Sussex Police male constable or sergeant's light blue long sleeved uniform shirt c1985 - 1994

Clothing/Dress/Costume

Old Police Cells Museum Brighton

Sussex Police male constable or sergeant's light blue long sleeved uniform shirt c1885 - 1994

Name/Title

Sussex Police male constable or sergeant's light blue long sleeved uniform shirt c1985 - 1994

Entry/Object ID

2243

Description

Light blue coloured cotton/polyester men's long sleeved shirt with two breast pockets, each with button down flaps, and two tabs on each shoulder for attaching epaulettes. Has a label inside the neck marked "Van Heusen Made in England By Appointment to her Majesty the Queen The British Van Heusen Company Ltd Taunton Shirt Manufacturers".

Use

For use by a male constable or sergeant in Sussex Police

Context

In the late 1940s and early 1950s police forces in the UK began to adopt open necked tunics for male constables and sergeants, replacing closed collar examples. This change necessitated officers having to wear shirts with collars, which were worn in conjunction with black ties. To begin with these shirts had separate stiff collars that were detachable. By the 1960s as fashions changed shirts with fixed collars began to be used. These light blue shirts were only worn by male constables and sergeants. Officers of the rank of inspector and above wore white shirts as they always had. In Sussex Constabulary by the 1970s all in one shirts were issued to regular officers but the old fashioned two piece varieties continued to be given to special constables and police cadets. This was because the force had a large stock of old shirts that it needed to use. To begin with all shirts would have had long sleeves but over time short sleeved versions were also adopted. These prevented officers from having to roll up their sleeves, as was required when not wearing an overgarment in the summer. Blue shirts such as this continued to be issued across the UK until the 1980s when some police forces began to issue white ones to male sergeants and constables, most notably the Metropolitan Police. Sussex Police abandoned the use of blue shirts in 1994 after a poll of officers voted for the introduction of white ones. These white shirts continued to be worn until 2010, when they were replaced with black polo style shirts. This particular shirt probably dates to the 1980s.