Description (Labels & Markings)
Label tied to object reads: '1908 Chain mail. [illegible] Stewart'
Event Date
Author: Annie Tomkins

Description (Physical description)
Z Register description for Z 21003 reads: 'Chain mail suit.'
Event Date
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
A chain mail suit made from small annular metal links. Made for the torso there is a neck opening, two arms and a central slit down the front.
Event Date 21/1/2022
Author: Annie Tomkins

Context (Field collection)
Chain mail was part of the regalia of the Mahdist army and multiple exampled were brought to England as trophies, removed during military campaigns against the Mahdist state during the Anglo-Egyptian ‘Reconquest’ of Sudan (1895-1899). Omdurman was a major centre for the production of chain mail in Africa in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It is documented as being produced as late at 1940. See Arkell, A.J (1956) ‘The Making of Mail in Omdurman’ in Kush 4:83-85

It is possible that this chain mail was taken from the battlefield during the Sudan Campaigns or in subsequent sales of loot. However, no documentation has been found in the Museum to support or rule out this provenance. No information about the donor or their connection to Sudan has been found.



Event Date 21/3/2022
Author: Zoe Cormack