John Hetherington
John Hetherington is an apocryphal English haberdasher. A frequently republished story from the late nineteenth century claims that in 1797 he invented the top hat and caused a riot by wearing it in public in London. However, top hats appeared in English fashion as early as the 1780s.
John Hetherington
- Born
- 1500
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Great Britain
- Occupation
- fashion designer · haberdasher
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John Hetherington is an apocryphal English haberdasher. A frequently republished story from the late nineteenth century claims that in 1797 he invented the top hat and caused a riot by wearing it in public in London. However, top hats appeared in English fashion as early as the 1780s.
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wikidata · Q6239133
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The story
In 1899 the quarterly London journal Notes and Queries published a letter by a Richard H. Thornton of Portland, Oregon, quoting a "note from a recent number of the Hatters' Gazette". The note supposedly claims Hetherington as having decided to wear his invention of a "silk hat" in public on the 15th of January 1797 with the intention to "cause a sensation" only to be surrounded by a "howling mob". The note claims to quote an unnamed gazette as having reported the following day that The note concludes by claiming to quote a comment in The Times published on 16 January 1797 approving of the hat and stating that it was "destined to work a revolution in headgear".
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Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Bertuch, Friedrich Justin. Journal des Luxus und der Moden, March 1787, p. 92f
- 2.Thornton, Richard H. The First Silk Hat in London. Notes and Queries. John Francis. III. 325. 29 April 1899.
- 3.Wolff. The Waterloo directory of Victorian periodicals, 1824-1900. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Phase 1. 464. 1976. 978-0-88920-026-5.
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