18th Century Men’s Jackets

This collection of images includes a variety of styles of men’s jackets, worn by laborers and other working men throughout the second half of the 18th century. These are not all the same, exact style of jacket, and there are probably several ways that they were made; shortening the tails of a coat, adding sleeves to a waistcoat, etc.

The most common colors for these sorts of jackets are brown (including buff, tan, or natural), indigo blue, and madder red. They don’t always have pockets, and they don’t always have linings. They are often worn open, over a shirt and a colorful neckcloth, but generally without a waistcoat.

There are some occupations that seem to be associated with specific styles of jackets.

Butchers are often depicted in a sleeved waistcoat, sometimes striped, generally buttoned up, as in Saint Monday in the Afternoon, English Funn or Docking the Macaroni, and The Female Bruisers.
Sailors’s jackets are more likely to be blue, are often double-breasted, generally worn open over a waistcoat, and have metal buttons, like The Sailor’s Return, The Sailor’s Present, The Sailor Riding to Portsmouth, and Poor Tom Bowling; an extant example was found on the General Carleton of Whitby (see also Blue Jackets and White Trousers, Clothing the Royal Navy Sailor, or the Kannik’s Korner pattern).

Additional Resources

Neal Hurst and Tyler Putman: 18th Century Men’s Jackets

Kannik’s Korner Man's Double-breasted Short Jacket Pattern

Period Impressions 1770s Civilian Coat Pattern

JP Ryan Sleeved Waistcoat Pattern

La Fleur De Lyse Nouville France Boy’s Patterns

Extant jackets

The Arnish Moor jacket (National Museums Scotland K.1997.1115 A), early 18th century; see Gentlemen of Fortune for diagrams/patterns

National Trust 1402355, c. 1730-1740; “A gentleman's sleeved waistcoat or jacket. Dark grey napped twill wool jacket, unlined but faced with black glazed wool. Cuffs faced with linen canvas. Small stand collar. Centre front fastening with 14 long buttonholes from collar to within 8 inches of hem. Black deaths-head silk-covered buttons. Single button and hole on cuff. Very short skirts. 2 welt pockets.”

A fustian jacket in the collection of the Chester County Historical Society; see Rural Pennsylvania Clothing or the Period Impressions 1770s Civilian Coat pattern

A boy's brown linen jacket (Connecticut Historical Society 1981.110.0), c. 1775-1785

Jonathan Sheldon’s freedom suit (National Museum of American History 2012.0194.001), made of nankeen, Rhode Island, 1775

A striped linen waistcoat worn by Col. Joseph Noyes during the Battle of Rhode Island (Rhode Island Historical Society 2013.42.1)

Obadiah Mead’s jacket, striped linen, 1779

A late 18th century French broadcloth jacket in the collection of Henry Cooke

Depictions of men and boys wearing jackets

Young boys in the foreground of The Kings’ Cake and Reading the Bible by Jean-Baptiste Greuze

A man, seen from behind, standing by a tree and raising his hat by Paul Sandby, 1745 or later

Carpenter taking his meal by Gerrit van Zegelaar, mid-18th century

Men working on An Arch of Westminster Bridge by Samuel Scott, c. 1750

A coal heaver and a drayman on the trade card for Gerald Wynox, coal merchant and beer-seller, c. 1750-1760

Fishmongers by Jean Baptiste Charpentier

Bob Nunn, one of the Duke’s gardeners at the Great Lodge by Paul Sandby, c. 1752-1765

Boy with a broken egg from Broken Eggs by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1756

Without, 1757

A boy with a street-vendor selling Pretty little toys for Girls and Boys, c. 1759

A man carrying a heavy load (possibly also a boy and a thin man on the steps) in Winchester Tower and the Hundred Steps by Paul Sandby, c. 1760

A boy playing with a kite at the South Terrace of Windsor Castle

The Press Gang by John Collet

Damon & Phillis, c. 1760s-1792

The Humours of the Fleet

A boy playing with a hoop and a dog at Castle Hill with the Henry III Tower and the Mary Tudor Tower seen from the south by Paul Sandby, c. 1765

A boy in Wrucken, gode Wruck in The Cries of Danzig by Matthäus Deisch, c. 1765

The Norman Gate and Deputy Governor’s House by Paul Sandby, c. 1765

Collin and Phillis, c. 1766-1799

The recruit in The Recruiting Sargeant by John Collet, 1767

A grave-digger in The Bold Attempt by John Collet

Figures by a well, circle of Johann Conrad Seekatz

A boy in Windsor Castle from Datchet Lane on a rejoicing night by Paul Sandby, 1768

The Hen Peckt Husband, 1768

The tailor in The Newsmongers, 1769

The Norman Gateway and Moat Garden by Paul Sandby, c. 1770

A young man in Statute Hall for Hiring Servants, 1770

A link-boy in An Evenings Invitation; with a Wink from the Bagnio, 1773

The Good-Humored Gardener by Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié, 1777

A sailor in Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley, 1778

A boy in the background of Roslin Castle, Midlothian by Paul Sandby, c. 1780

Part of Windsor from Datchet Lane by Paul Sandby, c. 1780

Civilian men wearing brown jackets with their backs to the viewer (one of whom carries a pair of buckets) in the foreground of View near the Serpentine River in Hyde Park during the Encampment by Paul Sandby, 1780; man at left seems to be the same as one of these three male figures drawn by Paul Sandby c. 1750-1770

Boys in An Engagement in Billingsgate Channel, between the Terrible and the Tiger, two First Rates, 1781

A young yokel in Lady Gorget raising Recruits for Cox-Heath, 1781

A boy in the background of Widow Costard’s cow and goods by Edward Penny, 1782

A country yokel in the background of The Taylor turn’d Sportsman, 1782

A boy prodding a horse with a stick in The Sailor riding to Portsmouth, 1782

The son of a poor lacemaker in The Lace Wearer, rewarding the Lace Maker, 1783

A Student of the Stable, 1783

A youth in a farmyard with pigs and poultry by Michael “Angelo” Rooker

A young man asleep under a tree in The Spell. Hobnelia, 1783-1784

The Country Tooth-Drawer, 1784

The Scythe Man’s Refreshment, c. 1780-1795

Rustic Courtship, 1785