Background:

When I was at College in Hull, winters were rather cold! My Grandfather took pity on me and found, in his loft, an old tweed overcoat which I wore for the next 3 years.

The coat was a semi-fitted Ulster style tweed overcoat - two way collar, dark brown herringbone with leather buttons, buttoned half belt, plain turn back cuffs. it came down to my knees, even though I am much taller than grandpa.

A little bit of history:

The NHS (National Health Service) was founded in 1948. Before that, everyone paid privately for doctors. The family history recounts that my grandmother fell ill and required hospital care, and finding himself without the resources to pay for the treatment, Grandpa had to sell his car to foot the bill. Left without a mode of transport, he bought a second hand motorbike, and used the remainder - around £8 - to have a coat made up to keep him warm. 

As far as I can remember (this was over 20 years ago!) the label was either Crombie or Abercrombie. The final detail is that Grandpa had the pockets tailored to allow him to carry 2 quarts of whisky in the pockets without ruining the line of the coat! 

Grandpa worked for the Revenue, inspecting distilleries on the West Coast of Scotland - on several occasions the coat served as a blanket on the way home! 

I loved that old coat - even when my fiancee described it as a smelly old horse blanket! When we married, she refused to have it in the house; My parents stored it in their loft, so that I'd have it available as a pattern, once I was wealthy enough to have my own version made. 

Unfortunately, mice found it, and the coat was thrown out before I could save it. This blog details my quest to replace it with one of my own.