Victorian Prison horse brass

[Jamesb853]

Attached is a scan of an interesting horse brass that was found by a prison officer in the grounds of a prison many years ago. It would have been worn by a horse pulling a prison van on escort duty to the courts. It is quite difficult to date but from the general style I would guess it is from the period 1840-1870. Has anyone seen a similar item, or a photograph showing one in use?

Jamesb853

[Bantam]

Hello James,
These martingales were covered in a previous post I've tried to post link I hope it works.http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ht=martingales
Hwyl
Bantam

[Jamesb853]

Hi Hwyl,

Thanks for the link and I have looked at the thread. It looks like the martingale could well be military then. As to how it came to be in a prison, I can only surmise that they must have purchased second hand harness from the army - not at all inconceivable given the parsimonious attitude of most county aurhorities to prison expenditure in those days.

James

[Bantam]

Hi Jamesb853,
Having looked at the old postings which I give a link to none of the shown examples have the same Queen Victoria Crown as yours.The majority of martingales pictured are Guelphic Crowns or later Kings Crowns.So your example could have been police or prison .
Regards
Bantam

[Jamesb853]

Thanks Bantum, and my apologies for giving you the wrong name earlier! As you might imagine the Welsh language is not much spoken in the South of England though Polish is almost aa common as English!!

James