Lord Clive's suit?

Abstract

In the late 1980's the University of Manitoba received a donation of two pieces of a suit that is purported to have belonged to Lord Clive. The provenance accompanying the donation suggested that Clive was married in the suit in 1753. This study aimed to learn the provenance and verify the age of the suit. Reilly (1979) suggests that material evidence is one of the most useful and least used sources of information for social historians. From clothing, as material history, we can learn about individuals and about cultures. A revised model for the study of clothing as material culture was devised based on the seminal work of Jules Prown (1982) and E. McLung Flemming (1974). The new model s clothing specific, allowing for more detailed comparative analysis with other clothing artifacts, to help in establishing a correct date for the Clothing and Textiles Museum suit. The new model allowed for the suit to be studied within the context of eighteenth century men's fashion, eighteenth century social history of the British aristocracy, the East India Company and the life of Lord Clive. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)