The first of our posts on winter clothing and equipment within the British Army in the North, is one of the more obscure items that may not have been widely made use of, but its existence is documented, being the "under sleeved waistcoat".
The under sleeved waistcoat, also known as an “under-jacket”, is not fully documented in terms of every detail used for its creation, though we do have sufficient information to produce a reasonably accurate facsimile. The one noted here has been produced by Mistress da Cunha of Timbrell Cockburn Cunha, using the information that we have on hand, as well as other period methods that are known of.
Following the William L. Stone translation of the von Pausch journal (pg. 94), possibly one of the best resources for winter clothing in the period, we are able to see that this specific translation notes the material of the garment being left out, though interestingly the sleeves are noted as being made out of “strong white corduroy”, also potentially and arguably being “strong wool” (though this translation does note, specifically, corduroy). Following a few extant garments of a similar nature, our reproduction has been produced using flannel for the body and worsted wool tape for the ties (the sleeves are yet to be bound, though we recommend this take place, to protect the edge of the corduroy, which is known to fray).
The extent to which this garment was used is not known, though examples of this do come up for civilians and the military, along with flannel shirts which more commonly come up in records for the British Army in the North. Having experimented with this garment in weather as low as -25C with a strong wind, the garment was incredibly effective in retaining body heat, when used with a blanket coat (more on that in another post).
While we cannot say that we recommend every unit make use of this garment, it is both a period one and a garment known to be employed in this theatre. Using such information to fill the gaps in our knowledge allows us to have a better understanding of how the Army was able to effectively operate in some of the harshest conditions that it would ever face. From our experience, this is most definitely an essential piece of equipment if you are going to be operating in the winter, as part of a recreated unit.
Marcio R. A. da Cunha M.A., L.L.B., B.Ed., OCT.
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