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Occasionally , on reading Jane Austen’s novels or letters, a reference jumps out at you …and you are puzzled. You simply have no idea what she is referring to… It niggles and niggles away …You have sleepless nights wondering what she was meant…You follow the paper trail and read copious books and manuscripts trying to find out what it was…then, sometimes, just sometimes, it comes a-right. The Holy Grail is discovered and explained.
This happened to me with the Merlin Swing in the Sydney Gardens, and I still remember the joy I felt when I discovered exactly what it was, though not how it looked ( go here to read about it ). The same with the tea board in Mansfield Park, and when I finally found an illustration of one (in a portrait of a rather self-satisfied West Indian merchant M.P.)another enigma was lopped from The Niggling List with relish.
And this passage from one of Jane Austen letters to Cassandra Austen has set me (and many others) on another hunt:
I am not to wear my white satin cap to-night. after all; I am to wear a mamaluc cap instead, which Charles Fowle sent to Mary, and which she lends me. It is all the fashion now; worn at the opera, and by Lady Mildmays at Hackwood balls. I hate describing such things, and I dare say you will be able to guess what it is like.
( Letter to Cassandra Austen dated 8th January 1799)
Well, no actually Miss Jane, I cannot guess what it is like…and so the hunt begins.
First, shall we see what Hackwood Park looked like and why it was a hotbed of up-to-date fashion?
This is a print of Hackwood which appeared in Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions and Manufacture etc in September 1825. Below is a section from my copy of John Cary’s 1797 map of Hampshire which shows the estate’s position and dominance in the society centered around Basingstoke at the time Jane Austen was living near there at Steventon. The estate appears on the map as the large green lozenge shape to the right of the section, and I have annotated the map so that you can see its position clearly.( You can also enlarge the map, and all the other illustrations in this post, simply by clicking on it)
This is the description from Ackermann’s Respository:
Hackwood is a contraction of Hacking Wood the original name of this place. It was the sporting retreat and occasional residence of the Pawlet family and their numerous relatives, when Basing-House was demolished in 1645 after a long and remarkable resistance. A lodge was then built for the residence of John the fifth Marquis of Winchester. Charles’s son, first Duke of Bolton, erected a splendid mansion in 1688; considerable alterations and improvements have been added since. The present carriage front on the north side is adorned in the centre with a noble Ionic portico, ascended by a flight of steps,and bearing in the tympanum of the pediment the arms and supporters of the family. An equestrian statue of George I mounted on a lofty pedestal and presented to that monarch to the family, stands at a small distance in front. It is this view of the mansions which we present to our readers. The south front was executed by the present nobleman from designs by Lewis Wyatt Esq. The rooms are spacious and magnificent and peculiarly adapted for comfort as well as display. In the saloon is a superb piece of carving by Gibbons. The family portraits are numerous…there are likewise two fine views of the Colosseum and ruins at Rome by Pannini.
The pleasure grounds are extensive and beautiful particularly on the south. Within these few years great improvements have been and are still in progress under the direction of the present Lady Bolton,whose taste in landscape gardening is generally admired, and is strikingly manifested in these grounds. The wood is wild and luxuriant in appearance. In its centre is a space of about four acres called the Amphitheatre, bounded by elms closely planted, extending their branches over the sides and ends of the area, at the upper end of which are the ruins of a rotunda. The park is well stocked with deer.
At the time Jane Austen was writing about it, the house was owned by Lord and Lady Botlon. Lady Bolton, Jane Mary Powlett , was the illegitimate daughter and eventual magnificently rich heiress of Charles Powlett, the 5th Duke of Bolton. Her husband Thomas Orde-Powlett, took her name when she inherited the estate and others from the Duke. The Duke had failed to produce a son to inherit his title, and while the title could not be inherited by Jane due to her illegitimacy and sex, she could inherit the non entailed estates. She eventually inherited most of the Bolton estates on the death of her uncle,the 6th Duke who died without any legitimate male issue. Her husband was elevated to the peerage on 20th October 1797 by George III. He took the name of Baron Bolton of Bolton Castle in honour of his wife’s family. So I think we can assume that the latest fashions would have been worn at the virtual ducal home…
Which leads us to the conundrum in question…what exactly did Jane Austen’s mamalouc cap look like?
