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Articles

The Tyranny of Fashion: The Case of the Felt-Hatting Trade in the Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Pages 153-178 | Published online: 19 Jul 2013

References

  • Hooke’s notes and sketches are in the Royal Society Archives.
  • For headdress costume during the period see: H. Amphlett, Hats: A History of Fashion in Headwear (1974 ), pp. 106–10, 122–28; R. T. Wilcox, The Mode in Hats and Headdress (1944), pp. 145–46; M. Harrison, The History of the Hat (1960), p. 150; M. Ginsburg, The Hat: Trends and Traditions (1990).
  • In 1561 Portuguese merchants were given permission to import 30,000 felt hats, H. E. S. Fisher, The Portugal Trade (1971 ), p. 205. For foreign import of felt hats see also J. Thirsk, Economic Policy and Projects, Appendix 1.
  • N. B. Harte, ‘State Control of Dress and Social Change in Pre-Industrial England’, D. C. Coleman and A. H. John (eds), Trade, Government and Economy in Pre-Industrial England: Essays Presented to F.J. Fisher (1976 ), pp. 132, 138–39.
  • D. Defoe, The Complete Tradesman (1950 ed.), p. 19.
  • British Library (BL), A. H., A Proposal for Raising the sum of 200,000 pounds per annum (1690).
  • See N.B. Harte, ‘The Economics of Clothing in the Late Seventeenth Century’, below pp. 277–96.
  • 12 Car. II, c. 4; House of Commons Journals, XII, pp. 52, 117, 120, 142, 160, 163.
  • Sims and Frewin, Rates of Merchandise, VI, VII, pp. 143–44; Baldwin, Survey of the British Customs, Pt 1, pp. 171–76, 194–96, 198, 200, 212–14; the acts were Car. I c. 4,9 and 10 Wm. III. c. 23,2 and 3 Anne, c. 19, 3 and 4 Anne, c. 5, 21 Geo. II. c. 2, 24 Geo. III. c. 51.
  • For example in 1673, 1674 and 1675. Calendar of Treasury Books, 1672–7675 (1909 ), pp. 274, 386, 449; London Gazette, 12 March 1673; Clerk of the Feltmakers Company arranged a burning in 1682, Guildhall Library (GL), City of London Feltmakers Minute Books, MS 1572, f. 175.
  • R. Davis, ‘English Foreign Trade, 1660–1700 ’, Ec.H.R.,vol. 7, No. 1, p. 154; R. Davis, ‘The Rise of Protection in England, 1689–1786’, Ec.H.R., 2nd Series, vol. 9 (1966 ), p. 309.
  • R. Holme, A Storehouse of Armoury and Blazonry, Book III, Chap. III (1688), p. 129.
  • E. E. Rich, Hudson’s Bay Company, 1670–1870, vol. 1, 1670–1763 (1961), p. 47.
  • Ibid., p. 69.
  • Ibid., p. 275.
  • House of Commons Journals, vol. X, p. 634; vol. XII, pp. 139, 149, 155, 165, 180.
  • E. E. Rich, op. cit., pp. 231 and 277.
  • British Library, Misc. MS 36785, Exports Michaelmas 1662 to Michaelmas 1663.
  • PRO, E. 190/991/1; 190/95/5; a large part of the export market at the beginning of the eighteenth century was for Spain whose colonies were absorbing 13,000 hats per year — E. E. Rich, ‘Russia and the Colonial Fur Trade’, Ec. H.R., vol. 7, no. 1 (1954 ), p. 13.
  • T. S. Ashton noted that hats were a major export commodity with an export value higher than silk or linen at the start of the eighteenth century. In 1750 they accounted for nearly 4% of English exports value. T. S. Ashton, ‘English Overseas Trade’, Introduction to E. B. Schumpeter, English Overseas Trade Statistices, 1697–1808 (1960), pp. 12–13.
  • Anon., An Answer to a Proposal for Laying a Duty upon Hats, BL (1695).
  • City of London Record Office, Mayor’s Court Proceedings 1663, f. 156.
  • Abbe Nollet, ‘L’Art de faire des chapeaux’, Description des Arts et Metiers, vol. IV (1764/65), pp. 80–92; J. Savary Des Brúlons, ‘Memoire de la fabrication et commerce des chapeaux à Caudebec, depuis 1720’, Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce, vol. 1 (1750), cols 837 and 843.
