History of brogues with straps?

[OC Richard]

You raise such an interesting question!

It's puzzling the two paintings showing shoes with flaps, Mungo Murray as you show, and Lord Duffus, both seen in this collage I did.



I actually hadn't paid attention to the fact that Mungo Murray's shoes have a small gap between the shoe and the strap.

With Lord Duffus the flap hides whatever might be going on there.

I hadn't seen that Penny Wedding painting. I had always imagined that putting a strap over the instep was a later development.

We can see that the 18th century shoes that covered the whole foot and had functioning buckles evolved as the 19th century progressed, being cut lower and lower, becoming slip-on pumps with a nonfunctional buckle at the toe.

I had thought that it was a matter of a strap being added to this shoe. Highland officers in the mid-19th century can be seen wearing both the strapless pump and the brogue with strap in the same orders of dress (Levee Dress, Mess Dress) depending on regiment.

Here even late in the 19th century Argylls officers are still wearing the slip-on style.