Constance Hill in her book, Jane Austen, Her homes and Her Friends (1923) made the first attempt at deciphering the riddle:
The word Mamalouc is given as Mamalone in Lord Brabourne’s “Letters of Jane Austen,” which is evidently a clerical error; the letters uc in the MS. having been mistaken for ne. The battle of the Nile, fought in the preceding August, had set the fashion in ladies’ dress for everything suggestive of Egypt and of the hero of Aboukir. In the fashion-plates of the day we find Mamalouc cloaks and Mamalouc robes of flowing red cloth. Ladies wear toupées, somewhat resembling a fez, which we recognise as the “Mamalouc cap.” Their hats are adorned with the “Nelson rose feather,” and their dainty feet encased in “green morocco slippers bound with yellow and laced with crocodile-coloured ribbon. (See page 76)
This was the explanation accepted by Dierdre le Faye in her edition of Jane Austen’s letters. However, in A Frivolous Distinction, a 1979 booklet about fashion in Jane Austen’s novels and letters, a slightly diffident description of the cap is given by its author, Penelope Byrde, who was the Curator of the Museum of Costume and Fashion Research Centre in Bath:
Caps worn in the evening could be quite elaborately trimmed like the one Jane Austen was altering in december 1798:
‘I still venture to retain the narrow silver round it, put twice round without any bow, and instead of the black military feather shall put in the coquelicot one as being smarter, and besides coquelicot is to be all the fashion this winter. After the ball I shall probably make it entirely black’.But a little later she adds, “I have changed my mind & changed the trimmings of my Cap this morning; they are now such as you suggested- I felt as if I should not prosper if I strayed from your directions”
Another cap familiar to us from her letters was a Mamalouc cap she was lent on one occasion and which she said in January 1799 ‘is all the fashion now’. The vogue for Mamalouc ( or Makeluk) caps robes and cloaks had appeared after the battle of the Nile in 1798. A fashion plate of 1804 illustrating a Mameluck cap shows a white satin turban trimmed with a white ostrich feather….
(Page 7).
This doesn’t help us resolve the mystery does it? In fact it rather muddies the waters. As Marsha Huff, the past president of JASNA remarked in her review of the reissue of Penelope Byrde’s book, now in hardback and entitled Jane Austen Fashion:
I read “Jane Austen Fashion” hoping to learn more about the famous Mamalouc cap. I was, however, unable to reconcile Byrde’s description of a satin turban, trimmed with an ostrich feather, with that of Constance Hill (quoted by Deirdre Le Faye in the notes to her edition of Austen’s Letters), who wrote that a Mamalouc cap was a toupee, somewhat resembling a fez. Since Austen chose not to describe the cap she wore that January night in 1799, a fashion mystery remains.
I so sympathise with Ms. Huff’s frustration….But, perhaps the answer now presents itself to us. I have tracked down a reproduction of the fashion plate to which Penelope Byrde refers. It was published in the Costume Society’s report of their 1970 Spring Conference, on The So-Called Age of Elegance.
In an article, The Costume of Jane Austen and her Characters, written by Anne Buck, who was creator and the Keeper of the Gallery of English Costume at Platt Hall, part of the Manchester Art Galleries, and author of such influential books such as Dress in Eighteenth Century England, the mystery is finally resolved. In a note to the letter by Jane Austen which inspired our quest she writes:
The original of this letter, first published by Lord Brabourne was not traced by the editor who in a note to the letter gives Miss C Hill’s suggestion of mamlouc, one of the contemporary spellings of mameluke.This is no doubt what Jane Austen wrote.
And then, praise be, she included this illustration of a mameluke turban which appeared in The Fashions of London and Paris, in February 1804:
As you can see, the cap is a combination of two types of “oriental” headgear: the part of the hat immediately surrounding the face resembles a turban, and the crown of the hat is reminiscent of the conical shape of the fez, as referred to by Constance Hill.
So, finally we have it. The Mamalouc cap as worn by Jane Austen and by ladies of fashion at the Opera and at Hackwood Park. Another niggle is crossed off the list.
Like this:
I was lucky enough to receive this book as a gift at Christmas, and since then I’ve been savouring its marvellous detail. Though it covers a longer period than the Long 18th century, there is ample information to interest us within its pages.
The book is in fact the catalogue of a new exhibition which is currently on show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibit celebrates the acquisition by the museum of a major collection of European men’s, women’s and children’s clothes and accessories. I have no hope of getting to Los Angeles to see it ( the exhibit runs untill 27th March, 2011) and so it is truly wonderful to be able to pore over the very good photographs- highlighting some wonderful details- and the interesting text, including a very intriguing Preface by fashion’s current enfant terrible, John Galliano.
Let’s have a look at some of the items that interest me. First a waistcoat which would surely have appealed to Mr Knightley, though it is actually French- Shhh! Don’t tell him- as it’s subject matter is so rural:
Is this Harriet’s own dear welch cow?
And look at this beautiful dress form 1818, the overdress made of handmade lace, “Bucks” so-called because it was made in Buckinghamshire, a traditional area for bobbin lace making.
Here is a close-up detail of the lace:
In fact I am reading this book it in conjunction with the Museum’s marvellous and most excellent website: some of the items in the book are available to view in greater detail on the internet. Let’s do it together now….
This is a gentleman’s three piece velvet suit dating from 1800. The close-up of the embroidery is breath taking. Some areas of the embroidery are padded slighty to add a raised area and texture to the embroidery, almost like stumpwork. The dandelion heads are padded in this way.
If you go here however you can see more images of the suit and can zoom in on the details.
This beautifully detailed Spencer dating from 1815 is also available to view online here
So even if you can’t get to the exhibit, the museum’s excellent website and the book are beautifully presented and allow those of us sadly separated from it by thousands of miles to enjoy these wonderful clothes at one remove.
A final note: the website actually includes a wonderful free gift to talented needleworkers: free downloadable patterns which have been created from some of the garments in the collection. Go here to see. I love the banyan.
I thought you might like to share a wonderful new resource I have found (and have just added to the “My Links Section” in the left hand column to this page), the Dressing History web-site owned and created by Serena Dyer.
Serena has been studying historical costume since 1999, developing her knowledge through reproduction and recreation of historical pieces. She has spent time in the Textiles department at Christie’s, as well as with the wonderful Snowshill Manor Costume collection.
(©SerenaDyer)
She is currently working towards studying for a BA in History, which she hopes to develop into an MA in Fashion History. Her voluntary work with the National Trust has led to the development of her historical interpretation skills, which she now does regularly at Wimpole Hall, near Cambridge,appearing as various characters from the Hall’s history.
(©SerenaDyer)
Serena makes and sells fabulously accurate reproductions of historic clothing for re-enactors, museums and the heritage industry. She is able to supply thoroughly researched, highly accurate reproductions or recreations of historical garments from any era, and from a variety of social classes. Importantly she only uses natural fibres for the garments, and tries, wherever possible, to use authentically woven fabrics. Many of her pieces are based on original garments, portraits or fashion plates, and a research portfolio is available for each garment.
Here is her marvellous recreation of a 1797 open robe:
(All ©SerenaDyer)
For part of her dissertation on the dissemination of fashion in England c. 1770-1820 Serena made this dress-from beginning to end:
(©SerenaDyer)
She explains that:
I am using this dress to explore how closely the best sorts of dresses owned by the ladies of ‘polite society’ followed the plates of the period. Unlike simply looking at extant garments, this process allowed me to emulate aspects of the process through which a contemporary lady would make her decisions.
(©SerenaDyer)
Serena also gives talks, all vividly illustrated with her own reproduction garments. Her talks currently include Bonnets to Boots: A Regency Lady’s Wardrobe complete with garments reproduced from the 1810-1820 era which she recently performed at the 2010 Jane Austen Festival in Bath and, one for Henry Tilney, Knowing Your Muslin complete with reproduction garments and fabrics from 1780-1820 which Serena performed at the 2009 Jane Austen Festival.
(©SerenaDyer)
She also performs a talk which is of special interest to us, Dressing Jane Austen with reproduction garments representing the period 1780-1820. In Serena’s own words:
This presentation examines both Jane’s personal attitude to fashion, and her use of it as a literary device, using the portraits, letters and novels as evidence. Reproductions of gowns described in the letters and novels are also used, as well as an examination of the Pelisse which is believed to have belonged to Jane, providing the audience with a talk that is both visually interesting and provides an insight into how Jane viewed herself and others
Serena also provides an historical interpretation service, in which she portrays a wide range of characters, both in third and first person, and covers the 16th to 19th centuries.
