COMMERCIAL RISE AND GROWTH
The history of a straw hat has thus been traced down to the latter half
of the eighteenth century.
Prior to this period all kinds of straws, grasses, and fibres of
vegetables had been utilized in the operation, the only limit as to
material being the growths peculiar to the locality in which hat-making
was carried on, so one may see that, as each locality probably grew
different kinds of fibres, the result of the finished hats was
different.
This difference early gave rise to local nomenclature, perhaps the
first collective term was “Leghorn” (_circ._ 1650. Tomlinson’s
Cyclopaedia, 1867). This now well-known variety of straw hat, woven
first in braids and then cunningly put together in spiral sequence to
the required shape, is not sewn overlapping, but with the braids laid
edge to edge, and a fine tough straw or other fibre threaded through
every other head on the impinging edges of the plait, and then drawn
tight, so that the opposite heads fitting between and inside each
other assumed the appearance of being woven in one piece, except that
where the join took place, the thickness caused by the heads of the
plait and the threading material, produced a ridge which, starting
from the centre and running spirally to the edge of the brim, is one
of the prominent characteristics of a “Leghorn.” This term, therefore,
embodies, first, the place of origin; second, the material used; third,
the method of using. If other local terms were thus early applied to
straw productions, they have not, as far as the Continent of Europe
is concerned, come down to modern times, all other names now in use
(and they are legion) are the products of the late eighteenth and the
nineteenth centuries.
All the materials used for plaitting up to about 1745 had been worked
_whole_, that is, the fibre whether rush, grass or straw, was plaitted
as it was grown, and consequently the hats of coarse weaving largely
predominated; there being naturally a preponderance of the coarser
parts of any vegetable growth.
Further, the manipulation of the bigger fibres was easier to fingers
perhaps only infrequently devoted to the work, and therefore up to
this period the majority of straw hats were thick and weighty. There
were exceptions such as _Leghorns_ that were plaitted from a variety
of bearded wheat or rye (_Triticum turgidum_) grown in Tuscany. This
was light in weight, comparatively tough, and of a fine natural golden
colour. The upper part of the straw called _Punta_ (or point) was
used for all Leghorn hats, and also for making plait which was called
_Tuscan_, from the locality of growth. When _Tuscan_ was the only straw
plait exported from Italy, Great Britain was one of the purchasers, and
during the early part of the nineteenth century up to the repeal of
the Corn Laws and the abolition of protective duties on other goods,
British importers of _Tuscan_ plait had to pay a duty of 8s. per lb.
weight.
The desire to produce straw hats of less weight brought the bottom half
of the straw column into use. That portion generally has a sheath,
protecting it from the sun, which being stripped disclosed the under
part of pearly white colour, this from being at the foot was called
_pedale_, and although not so tough as the _punta_, was sufficiently
so for plaitting purposes, and was very much lighter in weight. The
first parcel of _pedale_ plait arrived in Great Britain in 1878, and is
supposed to have been purchased by Messrs. Carruthers & Co., of Luton.
But even then the quantity of fine _pedale_ straws grown did not
suffice for the increasing demands for straw hats.
The Italian straw, being so well established as the best material,
caused workers to endeavour to find similar straw in other countries
which had adopted straw hat making as a commercial undertaking.
It is probable that the climate of Scotland was not alone the cause
for the migration of the Lorrainers; the search for fine white, light,
straws, impossible to obtain in the cold north, may have drawn these
operatives to the southern parts of England. Whatever the actual reason
or reasons, it is certain that by 1624 the neighbourhood of South
Bedfordshire (Dunstable), North-west Hertfordshire (Hemel Hempstead),
and probably East Buckinghamshire was producing higher grade straw
hats than any hitherto obtainable in the British Isles. The district
comprises practically the whole of the Eastern ranges of the Chiltern
Hills, an area of chalky subsoil. The discriminating Lorrainers quickly
discovered the extreme beauty of colour of the Chiltern straws, and it
is almost certain that for this reason alone the art of making plait
braid was introduced into the locality, which from 1624 onwards has
been undoubtedly the centre of the British straw hat industry.
Later on the straw plait making spread to portions of Essex and
Suffolk, and although the plaits produced there were of much inferior
quality and colour to those produced in the Chilterns, and, generally
speaking, were not utilized for the highest class work, they formed a
very useful adjunct to the plait stocks required by hat manufacturers
when large quantities were needed. Another English centre for straw
plaitting was Ripon in Yorkshire, the district around being the seat
of quite a fair-sized industry. It is interesting to note this, for it
seems to show that the Lorrainers in their southerly migration, had
stopped _en route_, and had sampled the straws grown on the Yorkshire
chalk.