  • W. C. Scoville, ‘Minority Migrations and the Diffusion of Technology’, Journal of Economic History, XI, 4(1951 ), p. 357.
  • Anon., Notes and Queries, First Series, vol. 1 (1849 /50), p. 317.
  • Calendar of Treasury Papers, 1557–1696 (1868), p. 32, 23 January 1689; Calendar of Treasury Books, VIII. Part IV, 1685–89 (1931), p. 2150, 11 January 1689.
  • Mon. S. Guiseppi, ‘Industries of Southwark’, Victoria County History (1907 ), vol. 11, pp. 252–54.
  • Huguenot Society, Denizations and Naturalizations of Aliens in England and Wales, 1603–1700, vol. xvm (1911), B11310/242.
  • GL, Misc. Company MS 2.23, Petition of the Company of Feltmakers.
  • Public Record Office (PRO), PC 2/69 Privy Council Register, 8 November 1682, f. 562.
  • CLRO, Court of Alderman Repertory, vol. 88, 13 November 1682, f. 10a; PRO, PC 2/70,23 and 28 January 1684, f. 296 and 298.
  • For other cases see PRO SP 31/5/4/, 14 March 1685; PRO CO 319/5 Journal of the Lords Commissioners of the Board of Trade and Plantations, 10 and 14 March 1684, ff. 204 and 206.
  • D. C. Coleman, ‘Textile Growth’, in N. B. Harte and K. G. Ponting (eds), Textile History and Economic History (1973 ), p. 9.
  • R. J. Hartridge, ‘The Development of Industries in London South of the Thames, 1750–1850 ’, University of London MSc Thesis, 1955, p. 6.
  • D. J. Johnson, Southwark and the City (1969 ), pp. 129, 329.
  • Greater London Record Office (GLRO), Parish Registers of St Olave’s Southwark.
  • Anon., Library of the Useful Arts, Part I (1804 ), pp. 31–37.
  • GL MS 6898, City of London Feltmakers Company Charters.
  • GL MS 1572, Memorandum Books.
  • GL MS 1571, op. cit.
  • Ibid., f. 335.
  • R. Holme, op. cit.; Anon., Book of Trades (1751); Circle of the Useful Arts (1802 ), p. 129.
  • Johnathon Collyer of Barnaby Street, Southwark, insured his tools for £40, Guildhall Library, RE MS 3513 V. 7, 1759.
  • GL Feltmakers Company Ordinances, MS 6899 A, f. 37.
  • GL Feltmakers Company Court Minute Book, Ms 1570, vol. 2, f. 73, September 1694.
  • Ibid., ff. 174–79, 20 September 1697.
  • Ibid., f. 74, 14 November 1694.
  • PRO Prob. 11/584/55 Thomas Hall, 1722.
  • PRO Prob. 3/42/49 James Scott, 1743.
  • PRO Prob. 3/19/159 William Simms, 1720.
  • Ibid., f. 93/4.
  • Ibid., f. 82, 7 February 1694.
  • Feltmakers Company Minute Book, op. cit., MS 1570, vol. 2, f. 147, 26 October 1696.
  • A group of masters prosecuted a number of their journeymen for combination following a strike in 1695, PRO, C.5/283/79, Chancery Master Exhibits: Webbs, op. cit., p. 28.
  • GL Feltmakers Company Minute Book, MS 1572, op. cit., f. 87, 1667.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid., f. 151, 30 November 1696.
  • Ibid., f. 129, 15 November 1680; f. 140, 14 March 1681; f. 148, 13 June 1681.
  • Sherborne Mercury, 18 October 1742.
  • S. and B. Webb, The History of Trade Unionism (1950 ed.), p. 61.
  • ‘Report upon the Petitions relating to the Manufacture of Hats, 1752’, S. Lambert (ed.), House of Commons Sessional Papers, vol. 19, p. 6.
  • Ibid., p. 5.
  • Ibid.
  • House of Commons Journals, vol. XXIX, pp. 761, 769, 775, 838, 905.
  • Calendar of Privy Council Acts, IV, pp. 650–51.
  • 22 Geo, II, c. 27 (1749).
  • An Act for the Better regulating of Hat Manufactory, 17 Geo. III, c. 55.