Many of the characters portrayed are real historical people, and are presented as my interpretation, after thorough research, of what that person was truly like. I can also offer more general services, using a constructed character of my own, for any era, or alternatively I can give various demonstrations. Please contact for details and fees applicable.
The characters available are:
(©SerenaDyer)
Jane Austen (1790s, or 1800s),Charlotte Bronte (1830s), Jemima Yorke, Marchioness Grey (1740s), Lady Amabel Yorke (1770s), Marion Syratt (C16th),Molly Young, aMaid( C18th) and Mary Zouche (1540s)
I have to admit I am so very tempted to order one of Serena’s magnificently trimmed bonnets….
(©SerenaDyer)
But when to wear it?…would it look at all eccentric if I gardened in it? Of course not (!!) Details of Serena’s bonnet trimming service is available here and if you like to trim your own bonnet ( or like Lydia Bennet, just like to pull something to pieces) you can buy plain straw bonnets and ribbons from Serena too, here, in her Haberdashery section.
If you want to contact Serena to buy some of her wonderful merchandise, book her for a talk or interpretation or view her fabulously interesting website, then go here and she can also be contacted (and “liked”!) via Facebook.
I do hope I get the opportunity to hear one of her talks soon and I hope you have enjoyed reading about her.
The Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square is to hold a fascinating exhibition entitled Threads of Feeling. The Foundling Museum was established as an independent organisation in 1998 by the childcare charity the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, which is today known as Coram. Coram is the successor organisation of the original Foundling Hospital.
I confess I’m very excited to be going to see this exhibition and I will of course report back in late October, but I thought you would appreciate advance notice of what is to be on show.
Its curator is Professor John Styles who has written about the Coram Foundation’s collection of rare 18th century fabrics in his magisterial book, The Dress of the People which I reviewed here.
The exhibition will showcase some of the thousands of pieces of 18th century fabrics in the Coram Foundation’s collection and will also put on show some garments specially made to recreate the type of garments from which these scraps were taken.
(©Coram)
The story behind these scraps of fabrics is intriguing. When a mother left her baby in the care of the Foundling Hospital (see here for a little of its history) they often left a token with the baby, to be kept as an identifying record. In a few cases the babies- if they survived-were later claimed by their mothers and this identifying token assisted in the reunion process, especially if the mother was illiterate.
Sometimes the token was an object, such as these also in the Coram Foundation’s collection:
But often it was a small piece of fabric taken from the clothing worn by mother of the child which was then affixed to the child’s registration form and was subsequently bound in ledger, as shown below
Flowered Cotton(©Coram)
Or the token could merely have been some ribbons which had once been attached to the mother’s dress, as in this example here:
(©Coram)
As Professor Styles comments:
The process of giving over a baby to the hospital was anonymous. It was a form of adoption, whereby the hospital became the infant’s parent and its previous identity was effaced. The mother’s name was not recorded, but many left personal notes or letters exhorting the hospital to care for their child. Occasionally children were reclaimed. The pieces of fabric in the ledgers were kept, with the expectation that they could be used to identify the child if it was returned to its mother.
And this where they have been preserved for over 200 years, and now form the largest surviving collection of textiles worn by the ordinary people of London in the 18th century. Historically they are very important, providing fascinating insights into the type of fabrics and clothing worn by ordinary people, clothes which rarely survived more than a few years before being recycled into children’s clothes, cleaning cloths and rags etc.
The exhibition will be held in the Foundling Hospital Museum which is in Brunswick Square. Which was the foundations original home and also note, the home of John and Isabella Knightley in Emma on account of its good air ( which was an important part of the decision in assessing the location of the Foundling Hospital too) and was also the home from which the foundling Harriet Smith was reunited with Robert Martin.How appropriate.
The exhibition runs from the 14 October 2010 until the 6 March 2011, and I do hope some of you will be able to visit it.
On my recent jaunt to Bath I paid my usual visit to the Museum of Costume which is to be found in the basement area of the Assembly Rooms. This place is always a delight to visit: the staff are helpful and knowledgeable and the collection is magnificent.
