This article relates to what was termed civil uniform, the uniform worn by British civil servants employed either in the UK or in the colonies of the British crown in the 19th and early 20th century.

The term ‘court dress’ is commonly used when referring to the formal dress worn by men and women attending royal courts. The most popular manifestations of this dress in Malta were the outfits used primarily at carnival balls to dance the gavotte, which was considered the national dance.

‘Court dress’ is a catch-all term used for anyone who was not entitled, by reason of their occupation or station in society, to wear a specific court uniform. Thus, referring to the Court of St James’s, i.e. the royal court of the British monarch, there were established uniforms for the various callings in life. Academic robes were, for example, classified as court uniform, as were full-dress military and naval uniforms. Other examples were the formal robes of bishops and judges, and the uniforms of heralds and chief constables.

From 1875 till 1937, these uniforms were listed and described in detailed publications entitled Dress Worn by Gentlemen at His/Her Majesty’s Court. In its early days, this publication ran to a mere 16 pages; however, by the beginning of the 20th century, the book swelled to over 200 pages. The increased inventory of uniforms reflected not just the expansion of the empire but the increased interest in presentation at court, wearing the requisite uniforms with all the subtle nuances in rank reflecting the wearer’s status in the civil pecking order.

Dr Oreste Grech Mifsud. Photo: Elliott & Fry, London. Private Collection

An example of the ‘court dress’ worn by a Maltese person at the Court of St James’s can be seen in the photo of Dr Oreste Grech Mifsud, a highly respected lawyer and life president of the Chamber of Advocates. He was one of the representatives from Malta at the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911.

In the early 19th century, British civil servants working in the UK appearing at court were required to wear a uniform. This was based on the uniform of the Royal Household but with dark coloured fabric replacing the royal scarlet.

The civil uniform consisted of a dark blue wool coatee or tail coat decorated with varying amounts of gold embroidery depending on the holder’s rank. Collars and cuffs were of black velvet. Matching blue trousers were decorated with a gold lace stripe of a width determined by rank. Court swords and bicorn hats completed the uniform. The varying amounts of gold embroidery and the details of the hat could be read at a glance to determine the wearer’s rank, and thus his position in the civil service hierarchy.

The varying amounts of gold embroidery and the details of the hat could be read at a glance to determine the wearer’s rank

As the British Empire grew, there was increased demand for civil servants in the colonies to adopt similar unforms to those worn in the UK. In 1859, the Colonial Office issued a circular which would recognise “in some distinctive manner the service of the Crown in the colonies, as being in every respect on an equality with that of the mother country. Her Majesty has been, therefore, graciously pleased to confer on Her Majesty’s civil servants in the colonies, the right to wear the civil uniforms prescribed for Her Majesty’s servants in Great Britain.”

Embroidery patterns for civil uniform cuffs. Left, 1st class (5 inches); middle, 2nd class (4 inches); right, 3rd class (3 inches); top, 4th Class (2 inches). Private Collection

Contemporaneously, Harrison, bookseller to the queen, published Uniforms to be worn by Her Majesty’s Civil Servants at Home and in the Colonies. This is thought to have been the first time that the details of the embroidery patterns for these uniforms were illustrated.

This volume set out the details of the five grades of the civil uniform. The first class uniforms, being the most ornate, were allocated generally (there were many variations over the decades) to governors. Lieutenant-governors were entitled to wear second class uniforms. The third class was reserved for members of executive councils. Civil servants who were heads of principal departments wore fourth class uniforms, and chief assistants and heads of subordinate departments wore fifth class uniforms. Given the nuances of civil service hierarchy, the uniforms to be worn by officers of each rank in the various departments were published periodically in Schedules of Civil Uniforms.

Having covered the basic form as well as some of the details of court uniform, we can now turn to a few portraits of officials in the government of Malta to analyse their uniforms and their rank; armed with a knowledge of civil uniforms, we can also derive some hints as to when the accompanying portraits were captured.

