Breeches, costume breeches

Breeches, part of a clown suit worn by Whimsical Walker (1851-1934), who worked as a clown in both circus and pantomime. Born Thomas Walker, he first appeared in 1865 and subsequently worked in England and America. In 1886, he appeared by royal command before Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. This outfit was Walker's best harlequin suit, and he wore it over a period of at least thirty years at Olympia as head clown, and in panto at Drury Lane.

Walker's act was popular with generations of children. In 1928 Dame Laura Knight recorded his appearance in her oil painting, Whimsical Walker and His Buffer, which shows him in this costume with his circus dog or 'buffer'. The artist and performer met and made friends in the 1920s when Walker was working at Olympia for Bertram Mills' and Carmo's circuses, and Knight helped the London Museum acquire the ensemble from Walker's widow. Walker's props were those of the traditional clown: a string of sausages, a goose, and a red-hot poker.

The breeches are made of plain weave white cotton in horizontal flounces, each frill edged with woollen braid in alternating red and pale blue. The frills are machine stitched onto a ground of the same fabric. The waistband is reinforced with an inch-wide band of herringbone tape, and closes at each side with a button. Elastic has been stitched to each button hole side to allow for expansion. The waistband has been repaired and altered a few times. There are round bone buttons on the waistband to attach to tabs on the inside of the jacket.