{{Short description|Military and police clothing item of British origin}} {{Multiple issues| {{refimprove|date=February 2024}} {{tooshort|date=February 2024}} }} [[Image:Service Dress, Captain Noel Farrow, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1917 - Glenbow Museum - DSC00669.JPG|thumb|right|A Sam Browne belt as worn by Canadian Expeditionary Force officers in World War I]]
The '''Sam Browne belt''' is a leather belt with a supporting strap that passes over the right shoulder, worn by military and police officers. It is named after Samuel J. Browne (1824–1901), the British Indian Army general who invented it.
==Origins==<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add images to this section. It would quickly become too unwieldy. Thank you. --> [[Image:SamBrowneLarge.jpeg|thumb|right|General Sir Sam Browne, missing his left arm and beltless, in uniform]]
General Sir Samuel James Browne was a 19th-century British Indian Army officer who lost his left arm to a sword cut during the Sepoy Rebellion.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sam browne belts originally devised for one-armed men|newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution|date=23 July 1921}}</ref> He wore his sword in a scabbard on his left side, but the lack of a left hand to steady it made drawing the weapon difficult.<ref name=OP>{{cite journal|last=Craig|first=Berry|title=A Famous Military Fashion and the Man Behind It|journal=O&P Business News|volume=20|issue=8|pages=62–63}}</ref>
Browne devised a supplementary belt that hooked into a waist belt with D-rings and ran diagonally over his right shoulder to steady the scabbard. The waist belt also securely carried a pistol in a flap-holster on his right hip and included a binocular case with a neck-strap. Other officers began wearing a similar rig and eventually it became part of the standard uniform. During the Boer War, it was copied by other troops and eventually became standard issue.<ref name="Lofland2007">{{cite book|author=Lee Lofland|title=Howdunit Book of Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPUY0eL0CsYC&pg=PT62|access-date=28 January 2013|date=8 August 2007|publisher=Writer's Digest Books|isbn=978-1-58297-455-2|page=62}}</ref>
Infantry officers wore a variant that used two suspender-like straps instead of the cross-belt. It was supposedly invented in 1878 by Lieutenant Basil Templer Graham-Montgomery, of the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, while serving in India.{{cn|date=December 2023}}
==Use== ===Military=== Due to its former use as equipment for carrying a sword, it was traditionally only worn by those to whom a sword would historically have been issued, namely commissioned officers and warrant officers.
====Finland==== {{unreferenced section|date=June 2016}} [[File:Osterman hugo.jpg|thumb|upright|Finnish Lieutenant-General Hugo Österman during the Second World War]] In the Finnish Army (as well as in Finnish Air Force) the Sam Browne belt, officially known as a "command belt" or "officer belt" and commonly nicknamed "''rähinäremmi''", literally "brawling belt", has been used by officers and senior NCOs as well as officer cadets when wearing service, dress or parade uniforms. Currently it is mainly used by high-ranking officers during parades and other ceremonies, as it is only worn with dress uniform M58 and service uniform M83; while most Army and Air Force personnel, excluding cadets studying in the National Defence College as well as soldiers on ceremonial duties, use the camouflage uniform M05 as their service uniform, and the use of the "command belt" with any camouflage uniform except M62 (already phased out of service) is strictly forbidden.
====Germany==== The Sam Browne belt featured prominently in many uniforms used by the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, again in imitation of earlier European uniforms. It was popular with Adolf Hitler<ref name=Williamson>{{cite journal|quote=General Sam Browne must look down in wonder at the host of uniform-wearers who sport his belt today. ... |author=Samuel Thurston Williamson |title=Sam Browne. His Belt: There Was A British Officer Named Sam Browne And He Invented The Belt Which Today Even Adolf Hitler Wears|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/11/09/archives/sam-browne-his-belt-there-was-a-british-officer-named-sam-browne.html |journal=New York Times|date=9 November 1941|pages=SM8|access-date=28 January 2013|author-link=Samuel Thurston Williamson }}</ref> and other leading Nazi officials.<ref name="Beaumont2000">{{cite book|author=Roger A. Beaumont|title=The Nazis' March to Chaos: The Hitler Era Through the Lenses of Chaos-Complexity Theory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI8K_AQkimoC&pg=PA133|access-date=28 January 2013|year=2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96708-6|page=133}}</ref><ref name="Newton1992">{{cite book|author=Ronald C. Newton|title=The "Nazi Menace" in Argentina, 1931-1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzOsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA186|access-date=28 January 2013|year=1992|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-1929-2|page=186}}</ref><ref name="Miller2007">{{cite book|author=David Miller|title=Fighting Men of World War II: Uniforms, Equipment and Weapons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kqm5J6W1VuQC&pg=PA46|access-date=28 January 2013|date=30 December 2007|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-0277-5|page=46}}</ref>
==== Greece ==== {{unreferenced-section|date=February 2024}} The Sam Browne belt was used concurrently with British-style uniforms from 1937 till 1970 by the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Gendarmerie.