  • P. M. Giles, ‘The Felt-Hatting Industry, c. 1500–1850, with particular reference to Lancashire and Cheshire’, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol. IXIX (1959), p. 106.
  • Report upon the Petitions relating to the Manufacture of Hats, S. Lambert (ed.), House of Commons Sessional Papers, Geo. II, vol. 19, p. 11.
  • House of Commons Journals, vol. 36, October 1776-October 1778, 17 Geo. III, 1777, pp. 192–93.
  • House of Commons Journals, vol. 38, p. 76.
  • D. Knoop, ‘Felt-Hat Making’, Victoria County History, Lancashire, W. Farner and J. Brownhill (eds) (1908 ), p. 393.
  • J. Butterworth, A Complete History of the Trade of Manchester (1882 ), p. 166.
  • A. Young, A Six months Tour Through the North of England (1770), vol. III, pp. 187, 191.
  • C. S. Davies, ‘The Agricultural History of Cheshire’, Chatham Society, 3rd series, vol. X (1960 ), pp. 70, 138.
  • W. Radcliffe, Origin of the New System of Manufacture (1828 ), pp. 59–60.
  • J. Butterworth, A Complete History of the Trade of Manchester (1822 ), p. 166.
  • From PRO C/105/15 Chancery Master Exhibit, Herne v. Barber.
  • Anon., The London Guide (1749).
  • Report upon the Petitions relating to the Manufacture of Hats, in S. Lambert (ed.), House of Commons Sessional Papers, Geo. II, vol. 19, p. 184.
  • PRO C12/1178/24 Chancery Master Exhibit, 27 April 1757.
  • The case is from Chancery and arose from contestation of Davies’s will, PRO C12/1263/19. The business records are contained in PRO C107/104 Chancery Master Exhibits. They consist of miscellaneous conveyances, account books, leases of properties and letters. They include records as early as 1727 and as late as 1795. However the majority of the material relates to the period 1783–91. The most interesting records are two copy letter-books and 11 bundles of loose letters. The letter-books contain business letters written by Davies from London. The first is marked ‘CC’ and contains a few letters written to agents in connection with the export trade. The second book contains internal correspondence written from London to Stockport. The bundles contain letters received by London. References in the footnotes are to the date of the letter — Domestic Letter Book (DLB) and Loose Letters (LL).
  • Anon., The Complete Guide to London (1740).
  • Anon., The Complete Guide to London (1755); S. Lambert, op. cit., p. 185; GL Royal Exchange Insurance Policies.
  • House of Commons Journals, XXIX, op. cit.
  • DLB, 13 December 1780.
  • DLB, 3 April 1785.
  • DLB, 3 August 1783.
  • DLB, 10 April 1785.
  • DLB, 19 February 1785.
  • DLB, 16, 17, 22, 21 August 1785.
  • DLB, 17 February 1785.
  • DLB, 21 April, 5 March 1786.
  • DLB, 26 April 1785.
  • DLB, 12 April 1784.
  • DLB, 12 December 1781.
  • DLB, 19 February 1785.
  • DLB, 14 May 1784.
  • DLB, 9 April, 19 February 1785.
  • LL, 20 September 1791.
  • LL, 17 August 1791.
  • DLB, 13 November 1786.
  • Webbs, op. cit., p. 30.
  • DLB, 26 March 1784.
  • DLB, 26 March 1783.
  • DLB, 23 February 1791.
  • Webbs, op. cit., p. 29.
  • DLB, 23 September 1785.
  • DLB, 3 November 1785.
  • DLB, 12 December 1785.
  • DLB, 13 January 1786.
  • LL, 2 and 20 February 1791.
  • LL, 3 April 1791.
  • LL, 13 June 1791.
  • LL, 3 July 1791.
  • DLB, 19 April 1785.
  • DLB, 13 May 1785.
  • DLB, 12 March 1785.
  • DLB, 17 March 1785.
  • DLB, 12 April 1785.
  • DLB, 14 December 1785.
  • DLB, 13 February 1788.
  • DLB, 10 October 1785.
  • DLB, 11 April 1785.
  • DLB, 23 February 1785.
  • For a general discussion of the effects of seasonal variations on trade see S. Kuznets, Seasonal Variations in Industry and Trade (1933).
  • DLB, 17 February 1785.
  • DLB, 22 February 1785.
  • DLB, 3 March 1785.

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