HMS Pinafore was the fourth comic opera written by W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, originally produced by the Comedy Opera Company Limited at London's Opéra Comique Theatre from the 25th May 1878 to the 20th February 1880. A drawing of George Grossmith, the original Sir Joseph Porter KCB, the First Lord of the Admiralty, published in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 24th August 1878, shows him wearing a virtually identical jacket that would have been supplied by the costumiers L&H Nathan. Established in 1790, Nathan's was the leading house for historical costume as well as supplying Court dress, military uniforms and fancy dress. The D'Oyly Carte Company would have needed many of these jackets for the role of Sir Joseph Porter over the years, given the popularity of the opera and the number of their touring companies in the early days. The address on the label shows that this one was produced after December 1963 when Nathan's moved to 143 Drury Lane.

The name Alistair Donkin (born 1947) inscribed in this costume shows that it was worn between 1979 and 1892 when Donkin was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Company. He joined in October 1979 as chorus member and understudy to James Conroy-Ward in comic baritone roles and during his first season appeared regularly in the small parts of Second Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard and Annibale in The Gondoliers, and filled in occasionally as John Wellington Wells in The Sorcerer, Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. In September 1980 he added General Stanley to his regular roles, along with Second Citizen, and continued to fill in in the 'patter' roles, adding Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard. During his last season, September 1981-February 1982, he also substituted as Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore.