Australian Dress Register

Priscilla Batham Buchan was Priscilla's family name. Pricilla's parents John Buchan and Jane Batham were both first generation Australian, having both been born in England. They married in Sydney, Australia on 20 June, 1845.

Thomas Ronald McLellan was Scottish and moved with his family to Australia sometime before his marriage. Thomas's occupation, as listed on Flora's birth certificate, was a Mariner. According to his great great grand daughter Helen Jackson, he was a harbour master, ship captain and a preacher. 

The wedding dress and shoes were donated by Margaret Jackson to NIDA sometime before 2008. Priscilla passed on the wedding dress to her grand daughter, Evelyn Kennedy-Smith. Evelyn was Margaret's great aunt, and the dress was eventually passed onto Margaret Jackson. 

While there is no photo of Priscilla from her wedding day, there is a portrait photograph of a young Priscilla. As she is wearing a dress with a distinct bustle, this photo may be either from the mid 1870s or mid 1880s. 

There is another photograph of Priscilla McLellan with her grand daughter Evelyn Kennedy-Smith, from the 1920s. 

Priscilla was the youngest of four siblings from the marriage of Jane Batham to John Buchan in 1845. (Edward Jeremiah born 1846, Richard Shepherd born 1849, Henrietta Elizabeth born 1851, and Priscilla Batham born in 1857.)

John Buchan passed away in 1859 and Jane Batham married Alexander Downie. They had 3 children: Mary J born 1861, Ada born 1863 and Jessie born 1867.

Priscilla Batham Buchan (maiden name) was born in 1857 and died 13 July, 1935.

Thomas Ronald McLellan (husband) was born in Islay, off Scotland in 1849 and died 22 September, 1938.

Priscilla Batham Buchan and Thomas Ronald McLellan married 21st December, 1881 at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia. 

Jane Batham (mother) was born in 1828 in Woodchurch, Kent, England.

John Buchan (father) was born 16 January, 1814, in Staffordshire, England.

Priscilla's parents John Buchan and Jane Batham married on 20 June, 1845 in Sydney, New South Wales.

Ronald McLellan, Thomas' father died on 10 Febuary, 1886. 

Priscilla and Thomas had two children: Ronald McLellan (1883 - 1886) and Flora McLellan (1887 - 12 August 1977). Flora died in Lane Cove, New South Wales, Australia. 

A letter from The Council of the Municipality of Waverly details the death dates of Priscilla, Thomas and Ronald. All graves are located at the Waverly Cemetery. 

Thomas was a sea captain, apparently sailing the England to China tea and opium route. He apparently was licensed to enter any Harbour without needing a harbour pilot.  He himself became a Harbour Master at Coopernook, NSW. Thomas lived/owned 467 Oxford Rd, Paddington when he returned to Sydney.  Thomas owned up to 11 properties, both residential and industrial, including 20 Macquarie Street South, 85 Johnston St, Annandale and 214 Flood St, Leichhardt. 

He was commissioned as a Lay Reader in the Anglican Church. He also was a member of the Masons. 

He was on the committee for the building of the Pyrmont Bridge, and it is also rumoured that he was one of the founding members of the charity The Smith Family. 

Priscilla and Thomas McLellan are a good example of wealthy first generation Australian familes who came over from the UK in the later part of the 1800s. Proceeding generations of the McLellan family have continued to live in the Sydney area, which make this garment and the provenance particluarly interesting as these are local stories. 

Family history information and documentation has been provided by Helen Jackson. Helen is the great great grand daughter of Priscilla McLellan. 

Ancestry.com has assited with some dates, as well as the building of a clear family tree. 

Cream gathered net has been applied on the outside of stand collar and the inside edge of the sleeve cuffs as decoration.

Self-gold silk taffeta box pleats trim the bottom of the skirt. A continuous row of pleating sits under the silk cream satin ruched skirt at the front and the outside edge of the train. A second row of pleating sits above the first on the train and starts at the side seam of the skirt. Trim depth is 105mm, and has been finished with a 5mm rolled hem. There is a long running stitch on the underside of the pleats that helps keep them in place. 

The edges of the bustle are faced with natural coloured stiffened open weave cotton, 50mm wide, folded to 25mm secured with a running stitch.

The skirt and train hem is finished with 50mm wide stiffened machine pleated organdie with a 20mm lace edge that is hand sewn to the underside of the skirt.

Two sets of cotton tape ties are used on the inside of the back skirt to control the fullness of the bustle.  

Gold ribbon at right skirt back holds the cornet pocket in place on the hip, and is used for a decorative bow with long tails at the base of the pocket.

Cream satin silk piping set in armholes and edge the cornet pocket.

Net lace with a floral motif, knots and criss-cross edging used at the base of the stand collar, the edge of the skirt drape, top of the cornet pocket, and the ends of the cream satin bow on the skirt train. Motifs appear to have been made by hand.

The cuirass bodice, bustle and train are all made from a plain weave gold silk taffeta.

The skirt front is made from a cream silk satin. This satin is also used as a ruched trim on the sleeve head, sleeve cuffs, the cornet pocket and decorative bows on the train.

The bodice and sleeves are mounted on tightly woven medium weight cotton in cream.

The skirt is lined in sateen weave cream cotton that has a soft lustre.  

The interior of the train, the decorative bows on the exterior of the train and the cornet pocket are lined with a stiff silk organza in a natural colour

There is a plain weave cream wool used as a brush hem along the inside edge of the train. This same fabric is used as a binding on the inside of the skirt where an additional width of pleated fabric has been added at the centre back mid-way down between the two cotton ties.   