But all this evidence tends to prove that the nature of the soil which
produced the proper straw for plaitting caused the trade to localize
around Dunstable. This ancient borough, practically in the centre of
the plaitting districts, situated on the Watling Street, along which
passed all the traffic between London and the north-west of England and
Northern Wales, at the junction of the Icknield way (another ancient
Roman road crossing the Watling Street towards the east and west), was
in the middle of the fifteenth century alive all day with the hum of
people and merchandise travelling to and fro. Sitting astride of the
trunk roads leading everywhere in Great Britain, it is small wonder
that this little town, of vast ecclesiastical importance in the Middle
Ages, but much decayed since the time of Henry VIII, became the place
from whence all the products of the neighbourhood could be dispatched.
And, therefore, the name of “Dunstable,” another of the now world-known
local names, was given to the plait, hats and bonnets which emanated
from the whole vicinity.
The great preponderance of coarse straws, combined with the increasing
demands for hats made of fine plaits, caused straw workers to endeavour
to make the straws smaller by splitting the “pipes” (as the whole straw
is called) into narrower portions called “splints.” This was done
at first with a knife, but the result was generally unsatisfactory,
although some skilled workers managed to acquire really wonderful
deftness in the operation. It was plait called “Patent Dunstable” made
of these split straws that gave this plaitting area its first textile
claim to distinction. Some one, now unknown, found out that two fine
_splints_ of straw laid together, inside to inside, produced when
plaitted an effect equal to that of the _whole_ straw, and yet enabled
plaitters to make the finest and narrowest widths of plait. The clumsy
method of cutting with a knife was apparently the only possible way of
making _splints_ until the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
The French prisoners at Yaxley Barracks, near Stilton, produced “pretty
and useful articles such as baskets, workboxes, mats, etc.” (Mr. Alfred
Tansley Soc. Art., 1860). These were decorated with “laid work,” a kind
of mosaic pattern made of coloured straw splints, cut to various sizes
and pasted on suitable foundations. “For the purpose of making these
splints, they used a straw splitter made of bone, about two inches
long, brought to a point behind which a set of cutters was arranged
in a circle, the point entered the straw pipe separating it into so
many equal sized splints” (Tansley). This instrument was soon copied
by a Dunstable blacksmith named Janes (some authorities say Norman)
who made some in iron and turned the cutting parts at right angles
to an elongated stem, which could be used as a handle. These were
subsequently also made in brass, and in 1815 other varieties, in the
form of metal wheels set in wooden frames, appeared. Mr. Tansley says,
“To this invention may be attributed the success which in after times
has attended the manufacture of straw plait in England.”
The two methods of working straws, either _whole_ or _split_, opened up
a wide field for diversity of plaitting, and quickly novelties began to
appear. From 1815 to the present day, at intervals sometimes short and
sometimes very long, new designs of plait have been put on the market,
and now there is no style of shape that cannot be suitably fitted up
with one or more plaits.
British plaitters have not been content to use only the straws grown
in the five counties. They have ransacked the world for materials,
_wood_ cut into fine shavings or splints, _Manila grasses_ or _hemp_,
manufactured splints of _cotton_, _silk_, or similar fibres, stuck
together in a flat ribbon called a “_lame_,” _horsehair_, _bamboo_,
_raffia_, and many other articles have been used for the purpose. At
one time 30,000 persons were engaged in the plaitting industry, but
by 1890 the number had dwindled to under 3,000. The reasons for this
decline were manifold. Although the district had produced, and was
still producing, straws better than any other continental centre, yet
about 1855 the demand for something different from the plaits made
solely of straw induced foreign plaitting communities to plait fancy
materials which before had been used for other purposes. Switzerland
and France began to make pretty and delicate patterns of plait or
braid, woven both by hand and by machinery, of all kinds of fancy
fibres such as silk, horsehair (or crinoline as termed by milliners),
fine ribbons, etc., in various combinations of one or two or more of
the above articles either with or without straws. Further attempts in
the way of decoration were made by intermixtures of glass beads and
bugles.
These very fanciful braids had a wonderful success, for they were
especially adaptable for bonnets, which to about 1865 were much more in
demand for fashionable wear than hats.
