Thomas Rowlandson - Rural Sorts - Smock Racing - Three girls race scantily clad and barefoot. A fourth girl is tripped by a dog or another competitor.
A fixture of country fairs and holidays in the 17th-early 19th century throughout Great Britain, smock races turn up again and again in bawdy ballads and prints of the time, and I have to admit a certain weird fascination for them. The idea was simple enough: sturdy country lasses competed in a footrace along a set course, the prize being a smock of fine linen. Just as athletic men were wrestling, boxing, and shooting in organized contests to display their physical prowess, healthy young women could do the same in the smock race. Competition was limited to the young and unwed, and often restricted to virgins as well, though the connection between being fleet of foot and pure of body eludes me. The smocks offered as prizes were usually of high quality Holland linen, and trimmed with lace or ribbons. Some mentioned in advertisments for the races were valued as high as fifteen shillings, making them desirable indeed to young women who worked hard for their livings. The prize smock was often displayed hanging from a nearby flag-pole or tree-branch, to be admired as an incentive, as well as to inspire all kinds of titillating, bawdy jests, because, of course, underwear humour never goes out of style. rom all reports, the competition was fierce, attracting large crowds to cheer along the race-course. There don’t seem to have been any real rules or restrictions, and the barefoot women freely tripped and elbowed their rivals, knocking one another down into the dust. The more out-of-control the race, the more the audiences roared their approval, and the more celebrated the eventual victor became, waving her prize over her head as she was carried about on the shoulders of young men. Local gentry came to watch as well, sitting on their horses or in carriages, and they were not above taking part in the heavy wagering that usually accompanied the races. In other words, epic combat at its best - Susan Scott
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Photo credit: © steeve-x-art / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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