Early in
the war Philips and his crew had become dissatisfied with the conventional garb
of oilskins and designed a special form of clothing more suitable for
submarines. Ursula's navigating officer, Lt Lakin, was a keen motorcyclist and
wore a one-piece motorcycling suit made by Barbour. Philips asked the company
to adapt the suit, splitting it into jacket and trousers and adding a hood. The
suit became standard watch-keeping clothing in Royal Navy submarines.
Admiralty
& Ursula Suit Jacket - A7
https://www.barbourinternational.com/uk/blog/bi-archive-jackets/
The iconic
Admiralty & Ursula Suit comes with an equally iconic story. Captain George
Phillips, one of the most celebrated submarine officers of WW2, came across the
Barbour International suit when he captained the Ursula submarine, and the suit
was worn by his navigating officer. The famous story goes that Phillips told him
to wear it while he sprayed a fire hose on him, and he stayed perfectly dry.
The Captain
then visited Barbour’s and persuaded them to cut the suit in two, creating a
hooded jacket and trousers. These prototype suits were to become standard issue
in the Submarine service.
THE URSULA
SUIT
BY MICHAEL
WILLIAMS
POSTED ON
JANUARY 25, 2010—FILED UNDER: ENGLAND, MILITARY, MOTORCYCLES, OUTERWEAR, WWII
https://www.acontinuouslean.com/2010/01/25/the-ursula-suit/
If you
haven’t been to the Barbour archives (don’t feel bad, I haven’t either) you
might be unfamiliar with the Ursula Suit story. The Ursula suit is a coveted
British WWII artifact made expressly for Lieutenant Commander George Phillips
(pictured above c.1939) and the crew of the submarine HMS Ursula. Mr. Phillips
was unhappy with water stopping ability of the issued Navy kit, so he took
matters into his own hands and commissioned Barbour to make what would become
the famous (and standard issue) Ursula Suit.
More of the
story from Sea Your History:
Phillips
was the Commanding Officer of HMS Ursula. The boat had just returned from North
Sea patrol where it had attacked the German cruiser ‘Leipzig’. Phillips is
pictured wearing his famous Ursula suit. Phillips was unhappy with the standard
pre-war issue foul weather gear which consisted of oil skins, hats and towels
wrapped around the necks. Watchkeeping onboard submarines could be quite a
physical ordeal in rough weather, with the submarine bridge being only a few
feet above the sea level. Lieutenant Lakin, Ursula’s navigating officer, was a
keen motorcyclist who wore a one-piece over-suit made by Barbour. Phillips told
him to wear it while he doused him with a fire hose. Despite the force of the
water, Lakin remained dry. Phillips decided that the overalls, with a few
alterations, might be the answer for submarine lookouts and bridge personnel.
Phillips visited the company Barbour in South Shields and persuaded them to cut
the suit in two, make the jacket hooded and the trousers with elastic at the
waist and ankles. He paid for the prototype suits out of his own pocket. Warm,
comfortable and waterproof, they became standard issue in the Submarine
Service.
Eventually
the Ursula jacket would come full circle and be adopted by motorcyclists
(including one famous lad pictured below), essentially giving rise to the
Barbour International. There you go, now you basically know how a mens
outerwear icon was born. Are you still curious and want to know more about all
things Ursula? Check out the blog post at London’s The Vintage Showroom – they
even managed to buy an old (and original) Ursula Suit. [The Vintage Showroom]
Also, Dominic Stansfield honored (honoured) the Ursula Suit here.
.webp)
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment