Name/Title
Waist part of a Sam Browne belt c1930sEntry/Object ID
13.1Description
Black leather belt approx. 2 inches wide, with large white metal two pronged buckle and white metal "D" shaped loops on the top and bottom.Use
For use on a senior police officer's uniform tunic.Context
This style of belt is called a "Sam Browne" after its inventor, a 19th Century British army officer, and it was subsequently adopted as part of the standard uniform for British army officers. These belts normally have a smaller cross belt that runs diagonally over the right shoulder of the wearer and is attached front and rear on the white metal D shaped rings. The lower rings are for attaching a sword. At various times such belts were worn by some senior police officers as a symbol of rank.
In Sussex the use of such belts seems to have been restricted to only some police forces. They were worn by very senior officers in West Sussex Constabulary from c1912 until 1936, after which time they were worn by inspectors and above. They are also known to have been worn by senior officers in Hove Borough Police in the 1930s. There is little evidence of them being worn elsewhere, although the chief constable of Hastings between 1942 and 1954, Angus Cargill, is pictured wearing one in at least one photograph. This may indicate that they were also worn in Hastings.
The fact that this belt is black and came from Sussex Police suggests that it was used in one of the Sussex police forces. Though it is currently displayed on an Eastbourne Borough Police superintendent's dress tunic from the 1930s, it would not have been worn with it. Instead such tunics were worn with a round buckled leather belt, which probably displayed the force name and possibly coat of arms.