RIDING BREECHES, White

The breeches are relatively wide from the waist down to the knee, then tight to the ankle. There are nine buttons down the calf to hold it in tight (some are missing). They have a front button fly with four buttons and a metal hook at the top. There is one pocket on each side at the top cut slightly off the horizontal. There are six bone? buttons around the waistband, one on each side of the centre at the front and back, and one at each side. There are two straps at the back below the waistband, one with a buttonhole and the other has had a button sewn to the end (now missing). This appears to be a vestige from when trousers were held in place with the assistance of a strap which could be tightened at the back. (This strap was just for show.) There is a dart at the back of the waist on each side, and one at the back of each leg from the ankle to mid calf. The breeches are made of a fleecy cotton fabric, once white but now only so inside the pockets. They are lined with white cotton at the fly, waistband, crutch and inside the flaps which button at the calf. The pockets are also made of this material, apart from the top which is the same material as the outside of the breeches. The breeches have a large piece of the same fabric sewn inside each thigh as padding. They are machine sewn except for the padding inside the thigh. They are part of a set of hunting pinks passed from the National Trust without any information. The remainder of the set comprises one red jacket (H90/0006), one red waistcoat (H90/0007), and another pair of riding breeches (H90/0005). A label on the waistcoat indicated that the set belonged to Theodore Fawcett, ex 6th Dragoon Guards, later Captain of the Pinjarra Mounted Volunteers. However, Capt Fawcett died in 1898, so either these have an earlier date, or else they may have belonged to a descendant.

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History Collection

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