Because of its situation-in the heart of the rooms peopled by the fashionable set of 18th century Bath- there are always examples of 18th century/early 19th century costumes on show to satisfy people obsessed with our era, but there are always many other interesting clothing related exhibits too. This year the exhibits (which are constantly changing to give the dresses time to rest and to provide different points of interest to frequent visitors) have no examples of costumes prior to the 18th century on show other than a marvellous exhibit of 17th century gloves,so I missed seeing my favourite 1660s dress made of shimmering silver tissue: but there were special exhibits of The Diana Dresses showing some of the late Princess of Wales’ iconic clothes, which brought back many memories, and as ever, the fascinating Dress of the Year exhibit, a dress chosen by the staff as being most representative of that particular year.
This picture shows the current winner for 2009 by Antonio Baradi. All the previous winners are on show: including the winner for 2005, by Versace and made famous by Jennifer Lopez
and this beautiful Karl Lagerfeld ensemble which won the accolade in 2008.
The museum was founded in 1963 by the scholar, designer and collector, Doris Langley Moore
She favoured a phorensic approach to researching fashion history and encouraged examining real examples of clothing to discover the truth about fashion from the pst. She also encouraged the collecting of modern classics, as well as collecting and preserving clothes from the past. She was friends with Anne Buck and C. Willet Cunningham and their combined scholarship has transformed our understanding of historic clothes.
The 18th and early 19th centuries were well represented in the galleries, and I would like to show you some of the dresses that were on show.
A marvellous sack dress made with silver thread: this would have surely fascinated quietly in the candle-lit assembly rooms of Bath of the 1760 and 70s
A pair of stays circa 1775, the year Jane Austen was born. Worn over a linen sift and made of stout linen.The corset was stiffened with whalebone and a rigid busk of wood or horn or even ivory was inserted into the centre front to keep it rigid. No, thank you…..
A sack back gown of silver-embroidered silk circa 1770
Some more dressed from the 18th century
A court dress of brocaded silk circa 1760-1765.
Though wide skirts of this very rectangular shape had passed out of fashion in the early 1750s the style was retained for court dresses. This is an example of such a dress made of French silk covered with a gold strip and brocaded with coloured silks and chenille thread.
A printed cotton dress of the circa 1795, fashionable at the time Jane Austen was writing her first draft of Pride and Prejudice, First Impressions. A late example of the 18th century style of dress, of the open robe and petticoat type which was to be superseded by the type of dresses seen below, a one piece dress, put on by placing it over the head of the wearer, unlike this style, which the wearer put on like a coat, sleeves first.
These are two embroidered cotton muslin dresses, one having tambour work embroidery , both circa 1800
The dress on the left, above, is made from plain and undecorated white cotton, which reflects a shot lived fashion for severe plainness in dress in England dating from around 1800. Cotton, grown in America was imported into England and produced in mills such as those owned by Samuel Oldknow of Stockport( more on him later in the year!)
This is a stunningly simple dress, circa 1806, made of cotton muslin embroidered with tiny sliced cylinders of white glass which produced a shimmering effect: marvellous in a candle lit room, don’t you think?
Additional fabric has been pleaded into the centre of the back of the dress to create a small train and to allow the skirt of the dress to drape gently around the legs of the wearer.
These are interesting dresses date from 1815. They are both made of brown silk gauze with yellow and blue stripes. They are reputed to have been worn by the Misses Percival at the Duchess of Richmond’s Ball held in Brussels in June 1815 immediately prior to the Battle of Waterloo. There is no conclusive evidence to support this claim but the museum ‘s curator did make the point that long-sleeved dresses were fashionable as evening dresses at the time so they could quite possibly qualify as having been worn at that event. If only they could talk!!
This is a wedding dress from America made at the turn of the 19th century which took my eye…
And because the staff understand that everyone likes to dress up, children’s sporting clothes from the 1880s are available for all to use…
As are some wonderfully swish-y crinolines and different types of corsets from differing eras. We had great fun trying them out and watching other people play….
So there it is, my impressions of a trip to the Costume Museum in the summer of 2010. Do go if you ever have the chance, for you will not regret it. And of course you can also visit the Assembly Rooms at the same time. More on those next week 
She knew enough to feel secure of an honourable and speedy establishment, and her imagination took a rapid flight over its attendant felicities. She saw herself at the end of a few weeks, the gaze and admiration of every new acquaintance at Fullerton, the envy of every valued old friend in Putney, with a carriage at her command, a new name on her tickets, and a brilliant exhibition of hoop rings on her finger.
