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| Staff of Thomas Robinson and Son Ltd, milling engineers, Liverpool. |
| The flat cap can be traced back to the 14th century in Northern England, when it was more likely to be called a “bonnet”. This term was replaced by “cap” about 1700, except in Scotland, where it continues to be referred to as a bunnet in Scots. A 1571 Act of the English Parliament was enacted to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade. It decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over 6 years of age, except for the nobility and “persons of degree”, were to wear woollen caps or pay a fine of 3s 4d per day. The Act was not repealed until 1597, though by then the flat cap had become firmly entrenched as a recognised mark of a non-noble subject, such as a burgher, a tradesman, or an apprentice. |
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| Thomas Barnett Hunt, millwright, Hunt’s Millwrights’ Workshop, Soham – HESS-1523 |
| In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when men predominantly wore some form of headgear, flat caps were commonly worn throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Versions in finer cloth were also considered to be suitable casual countryside wear for upper-class Englishmen. Flat caps were worn by fashionable young men in the 1920s. Boys of all classes in the United Kingdom wore flat caps during this period. The flat cap (or “flat hat”) is typically associated with older working-class men, especially those in Northern England. |
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| Percy Trower and Fred Sayers – millers at Cobb’s Mill, Hurstpierpoint – FWGC-1101113 |
| Millers were traditionally seen wearing a flat cap along with millwrights, and coming myself from Northern England it was appropriate that I wore one! At the end of the day it would be covered in flour and I had to either hoover it or bang it against the wall outside to clean it. It also proved a good place for a mouse to make a home in when I left it in the mill on one occasion! |
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| The author at work, Mapledurham, 1986 – MCFC-1122134-12 |
| Here are some more images of millers and millwrights in flat caps from our catalogue: |
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| Miller with horse and cart, Terwick Mill, Rogate – FWGC-1101212 |
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| Millwright Jesse Wightman with brakewheel from Saxtead Green Mill – SPAB-01372 |
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| R Wright, miller in Friston, Suffolk. Photo copyright University of Kent – DWMC-539630 |
