User:MIDI/Newbury Coat

The Newbury Coat (also known as the Throckmorton Coat) is a garment made by clothier John Coxeter and tailor James White in Newbury, Berkshire on 25 June 1811. It was the product of two sheeps' wool, sheared and tailored within a single day, as part of a bet.

Background

John Coxeter was born in Witney in 1772. He moved to Newbury in the early 19th century on business, which subsequently bankrupted him. His father-in-law John Collier paid of Coxeter's debts, who subsequently began managing Greenham Mill with Collier's son. The mill was fulling mill adjacent to Greenham Lock on the River Kennet, and Collier Sr.'s financial backing allowed substantial investment in groundbreaking machinery. Coxeter had great confidence in the ability of the mill, and had told Sir John Courtenay Throckmorton (5th Baronet Throckmorton) of Buckland House that he could "take the coat off [his] back, reduce it to wool, and turn it back into a coat again" within 24 hours. Throckmorton was convinced that this feat could be achieved, and made a 1,000-guinea bet (equivalent to £92,000 in 2023) with acquaintances that he could sit down for dinner in a garment that had been made the same day.

At 5 am on 25 June 1811, shepherd Francis Druett sheared two wethered Southdown sheep at Greenham Mill. Coxeter and his workers prepared the wool, with Coxeter's son weaving the cloth. By 4 pm, the fabric had been dyed and was ready for tailoring. It was handed to Newbury tailor Isaac White, whose son James was a master craftsman. James—with a team of nine men—proceeded to mark and cut the material. For a further two hours, the tailors stitched and sewed the garment. At 6.20 pm, the garment was completed in front of a 5,000-strong crowd. Coxeter handed the coat to Throckmorton, a little over 13 hours after the challenge began. At 8 pm, Throckmorton duly sat for dinner as per his bet. To commemorate the successful feat, the two sheep whose wool was shorn were slaughtered and roasted for the public. Coxeter provided 120 imperial gallons (960 imp pt) of strong beer to accompany the lamb.

Dramatist Bertie Greatheed came into possession of an offcut of the cloth used for the coat, and wrote of the feat in his journal:

“ The wool of which this cloth was made was shorn off the sheep's back at 5 o'clock in the morning, completed, and made into a coat, which Sir John Throckmorton wore, at a quarter past six the same evening; which was two hours and three quarters within the given time. ” — Bertie Greatheed, June 1811

Despite praise of Coxeter after the event, poor supply-and-demand for troops' blankets at the Battle of Waterloo—along with an economic downturn after the battle—saw Coxeter file for bankruptcy in 1816. Coxeter died on 28 August 1816 at the age of 43, and was buried in Witney.

Legacy

Following the event, the coat was kept in a glass case at Throckmorton's home at Buckland House. In 1851, it was featured at The Great Exhibition. When the Throckmorton family left Buckland in 1908, the coat was taken to the family home at Coughton Court in Warwickshire.

Replicas of the coat have been made on numerous occasions. In 1988, the Ravensthorpe Wool Festival hosted a successful attempt to recreate the 1811 event, completing the coat with 12 minutes remaining; Viscount Althorp wore the finished garment. In 1991, an attempt to beat the 13-hour coat was made at the Royal County of Berkshire Show, which succeeded in a little over 12 hours 30 minutes. This replica is currently held at the West Berkshire Museum. A later commemorative event (completed in just under 15 hours) was made by the Kennet Valley Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers at the Newbury Corn Exchange in 2011, after which Newbury MP Richard Benyon wore the completed coat.

Newbury Coat is a retired racehorse, sired from Chilibang (who was ridden to victory by Willie Carson at the 1988 King's Stand Stakes). Chilibang was sired from Formidable.