Genuine Army Officers Leather Sam Browne
Description 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.
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ORIGINS Of The Sam Browne
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 Sam Browne 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, 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, the Sam Browne 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.
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 Sergeant Majors 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 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 WW1, when Army officers arriving in the European theater purchased them, probably in imitation of European officers' uniforms. 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 United States Marine Corps, and the Sam Browne is worn by sword-bearing commissioned officers in the Corps today.