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THE LUTON HAT INDUSTRY

How it all began - with straw

Straw hat making was happening in this area long before the hat factories of Luton made it a big industry. As early as 1719, a petition was made to Parliament by poor straw hat makers, not just of Luton but from the surrounding counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. A record exists of the appointment of a teacher of straw plaiting and bonnet sewing at Luton workhouse in the late 1740s.

It is difficult to pin down when plaiting straw became a local skill. Some accounts suggest that it was introduced during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots in the 1550s, but by the early 1600s hat making was being done in Luton.

During the 1700s fine straw hats became very fashionable, and towards the end of that century, straw splitters discovered that thick English straw could be split easily; this made it possible to make plaits as fine as those from Italy. This was a breakthrough and encouraged straw plait, firms such as Welch and Sons to move from London to Luton so that they were closer to the required raw material. Every week stalls were set up in George Street and people came from the surrounding area to trade in straw plait. A plait market also existed in Dunstable from 1861.

By 1842 import tariffs had been removed and this made straw grown in England cheaper; this in turn helped the farming economy resulting in hats made in Luton being less expensive than those from abroad.

Throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century many houses were extended to become hat workshops. Usually two rooms were added to the rear of the house; the ground floor room was where the heavy work of blocking and stiffening was done while the upper floor is where the hats were sewn. In 1856 in order to meet the demand for hats, thousands of women and girls came to Luton to work in the hat factories. Many came from the surrounding villages staying in lodging houses during the working week and returning to their family homes at the weekend.

Hat-makers traded their goods in markets, specifically called Plait Halls, and in 1869 a new Plait Hall was opened in Luton; this meant that hat trading could now be done under cover, removing the need to hold an open market in George Street. The plait halls were in Waller Street and Cheapside.

Early in the 1800s, hats were usually hand sewn, but in the late 1870s sewing machines were introduced and used for sewing hats which in turn led to big factories being established in the town. centre; many of these factries also supported the associated cottage industries of plaiting and hat-making.

As hats were made from lengths of straw plait, the plaiting and hatting industries coexisted and played an important role in the home life for many people of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Plaiting was a cottage industry, generally done in many agricultural labouring families. The industries of plaiting and hatting provided employment for mainly women and children, although men became very adept in plaiting too during periods in the agricultural year when little farm work was available. In the nineteenth century, plaiting was often the reason why some women neglected their domestic duties.

Due to the import of foreign plaits during the 1870s and 1880s, there was a significant decline in the straw plaiting industry but a boost in the hatting industry which provided the primary source of income for many locals.

Luton’s success as the main centre for hat production since the early 1800s was really due to straw plaiting. It was the major cottage industry in the surrounding counties, boosted during the Napoleonic Wars when supplies of straw plait from Italy were subject to the hefty import duties. The advent of the straw-splitter, which was placed on the ends of straw in order to split it into a number of equally sized splints, resulted in a much finer superior plait; and this ensured that the straw-plaiting industry developed.

The straw splitter consists of a turned handle of wood and four tools. Each consists of a brass tube in which is fixed a steel wire to pass down the straw and a number of radiating steel blades. The blades range from four to seven, for cutting through the straw stalk and make the corresponding number of splints.

Straw plaiting

Straw plaiting was a cottage industry which frequently supplemented the wages of an agricultural labour in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, generally within a twenty-mile radius of Luton/Dunstable.

The process by which straws were turned into plaits was detailed and complex.

The straw plaiter was an important cog in the wheel of a much larger organisation. After harvest the straw was cleaned, cut into short lengths, graded through sorters and made into bundles of evenly matched straws. The plaiter would purchase these bundles and begin their work.

Instead of using the whole length of the straw, hat plait is made from short lengths that have been matched for thickness. This means regular joining has to be part of the process. These were trimmed to about twelve inches in length.

The straw plait had to be perfect; any flaws, imperfections or unevenness of width would result in a lower price paid by the plait merchants. At worse, it might mean the plaiter could not sell their work. This is why the plait was made using short lengths of straw.

The straw was bleached with sulphur to lighten its colour and soften it so it was easy to work with before being graded according to size and tied into bundles ready for sale.

Straw plaiters held a bundle of straws under their left arm. If the plaiter was making split straw plait, then the first job was to make the splints. Whole straws were put through a splitter and then milled Some plaits were made using dyed straws to create a range of colour.

Each straw was moistened either between their lips or dipped into water before being plaited. Plaits varied in design, quality, width, and the number of straws used to create them.

Using a straw-splitter meant that the inner and outer side of the straw differed in colour and texture which gave a greater variety of patterns.

Finally, the finished plait would be passed through a plait-mill which was a roller with grooves to prevent the decorative head of the plait from being crushed.

Female straw plaiters were most prominet in the 1870s. The 1871 census records 20,701 plaiters in Bedfordshire, most within a ten-mile radius of Luton.

Children in the plait schools

The straw plait industry relied upon children from as early as the start of the nineteenth century with the establishment of plaiting schools around Luton. It is thought that around 13,000 children in Bedfordshire alone were working in plait schools in the 1860s. Schools charged two or three pence a week and the children were expected to earn about three shillings a week by the time they reached fourteen.

The extent to which the plaiting industry relied upon children is apparent from the number of plaiting schools around Luton at the start of the nineteenth century. Although they were described as schools and those who went to the schools described as scholars, in reality these plait schools resembled sweatshops as opposed to learning establishments.

Children were taught the basics of plaiting at home before being sent to a plait school between the ages of three and four when their work was considered to be financially viable. Younger children were often found in the schools tasked with clipping the loose ends of straws because they were too young to plait.

