Beading on Hats and Bonnets at the end of the 19th Century

According to magazines published about this time fringes for hats and bonnets were beaded The beaders did not always work in light, pleasant surroundings, and behind the sparkling late Victorian and Edwardian dresses is a deplorable story of 'man's inhumanity to man' — and to woman.

In September 1890, The Ladies' Magazine published one of its usual charming pieces of feminine frippery, as nicely calculated to catch the eye of the ladies by whom it would be read as any article by a fashion journalist today. 'The autumn toilettes', we are told, 'are enriched with beautiful fringes of beads, which gracefully accentuate every movement of the wearer, when the fringes are of glass or jet beads, the effect is dazzling.' A contemporary illustration shows just how delectable the effect might indeed have been. But the background against which these graceful movements were performed was one of abuse, aching poverty, and the misery from which there is neither respite nor release. Beading was, at that time, one of the sweated industries, with all the horrible associations that the phrase conjures up.

The practice of sweating is a very old one, and oppressed thousands of women in such trades as tailoring, millinery, dressmaking, military embroidery, buttonholing, and beading. 'We had no food,' was the defense offered by one woman who had pawned the material given out to her by her employer; and because she was unable to redeem it, she went from her squalid room, which probably served her whole family as living, sleeping, and workroom, to prison. Her story underlines the great gulf that was fixed between those who played and laughed in the sun, and the under-world that groaned and toiled and sweated; a world inhabited by pathetic, bewildered men and women, on whom the burden of overwork rested from childhood to old age.

Government contracts for such work as embroidery on military uniforms were known to be negotiated so that a reasonable wage could be paid, and so the sub-contractor — who was most frequently the sweater—would not dare to underpay for this work, but in giving it out he would often stipulate that the woman must execute other commissions for him at sums considerably lower than those she ordinarily obtained. Many people were frightened to disclose to such inspectors, as there were, the true state under which they worked, and so it was extremely difficult to collect reliable information on which parliamentary reforms could be based. However, to bring the problem to the attention of the public, the Women's Industrial Council organized an exhibition of work made under sweated conditions, which was known as the Daily News Sweated Industries Exhibition, and was held in London in May 1906. A vicar arranged an exhibition in his church hall showing the effects of sweated labour in his parish. In spite of the fact that it lasted for only two days it attracted a great deal of attention, and paved the way for the larger and more compelling Daily News exhibition.

In the catalogue, Mrs Ramsay MacDonald who was particularly interested in the beaders, wrote: A great variety of beading is done in the homes; beading jackets and mantles, trimmings and braids of various kinds, bead ornaments, beaded belts, hats and bonnets, beading of shoes, embroidery with beads and sequins, etc. The trade is as variable in rates of pay as in kinds of work, and is affected to some extent by the season, but still more by the fashion done in country cottages. There are villages where a woman will fetch work from London and then let it out to the villagers around, each of whom does it for a price less that paid to the middle woman, and the subcontracting leads to very low wages.

Women were paid 4d. per yard for making a bonnet fringe, and it took four hours to make a yard. It took half an hour to bead one shoe for which the pay varied between 7d. and 9d. a dozen pairs. Nobody, working even twelve or fourteen hours a day could hope to earn more than six or seven shillings a week.

The purchaser knew nothing about the conditions and would certainly not have been encouraged to inquire. The evils were so widespread both on the continent and in Britain that they even crossed the sea to America and to Australia and New Zealand. Underneath the surface of progress, prosperity and equality in these countries, sweating dens appeared, and spread like weeds in a new and favorable environment. In America they existed almost

They swarmed over to what they believed to be the Land of the Free, but which in fact trapped them in a system that was every bit as vicious as that from which they thought to escape; and again the way of the reformer was hard. An attempt was made in Chicago to provide for the inspection of houses where garments were made which forbade any except members of the family to work in such dwellings. The immediate result was a large apparent increase in the size of the families of workers, as all profitable workers were straight away adopted as relatives. Finally, however, legislation in every country was gradually formulated, and the evil practices diminished and eventually vanished.