Sam Browne belt

John J. Pershing wearing a 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

Sam Browne missing his left arm.

Sam Browne was a British army officer serving in India in the 19th century. In those days officers always carried a sword into battle. It hung from a little strap on the waistbelt, called a 'frog'. However, the scabbard tended to slide around a lot when they charged the enemy, meaning that it had to be steadied with the left hand. During the mutiny of 1857 in India Captain Sam Browne received two sword cuts, one on the left knee and one which severed his left arm at the shoulder. He survived the injuries but without a left hand, he found that he was now unable to control his sword. He came up with the idea of wearing a second belt which went over his right shoulder and held the scabbard in just the spot he wanted. Other officers began wearing the extra belt themselves, and soon it became part of the standard uniform.

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 20th century.

United Kingdom

In the 20th 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

United States

Its use in the United States began before the American Civil War as the M1841 Sword Belt; it is possible other official patterns existed before this. During World War I, 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.

It was a standard part of the interwar uniform in the U.S. Army.

"Sam Browne belt" worn today by American police usually lack the cross-strap and the attachments for them. The belt fastens in the same way with the bar of the buckle engaging a pair of hooks and the end of the belt retained by a post and keeper loop. They are also frequently fully lined, as opposed to the old style half-linings, to support equipment the length of the belt.

Worldwide 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 due to field safety concerns, although it is still worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for ceremonial uniform duties, 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, NYPD Ceremonial and NYPD Auxiliary Ceremonial Units' 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.

Safety

Sam Browne belts have been criticized as unsafe during a close physical altercation. An assailant can easily grab hold of the belt and 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.

The Sam Browne belt has, however, been proposed as a solution to occupational safety and health concerns about injury due to the weight of equipment on police officers' belts.^[1]

See also

• Police duty belt
• Junior safety patrol

References

1. ^ Soldo, Sandra (February 2004). "Overloaded: How the New South Wales police accoutrement belt plagues its wearers". Police Journal Online 85 (1). http://www.policejournalsa.org.au/0401/12a.html. 

External links

• Sam Browne Belt. A full history and a controversy.
• "Sam Browne and beyond: a look"