George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, 1840 lithograph by Richard James Lane after Alfred d'Orsay (National Portrait Gallery)
A great coat must be a “Chesterfield,” a “Taglioni,” or a “Codrington;” a little rag of coloured silk for the neck is called a “Byron Tie;” and so on. If the things are not dignified by these terms, the Gent does not think much of them.
— Albert Smith, The Natural History of the Gent (1847)
Happy Eighteen-Forties Friday my friends, today we look at some of the trendsetters whose names were attached to the fashionable man's wardrobe. The Dictionary of Fashion History by Valerie Cumming (building on the work of C.W. Cunnington and Phillis Cunnington) describes the Chesterfield coat:
An overcoat, named after the 6th Earl of Chesterfield (1805–1866), a leader of fashion in the 1830s and 1840s. A slightly waisted overcoat, single- or double-breasted, having a short back vent and centre back seam but no seam at the waist, or side vents. A velvet collar was usual, as were side-flapped pockets and an outside left-breast pocket.
A period guide for tailors, Joseph Couts' A Practical Guide for the Tailor's Cutting-room (1848 edition on Google Books), mentions that "greatcoats are so differently cut by different tailors," and includes an illustration of loose and tight Chesterfield coats titled "An Unexpected Meeting."
The Taglioni is credited to ballet master Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871), and distinguished by a large collar and wide lapels, in the form of a double-breasted greatcoat or single-breasted Taglioni frock coat. The Dictionary of Fashion History includes an 1843 fashion plate with Prince Albert wearing a version of the Taglioni frock coat:
"The Taglioni Coat" was also a broadside ballad, in which the poor but fashionable singer wins the hand of a wealthy woman: "We are married now, a happy pair/ I keeps a shay and pony/ A flunkie too, to curl my hair/ And brush my Taglioni."
The Codrington coat, similar in design to the Chesterfield, is named after Royal Navy admiral Sir Edward Codrington, who fought at Trafalgar and in the Battle of Navarino.
Sir Edward Codrington in 1845 (National Portrait Gallery, London)
Finally, the namesake of the Byron tie is the famous Lord Byron.
The Dictionary of Fashion History calls it "a small, narrow necktie"—not exactly what Byron is wearing in his portraits. Perhaps the Byron tie shrank over time, because initially it seems to resemble a loose neckerchief.
Illustrations from The Art of Tying the Cravat by H. Le Blanc (1828) (Archive full text). This book is an invaluable guide to men's neckwear of the early 19th century, and the author offers an explanation of the first "Byron tie":
As Lord Byron differed so widely from the world in general, we can hardly expect to find in the Cravat worn by this prince of poets, any of that élégance recherchée which generally characterize an Englishman of rank. It is universally allowed that the least constraint of the body has a corresponding effect on the mind, and it must, therefore, be admitted, that to a certain extent, a tight Cravat will cramp the imagination, and, as it were, suffocate the thoughts. [...] in every portrait where he is painted in the ardour of composition, his neck is always free from the trammels of the neckcloth.
By 1843, Punch magazine could snark, "An elegant substitute for the cravat is a bit of mousselaine de laine a few inches long or a bit of broad shoe-string to which the recherché name of 'Byron tie' has been given." (quoted in Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century, C. Willett Cunnington and Phillis Cunnington)
The Battle of Navarino, 20 October 1827, by Thomas Luny (1759–1837)
Following the Treaty of London in 1827 the signatories – Britain, France and Russia – were committed to enforcing peace in the Greek archipelago, where Greek patriots were attempting to throw off Ottoman rule. Greece agreed to an armistice but Turkey did not. Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, the British naval Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, prevented the Turks supplying their troops in Greece and closely watched the Turco-Egyptian fleet in the Bay of Navarino (Pylos) on the west coast of the Peloponnese.
On 21 September, Codrington was joined by the French squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Henri de Rigny and on 13 October by the Russian squadron under Rear-Admiral Count Heiden. Early in October the Turks made two attempts to ship troops to Patras, where Lord Cochrane was fighting on the side of the Greeks. Codrington decided to move into the bay but was prevented by the direction of the wind from doing so until 20 October. As the fleet entered the bay a Turkish boat pulled alongside Codrington's flagship 'Asia' with a message from Ibrahim Pasha to say that he had not given permission for the Allies to enter and instructed them to leave. Codrington refused and the ensuing battle continued for four hours, resulting in the virtual destruction of the Turkish fleet, although the Allies did not lose any ships. It was the last fleet action fought under sail and made Codrington a popular hero, though not with the British Government which considered he had exceeded his instructions and recalled him.
Great to visit Guyanese ordinand Raymon Cummings Jr at #Codrington College, #Barbados as well as Principal Fr Michael Clarke, staff and ordinands. Good feel!
Great to visit Guyanese ordinand Raymon Cummings Jr at #Codrington College, #Barbados as well as Principal Fr Michael Clarke, staff and ordinands. Good feel!
