- Museum number
- 1893,0205.58
- Description
-
Jacobite garter, in the form of a long thin woven silk strip, with pattern in red, blue, yellow, green and white interspersed with the words: GOD BLESS PC AND DOWN WITH RUMP. The main body of the strip has a striped pattern, with at each end a band of tartan pattern; the ends are fringed.
- Production date
- 1745 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 120 centimetres (approx)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The register entry refers to 'Notes & Queries', 8th Series, XI, 378. See also Seligman's Domestic Needlework (1926) plate XVI.
For two contemporary quotations, see 'The Manchester Magazine', 30 December 1746 : "Several looms have lately been employed to furnish watch strings and garters with this elegant motto God preserve PC and down with the Rump"; and 'Gentleman's Magazine' 1748 p.461 (essay on garters) : " ...not to be daubed with plaid and crammed with treason. I was creditably informed that garters of this sort were first introduced in the late rebellion by some female aid de camps [sic]". (the above references quoted in M. Darby, 'Jacobite Garters', Victoria & Albert Museum Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 4, October 1966, pp. 157-163).
The V&A holds a closely similar woven silk garter, with the inscription: 'Our Prince is Brave Our Cause is Just' (T.121-1931)., together with a pair of similar garters inscribed:' God bless the Prince and save the King, while Whiggs and Rumps in halters swing' (T. 107 and a-1938).
'Rumps' refers to the 'Rump Parliament', the name given to the Long Parliament after the King's supporters were expelled by the army in 1648. The Rump regarded itself as the lawful Parliament of the Commonwealth of England but the derisive name did not become its enduring nickname until after the Restoration of 1660. For another insciption refering to the Rump, see 2004,1222.1.
For further examples, see the pair sold at Bonham's, Edinburgh, 25 August 2005, lot 800:
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/11788/lot/800/
Another pair was sold at Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 13 May 2015, lot 112:
https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/auction/lot/112-A-pair-of-Jacobite-silk-garters/?lot=159868&sd=1
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2023 10 Mar - 4 Jun. Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Hogarth and the Jacobites
2018 -2019, 6 Sep - 20 Jan, London, BM, G35, I Object
2013 9 Aug-31 Dec, York, Fairfax House, In the Name of the Rose
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Jacobite Rebellion
- Acquisition date
- 1893
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1893,0205.58
