Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Not Quite SYW But - Napoleonic British Sailor in his Sunday best

Another commission from some time ago by Moshe, to whom again thanks for permission to upload it here, this is a template of the typical "full dress" Sunday best of a British Napoleonic sailor; there was no prescribed uniform until well into the 19th century but British sailors did tend to wear rather similar clothes, partly because many of them were "slop", acquired from the ship's purser.


I hope to get round to a template for a genuine 18th century sailor before too long but in the meantime someone may find a use for this.

4 comments:

  1. For the mid-18th C., according to several late-19th C. French reconstruction (of the kind that generally turned out to be erroneous, its true...) the main difference would be a 'Britton' round hat -and perhaps a slightly longer jacket?

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  2. Hi Jean-Louis,

    Yes, rather like, I think - although most British sailors would have worn breeches and stockings instead of trousers until later in the century, I believe.

    Thanks for commenting.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  3. I remember some illustrations of British sailors with what looked like a skirt above their breeches (or was it merely an apron?).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Jean-Louis,

    Yes, there seem to be a number of illustrations showing what appears to be a skirt or apron. I think in some cases (e.g. cooks) it is indeed an apron but in others it looks like a nightshirt with its tails over the trousers or breeches.

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete

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