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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: kjthistory on Sunday 01 December 19 22:18 GMT (UK)
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Does anyone know what a Collarmaker would have done in 1746?
I have always assumed it was leather work for horse collars etc, but in 1746 I have a "Thomas Tylsey the Younger, Clothier" in a court case, and the only candidate in the town at the time had served an apprenticeship with a Collarmaker.
So I'm wondering if making shirt collars was a thing at that time? My candidate's father was a Tailor, which would seem to fit quite well.
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Shirt collars used to be separate from the shirts, held in place by collar studs.
I presume he was making these?
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Hmmm! Maybe not?
Detachable collars, attached with studs, were apparently invented in 1827 ;D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detachable_collar
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Ah, maybe not then! I don't really know where to look - I've seen people mentioning that people calling themselves Collarmakers then turn up calling themselves Saddlers at other times, which makes it obvious, but I'm very short of wills in this family, and it's too early for father's occupations on christening records.
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Shirt collars used to be separate from the shirts, held in place by collar studs.
Indeed they did, but those seem more Edwardian to me than 18th C. Before that, collars could be very ornate, so I would guess something more on those lines? Lace, for instance.
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Ah, now lace is something I hadn't thought of at all, so that could be it. But I think I would expect the word lace to appear in the occupation, and besides, wasn't lacemaking generally women's work?
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Someone else seeking the same info. in 2008 but nothing concrete answered;
https://www.british-genealogy.com/forum/threads/34406-Collar-Maker
Annie
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Thank you! I'm completely out of ideas where else to look...
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There's not many illustrations for that specific year. However, the man's pleated ruff was worn well before and well after that year. So too was the clerical "dog collar".
There's a fine figure of a man in this "falling" fold collar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700%E2%80%931750_in_Western_fashion#/media/File:Georg_Friedrich_H%C3%A4ndel.jpg
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https://www.elgarshirts.com/historic-clothing/ is an interesting read (although it doesn't give sources for its information. It suggests that collars and cuffs were 'made-to-measure' and sewn on to baggy shirts.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/micheliene65/18th-century-mens-shirts/ has some good images.
Philip
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Interesting - after transcribing about 3000 baptism records for Liverpool 1705-1730, I have just come across my first Collarmaker, in 1722, among loads of Sailors, Mariners and Carpenters. It may have been horse collars I suppose, but I have seen no other evidence of rustic activity.
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I've found collar makers who were working within saddlers, with leather - and ladies making lace ones, as well as shirtmakers who specialised in detachable collars, but just to throw another spanner into the works, I also found a young lad and his sister both employed as PAPER collar makers!! (I assume this was in dirty old industrial days, to give a superficially clean appearance if cheaper than laundry?)
Sorry.
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I think this had to do with the driving 'collar' which horses wore. I had a 5th great grandfather who was a saddler and collar maker of Crewkerne, Somerset. The two crafts went together.
http://www.saddletramps.org.uk/www.saddletramps.org.uk/info.php?p=8&pno=0 (http://www.saddletramps.org.uk/www.saddletramps.org.uk/info.php?p=8&pno=0)
https://books.google.de/books?id=W5CNLC9nn9EC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=collar+maker+1700s&source=bl&ots=R3BTcOOgMO&sig=ACfU3U1S0DaFgaNzgejjXWlhdyXhM-USfA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBuIPAsPPuAhWSuKQKHda7A2IQ6AEwEnoECA8QAw#v=onepage&q=collar&f=false (https://books.google.de/books?id=W5CNLC9nn9EC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=collar+maker+1700s&source=bl&ots=R3BTcOOgMO&sig=ACfU3U1S0DaFgaNzgejjXWlhdyXhM-USfA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBuIPAsPPuAhWSuKQKHda7A2IQ6AEwEnoECA8QAw#v=onepage&q=collar&f=false)
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Shirt collars used to be separate from the shirts, held in place by collar studs.
I presume he was making these?
My father used to wear shirts with separate collars in the 1950s! The idea was that when they wore thin along the fold line you could turn them inside out and they still looked respectable. They were also starched much more fiercely than the actual shirts. It was one of my jobs to iron them.
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Shirt collars used to be separate from the shirts, held in place by collar studs.
I presume he was making these?
My father used to wear shirts with separate collars in the 1950s! The idea was that when they wore thin along the fold line you could turn them inside out and they still looked respectable. They were also starched much more fiercely than the actual shirts. It was one of my jobs to iron them.
I wore them as part of RAF uniform in the early 70s. Then one day the IRA blew up the factory in Belfast that made them. Within weeks we were all issued with poly-cotton Wedgwood Blue collar attached shirts - with soft collars! Oh Heaven!
Regards
Chas
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Oh yes, Chas! I remember when drip-dry shirts with attached collars came in. My mother was delighted. Nylon shirts were not so popular, as they quickly lost their whiteness and became a dingy yellow/grey colour.
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I'm not positive what a collar maker is, but I suspect folks suggesting your 1750 man made collars for shirts are all wet. That was the 1800s (FYI, Troy, NY was once called the "Collar City for the shirts made there. I used to drive over the Collar City Bridge). Anyway, I found your post because MY ancestor also called himself a collar maker in his 1685 will!. That Looooong before detachable shirt collars. Could our men be making collars for work horses?
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Elegantly expressed difference of opinion?
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I agree with Tankarville above. It's a horse collar maker.
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But possibly not a "wet" collar?
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It seems that Unsprung is correct -
"The detachable collar was invented by Hannah Montague in Troy, New York, in 1827, after she snipped off the collar from one of her husband's shirts to wash it, and then sewed it back on. The Rev. Ebenezar Brown, a businessman in town, proceeded to commercialize it. The manufacture of detachable collars and the associated shirts became a significant industry in Troy."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detachable_collar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detachable_collar)
Regards
Chas