Can you date please?

[PaulaToo]

Great big thick nappy...gawd, it must have been roasting....perhaps I should do it with a lobster red face...well...better not

[chinakay]

I think those are bows or ruffles rather than kickups...might be a sort of variation, or the ruffle may be hiding the kickup...the rest of the outfit, the hairstyle, and the awful rug on the floor are all consistent with the period...

Cheers,
C

[PaulaToo]

Hi China, I'm trying to ignore that rug....lovely scene behind...well it will be if I can make out what it is,,,all flowers anyhow...and that 'orrible thing on the floor...

[Kevinshouse]

Would the outfit the baby is wearing have been a christening gown, surely this wasn't everyday wear, I know babies would wear long dresses for first few months of their lives, my father who is in his eighties remembers a neighborough asking his mother when she was going to "shorten the baby" the baby in question was his younger sister. I assume this meant putting the baby into shorter clothers.  I  don't know if this term was just a Yorkshire saying or my father does not remember the saying correctly - he doesn't usually get things wrong.
Regards Susan

[Liz in France]

Hi Susan,

Your father is correct in using the term shorten for when a baby is taken out of the long flowing gowns (boy or girl) and put into something more practical and shorter.  (It must have  been awful without washing machines and steam irons to keep that lot clean, assuming they did of course)

I remember my mother using that term for my younger sister and I think I referred to it when my son was taken out of nightdresses and put into romper suits.  (No babygro outfits in those days).

It is quite a contrast with today's baby attire and I know which one I prefer.

Elizabeth

[LizzieW]

Definitely christening robes.  Perhaps it's not her baby, but the baby of a relative.

I thought boys didn't go into trousers until they were nappy trained.  It was considered easier to have them in skirts like their sisters.  No disposable nappies in those days and think of the washing when the women had a child almost every year.

[Jo Harding]

Hello again,

I read the comments about the baby's attire with amusement.

I think the child would be her grandchild. Which one is very debatable as she had 9 children. The clothing is a christening gown and I believe the tradition was to hand these down within the family.

Sarah would not have been having problems with the washing. She had 2 laundries in London. These must have been sizeable businesses as she advertised in "The Times".

I am going to see which of her grandchildren was born at the time of this photo.

Thanks again for all the help etc.

Jo 

[PaulaToo]

Is it Grand Mama?

[PaulaToo]

Here's my one