Marking on 18th Century Garments and Bedlinens

Last updated: Aug 16, 2024

Certain garments and linens were marked – often embroidered with cross-stitched initials, numbers, and/or symbols, generally in silk. There were a few different styles of alphabets in use; a charted alphabet appears in The Instructor: or, The Young Man's Beſt Companion.

While this would have simplified large-scale household management and organization considerably, helping ensure that the right linens went to the right person, marking was also useful in a military context. According to Cuthbertson's System for the Complete Interior Management and Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry:

To prevent as much as poſſible, the leaſt embezzlement of the neceſſaries, with which a Soldier is provided, and to give a greater chance for the diſcovery of thefts, all their linen articles should have the name of the owner, with the number of the Regiment and Company he belongs to, marked with a mixture of vermilion and nut-oil, which when perfectly dried can never be waſhed out: under the ſlit of the boſom of the shirt, will be found the moſt convenient place, as at the weekly inſpection of neceſſaries, an Officer can eaſily examine, if the ſhirts at that time worn by the Soldiers are their own: ſome mark ſhould alſo be fixed upon the woolen Stockings and the Shoes, otherwiſe an officer will find himſelf expoſed to numberlſs impoſitions, from the irregularity of particular Soldiers, and their unconquerable deſire for drink, which tempts them frequently to exchange and pledge their neceſſaries, if not prevented, by every precaution in the power of an Officer to invent.

The 1795 Rules and Regulations for the Cavalry, in a section on the Inspection and Care of Necessaries, likewise insists “the ſhirts are marked with the initials of the man’s name. The men muſt ſhew every individual article of their neceſſaries; and if a man has diſpoſed of any thing, the utmoſt pains muſt be taken to diſcover the buyer, as he is liable to a ſevere penalty according to the Articles of War, which muſt always be levied in order to prevent ſuch pernicious practices.”

Men’s Shirts

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked shirts in the trials of John Haselgrove 1764, William Bond & William Ellis 1764, Mary Pittaway 1774, Mary Wellbrand 1774, George Duffey 1780, William Horton 1784, John Edwards & William Edsell 1787, James Wilkinson 1788, Mary Vernon 1789, and Robert Wallis & Thomas Kirk 1792.

• Rhode Island Historical Society 1971.11.3, American. c. 1700-1750
• Colonial Williamsburg 2023-103, England, c. 1750
• Museum Rotterdam 70591, c. 1750-1800
• Museum Rotterdam 70587, 1759
• Met 2006.132, American, 1775-1790
• Met 2006.133, American, 1775-1790
• V&A T.360-1984, British, c. 1775-1800
• Connecticut Historical Society 1844.48.0, c. 1781
• Museum Rotterdam 20955, 1788
• Historic Deerfield 2017.30.3, c. 1790-1815; “Man’s square cut, white linen shirt featuring a standing collar, mother-of-pearl buttons, and the initials 'EP' [Elisha Porter] embroidered in cross stitch in light brown silk floss at proper left side near gusset.”
• Met C.I.46.82.10, American or European, c. 1795-1800
• Winterthur 2013.0031.179, early 19th century

Men’s Stocks

• Colonial Williamsburg 1993-166,A, English, c. 1740-1760
• Mark Wallis collection stock
• DAR 77.19, Thomas Jefferson’s stock
• More of Thomas Jefferson’s stocks: 1927-56-1 has 'Thomas Jefferson / Monticello' written in brown ink in script on the tab and cross-stitched 'TJ / 17' in blue, Monticello 1927-56-2 has 'T Jefferson / Monticello' written in brown ink in script on the tab, 1935-9 has 'T I / … 6' cross-stitched in pink thread, 1983-14-4 has 'T.J / 4' cross-stitched in blue thread, 1983-14-5 has 'T J / 2' cross-stitched in blue thread, 2021-8-9 has 'T.J / 13' cross-stitched in blue thread

Handkerchiefs

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked handkerchiefs in the trials of George Morley & Richard Handby 1774, John Dowdy 1775, William Davis & Richard Oldgate 1777, Michael White 1780, John Knowles & John May 1782, William Jones 1787, Robert Attrill 1788, George Bowyer 1790, Mary Ann Osborne 1794.

• National Museum of Scotland A.1978.422, a printed handkerchief, c. 1730-1770
• ModeMuseum OBJ34912, a white cotton handkerchief, 1770-1800
• ModeMuseum OBJ35137, a white cotton handkerchief, 1770-1800
• Colonial Williamsburg 1988-476, America, c. 1790-1825

Stockings

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked stockings in the trials of Ann Thomas et al. 1758, John Booker 1780, Benjamin Bowsey 1780, John Jones 1781, Anthony Eokart 1782, Elizabeth Pudding 1789, and Mary Davis 1793.

