Sam Browne belt

The Sam Browne belt is a wide belt, usually leather, which is supported by a strap going diagonally over the right shoulder. It is most often seen as part of a military or police uniform.

Origins

Its origins are uncertain. The earliest known specimen is one from the United States Army which dates to the period of the War of 1812 (it is on display at the National Historical Park Museum in Morristown, New Jersey). Given the design's straightforward simplicity and utility, however, it is probably impossible to determine where or when it was first invented.

The accoutrement takes its name from Sam Browne, an officer with the British Army in India, who by most accounts invented it independently sometime during the 1850s. Browne had lost his left arm in 1858 fighting during the Indian Mutiny, and found the contrivance useful in helping him wear his sword thereafter.

Usage

Due to its former use as equipment for carrying a sword, it is traditionally only worn by those to whom a sword would historically have been issued, i.e., officers. Throughout most of its modern history, however, its main function has been to carry a pistol, and it was found to be particularly useful with the heavy pistols typically used during the first part of the twentieth century.

Ireland

The Sam Browne Belt was worn extensively by the original IRA and immortalised in the Wolfetones song Broad Black Brimmer.

United Kingdom

In the twentieth century it was a mainstay in the British Army officers' corps, being adopted service-wide in 1900 during the Second Boer War after limited use in India, and later becoming popular with military forces throughout the Commonwealth. A sort of gear similar to the traditional Sam Browne belt was also popular with British and Commonwealth armed services; this consists of a similar wide belt with two vertical supporting straps, one over each shoulder, and its invention is also sometimes attributed to Browne, although other sources say he got the idea from a saddlemaker. After World War II the Sam Browne belt saw a decline in use in the Commonwealth; for example it was phased out by the Canadian military with the unification of the armed services in 1968. However, officers, and Warrant Officers (WO1 & WO2) such as Regimental Sergeants Major and other Warrant Officers Class 1 & 2 of the British Army and Royal Marines still wear it in formal (No.2) dress and in some versions of full (No.1) dress.

King Alfonso XIII of Spain wore his Sam Browne the wrong way round on his first inspection of the 16th The Queen's Lancers as Colonel-in-Chief in 1906. In advance to his arrival, someone noticed this error and informed the commanding officer, he then ordered all those wearing Sam Browne belts to reverse those as well. This tradition has gone on through until today, with The Queen's Royal Lancers wearing their stable belt and Sam Browne belt in reverse.

United States

Its modern use in the United States began during World War I, when Army officers arriving in the European theater purchased them, probably in imitation of European officers' uniforms. The style was approved by General Pershing, commander of the AEF; however, the Army as a whole never approved its use, and even went so far as to station MPs at stateside docks to confiscate them from returning officers. Conversely, the style was adopted by the Marine Corps, and is worn by sword-bearing commissioned officers in the Corps today.

World Wide Policing

The Sam Browne belt also enjoyed some popularity with civilian police agencies worldwide. It was probably most widely worn in this context during the 1940s and 1950s. This use has gradually faded out however due to field safety concerns*, although it is still worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the New Jersey State Police duty uniform, and some American state police forces in their full-dress formal uniforms, including the NYPD Highway Patrol's dress uniform.

In Australia, a white Sam Browne belt is worn by the Victoria Police Mounted Unit, the New South Wales Police Force VIP Cyclists, Protocol Inspector and Protocol Sergeant, NSW Police College Protocol Senior Sergeant and Protocol Sergeant wear a black coloured leather basketweave Sam Browne belt and strap with silver coloured fittings. The same Sam Browne belt is also worn by the Australian Federal Police Ceremonial Mounted Cadre.

In Italy a black Sam Browne belt with red trims is still worn by Carabinieri Warrant Officers (always when in service) and Officers (only at time); a white Sam Browne belt is also worn by Italian Police enlisted personnel. Reflective Sam Browne belts are a popular safety device among cyclists for increasing their visibility at night, and a bright orange version is often worn by school crossing guards in junior safety patrols.

Germany

The Sam Browne belt featured prominently in many uniforms used by the Nazi Party in Germany, again in imitation of earlier European uniforms. Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis, as well as members of the Sturmabteilung, are frequently seen in photographs wearing one.

Criticism

The safety concerns stem from a nickname attributed to the danger in wearing this gear during a close physical altercation: the suicide belt. An assailant could easily grab hold of the belt and either throw the wearer off balance; throw the wearer to the ground, or even choke the wearer by ripping one end of the belt from its mooring and quickly wrapping it around the neck. Some criminals became so adept at using a police officer's Sam Browne belt against him, that police departments began ordering it discontinued as part of patrol gear. It remained, however, as a ceremonial/decorative piece of gear.

However with occupational safety and health concerns about the multitude of various equipments on a belt causing muscular strain, the Sam Browne has been proposed as support for the wearer of the belt. [ [http://www.policejournalsa.org.au/0401/12a.html Feature - February 2004 ] ]

ee also

* Police duty belt
* Junior safety patrol

References

External links

* [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/sam_browne.htm Sam Browne Belt. A full history and a controversy.]
* [http://www.iwitts.com/html/sam_browne_and_beyond__a_look_.html "Sam Browne and beyond: a look"]