Northanger Abbey, Chapter 15
Ah, Isabella Thorpe, one of my favourite of all Jane Austen’s adventuresses…imagining with some relish, the materially rich life she will enjoy with James Morland as his wife and helpmeet.
A severe reality check is needed: and Jane Austen duly gives her one.
What Isabella is imagining in this passage are the trappings of a very rich woman,-the establishment, the household, the new carriage, the whole package, if you like. Sadly for her what she is imagining, and very prettily so may I note, is the life of a rich woman, not the life of a wife of a lowly curate, or rector of a living with a small income….Ahem.
Let’s consider the type of Jewellery she was fantasizing about, shall we?
and a brilliant exhibition of hoop rings on her finger.
Hoop ring is a generic term for rings set with stones in the manner pictured above, or simple, plain gold hoops like a plain wedding ring. In Jane Austen’s era that they were not necessarily given to mark one event, like an engagement ring. That term is very Victorian, by the way , and that is one of the reasons Jane Austen would not have referred to it as such- “engagement ring” : its first usage in the English language according to the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1861 (by George Elliot in Slias Marner) ,well after our time period.
Rings were undoubtedly given as tokens of love during our era.
Sentimental Jewellery, as it as known, was very popular:
In the eighteenth century the ring was still the most significant of all love tokens, its unbroken circle continuing to stand for mutual commitment and eternal regard. From the 1790s the message was sometimes reinforced by a clever arrangement of coloured stones, the initial letters of which spell a term of endearment. Typically they are as follows:
Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Amethyst, Ruby and Diamond for Regard;
(A REGARD ring from my own collection)
Amethyst, Malachite, Jacinth, Turquoise and Emerald for Amite;
Lapis, Opal, Vermeil (a misnomer for a hessonite garnet) and Emerald for Love.
Sometimes the stones would be arranged in the form of a pansy flower called pensee in French, standing for “think of the giver”.
(See: The Triumph of Love: Jewellery 1530-1930 by Geoffrey Munn, page 57)
Plain gold hoop rings( like modern plain wedding rings) could be inscribed with lovers messages, and were known as “posey rings”. There is an 18th century “posey” ring- the term meant “little poems”-in the collection at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire with an inscription engraved on the inside as follows:
THO FARE (sic) APART YET NEAR IN HEART
That the tradition continued ( but with not much effect, in this particular case ) is illustrated by the fact that a gold hoop ring romantically engraved with the motto, SANS PEUR” which alluded to the ideals of knights in the age of chivalry, was given to Lord Byron by Anne Isabella Milbanke in 1815.
Posey rings were also used as wedding rings.
Interestingly George III began the trend for an additional “keeper ring”( and it is from this that our modern eternity ring has evolved). On his marriage to Queen Charlotte on the 8th September 1761 in addition to a wedding ring, (and a magnificent collection of other types of jewellery) he gave her what was known as a “keeper ring” pictured below. It is still in the Royal Collection:
Mrs Papenidck , assistant keeper of the wardrobe and reader to Queen Charlotte, recorded in her diary that it was the King’s
“particular present to his bride”
and that it was a diamond hoop ring of a size designed not to stand higher than the wedding ring to which it was to serve as a guard. She added that:
On that finger the Queen never allowed herself to wear any other in addition although fashion at times almost demanded it.
Throughout the whole Georgina era, fashion certainly demanded that a profusion of rings be worn. Here is what William Taylor, a footman in service with Mrs Prinsep, a widow of a rich London business man, had to say about her and her friends fashion for wearing many rings:
Dressed up monstrous fine with their jewellery I took notice how many rings there were on th fingers of four of these old cats as I call them, and there were no less than thirty one, some wedding some mounring, and others set with diamonds and precious stones of great value.
(see The Dairy of William Tayler, Footman (1827)
The construction of hoop rings positively encouraged the wearing of many rings at one time. As Diana Scarisbrick notes in her magnificent book, Jewellery in Britain:
The new style of the Georgian era, emphasizing width rather than length meant that more than one ring could be worn on the finger, and hoops, enameled or set with stones or pearls round half the entire circumference were very popular.
(See page 362-3 Jewellery in Britain 1066-1837 by Diana Scarisbrick.)
Here are some example of ”what fashion demanded”: first, Ingres’ portrait of Marie Marcoz, Vicontesse de Senonnes (1816).
