that? Rosemary Whittemore
AThis is a standard card-mounted studio photograph taken by a photographer, whose details are printed on the back in an unusual handwritten style. It is a carte de visite portrait, the most popular Victorian photographic format. Early examples taken during the 1860s generally portrayed their subject as a full-length figure in a contrived drawing-room interior, a composition still popular at the beginning of the 1870s. Typically, the studio setting included a draped curtain, table and chair, plus props that conveyed a masculine, business-like air.
A date of the late 1860s or early 1870s is confirmed by your ancestor’s appearance in a smart morning coat with sloping front edges, teamed with matching waistcoat and trousers. This cut was popular by the later 1860s and suits retained this form until about the mid-1870s. Key dress-dating details include his lapels (broad and curved), his wide knotted tie and narrow trousers accentuated by vertical stripes. He could well represent the Leicester drapery side of your family, for he appears fashionably well-dressed with a strong sense of style. An adult, he yet has little or no facial hair and looks quite youthful. Possible reasons for this photo include his 21st birthday, or milestone 30th birthday; alternatively, he may have been entering the family business, or have received a work promotion. Jayne Shrimpton
1 PHOTOGRAPHER
James Vice of Leicester is recorded at 36 Market Place in trade directories dating from 1870 to 1880: early-photographers.org. uk/Leics%20T-V.html.
2 NEGATIVE NUMBER
“No. 8830”, written on the back, denotes the negative number. Successful photographers took broadly between 3,000 and 7,000 photos annually, so this one suggests a date one-and-a-half to three years after Vice’s inaugural year: therefore c1871–1873.
3 DATE
With a date of approximately 1871–1873 for this scene and an age estimate of about 21–30 for the sitter, we can calculate that this Leicester-based ancestor was born between the early 1840s and the early 1850s.
The long, knotted tie worn here with characteristic thick knot, typical of the late 1860s/early 1870s, was called the ‘fourin-hand’. Bought ready-knotted, it was fastened behind the neck.
5 TROUSER SEAMS
Outer trouser seams sometimes displayed a narrow stripe or piping at this time. Although resembling certain military and occupational uniforms, in this civilian context they were strictly a fashion feature.