Victorian Royal Naval officer's sword belt
You also asked when this pattern of belt was introduced. As I said before your example can be clearly dated to between 1891 and 1901 because of the design of the buckle.
However, this design of belt originally goes back to 1832 when a 1 1/2 inch waist belt of this design, incorporating two slings of different lengths was adopted. The Undress belt was of plain black patent leather and the Full Dress belt for Lieutenants had the two lines of gold embroidery.
In 1847 the two slings of different lengths were replaced by two short ones each 7 inches long and the width of the belt was increased to 1 3/4 inches, but in 1856 the old pattern was returned to, except that until 1891 the slings of Undress belts were round instead of flat. The only other change to the design of the belt during the Victorian period was the change in the design of the buckle discussed earlier.
Pete
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