• MFA 53.253a-b, France, 18th century
• Newport Historical Society 97.16.2 AB, 18th century
• Mount Vernon W-2471/A-B, c. 1760-1802
• Colonial Williamsburg 2009-43,4A&B, Philadelphia, c. 1782
• Augusta Auction 8.4835.110.318, America, late 18th-early 19th century
• Monticello 1983-14-42, stockings repurposed into a waistcoat lining c. 1797
• Colonial Williamsburg 1991-446,2, Connecticut, c. 1800-1809

Women’s Shifts

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked shifts in the trials of Elizabeth Mason & Mary Robinson, 1696, Richard Marshall et al. 1732, Ann Davis 1745, Elizabeth Taylor 1747, Ann Burger 1756, Sarah Metyard & Sarah Morgan Metyard 1762, John Taylor & Mary Ayres 1766, Joseph Smith 1773 and Anthony Eokart 1782, William Horton 1784, John Weatherhead & Michael Shields 1789.

• Manchester 1948.74, 1680-1690
• V&A T.26-1969, 1730-1760
• V&A T.25-1969, English, 1740-1780
• Manchester 1969.237, 1740-1780
• Colonial Williamsburg 1984-79, English, 1700-1750; altered 1790-1820
• Met 2005.369, American, c. 1780
• Detail from a shift from the 1780s
• Colonial Williamsburg 1990-7, American, c. 1780
• Karen Augusta, c. 1780-1800
• Colonial Williamsburg 1983-234, c. 1780-1810
• Colonial Williamsburg 2009-102, American, c. 1810-1820

Women’s Aprons

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked aprons in the trials of Elizabeth Taylor 1747

• Colonial Williamsburg 1999-225, American, 1776
• Colonial Williamsburg 1964-385, New York, c. 1790

Women’s Pockets

• Newport Historical Society 2012.34.7
• DAR 61.53, United States, c. 1750-1790
• DAR 2423.2, United States, c. 1750-1790
• Pocket made by Susanna Yeakel, second half of the 18th century
• Historic New England 1991.1425, Massachusetts, c. 1760-1800
• Tassenmuseum Hendrikje 1037, England, 1766
• Colonial Williamsburg 1951-465, Pennsylvania, c. 1780-1820
• Winterthur 2013.0031.103, Pennsylvania, 1781
• Old Sturbridge Village 26.67.41, New England, c. 1800

Bed sheets

V&A T.296-1965, English, late 17th or early 18th century

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked sheets in the trials of Thomas Stapleton et al. 1768 and William Burke & Sarah Burke 1797.

See also 18th & 19th Century Marking of Linen for linens in the Whitby Museum collection.

• V&A T.6-2002, English, 1702
• Colonial Williamsburg 1960-909, American, 1745
• Colonial Williamsburg 1952-665,1, Irish or English, c. 1770

Pillowcases

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey describes marked pillowcases in the trials of Anthony Coleman 1787 and Elizabeth Bates 1792.

• MFA 38.1180, Austria
• Colonial Williamsburg 1960-910,1 & 1960-910,2, Pennsylvania, 1787
• Colonial Williamsburg 1964-380,2, New York, c. 1790
• Colonial Williamsburg 1964-381, a bolster case, New York, c. 1790
• Colonial Williamsburg 2003-77,2, New York, c. 1790-1820

Bed quilts

• V&A T.616-1996, English, 1709
• Colonial Williamsburg 1986-259 (a quilt), American, c. 1780-1810

Napkins

(The trials of William Horton 1784 and Elizabeth Allen & Frances Smith 1794 describe marks on tablecloths.)

• Colonial Williamsburg 1964-379,3, three linen damask napkins woven c. 1711-1740
• Colonial Williamsburg 1952-666,1, 1952-666,2, 1952-666,3, 1952-666,4, 1952-666,5, 1952-666,6, 1952-666,7, and 1952-666,8, a set of linen damask napkins c. 1727 owned by Caroline, Baroness King
• Colonial Williamsburg 1941-265,1, a linen damask napkin used in Pennsylvania c. 1780-1810

Towels

• MFA 56.858, American, probably 18th century
• MFA 56.862, American, 18th-19th century
• MFA 34.123, American, late 18th or early 19th century
• MFA 34.125, American, late 18th or early 19th century

Other stuff

• MFA 45.642, a large drawstring bag, American, late 18th century to early 19th century