April 11, 2010: Toffs and Toughs

Most Brits will recognize this photograph, taken in 1937 outside the 133rd, Eton vs Harrow, Cricket match.
The photograph has been used repeatedly in the Media, and even on book jackets, to illustrate the Class divide in Britain.



What many Brits don't know is;
1~ The photograph was taken by Jimmy Sime, not Bert Hardy.
2~ The two boys on the left, were students at Harrow, not Eton.
3~ The other three boys were not street "toughs", but local boys working at that gate as porters, carrying wicker hampers from spectators' cars into the stands.

George Salmon, Jack Catlin and George Young, the three local boys, lived long happy lives.

Peter Wagner, on the left, died locked up in the East Sussex asylum at Hellingly.

Tim Dyson, leaning on the post, died of Diphtheria the following summer, while visiting his parents stationed in India.

link

Fancy clothes will do that.

I find the walking sticks for these young boys curious. Surely they were quite an anachronism in 1937.

So the three on the right were tough after all.

They're canes, not walking sticks. For beating the poor with.

canes then (even tho to me they are synonymous). Were they a prescribed part of the dress uniform or something?

Most likely.

I was listening to a radio interview the other day and the chap being interviewed had attended a boarding school in the late 60s. They were required to follow a fairly strict dress code, including some totally anachronistic pieces, such as a straw boater.

Richard Cory - Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good Morning!" and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine -- we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.

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Originally Posted by Cloud canes then (even tho to me they are synonymous). Were they a prescribed part of the dress uniform or something?

huh. OT, but I still remember that in my boarding school around 1970 (I was a day student) the girls had to "dress for dinner" every night in a really ugly uniform dress, hose, and pumps.

and what are canes for, then, if not to provide support? (confused)

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Originally Posted by Cloud canes then (even tho to me they are synonymous). Were they a prescribed part of the dress uniform or something?

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Originally Posted by Cloud huh. OT, but I still remember that in my boarding school around 1970 (I was a day student) the girls had to "dress for dinner" every night in a really ugly uniform dress, hose, and pumps. and what are canes for, then, if not to provide support? (confused)

Good for keeping Artful Dodger from getting too close.

Of course it's fashion. That shit can make even a completely mobile peanut look good. There is nothing wrong with that damn peanut's legs.

Please, ALL of you are going to tell me you were absent the day they taught self defense with a cane?

Please, it strains credulity.

One of the schools still teaching this today is Cane Masters. There you can get your own custom-designed defensive cane (http://www.canemasters.com/).

Men in India often carry canes eve to this day. Usually to beat away the beggars or the stray dogs. They must have picked up the habit from their British overlords.

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Originally Posted by squirell nutkin Please, ALL of you are going to tell me you were absent the day they taught self defense with a cane? Please, it strains credulity.

This is my grandfather's cane or walking stick. He was British and went out to China in 1901 to work in the Chinese Postal Service (one for the spoils for the European's after the Opium Wars as they forced their influence upon the Emperor and later the Emperess).

The cane is probably from when he first went there and wanted to look his best within the British society that he was a part of, so it is most likely over 100 years old. It is finished in black lacquer, has a silver tip on the bottom and his initials are monogrammed into the top in sterling silver. He only put the M and S but his full name was quite upper class, it was Melton Edwin Arthur Lionel Summers.

I think he used it rarely as it is in almost unused condition. It is something I treasure!

In later life he used a more everyday walking stick but it did have a silver top knob and I have memories of him walking with it in the 1960's before his health failed. One could tell he knew how to use it as he had a certain rhythm as he walked with the tip kicking up in the air in between every other step. Close to 50 years ago and I can still picture him in my mind as he walked.

That's excellent Chris. If I owned that I'd change my name to match the initials.

extremely cool, but I gotta say . . . a cane with the initials S and M? the mind conjures

I think those three regular boys are laughing at teh fancy boys. Who can play in a top hat?

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Originally Posted by chrisinhouston This is my grandfather's cane or walking stick. He was British and went out to China in 1901...... ....... his full name was quite upper class, it was Melton Edwin Arthur Lionel Summers.

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Originally Posted by Carruthers I suspect I'm not going to tell you anything you don't already know, but just in case................ You are probably about to tell me that you made the above postings

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Originally Posted by chrisinhouston By the way, my 3rd cousin twice removed was noted author and playwright George Bernard Shaw! The Internet has done wonders for homespun genealogists.

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Originally Posted by Carruthers When I looked at Rootsweb and saw 'An Irish Shaw Family' it crossed my mind that there might be GBS connection. Carruthers

This is the hidden conversation.

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Originally Posted by chrisinhouston Funny thing is, the main Shaw ancestor that my line descends from was Captain William Shaw who was given a grant of land in Ireland for saving General Ponsoby at the Battle of the Boyne. In reality, my ancestors who owned stately homes in Ireland were Protestant transplants from England or Scotland and were squatters on Irish land.

Really surprised to see that this "Infamous" photo is not by Bert Hardy. Just reg with this Site, after coming across what I thought was a Bert Hardy photo.

Welcome, Neil

Hey Neil.
Stick around. We're not all about faux Hardy photos.

Undertoad:

Loved the poem!!