Date: c. 1870s

Origin: Great Britain

Fabric: Cotton

Brand: J. & R. Morley London

This striped cotton undergarment, labeled ‘Harper’s Improved Registered Panier Jupon’ and bearing the name J. & R. Morley, London, combines a petticoat with an internal boned skirt support. Its circular boning and pronounced rear projection helped create the fashionable early-to-mid 1870s bustle silhouette, supporting the outer skirt while concealing the structural framework beneath a washable cotton layer. It is fastened at the waist with a metal buckle.

The name J. & R. Morley appears to refer to the firm more commonly recorded as I. & R. Morley, founded by the brothers John and Richard Morley in Nottingham in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The firm established a London warehouse in 1797 and developed from a Nottingham hosiery business into an internationally known manufacturer of knitwear, including hosiery, gloves, underwear, and sportswear. Morley’s reputation for quality brought royal patronage, and the Victoria and Albert Museum holds knitted silk stockings made by J. & R. Morley for Queen Mary in 1914. According to the Nottingham Evening Post, King George V and the Queen consort visited the Manvers Street factory during their industrial tour that same year. The company remained active until its acquisition by Courtaulds in 1968.

Many thanks to Summer Anne Lee for research and object description.

From the collection of The Underpinnings Museum.

Museum number: UM-2025-005