 |
|
|
 | | |  |
Mad as a hatter? |
 |
Trimming department
© Sidney Barnes - Warwickshire libraries |
Fashion has always been a topsy-turvey business, and boom was never far from a slump. While British forces were chasing Napoleon across Europe, the production of military caps offered plenty of employment in the town, and it's said that Atherstone supplied the majority of the caps for the soldiers at Waterloo, but once the battle was won, the trade declined again. The prospect of peace with France was not as gleefully received in this neck of the woods.
Machining department
© Sidney Barnes - Warwickshire libraries |
Even the abolition of slavery was a double-edged sword for the local hatters. The supply of cheap felt hats for African slaves helped to keep Atherstone buoyant for many years, given the huge numbers involved. Abolition of the slave trade in 1833 spelled the end for this lucrative outlet too.
The international nature of the hat trade meant that ripples across the whole of Europe could cause waves in Warwickshire. Even as far away as Romania the Atherstone hat held sway, a situation that came seriously under threat during the Balkan dispute of 1885.
The threat was due to the proposal of increased tariffs for the import of hats, and it took intense lobbying in Parliament and in Eastern Europe to secure the trade. Luckily for the hatters, threats of tariffs made in the summer months became much more hollow as the Balkan winter set in, and prospective buyers contemplated facing the chill without warm head covering.
So the trade bobbed along. Where one war threatened an end to the trade, another - whether in South Africa or Flanders - promised another boom in military orders. Fate, it seemed, was always ready to pull another rabbit from the hat.
Words: Chris Upton
Your comments
| |
 Print this page |
|
Archive
Look back into the past using the Legacies' archives. Find nearly 200 tales from around the country in our collection.
Read more > |
| | |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| The 成人快手 is not responsible for the content of external Web sites. |
| | | |
| | |
| |
|
