Horse brass

This horse brass is engraved with the initials SE & CR and would have been worn by a horse working for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. The SE&CR was formed in 1899 from the union of two existing railway companies, the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. Many of its routes are now operated by Southern Railway.

The origins of horse brasses are unknown, but from the middle of the 19th century they became increasingly popular as decorations fixed to horses' harnesses. During the 19th and early 20th centuries horses adorned with brasses were an everyday sight on London’s streets, reflecting the central role they played in London’s life and economy as its main method of short distance transport. Common designs included suns, wheat, horses, swans and heraldic images.

Horse brasses reached a peak in popularity just before World War I but during the 1920s, as motor vehicles replaced horses, they began to decline. By the 1950s they had all but disappeared from London’s streets. During their peak, however, companies often had their own brasses marked with their names.

Railway and brewery company brasses were particularly common. In 1893 there were an estimated 6,000 railway horses used to carry goods through London to and from its main stations. In that year the South Eastern Railway had 275 horses. Larger railway companies like the Midland had over 1,000.

Royal commemorative brasses were also popular, the first ones being produced to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Today commemorative horse brasses are still produced, although as souvenirs rather than as decorations for working horses. In 2011 the National Horse Brass Society produced a brass to commemorate the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

Early brasses were heavy as they were cast in moulds, and were attached to the harness with sharp studs. Later, towards the 1880s, brasses were stamped out of sheet brass and were lighter. They were attached to the harness with loops known as ‘hangers’, or with studs or wires on the reverse like this one.