====Ireland==== The Irish Citizen Army, Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican Army (IRA) made extensive use of Sam Browne belts during the Irish revolutionary period (1916–23).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oR8_DwAAQBAJ&q=%22Sam+Browne+belt%22+IRA&pg=PT59|title=IRA, The Bombs and the Bullets: A History of Deadly Ingenuity|first=A. R.|last=Oppenheimer|date=16 October 2008|publisher=Irish Academic Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9781788550185}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whytes.ie/art/1922-bandolier-and-sam-browne-belt/134774/?SearchString=&LotNumSearch=&GuidePrice=&OrderBy=LN&ArtistID=&ArrangeBy=list&NumPerPage=30&offset=289|title=1922: Bandolier and Sam Browne belt at Whyte's Auctions – Whyte's – Irish Art & Collectibles|website=Whyte's}}</ref> This included women serving with the Irish Citizen Army, among them Constance Markievicz.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theirishwar.com/irish-citizen-army-uniforms-and-equipment-1916/|title=Irish Citizen Army Uniforms and Equipment 1916|date=18 February 2011|website=The Irish War}}</ref> The folk song "The Broad Black Brimmer" also mentions the Sam Browne belt.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://genius.com/The-wolfe-tones-the-broad-black-brimmer-lyrics|title=The Wolfe Tones – The Broad Black Brimmer|via=genius.com}}</ref> They were later used by the Garda Síochána and the National Army.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2017/04/garda-too-strong-yet-too-weak/|title=Garda too strong, yet too weak|date=4 April 2017|website=Village Magazine}}</ref>
====Sweden==== The Swedish Armed Forces used Sam Browne belts as part of their uniform for officers and NCOs from 1923 until 1958.<ref name="NE">{{cite web|title=ententekoppel|url=http://www.ne.se/ententekoppel|website=Nationalencyklopedin|date=4 May 2014}}</ref>
====Commonwealth of Nations==== [[File:Lieutenant H Naish (6282834456).jpg|thumb|upright| Second Lieutenant H Naish of the King's Royal Rifle Corps during the First World War]] In the 20th century it was a mainstay in the British Army officer 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.<ref name="Hopkinson">{{cite book|author1=Charles John Ffoulkes|author2=Edward Campbell Hopkinson|title=Sword, Lance & Bayonet: A Record of the Arms of the British Army & Navy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zcw7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA94|access-date=28 January 2013|year=1967|publisher=CUP Archive|page=94|id=GGKEY:AQU0Q8J935F}}</ref>
After World War II the Sam Browne belt saw a decline in use in the Commonwealth. It was dropped from the standard officer's field kit in 1943<ref>{{cite news |title=Sam Browne' Is Casualty. British Drop Belt Equipment From Officers' Uniform |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/09/03/archives/sam-browne-is-casualty-british-drop-belt-equipment-from-officers.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=September 3, 1943 |access-date=2014-01-03 }}</ref> and replaced by the cloth 1937 pattern and 1944 pattern webbing gear. However officers and warrant officers class I of the British Army and Royal Marines still wear it in service (No. 2) dress and in non-ceremonial versions of No. 1 dress.<ref>Paragraph 20, Dress Regulations for the Mercian Regiment, January 2009</ref>
It was phased out by the Canadian military beginning with the unification of the armed services in 1968.<ref>Lieutenant C.M. Stevens, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada</ref>
In Australia all officers and warrant officers class I are entitled to wear the belt in ceremonial dress.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.army.gov.au/Our-history/Traditions/The-Sam-Browne-belt|publisher=Australian Army|access-date=2012-05-25|title=The Same Browne belt-Australian Army}}</ref> Within the corps of the Australian Army there is some variation, with members of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps and Australian Army Aviation Corps wearing black Sam Browne belts.<ref>{{cite book| last=Jobson |first=Chris |title=Looking Forward, Looking Back: Customs and Traditions of the Australian Army |year=2009 |publisher=Big Sky Publishing |location=Wavell Heights, Queensland |page=28|isbn= 978-0-9803251-6-4 }}</ref>
In the Indian Army the Sam Browne belt was worn by officers and Junior Commissioned Officers until the early 1980s, after which its use was phased out. However it is still part of the uniform of officers in the Indian police forces.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
