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.
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 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
John Hetherington... was arraigned before the Lord Mayor yesterday on a charge of breach of the peace and inciting to riot, and was required to give bonds in the sum of £500 appeared upon the public highway wearing upon his head what he called a silk hat... a tall structure, having a shiny lustre, and calculated to frighten timid people.... several women fainted at the unusual sight, while children screamed, dogs yelped, and a young was thrown down by the crowd which had collected and had his right arm broken.
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".
Notes
- A trade journal for hatmakers published in London since 1877.
- Equivalent to £65,408 in 2023.
References
- Thornton, Richard H. (29 April 1899). "The First Silk Hat in London". Notes and Queries. Ninth series. III. London: John Francis: 325. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- Wolff, Michael; North, John S.; Deering, Dorothy, eds. (1976). The Waterloo directory of Victorian periodicals, 1824-1900. Vol. Phase 1. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 464. Retrieved 16 January 2024.