Dress of the Packet era

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040b9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Falmouth Packet Archives 1688-1850</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Falmouth Packet Archives 16881850"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Health"><U>Health</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id175.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Steam "><U>Steam </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Freemasonry"><U>Freemasonry</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id188.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HRH Prince of Wales Masonic Ceremony at"><U>HRH Prince of Wales & Masonic Ceremony at Truro Cathedral 1880 & 1887</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cartels Prisoners"><U>Cartels & Prisoners</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lighthouses Navigation"><U>Lighthouses & Navigation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Piracy "><U>Piracy </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Smuggling "><U>Smuggling </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Customs Excise"><U>Customs & Excise</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="British Navy"><U>British Navy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Merchant Convoys"><U>Merchant Convoys</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="American Navy"><U>American Navy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="France Navy, Privateers, Convoys"><U>France - Navy, Privateers, Convoys</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="French Pacquets"><U>French Pacquets</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Trinity House"><U>Trinity House</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Philatelic "><U>Philatelic </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id129.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Genealogy"><U>Genealogy</U></A>   |   <B>Dress of the Packet era</B>   |   <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sailing (Racing)"><U>Sailing (Racing)</U></A></div> <div> Dress of the Packet era</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>1799</B>:     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id127_dress__flushing_1799_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="James Silk BUCKINGHAMs capture in 1799"><U>Flushing</U></A>     </FONT>qf. <I>Autobiography of James Silk Buckingham</I></div> <bR> <div> My father wore a <U>cocked hat</U>, then worn by persons in private life, though since confined to naval, military, or official ranks; a long square-tailed coat, with large buttons on the pocket and sleeves; square-toed shoes, with massive silver buckles, and a tall gold-headed cane: In short, such a costume as now  one sees only on the stage, as characterising the reigns of Queen Anne and the first Georges.  My mother, too, wore the large stiff quilted satin petticoat, with the dress open in front, to display, on a lighter ground, the rich pattern of a lace apron, with a shapely stomacher, and high cap, enclosing the oval face in a close frame, and strikingly becoming her fine features.</div> <bR> <div> <B>1799</B>:     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id127_dress__lisbon_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="James Silk BUCKINGHAMs capture in 1799"><U>Lisbon</U></A>          </FONT>qf. <I>Autobiography of James Silk Buckingham</I></div> <bR> <div> The <B>holiday</B><B> dress</B> of the <B>sailors</B> belonging to the<B> ships of war </B>and<B> large-class merchant vessels</B>, when <B>on liberty ashore</B>, was composed of a jacket and trowsers of olive-green velvet, with gay waistcoats embroidered with gold, white stockings, glossy black shoes with massive silver buckles, a long queue or tail of hair bound tight with ribbon, and hanging as low as the bottom of the jacket, like the English sailors of that day, and with immensely <U>large cocked hats</U>.  Even the <B>caulkers</B> employed in repairing the ships along shore wore these huge and inconvenient head-coverings, and presented, on the whole, a most grotesque appearance.</div> <bR> <div> On shore the <B>gentry and professional classes</B> all wore dress swords, tight small clothes and silk stockings, with long, sharp-pointed tailed coats, reaching almost to the ground, and <U>cocked hats </U>of rather smaller dimensions.  The <B>ladies wore hooped petticoats</B>, damask gay-coloured silk gowns, open in front, with embroidered stomachers, long waists, high peaked headdresses with abundance of powder, and enormous fans.  Even the respectable <B>shopkeepers</B> dressed in a similar style; and it was not unusual to meet mere <B>boys of eight or ten years old dressed exactly like the men</B>, and little <B>girls of six or eight years arrayed like matured matrons</B> among the women.  It seemed to me a new world, with an entirely different sort of inhabitants from those in England.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>