==== United States ==== [[File:Peter Pace in dress uniform 2005.jpg|thumb|upright|U.S. Marine Corps General Peter Pace in 2005]] During World War I, the Sam Browne Belt was approved by General Pershing, commander of the AEF, for wear by American officers as a rank distinction. However, the Army as a whole did not immediately approve its use.<ref name=bar>{{cite news|title='Sam Browne' Belts Are Barred Here|access-date=28 January 2013|newspaper=New York Times|quote= These belts have been worn by a number of British army officers and consist of a broad waist belt of leather, connected with a narrower leather strap that goes over the shoulder. The 'Sam Browne' belts serve no useful purpose but set off the uniform of an officer. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/10/18/96279692.pdf|date=18 October 1917}}</ref><ref name=quick>{{cite news |title=Officers Quick to Don Sam Browne Belts. Pershing's Order Abrogating Old Regulation Is Welcomed at Camp Edwards |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/07/15/98714076.pdf |newspaper=New York Times |date=July 15, 1921 |access-date=2014-01-03 }}</ref> MPs were positioned at stateside docks and confiscated them from returning officers.<ref name="Brown2001">{{cite book|author=Jerold E. Brown|title=Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Army|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygqNt3ra-vYC&pg=PA410|access-date=28 January 2013|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29322-1|page=410}}</ref> The United States Army mandated the Sam Browne belt for overseas soldiers in 1918 under the name "Liberty belt"<ref name=WaPo1918>{{cite news|title="Sam Browne" Belt Adopted by U.S. Army And Named "Liberty"|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=4 Jan 1918}}</ref> and for all service members in 1921, this time under the internationally accepted name "Sam Browne belt".<ref name=WaPo1921>{{cite news|title=Sam Browne Belt Made Regulation Equipment in Army|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=7 July 1921}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=All U.S. Officers Ordered To Wear Sam Browne Belts|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=7 July 1921}}</ref> It was a standard part of the uniform between World War I and World War II. It was limited in use in 1940 when the Army abandoned sabers<ref>{{cite news |title=Army Abandons Sabers And Limits Sam Brownes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/13/archives/army-abandons-sabers-and-limits-sam-brownes.html |quote=The Sam Browne belt, too, seems to be on the decline. In the last war it was worn by officers of British, French and American armies. The British restricted its use ... |newspaper=New York Times |date=November 13, 1940 |access-date=2014-01-03 }}</ref> and replaced with a cloth waistbelt that was sewn to the officer's jacket.<ref name="Brown2001"/>
During World War I the Marine Corps adopted a brown leather Sam Browne Belt. It was later changed to black, the official color of Navy and Marine Corps leather gear. It is worn as part of the dress Blue A & B, Blue-white dress, and service A uniform by sword-bearing commissioned and warrant officers.
After the First World War, Sam Browne belts "become almost universal among American police".<ref name="Digest">{{cite book|author=Massad Ayoob|title=The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MNGOPcCDoYC&pg=PA117|access-date=28 January 2013|date=28 February 2011|publisher=Gun Digest Books|isbn=978-1-4402-2654-0|page=117}}</ref> The belts led to the slang terms ''Harness Bull'' or ''Harness Cop'' for a uniformed police officer.<ref name="AytoSimpson2010">{{cite book|author1=John Ayto|author2=John Simpson|title=Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KT-cAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA382|date=11 February 2010|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-923205-5|pages=382–}}</ref><ref name="Green2011">{{cite book|author=Jonathon Green|title=Crooked Talk: Five Hundred Years of the Language of Crime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NnroxLGNnEC&pg=PA238|date=2 June 2011|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4464-7290-3|pages=238–}}</ref> The utility belts 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.<ref name="Digest"/>
===Police=== {{refimprove-section|date=February 2024}} thumb|upright|Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable, Vancouver 2009 The Sam Browne belt is largely obsolete (except in dress uniforms) in police and security use due to risk of strangulation by potential opponents. It has sometimes been referred to as a ''Suicide Belt'' by personnel.<ref name="Suicide Belt">{{failed verification|date=February 2024}} {{cite AV media | people=Howser, Huell (Host, Writer) | date=October 2009 | title=Visiting...With Huell Howser |trans-title=LAPD Motors | medium=DVD | location=Los Angeles, CA| publisher=Huell Howser Productions |url=http://www.calgold.com/visiting/Default.asp?Series=1800&Show=1159}}</ref> It had enjoyed some popularity with civilian police agencies worldwide and was probably most widely worn in this context during the 1940s and 1950s. This use has gradually faded out due to field safety concerns.{{fact|date=February 2024}}