This invasion of a large quantity of displacing material adversely
affected the volume of plaitting in England, and still further damage
was done when Italy began to send over plain and fancy plaits made of
willow shavings, as well as fine straw _punta_ and _pedale_ plaits
similar to _Twist_, which was by then the mainstay of the fine plait
trade. (_Twist_ was a 7 end straw with a twisted beadhead made of fine
splints, two of which laid inside to inside formed one strand for
plaitting.) In 1867 the “last nail in the coffin” of British straw
plaitting was driven by the first import of plait from China, and in
that same year the distress in and around Dunstable was so great that
the then Mayor, Mr. Joseph Gutteridge, called a public meeting to
discuss methods for its alleviation.
As the far eastern countries of China and Japan now play such an
important part in the world’s straw hat trade, it will be of interest
to note how British traders first came in contact with their goods.
Doubtless from time immemorial the deft “Chinee” had been accustomed to
the weaving of grasses, etc., into hats and mats, and it is stated that
the attention of Luton hat makers was first drawn to the possibility of
getting plait from China, by seeing some “hats (mats?) which had been
used for lining chests of tea.”
Whatever the cause, in 1867, from plaitted samples sent to them,
the Chinese were able to imitate, in their native grown straws, the
products of England in such an excellent manner and at such a low
price, that the fiercest competition was at once created. People
engaged in the trade were so exasperated at the circumstance, that they
made an effigy of the importer and burned it in the Luton Market Place.
The competition of the increasing bulk of China straw plait imports,
together with the Italian imitation of Dunstable twist (called at first
“Milan,” and now generally known as “7 ends Pedal”) made the plaitting
trade in the five counties to decrease rapidly.
“The Society of Arts have at various times rewarded many individuals
for successful attempts to introduce bonnets formed of grasses
indigenous to Britain,” says Tomlinson, in his _Cyclopaedia_ published
in 1867, but all these well meant efforts to revive the industry
were unavailing. Neither for price nor quantity (which latter was
rapidly becoming almost the prime necessity) could British plaitters
successfully compete with the Italians and the Chinese for plaits of
narrow grades, although quantities of wider plaits both of plain and
fancy designs continued to be made. About 1890 plait began to arrive
from Japan, and just as the British straw was better than the Italian
and Chinese, so the Japanese was superior to the British. It was of the
most delicate pearly colour, it was infinitely lighter in weight, and
it could be obtained in far bigger _pipes_ than any European or Chinese
growths, and its adaptability both for _whole_ and _split_ plaits was
equal to all.
In straw plait, therefore, the Japanese were able to compete
successfully, but in a short time they put on the market an article
made of wood splints plaitted with three strands, called “Chip 3 ends.”
This plait, of Italian make originally, from its extremely low price
and colour possibility, was the material backbone of the ladies’ hat
trade for some years. In later times a braid made of hemp by machinery,
called _Tagal_ or _Tégal_, originated in Switzerland and Italy. Quickly
adopted by the Japanese, they have been able to supplant the earlier
producers, and as with the _Chip 3 ends_, to provide varieties which
have almost monopolized the hat making markets for the million.
In 1896 the plaitting trade was in such a bad state that some of
the principal hat makers in the district determined to attempt the
rescue of the plaitters. For that purpose the “British Straw Plaitting
Company” was formed, the writer of this book being appointed Chairman
of a very representative Board of Directors. Manufacturers were eager
to assist, and for the first twelve months the company showed great
promise. A revival of plaitting (although with other materials than
straw and of fresh designs) ensued, and better prices were paid so that
wages were much advanced. But the Swiss and Italians took fright, and
for the next two years so successfully competed by cutting prices, that
in 1899 the company was obliged to cease operations.
In fact, not only could better materials for plaitting be found in
other parts of the world, but in those parts the natives, who (as the
_Ency. Britt._ says about the Chinese) “could live where an Englishman
would starve,” were able to produce plait at prices which made it
impossible for plaitters in England to earn a living. But fortunately
as the plaitting trade declined the hat and bonnet making of Dunstable
and Luton was increasing as fast as its predecessor fell.
In 1865 the first attempts to sew plait by machinery were made,
previously all had been sewn by hand, a long and tedious process, when
fine plaits were involved.
This took the form of sewing several pieces of fine plait in a parallel
form, making strips of an increased width, which were then sewn by
hand to the desired shape. A little later an American named Bodsworth
introduced a machine which was capable of sewing plait into hats and
bonnets, but unlike all subsequent models, which start at the centre
of the top of the crown, this machine started sewing at the edge of
the brim. This materially lessened the field of shape variety, and
although great improvements were effected by skilfulness of working,
and although the machine was adopted by Messrs. Vyse Sons & Co., it was
not taken up generally by the trade.