Emmanuele Luigi Galizia, unknown photographer. Courtesy of Francis Galea Naudi

The photo of architect Emmanuele Luigi Galizia, superintendent of Public Works, is particularly fine. The black feathers of his bicorn hat indicate that his uniform is third or fourth class. To determine his rank more precisely, we need to examine the width of the embroidery on his cuff; if third class, it would have been three inches wide, or two inches if fourth class. The width of the gold lace on his trousers is two inches, so by comparing this to the width of his cuff embroidery, we can determine that he was wearing a third class uniform.

How does this rank tally with Galizia’s career development? Galizia entered the civil service as a perito at a young age and rose quickly up the civil service ranks to chief perito. As head of department, he would have been entitled to a fourth class uniform. However, Galizia was a member of the Legislative Council from 1880 to 1888. This position would have entitled him to wear the third class uniform shown in this photo. Thus, the uniform helps us date the photograph to 1880 or later. Galizia would have been 50 years old in 1880, which seems a credible age for the subject of the photo.

Napoleon Tagliaferro, unknown photographer. Private Collection

Another photo shows Napoleon Tagliaferro in his civil uniform. Tagliaferro, an educator from the age of 15, was eventually appointed rector of the University of Malta in 1897. Due to his many years of public service, he was considered, by the end of his career, as the dean of the civil service. Working on the same clues as the Galizia photo, we can deduce that Tagliaferro is also wearing a third class uniform.

Tagliaferro was assistant director of Education from 1887 to 1897 and, from 1899 to 1904, he was a member of the Council of Government. In the former position, he was eligible to wear a fourth class uniform; however, as a member of the Council of Government he would have been elevated to a third class uniform. Therefore, we can safely say that this photo was taken in 1899 or later.

Sir John Clauson, unknown photographer. Private Collection

The photograph of Sir John Clauson shows him wearing a second class full dress coatee of the civil uniform. The portraits examined so far have shown the sitter in what was termed ‘levée dress’, which is the uniform generally worn in the morning when business of one form or another is conducted.

Full dress was worn at evening events, which were generally more elaborate social events. First, second and third class uniforms had a full dress variant which included embroidery down the front of the coatee. The principal differences between the top three classes were in the extent of the embroidery on the coatee. We can determine that Clauson is wearing a second class uniform because of the white ostrich feathers of his bicorn hat and the saw-tooth edging to the embroidery (first class had a purl edge of consistent width).

Also of note is that the width of the cuff embroidery has increased by an inch over that of the third class uniform – now measuring a generous four inches. There was an additional one-inch increase to the first class uniform, making the gauntlet cuffs rather large and dramatic. According to regulations, Clauson served in Malta as chief secretary. This entitled him to wear a second class uniform.

Lord Gerald Strickland, portrayed by Edward Caruana Dingli. Courtesy of Villa Bologna Collection

The only portraits of a Maltese person wearing a first class uniform discovered by the author are those of Lord Gerald Strickland. Here we see Edward Caruana Dingli’s bravura portrait of Strickland wearing the mantle and regalia of a Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George over his civil uniform. In this portrait, Strickland wears white breeches, which were the most formal option of full dress. As a colonial governor (Leeward Islands, 1902-04; Tasmania, 1904-09; West Australia, 1909-12; and New South Wales, 1912-17), Strickland was entitled to wear a first class civil uniform.

By the 1920s, civil uniforms of the higher ranks were becoming expensive, so a more economical option was desirable; thus an ‘alternative court dress’ was devised that could be worn, with special permission, by anyone attending court. This took the form of a white tie and tails, although with some variations over the years.

Today it is only ambassadors who wear the modern version of civil uniform. In the case of British ambassadors, these carry no embroidery on the coatee except for minimal vestiges of the oak and acorn symbols on the cuffs and collar. These uniforms are worn only on the most formal occasions by ambassadors accredited to either foreign royal courts or the Vatican.

Court uniforms are still worn by senior members of the Royal household, such as the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Hereditary Earl Marshal (the Duke of Norfolk) and the members of the College of Heralds. Many of these officials could be seen recently, appropriately attired, performing the duties required of them due to the monarchial transition that took place as a result of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

It remains to be seen whether King Charles III, who has a predilection for history and tradition, will encourage the adoption of civil uniforms. If this happens, it would most likely be on a voluntary rather than obligatory basis as was the case during the late queen’s reign.