And here is a close up of her hands so that you can see the plethora of fashionable rings clearly:
This is Sir Thomas Lawrence’ portrait of Princess Sophia, daughter of George III and sister to the Prince of Wales
and a close up of her hand
and finally his portrait of Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire in 1819
and a close up of her hoops, at least one on every finger, note:
So, there you are…hoops, posey and “regard” rings and other rings in profusion , yes , should Isabella marry a rich man I wonder if she ever managed it……
Authors of sites, far more qualified than me, write about fashion in the Gregorian /Regency era, and I would never presume to step on their toes.
But occasionally if there is something different but relevant on that topic which interests me and that I can discuss, I will, and I hope you will indulge me.
Today I want to talk about a book which is fascinating , not just for the descriptions of clothing in Jane Austen’s time, but for the historical perspective it gives : The Dress of the People by John Styles.
This book is currently one of my favourite books on the history of the era, because it tackles an area that has been very neglected: the clothing of the poor, the working class and servants in the long 18th century.
Jane Austen gives us some ideas of the puritanical attitude some held towards servants clothing in Mansfield Park : Mrs Norris and her sister, Mrs Price, share the opinion that servant girls ought not to show any extravagance in dress:
The family were now seen to advantage. Nature had given them no inconsiderable share of beauty, and every Sunday dressed them in their cleanest skins and best attire. Sunday always brought this comfort to Fanny, and on this Sunday she felt it more than ever. Her poor mother now did not look so very unworthy of being Lady Bertram’s sister as she was but too apt to look. It often grieved her to the heart to think of the contrast between them; to think that where nature had made so little difference, circumstances should have made so much, and that her mother, as handsome as Lady Bertram, and some years her junior, should have an appearance so much more worn and faded, so comfortless, so slatternly, so shabby. But Sunday made her a very creditable and tolerably cheerful–looking Mrs. Price, coming abroad with a fine family of children, feeling a little respite of her weekly cares, and only discomposed if she saw her boys run into danger, or Rebecca pass by with a flower in her hat.
Chapter 42
and
That Mrs. Whitaker is a treasure! She was quite shocked when I asked her whether wine was allowed at the second table, and she has turned away two housemaids for wearing white gowns.
Chapter 10
I leave it to yourselves to determine if we should have shared that view…
Surviving costumes as worn by the poor etc in the long 18th century are , of course, very rare .They were worn, re worn and adapted till they fell apart into rags. That makes a study of them very difficult. John Styles the Research Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire has tackled this problem head on and resolved it by referring to various sources of information. Unusual written sources are sourced by him in this book: criminal records are invaluable as the theft of clothes and clothing material was one of the most frequently prosecuted set of offences in the criminal courts during the long 18th century. Newspaper advertisements for fugitives inevitably contain descriptions of the clothes the fugitive was wearing when last seen.
For visual and material sources, Professor Styles refers to the prints and paintings of the era, of which this is one:
It reminds me of the family to whom Emma dispenses practical charity in chapter 10:
They were now approaching the cottage, and all idle topics were superseded. Emma was very compassionate; and the distresses of the poor were as sure of relief from her personal attention and kindness, her counsel and her patience, as from her purse. She understood their ways, could allow for their ignorance and their temptations, had no romantic expectations of extraordinary virtue from those, for whom education had done so little; entered into their troubles with ready sympathy, and always gave her assistance with as much intelligence as good-will. In the present instance, it was sickness and poverty together which she came to visit; and after remaining there as long as she could give comfort or advice, she quitted the cottage with such an impression of the scene as made her say to Harriet, as they walked away…
And for evidence of the type of materials worn by the poor he refers to the magnificent but sad collection of textile scraps preserved by the London Foundling Hospital. Here is a picture of the building from my collection of early 19th century topographical prints:
The Foundling hospital was the first intitution in England where children abandoned by their desperate mothers could be cared for, brought up and finally set out into the world suitably educated for a trade. Go here for a detailed history of the Foundling Hospital.
The Foundling Hospital was founded by Thomas Corum , a seafaring merchant, born in Lyme Regis. While living at Rotherhithe and pursuing his business interests in London, Coram regularly travelled a route on which he saw abandoned children, some dead, others dying. In 1722, motivated by an enduring blend of Christian benevolence, practical morality, and civic spirit, he decided to take action.