Children worked long hours in poor light in overcrowded cramped conditions and were often subject to harsh discipline. Typically, upwards of two dozen children plaited in a room no larger than ten feet square. It was a rare occurrence if any real lessons were taught because the main purpose was to produce enough plait to earn an income for the plait mistress.

Governments then intervened in the form of the Factory Acts which imposed a maximum number of hours that children of different ages could work, and ultimately banned children under nine years of age from working.

The 1867 Factory Act should have closed the plait schools, but a loophole in the Act allowed them to carry on until 1871. Even after the 1870 and 1880 Education Acts, parents kept their children away from schools in order to plait.

Plait dealers and merchants

A plait dealer bought the straw plaits made by the plaiters, sometimes having supplied suitable straw. The plaits, normally twenty yards long, were collected and sold to hat makers at a plait market. By about 1815, the price of a splitter was affordable and a woman could expect to earn about £1 a week which was frequently twice as much as her ag lab husband could earn.

The Plait Halls had just been opened in Waller Street and Cheapside, and the surrounding area was rapidly developing and becoming the nucleus of the industry.

Making of hats

In Luton the main discipline of the hat industry was the making of straw hats and bonnets for women to wear; the production of straw boaters for men was undertaken later.

Before the introduction of sewing machines, hats were stitched by hand using two methods.

Overlapping then stitching the length of plait into the rough shape of the hat being made. When overlapping the plait, the sewers used special millinery needles and a variety of threads.

Remaille was done by stitching the plait together edge to edge.

Initially, the process was done by hand; in fact, most hand sewing was done in the home or in small establishments before being sold on to larger firms. After the invention of a concealed stitch sewing machine by Luton engineer Edmund Wiseman, tiny stitches were almost invisible in the finished item.

Stitching straw plait

The plait was checked, dampened and then wound onto a plait winder where a button was created at the top centre of the crown.

The sewing process involved shaping the hat to the hat block and then creating the shape either using the block or in free form.

The remaining processes known as finishing included blocking, bumping and crabbing.

Once the sewing machine became commonplace in factories, hand-sewing declined but was still used for special hats. Much of the work was undertaken by out-workers who were supplied with a machine and batches of work to be completed each week.

Different types of machines were in use depending upon the process; some were used to stitch straw as a flat sheet and others to stitch from the brim to crown.

These are then put on wooden blocks for hot pressing; this would also render them a more delicate white since they would be exposed to the fumes of sulphur. People who made up these hats could earn half-a-guinea a week; but expert braiders or plaiters coud expect to earn much more.

There were over 500 hat manufacturers in Luton during the 1800s. Most were involved in the actual making of straw hats but some were linked to associated trades - designers, material suppliers, bleaching and dyeing and block making.

Straw Police Helmets

Luton Borough police wore straw helmets made in the town. The policeman's helmet was made of black and white straw plait, with a leather chin strap, crown back and brim edge. There was a white metal badge with the words Luton Borough Police, with the Luton Borough crest below the crown between an olive and oak spray.

Felt hat production

The felt hat industry has been traced to the mid-seventeenth century in France, and it was probably introduced into England some time around 1830. From the 1870s onwards, the production of felt hats in Luton was added to that of straw hats. The felt hat trade mainly produced caps and men’s hats. Straw and felt hats were made using the same basic technique. Hat materials can be hand or machine blocked.

There were basically five types of men’s hat.

COKE – A dome-shaped hat which became known as the bowler after its maker, Thomas Bowler of Southwark. William Coke tested it by jumping on it to see if it withstood his weight. It did!

BOATER – Sailors had boaters issued to them by the Royal Navy. It was also adopted in Victorian England as a school hat and became popular for summer wear; it still has a nautical flavour today.

TRILBY – This was named after the female heroine, Trilby O’Ferral. It became popular from 1895 as a more casual item of men’s headdress.

FEDORA – This is much the same as a trilby.

PANAMA – This was imported from Equador. Every hat is unique as it is handmade and exported flat as hoods to be shaped in this country where specialist factories existed.

Mad Hatters' Disease

Mad hatters' disease is a form of mercury poisoning that affects the brain and nervous system. It was caused by inhaling toxic fumes from mercury nitrate, a chemical used in the felting process to stiffen the felt. As well as the damage caused to the lungs, the fumes affected the brain which led to paralysis, loss of memory, mental derangement and eventual death.

Blocking, Bumping and Crabbing

Blocking is the term used to describe the action of moulding a hat shape.

Bumping is the term used for the process of final felting of a hood; further compressing and felting of hoods is done in a bumping machine.
Crabbing refers to treatments which enhance the findihed hat such as brushing.

Occupations in the felt hat and straw hat trade

Do you have any people with these occupations in your family tree?

Bonnet sewer

Blocker

Hatter

Bumper

Crabber

Trimmer

Velour finisher

Hat makers from all over the UK migrated to Luton in the 1870s and 1880s. There was a mass migration of women and girls to work in the large hat factories in the town.. This big population move was possible due to the railways. The railways also made a signficant contribution to the industry, transporting both raw materials and compleded hats.

Where can I find records will provide more information about hat making?

1

Records of hatters can be found in census returns, wills, trade and street directories,.
2

Trade Union and Trade Association records

Amalgamated Society of Journeyman Felt Hatters 1888-1913

Hatters' and Trimmers' Union

Journeyman Hatters' Union of GB 1890-1910
3

Fire insurance records

Company business records
4

The Trade Guilds

Worshipful Company of Feltmakers - The Livery Company for Hatters
5

Photographs and artefacts can be found in specialist collections at museums.

Wardown Park Museum and Stockwood Discovery Centre are both in Luton
6

Specialist newspapers and journals

This article was contributed by Ian Waller from Bedfordshire Family History Society.

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