It is unknown whether the gold colour of the silk taffeta would have been achieved using a natural or synthetic dye. Either is possible.  

The main components of the dress are sewn by machine with a 3 ply Z twist thread natural coloured cotton thread. Trims are attached by hand.

The bodice is made up of 6 panels. The front bodice is cut as one piece using 3 long darts to create the shaping from the bust over the hip. Two darts under the bust extend until the 12th button, the third is at the underarm and extends to the hip.The back is made up from 2 panel pieces each side. The side back panel features a dart shaped like a princess line. This panel continues into the drape as a full width of fabric and finishes under the bustle. The panels either side of centre back are cut from the same length of fabric that continues as the bustle. They are sewn down centre back until mid-hip where the full width of the fabric comes from an inverted box pleat covered by orange blossom.

The bodice has 8 baleen bones. Boning in the two front bust darts has been inserted into the darts by way of a cut and closed with a hand stitch. The boning on the underarm dart and side seam has been inserted into a self-made casing using the mounting fabric. The inside waist seam at the back has the remains of a waist tape.  The 13 buttonholes along the centre front are finish by hand using a 3 ply S twist cotton thread.

The skirt is lined in cream cotton with a satin weave. The train is mounted onto stiff silk organza. A wool brush hem has been sewn on like a facing. 

The pleated organdie hem with lace trim is secured to an organza bind with a chain stitch. Long whip stitch is used to secure trim to underside of skirt. 

On the back right hip sits a cornet pocket made from the cream silk satin held in position by a gold ribbon. The edges are piped in the same fabric. The top edge is trimmed with lace. 

Cream satin low-heeled shoes feature a self-made ruched bow at the toe with orange blossom. Square toe and throat, cream satin upper with forward-slanting side folded side seams; edges bound in new white satin ribbon over the top of the original. Cream leather insole and quarter lining, cream linen vamp lining, brown leather sole. 

Sole of shoes stamped and inscribed with the Julien Mayer PARIS crown logo and medallions

One side of the original waist tape with the hook was found in the cornet pocket and measures 27mm by 265mm.

Bodice is cut in a clever way to disguise darts as princess panel lines. The front bodice is cut as one, with two extended bust darts that finish at the 12th button and a dart at the underarm which extends to the hips and looks like a panel line. The side back panel makes use of another extended dart that mimics a princess line. The two centre back pieces are a part of the same width of fabric that continues into the bustle by way of pleats under the spray of orange blossom, 100mm below the waist.

The mounting on the left bodice opening folds back 60mm and acts as a facing/button support. The edge is folded under again and finished with a whip stich. The right bodice opening is finished with a 40mm fold, turned under again and finished with a whip stitch.

Shaped sleeves are cut in two pieces into a dropped armhole. Shoulder seam sits approximately 30mm back from the natural shoulder seam.

The train of the skirt is made up of 3 widths of the gold silk taffeta fabric, which is 21” wide. Two additional widths of fabric are added 540mm below the waist using pleats. This is covered by the bustle. The train has two gores, one either side of the centre panel to achieve enough width across the circular train. These gores measure 410mm at the centre edge, 230mm along the hem, and 310mm on the outside edge.

There are 13 cream doubled rimmed buttons with dorset style shank along centre front. They are 16mm wide and 13mm high. A hook and hand sewn eye are used on the inside of the stand collar to close the front opening at neck. There is a hook on the end of the remaining waist tape. 

There are 8 pieces of baleen (whale) boning in the bodice, 4 in each front piece. 2 bones are inserted into the bust darts and extend below the waist to help achieve a flat front. Bones taper as the bone reaches the tip of the dart. Bones finishing at the waist are inserted into a casing at the underarm dart and the side seam. Bones at approximately 6mm at their widest.

Cotton wadding is used to smooth out the hollow of the chest and the bust. It is sewn into the shoulder seam and finishes 230mm down from the shoulder line.      

Silk cuirass wedding dress with train in gold taffeta and cream satin with matching satin shoes. Worn by Priscilla McLellan for her marriage to Thomas Ronald McLellan on the 20th December 1881.

Copy of deceased estate for Pricilla McLellan's home in Paddington and family tree can be found at the link for ancestry.com

The major damage to this dress is in the form of tears in the gold silk taffeta in the bodice, sleeves, drape, bustle and train. It is most evident in the bodice and drape. 

Flat storage seems to be the obvious cause of these tears in the drape and sleeves. 

The bodice has splits along the shoulders and bust, and the fabric around the front buttonholes fabric is worn away. These are the areas of the bodice that recieve the most strain.

The cream silk satin and all the linings are in considerably better condition than the gold silk taffeta. It is possible that the gold silk taffeta has degraded due to the use of weighting agents often used in the late 19th century.

'Weighting agents usually were applied to silk during the dyeing operation. Because fabrics were often sold by weight, some dyers and finishers would overweight silks for greater profits, even though this practice severely weakened the fiber. The process of weighting and the agents used may weaken the silk fiber, shorten its wear life, and make it more susceptible to degradation by acid, alkalies, high temperature, and light. As a result, many antique silks exhibit lengthwise splits and cracks at folds and creases and are so weak that they must be supported to be handled or displayed.' - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/019713689806046192

There is insect damage on the gold silk taffeta skirt drape and bustle in the form of small holes. This is also evident in the wool brush hem on the underside of the train.