Inspired by the examples of the foundling hospitals on the continent, he advocated one for London. However, failure attended these first efforts, but in 1739 Thomas Corum obtained a royal charter for a Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Orphanages for such children had not been adopted in England, unlike in Europe, due to the prevailing puritan outlook : it was considered that young women would be encouraged into immorality and vice if facilities were provided for the succor of unwanted children.
Thomas Corum and his supporters- including Hogarth who painted this stunning portrait of him above- combined pity of the unwanted child with a certain commercial pragmatism.
The care regime for the child was as follows: after four years of wet nursing and foster care in the country among suitable families, the foundling children were taught useful skills in the Hospital that would benefit them and society. Girls were brought up to be domestic servants and boys to be employable in husbandry, seafaring or as household servants or placed with London shopkeepers( their ability to write and keep accounts assisted them in this). Boys were apprenticed at the age of 12 or 13, girls at 14.
Here is its position in London from a section of my copy of Smith’s New Map of London (1809)
You can see the Foundling Hospital quite clearly I hope, with Brunswick Square set around it- for the square was in fact built on land owned by the Foundling Hospital and was developed by the Governors of the Hospital:
The Foundling Hospital, which, like so many institutions of the 1740-60 period, stood out in the fields. Unlike other hospitals, however, the Foundling possessed the freehold of much of the land surrounding it and it was seen that, as London expanded northwards, this could be made a considerable source of wealth.” When the Governors talked of building in 1788 there was an immediate outcry against the invasion of more open country; it was also considered that the children’s health might suffer. Two years later, however, the hospital architect was instructed to make a report. This architect was Samuel Pepys Cockerell, a pupil of Sir Robert Taylor and a man who, like Taylor, combined artistic ability and scholarship with a real grasp of practical affairs and an unimpeachable professional character.
In his Report to the Governors of the Foundling, Cockerell recommended the formation of the open spaces which we now know as Mecklenburgh and Brunswick Squares.” In this he had the support of Thomas Bernard, one of the Governors, whose name became much associated with public improvements in the Regency. The objects of the squares were, first, to retain for the hospital ‘the advantages of its present open situation’ and, second, to provide an architectural setting so ‘as rather to raise than depress the Character of this Hospital itself as an Object of National Munificence’.
The Report sets out that cardinal principle of Georgian town planning, the creation of urban units containing accommodation for all classes. Cockerell proposes:
“That there shall be such principal features of attraction in the Plan as shall not be too great for a due proportion to the whole but yet sufficient to draw Adventurers to the subordinate parts and that these subordinate parts be so calculated as to comprise all Classes of Building from the first Class down to Houses of Twenty-five pound pr. annum without the lower Classes interfering with and diminishing the Character of those above them, and particularly that the Stile of the Buildings at the several Boundaries, be (in order to ensure success to the intermediate parts) as respectable as possible consistent with their situations and with prudence in the Adventurers.”
(from “Georgian London” , p184-5 by Sir John Summerson)
By 1802 nearly 600 houses had been built on the estate owned by the foundling Hospital. Of which Mr John Knightley’s in Emma was one. This makes sense- for the air on the outskirts of London was considered good: and Isabella Knightley ,very much her father’s daughter would surely have settled no where else. For John Knightley’s comfort-and we know that was very important to him-he was not far from the law courts and Barristers chambers , and finally I think Jane Austen was making an indirect reference to the illegitimate and abandoned state of Harriet Smith, who found happiness in Brunswick Square while staying with the Mr John Knightley’s there. A trip to Astley’s Amphitheatre was the scene of her reconciliation with Robert Martin.
Back to the book…..
The hospital’s admission or billet books which were meticulously kept form 1741 to 1760 contain the worlds largest collection of everyday fabrics. This is one example of a blue and white striped cotton turned up with purple and white linen ,made up into a baby’s sleeve, accompanied by a pink ribbon.
The child who wore it was as you can see about 3 weeks old when it was accepted into the Foundling Hospital. Heatrending.
However Professor Styles users them very carefully, describing the type of cottons and linen the preserved scraps represent and the type of clothes from which they came.
It all makes for an absorbing and facinating read.
The book is published by Yale and it is sumptuously and carefuly produced, the illustrations are clearly reproduced, an important point other publishers may have fudged.
I thoroughly recommend it, not only for its history of plebeian clothing in our era, but for its examination of that part of society which,i s certainly referred to by Jane Austen but is not usually covered in history books.
