Name/Title
Sussex Constabulary cape c1968Entry/Object ID
603Description
Blue Wool police cape with three plain black plastic buttons to front and a black painted brass clasp and chain in the form of two lion's heads. On the collar are two Sussex Constabulary/Sussex Police chrome plated coat of arms shield badges. Inside is stencilled "1957" and what appears to be "183".Use
For a male police officer to use on night duty or during the winterContext
Capes were standard police uniform issue for winter and night duty from the Victorian period onwards. In some police forces they were issued to officers as late as the 1970s and 1980s. They are nearly always fitted with a distinctive "Lion's Head" clasp, as seen here, and will often have an officer's number attached to the collar, and sometimes additional insignia, as well as buttons marked with the force name. The clasps are usually painted black but chrome plated versions were also used. Lighter weight waterproof capes of oilskin were sometimes used during wet weather and by the 1930s in some police forces, such as the Metropolitan Police, they had replaced wool ones altogether.
It is not known why capes continued to be used for so long but it may be because of the greater freedom of movement that they offered. By the time an officer had a woollen overcoat over a woollen tunic, it is likely that arm movement was severely restricted. With the introduction of lightweight fabrics for outer garments in the 1970s and 1980s, this would no longer have been a problem and the cape would have become obsolete. Capes are known to have been particularly popular when officers used oil lamps. This was because they were continually lit, and being attached to a belt under the cape any heat would be trapped within the cape, thus helping to warm the officer, who presumably had to take care that they did not burn the material.
This particular cape would have been used within Sussex Constabulary as can be seen by the use of the force lapel badges on the collar. Upon the formation of the force in 1968, officers were issued with a cape and three Gannex raincoats (Force Amalgamation Memorandum 1967). Capes continued to be issued within Sussex Police until the late 1970s Many of those used in Sussex Constabulary were re -issued or older capes originally from the other Sussex forces. This one has what appears to be a date stamp for "1957" and the number "183", which may have been an officer's collar number.