The well-known firm of Willcox & Gibbs, makers of a domestic
chainstitch sewing machine, had an agent in Luton named Edward
Stratford, and about 1870 his wife, in response to a friendly
challenge, sewed the first straw hat from centre to circumference. The
day following this epoch making occurrence Mrs. Stratford sewed another
hat out of a fine make of “English China Purl” (a fine fancy edged
plait); this hat is said to be still in existence.
From 1870 the whole trade was revolutionized, all fine plaits
eventually were sewn by machine, only the coarsest and broadest widths
being sewn by hand. In 1874 Mr. Henry Bland, a Luton mechanic, turned
his attention to making alterations to the Willcox & Gibbs’ domestic
machine, in order to render it more suitable for sewing straw plait.
He took out patents to cover his improvements, which were subsequently
acquired by Messrs. Willcox & Gibbs, who issued the new machine
to the Trade under the title of “The 10-Guinea” straw hat sewing
machine. But this visible stitch machine had a fault which made it
unsuitable for the best work, inasmuch as the stitch was prominent on
the outside of the hat, and the demand for handsewn invisible stitch
continued unabated for goods of the best quality. Various machines
were introduced to imitate handsewing, most of them failures, but M.
Légat, a Frenchman, patented one in 1875 that even up to the present
time has never been surpassed for close resemblance in its work to that
done by hand, but although the machine was taken up seriously by the
best houses of Great Britain and France, its large initial cost, and
heavy charges for maintenance, allowed it only to retain its supremacy
pending the advent of a less intricate, delicate and costly model.
In 1878 Mr. Edmund Wiseman (who is still living), of Luton, took out
a patent for a machine to sew plaits with a “concealed” stitch. In
1880 some improvements were made, and for some years the “Wiseman
Concealed Stitch” machine sold at about half the price of the “Légat,”
and by no means as intricate and delicate, gradually displaced the
French machine. Between 1880 and 1886, Mr. Bland, of Luton, and Mr.
William Walker of Dunstable, both patented concealed stitch machines,
but without much success. In 1886 Mr. Wiseman entered into arrangements
with the Willcox & Gibbs Co. to produce an improved concealed stitch
machine that from its shape and method of action was called the “Box
machine.” This, although on the same lines as the first invention
with regard to the method of stitch and sewing, was capable of sewing
all kinds of plait both fine and coarse, whereas the earlier patent
was only really successful on fine plaits. This Box machine has been
greatly improved since 1886, but taken on the whole, its general
characteristics are the same. In 1895 Messrs. Janes Bros., of Luton,
took out a patent for a concealed stitch machine called the “Lutonia,”
which has met with a very distinct success. Meanwhile the demand for
hats of certain plaits, which were improved by the outside stitch
sewing, kept on increasing, and indeed there are plaits on which even
the so called “visible” stitches are _invisible_. Plaits of cotton,
silk, ajour, and crinoline are of such nature that the cotton used
in the outside stitch machine sewing seems to lose or bury itself in
the material of the braid, and there is less likelihood of the needle
catching in their tough fibres than there is in the working of the
Box machine, where a hook is used; and further for some years plaits
of fine chip were the dominant demand, and for these there was less
tendency on the part of the fine single needle of the visible stitch
machine to cut the narrow wood strands, than if the double punctuation
of the Box machine needle and hook were used. In 1879, therefore, the
Willcox & Gibbs Co. took out a patent for what is now known as the
“17 Guinea” type of visible stitch sewing machines. This model has
been closely followed by the “Dresdensia,” a German product of signal
value; and “The Singer,” an American competitor, both of which are in
the main imitations or copies of the 1879 patent. It is a fact worthy
of note that the first successful machine to sew a hat of straw plait
from button to circumference of brim was a Willcox & Gibbs, and that
the latest word in straw sewing is also, by the arrangement with Mr.
Wiseman, a product of the same firm.
Other machinery used for making straw hats consists of a variety of
“Blocking” machines. As will be shown hereafter, the most primitive
means were adopted at first, but when the hydraulic type made its
appearance it soon left no room for any other method. The appliances
of Messrs Desbordes, Desireau, Légat, Beresford, Keston, Brochier and
Stoffel (described in Chapter XII) have now rendered possible the
blocking of all kinds of shapes and materials by machine.
The plait mill, made of both wood and iron, completes the list of
mechanical appliances used in making a straw hat.
But at the present time all hat sewing machines, which for at least
twenty-five years were driven by the foot power of the operator, are
worked by mechanical power, either from a gas or steam engine, or by
electrical dynamos.