. The Victoria history of the county of Hertford. Natural history. A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE partly by outside labour. They also buy and finish work already sewn. The outdoor hands mainly do trimming and finishing at their own homes. Gentlemen's hats are the principal articles made at St. Albans, but the small factors, especially at Markyate, sew ladies' hats for manufacturers at Luton, the chief seat of this branch of the trade. Many of the St. Albans manufacturers block and trim a quantity of imported goods. In St. Albans alone over eleven hundred persons are employed in the trade at the he
. The Victoria history of the county of Hertford. Natural history. A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE partly by outside labour. They also buy and finish work already sewn. The outdoor hands mainly do trimming and finishing at their own homes. Gentlemen's hats are the principal articles made at St. Albans, but the small factors, especially at Markyate, sew ladies' hats for manufacturers at Luton, the chief seat of this branch of the trade. Many of the St. Albans manufacturers block and trim a quantity of imported goods. In St. Albans alone over eleven hundred persons are employed in the trade at the height of the season.*^ Several of the firms at St. Albans are of old standing.*' The present firm of T. H. Johnson & Sons was founded in 1834 by the late Mr. Thomas Johnson. Other manufacturers then existing in the town were Heywood & Harris, W. Johnson, T. Richardson, G. Slade and J. Morris. Mr. Thomas Johnson first began business in weaving by hand looms, the materials used being cotton, straw and Senneck horsehair (Lima) which were made up into a kind of plait or trimming in lo-yard lengths. This was employed for making ladies' hats and bonnets. In or about 1836 an American of the name of Smith introduced the Brazilian hat industry to St. Albans. The material used was a kind of palm grass, which had to be washed and cleaned and then bleached or dyed to any required shade, being afterwards reduced and split into various widths for direct plaiting into hats. Other manufacturers to take up this trade were G. Slade, S. West, T. Harris, J. Morris, W. Keightly, J. Webdale and Thomas Johnson; but, as already men- tioned, the French hat makers produced finer goods to compete with the St. Albans manu- facturers, and thus obtained the bulk of their trade of that kind. Hand sewing was largely superseded by the invention, about 1875, °f a machine for stitching hats by Mr. Bland, of Luton. It was called the 'Fifteen Guinen machine.' Further improvements have since been made, and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1902
