Soldier's uniforms

[chopendoz]

Before the 1840's, and the advent of the sewing machine, army officers would have their uniforms hand tailored. But who made the 100's of 'red coats' required by the 'other ranks'?. They were not tailored to fit I'm sure - simply issued to the nearest size. Some tailor must have had a contract to mass produce such items. Does anyone know something about this?

[Coromandel]

The question of contracts for army clothing was being discussed in Parliament just over 200 years ago:

http://
hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1808/jun/23/army-clothing

A Mr Pierce then had the contract for supplying great coats [perhaps he was one of the partners in J & B Pearse, army clothiers, who pop up on Google]. He was getting them from 'a slop-seller of the name of Dickson' for 13s.6d. or 14s. and then selling them on at 16s.6d. Presumably a great many tailors must have been kept busy making the garments for Mr Dickson.

There's an amusing reference in the debate to the inadequacy of some uniforms. Mr Fuller 'declared that he had seen instances in which the dress of the soldiers of a regiment had been made so tight, that it had been burst by the sudden contraction occasioned by a shower of rain; and the poor fellows were left with nothing but their shirts to cover a part of their bodies which he would not name.'

[Coromandel]

The Old Bailey Proceedings have several references to army clothiers. One, a Mr Maberley (mentioned in an 1813 trial), may well be the same Mr Maberley who I've come across in records of some of the Witney blanket manufacturers.

Some of these clothiers were making uniforms, rather than just being middle men:

1813: Richard Taylor: 'My partner's name is Edward Shaw; we are army clothiers; we receive cloth belonging to his Majesty, we make up clothes, and return it to the Ordnance warehouse.' (A man hired by their foreman as a cutter had been charged with stealing cloth.)

Whether the pieces were sewn together in their workshops or not isn't clear. Some army clothiers found a cheap source of labour for making up their shirts:

1838: William Piggott, an army clothier of 12 Old Jewry, said that 'for a considerable time I have sent out shirts to be made by the paupers at Lambeth workhouse'.