Name/Title
Eastbourne Borough Police chief constable's dress tunic 1937Entry/Object ID
249Description
Dark blue wool three quarter length single breasted high closed collar dress tunic, with eight large buttons to the front and six to the rear, three each side of vent. All buttons are silver plated and marked with a King's crown inside a laurel wreath and marked to the rear "Pitt & Co 31 Maddox Street London W". There is silver coloured braiding around the collar, on the cuffs, and around the rear vent. Each cuff is also finished in velvet. On each shoulder is an ornate epaulette made of silver cord. Inside an internal pocket is an embroidered label marked "George Brown and Co. Ltd Eastbourne" and typed on that is "W.H. Smith Esq. 1813 14-5-37".Also written on the lining is "5-10 40 38" Smith is pictured wearing this tunic in exhibit X434. (see also exhibit X1098, the uniform hat that was probably worn with this tunic).Use
For the chief constable of Eastbourne to wear on ceremonial occasionsContext
Before the Second World War it was common for chief constables to have elaborate uniforms to wear on ceremonial occasions. From examples in the museum, these appear to have followed a basic style, being pocketless rather long tunics, embellished with silver braiding and corded epaulettes. They did not have force specific buttons but generic chief officer silver plated ones decorated with a crown inside a laurel wreath. Photographs show that these were usually worn in conjunction with bi-corn hats, which also followed a generic style.
This particular example was made in 1937 for W.H. Smith, who was the chief constable of Eastbourne Borough Police from 1918 until 1943. He is wearing this particular tunic in a portrait photograph dated 1938, which is also in the museum collection (item 434) and probably in a group photograph from the same year (item 551). In at least two group photographs Mr Smith can be seen wearing this style of tunic along with a bi-corn hat and a sword on a belt. The museum also has one of his bi-corn hats (item 1098).