For millennia the sea and fishing have been a way of life for British coastal communities. Jacobean seamen wore leather boots, gloves and tarred aprons; leather, greased canvas and tarred materials being early methods of water protection. Images show Georgian mariners dressed in coarse linen shirts, striped waistcoats, coloured neck-scarfs, short jackets and loose canvas ‘slops’ – wide knee breeches or longer, trouser-style garments. Sometimes a knee-length apron or ‘skirt’ was also worn, with short or long leather boots. Headwear comprised felt hats and striped or red knitted stocking caps, also termed brewers’/fishermen’s caps.

As the 19th-century fishing industry advanced, picturesque garments gave way to more functional seafaring gear. ‘Oilskin’ (linen or cotton material brushed with boiled linseed oil to repel water) was developed in the 1810s. As this replaced tarpaulin (tar-impregnated canvas), oilskin hats, trousers, jackets and coats were worn on deck by deep-sea fishermen, sailors and lifeboat men. By the mid-1800s some were adopting bib-and-brace overalls and protective sou’wester hats, flannel-lined with a slanting brim that deflected water off the neck, and with ear-flaps and chin strap for a secure fit. Also important was the knitted blue or grey fisherman’s jersey, Guernsey or ‘gansey’ (dialect name). Originating in the late 1700s in the Channel Islands and later adopted throughout coastal Britain, this practical, comfortable garment had underarm gussets and side-slits for easy movement and tight openings to deter freezing winds, the wool’s natural oils and close knit proving partly resistant to sea spray.

Stout woollen cloth ‘fearnought’ jackets were also worn by Victorian fishermen, with sturdy canvas trousers, shirt-like canvas ‘slop’, jerkin and/or the familiar knitted ‘gansey’, these garments often layered for warmth. Heavy thigh-high leather sea boots, lined with long knitted stockings or legwarmers, were treated with goose fat or melted cod liver and lard to keep them waterproof. Headwear included flannel-lined sou’westers and similar oilskin hats, conical-crowned felt hats and regular bowlers, as well as the Victorian working man’s ‘kepi’-style peaked cap. Variants of the 19th-century seaman’s outfit continued into the early-1900s, although in time dungarees, thick pilot coats and yellow oilskins became common outerwear. Modern water-resistant rubberised clothing also offered an alternative to oilskin for protective overalls, coats and trousers, with rubber boots largely replacing traditional leather boots between the wars. For headwear fishermen usually wore the sou’wester in foul weather, a nautical peaked cap, the regular working man’s cloth cap or a warm woollen hat.

Fisher women were among the first females to devise practical occupational dress, working in bare feet and sometimes pinning up flannel skirts between their legs, like loose trousers. Genteel society considered this immodest, however, so the women donned stockings and shoes when taking the catch into town. Shawls and aprons were their traditional Victorian clothes, giving way between the wars to rubberised aprons and rubber Wellington boots.

Read Jayne’s latest guides to dating photos in the new print edition, Issue 9, available via discoveryourancestors.co.uk