Coats Of Many Colours

Why are some hunting coats red, some yellow, some blue? Andrew Sallis MFH explains the history of hunt liveries

- Andrew Sallis

When at a masters’ meeting some years ago, the topic of the kennel-huntsman’s frequent “visits” to see a married lady subscriber was misguidedly attributed to “scarlet fever”. My joint-master, deep into his seventies and south of a barrel of liqueur, retorted forlornly that despite trying, he had failed to have that “feverish” effect, but hadn’t given up hope.

Whether it is at school, on the parade ground, football pitch or hunting field, uniforms are worn with pride. School uniforms are considered a great leveller among peers. Hunt liveries try to raise the bar universally out of respect for the office or privilege held, the farmers and the landowners.

The histories behind individual hunt liveries tell an important narrative of British country life stretching back centuries, taking in some of the great families and events en route.

The red coat synonymous with foxhunting has its roots in the military, although its exact provenance has been lost. However, correct terminology has always been important. As a student master of beagles, I was firmly reminded by an elder that, “Hounds divide and bananas split, huntsmen wear coats and potatoes have jackets.”

Huntsmen in pink jackets are the stuff of Disney. A coat is red, occasionally scarlet but never pink, an erroneous reference to a London tailor.

SEEING RED

IT is easy to think of hunting attire as stuck in time, but the reality is quite different. Strange as it may seem to some outsiders, pomposity and pretension are rarely factors, but few topics are less globally important and yet capable of raising both blood pressure and eyebrows than hunting attire, particularly if it is deemed incorrect.