chainmail

Became Governor of South Australia in 1920. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Weigall

Governors and Governors-General in Australia have been permitted to choose their own uniform. This, however is more unusual than most.

If that's real chain mail, it's a wonder he can stand up!

Don't forget that the photo was taken in 1913, seven years before he commenced his Aussie exile. He and his lady were probably preparing to attend a costume party (or a pageant), somewhere in England. They stood for their portraits before the same paintings and furniture.

The house may be Petwood, a house built for his wife by her father. See www.petwood.co.uk/history.phtml

maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,721181,716464,7,9

from MajorCalloway EDIT This photo is dated September 23rd 1908 - the room is very similar to our picture above. Note the antlers over the left hand door in our photo, was it broken (and replaced or repaired) before or after this picture? Closer to 1908 than 1890 I would guess?

Some of the muskets are tagged but nothing else seems to be. Curious.

Oh Deer.(sic-k)

maps.google.ie/maps?q=powerscourt&hl=en&ll=53.185... Streetview

Per wikipedia on Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamanagh: An effigy of a 13th-century Norman Knight found in the ruins is installed by the main entrance. He is depicted seizing a sword and is carved with great attention to detail. It is one of the finest medieval effigies in Ireland.

"And we are indebted to Geraldine Carville in her book, Norman Splendour, in which she nails down the identity of the Knight of Duiske Abbey thought by man[y] to be the finest effigy of its kind in Ireland. "The figure of the knight in armour, cross-legged in the manner of a Crusader, armed in transverse banded mail, seizing a sword and which was carved in the 13th century. He is Alan Beg, who gave half of the tithes (taxes) accruing to his huge estate in nearby Ullard in exchange for a burial place in Duiske Abbey." From - www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/kilkenny-news/64821/Serene-Abb...

GeoHive 25" map link

Seems to be recumbent now, and in considerably worse condition than Mr French/Lawrence's day -

John Hunt, in his two-volume book on Irish Medieval Figure Sculpture (page 171), describes this as the effigy of an unknown knight and dates it to the late 13th / early 14th centuries. He says: "The commemorated man is represented in the sword-grasping attitude, the left hand holding the scabbard, and the right the hilt of the sword. The left leg is crossed over the right. He is armed in transversely-banded mail. The head rests on a double cushion and is protected by a coif, the skull, which is of rounded form, being outlined by a heavier band than those composing the remainder of the headpiece. The neck and shoulder defences are continuous with the mail of the head, also covering the chin, and the face of the opening is rather heart-shaped in outline. The surcoat, which is tighter across the shoulders than those at Kilfane or Cashel, is gathered at the waist by a girdle, and opens down the front over the thigh, falling in folds to the calf of the leg. The hauberk, vented in front, is long, descending to the top of the knee-cap, and the arms and legs are defended by mail in horizontal bands. The feet are missing, and there are no garters shown. The hands are defended by fingered mail gauntlets continuous with the sleeves of the hauberk. The sword has a short, strong, slightly arched cross, and is supported by a broad belt carried diagonally over the hips, secured by a buckle with the chape hanging down in front. The sheath is attached to the belt by a band and a lace, the ends of which hang in a loose knot in front. "The general form of the armour may be compared to that on the monument of Sir Gerard de Insula, of 1260-1270, at Stow Nine Churches, Northants, where this type of surcoat occurs. On that monument, however, the gauntlets are of muffler type and the headpiece is more bulbous. The form of the skull here appears to be that of the Pershore Knight of about 1280. "The same type of gauntlet is shown on Sir Robert de Keyne's monument at Dodford, Northants, of about 1310. The arrangement of the belt and girdle and the attachment of the sword and general sculptural style indicate a date in the last quarter of the thirteenth century or the early in the fourteenth. Fryer has stated that the stone from which the effigy was carved is Kilkenny marble (palaeozoic rock)."