Despite these safety concerns New Jersey State Police Troopers always wear their sidearm on a full Sam Browne belt. The full Sam Browne belt was adopted for use by New Jersey State Police Col. Norman Schwarzkopf Sr., as the belt gave the wearer a proper "brace"{{explain|reason=what does brace mean?|date=February 2025}} (known by General of the Armies John Pershing as the "West Point Brace)".<ref>Stone, Rebecca. "Sam Browne and Beyond: A Look at Duty Belts." ''Police Magazine,'' November 2000, https://www.police1.com/police-products/duty-gear/articles/sam-browne-and-beyond-a-look-at-duty-belts-719BDvHDR1WpM1Bp/. Accessed 24 September 2022.</ref><ref>State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. "History: 1920's-The History Begins." ''New Jersey State Police,'' State of New Jersey, 2022, https://nj.gov/njsp/about/history/1920s.shtml. Accessed 24 September 2022.</ref>
It is part of the ceremonial dress uniform of many agencies, most notably the Red Serge worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.<ref name="Ross1988">{{cite book|author=David Ross|title=The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 1873–1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtKNTy2iMDgC&pg=PA36|access-date=28 January 2013|date=24 March 1988|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-0-85045-834-3|page=36}}</ref> RCMP NCOs and other ranks wear a thin cross-belt over the left shoulder to support the pistol worn on the right side. Non-commissioned members who are left-handed wear the same cross strap over the right shoulder to support the pistol worn on the left side. RCMP commissioned officers wear a wider cross strap over the right shoulder due to the need to support a sword when wearing the red serge ceremonial uniform. This difference of wearing different cross straps over different shoulders for commissioned and non-commissioned members is maintained when wearing the stripped Sam Browne belt (no pistol or sword).{{fact|date=February 2024}}
===Civilian=== During the interwar period, the belt became fashionable among some American<ref>{{cite news|title=Women Like Sam Browne Belts|newspaper=New York Times|date=21 October 1917}}</ref> and European<ref>{{cite news|title=Sam Browne Belt Worn in France by Women Hikers|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=4 October 1936}}</ref> women. Eleanor Roosevelt, the first lady of the United States at the time, openly spoke out against the practice.<ref>{{cite news|author=Kathleen McLaughlin |title='No Sam Browne Belts,' Says Mrs. Roosevelt |access-date=28 January 2013|quote=Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt confesses to only one foreboding about American women now mobilizing for defense activities. She is fearful of the spread of a Sam Browne belt complex and the flimflam it symbolizes. ...|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0B1FF63E5F1A7A93C5AB178CD85F458485F9 |newspaper=New York Times|date=27 July 1941}}</ref> In the United States, the belts also became a symbol of civilian authority by "everybody from bus drivers to volunteer schoolboy traffic cops".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Nature Ramblings: Admirals Wearing Spurs|journal=The Science News-Letter|date=30 March 1935|volume=27|issue=729|publisher=Society for Science & the Public}}</ref> The belt's use by American junior safety patrol members is archetypal.<ref>Bill Lohmann Times-Dispatch, Staff Writer. "Aaa Safety Patrols * 1920–1995 75 Years of Safety Now as then, Kids in the Sam Browne Belts Stand between their Schoolmates and Danger." Richmond Times – Dispatch, Sep 20, 1995.</ref><ref>"Helping to Keep Schools Safe." Times – News, Aug 14, 2009.</ref> High visibility, Sam Browne-style belts are a popular safety device among cyclists for increasing their visibility, and a bright orange version is often worn by school crossing guards in junior safety patrols.<ref name="Battistelli2011">{{cite book|author=Pier Battistelli|title=Italian Army Elite Units & Special Forces 1940–43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgxPkzSmO_sC&pg=PT49|access-date=28 January 2013|date=22 November 2011|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-84908-895-4|page=49}}</ref> The Sam Browne belt has been proposed as a solution to occupational safety and health concerns about injury due to the weight of equipment on police officers' belts.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.policejournalsa.org.au/0401/12a.html |title=Overloaded: How the New South Wales police accoutrement belt plagues its wearers |first=Sandra |last=Soldo |journal=Police Journal Online |date=February 2004 |volume=85 |issue=1}}</ref> However, others have expressed concern that the vertical design of the belt could enable others to gain physical control of law enforcement officers in an altercation.<ref>{{ cite patent |country=US |number=2564564 |status=patent}}</ref><ref>{{ cite patent |country=US |number=3352467 |status=patent}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Clothing}} * Baldric * Bandolier * Police duty belt * Shoulder belt
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sam Browne}} Category:Belts (clothing) Category:British inventions Category:History of Western fashion Category:Law enforcement uniforms Category:Military uniforms