18th Century Short Cloaks

Last updated: Jan 7, 2024

This notebook page focuses on depictions of short cloaks as worn by working-class women in the 18th century, as opposed to finer silk capuchins or otherwise fashionable cloaks worn by higher-class ladies. The cloaks in this set of links are likely to have been made from wool, are generally unlined, and may have simple collars instead of hoods. (Pages on full-length women’s cloaks and men’s cloaks are available elsewhere on this website.)

Some of the descriptions of female runaways’ cloaks may be referencing this shorter style of cloak.

Colonial Williamsburg 2018-4 (formerly Meg Andrews 8662) is a rare extant example, dated to c. 1770-1780: “Red wool (broadcloth) cloak, bound down the center front, around the hood, and interior neck edge with wide red silk tape. The cloak originally had a closure at the neck, but it is no longer present, only the scars remain from what appears to be ties. The main body of the cloak was cut geometrically as a half circle and the scraps were used to create the extensions down the front. Unless noted the seams are all stoated or joined together with no seam allowances. The hood is created with a box pleat at center back with radiating knife pleats to each side. The hood is very tall but shallow.”

• The Blind Musician by J.S. Müller, c. 1740
• Baby, Cloaths & All for Three Pence, 1740s
• A woman leading a child with a toy and a woman carrying a child, figure sketches from Edinburgh and the neighborhood after 1745, by Paul Sandby
• Street characters by Paul Sandby, c. 1747-1760
• The Cryes of the City of London Drawne after the Life: Buy my great eels, buy my live eels; Diddle Diddle Diddle Dumplens ho
• Elizabeth Canning by Thomas Worlidge, 1754
• Salad girl, 1758
• Two Standing Ladies (Demoiselles Quantin) by Daniel Chodowiecki, 1758
• London Cries: Pretty little toys for Girls and Boys, c. 1759
• London Cries: Do You Want Any Spoons by Paul Sandby, c. 1759
• London Cries: A Milkmaid by Paul Sandby, c. 1759
• London Cries: Turn your Copper into Silver Now before your Eyes by Paul Sandby, 1760
• The Knowing One Taken In, 1760
• The Press Gang by John Collet
• Modern Reformers
• The Return from the Fair by Edward Penny, 1765
• The Recruiting Sergeant by John Collett, 1767
• The Female Orators, 1768
• Windsor Castle from Datchet Lane on a rejoicing night by Paul Sandby, 1768
• The Female Barber, 1770
• The Frenchman at the Market, 1770
• The Gossips by Samuel Scott
• The human passions, 1773
• The Disbanded Soldier. So shall Desert in Arms be crown’d., 1775
• A Market Girl (The Silver Age) by Henry Walton, 1776-1777
• To the subscribers to the Lottery Magazine for 1777
• Heyday! Is this my daughter Anne! 1779
• The Watercress Girl by Johann Zoffany, 1780
• The Flower Girl by Johann Zoffany
• Elizabeth Pollard, 1781
• The Farmer’s Wife and the Raven by George Stubbs, 1782
• A Woman of all Trades, from Covent Garden, 1782
• The Blind Beggar and His Granddaughter by John Russell (see also Filial Piety, 1788)
• Donnybrook Fair by Francis Wheatley, 1788
• The Encampment at Brighton by Francis Wheatley, 1788
• Soldier with Country Women Selling Ribbons, near a Military Camp by Francis Wheatley, 1788
• Landscape with figures by George Morland, c. 1790-1793
• A Windy Day by George Morland, 1790s
• The roguish boy, 1791
• Breaking the Ice by George Morland, 1792
• The Woodman at Labor, 1799
• Cries of London No. 3: Last Dying Speech and Confession by Thomas Rowlandson, 1799
• Woman, child, and dog on a road by George Morland
• Figure study by John Opie
• The Warrener by George Morland (see also Sportsman’s Return)
• An old fisherwoman with two women digging for bait by Francis Wheatley, before 1801
• Cries of Edinburgh: sellers of pease & beans, cress, and turnips, 1803
• The Market Girl by Henry Walton
• An old woman spinning silk by Margaret Sarah Carpenter, c. 1816