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Boatwoman Bonnet


jaime66

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Best thing to do is to make your own. Pattern available from Waterways Museum Society 

 or The Canal Shop Company Very easy to make. needing about 1.5 m of fabric. Use different weights for different times of year. Fine cotton or polycotton for summer, nice and light, Heavier cotton for winter. For rain I find a polyester materiel takes more time to get wet.

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On 31 July 2011

spacer.png

 

IWA National Rally at Burton-on-Trent. Posted before, with some of the thoughts thereon:

On 14/11/2011 at 23:12, wrigglefingers said:

Is [second from left] Rowan Williams? He wears a frock every day.

On 14/11/2011 at 23:39, saltysplash said:

Strange looking handbags though.  and that really thin bird in the middle with the black hair dont look well

On 14/11/2011 at 23:41, carlt said:

It's another attempt at producing a socially acceptable manbag.

 

 

 

 

Edited by PeterScott
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Genuine question.

 

Did they actually serve any useful purpose for the women who wore them? They are I presume not water proof so no good in the rain and too heavy to be used in bright sun.

 

They don't look particularly practical and look as if they would be more of a hinderance than a help when working a boat.

 

I'm guessing then they were more of a purely decorative item that signified their occupation, a bit like the nurse's caps my female colleagues used to wear??

 

Open to correction though.

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Top sort of hat to be wearing when blacking the underside of the baseplate.  The flouncy bit at the back stops the drips going down your neck too.

 

On a more serious note it seems like a practical outdoor lid to me.  One doubts they would have survived so long if they were not.

  I expect all the tucks and pleats on top make for quite good insulation  on both hot sunny and bitter cold days.  The stern flounce keeps the sun off your neck or absorbs the rain drips that would have gone betwixt neck and collar  and there Is enough material in the whole thing that it would take a while to get saturated In the rain.

 

N

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Genuine answer

 

I find them practical.  I have worn them on all boat trips since 1990 when i made my first bonnet. As BEngo says, the pleats form good insulation for both hot and cold weather. They also don't blow off. By the time the rain gets through the water has warmed up nicely. 

 

As they are tired at the back the curtains are held off the back of the neck which again helps with insulation. 

 

The original bonnets were less ornate and came from the bonnets worn by farm workers . The fish wives of Staithes wore similar bonnets.

 

The boating bonnets became more ornate over the years.

 

Two more frivolous answers:- nobody recognises me without the bonnet and you can't see what state my hair is in!

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11 minutes ago, ElaineMary said:

Genuine answer

 

I find them practical.  I have worn them on all boat trips since 1990 when i made my first bonnet. As BEngo says, the pleats form good insulation for both hot and cold weather. They also don't blow off. By the time the rain gets through the water has warmed up nicely. 

 

As they are tired at the back the curtains are held off the back of the neck which again helps with insulation. 

 

The original bonnets were less ornate and came from the bonnets worn by farm workers . The fish wives of Staithes wore similar bonnets.

 

The boating bonnets became more ornate over the years.

 

Two more frivolous answers:- nobody recognises me without the bonnet and you can't see what state my hair is in!

 

With Staithes being just up the road from me I had a a quick Google and brought up some copyrighted images that shows them. Something I didn't know despite how close Staithes is.

 

Every day is a school day.

 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/405183297707621045/

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12 hours ago, BEngo said:

Top sort of hat to be wearing when blacking the underside of the baseplate.  The flouncy bit at the back stops the drips going down your neck too.

 

On a more serious note it seems like a practical outdoor lid to me.  One doubts they would have survived so long if they were not.

  I expect all the tucks and pleats on top make for quite good insulation  on both hot sunny and bitter cold days.  The stern flounce keeps the sun off your neck or absorbs the rain drips that would have gone betwixt neck and collar  and there Is enough material in the whole thing that it would take a while to get saturated In the rain.

 

N

 

bonnet.JPG

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That is where I got the idea.  I was driving  the slip the first time Fulbourne went up onto all three beams.  I think subsequent visits have only used two.

 

I have a suspicion the bonnet, post blacking,  was no longer suitable as Sunday Best.

 

N

 

 

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Pleated bonnets were still being worn by some older country women well into the 1930's. Here is a photo taken of a woman gathering corn stooks in Great Cheverell, Wiltshire in 1938.

 

                                         1660951144_bonnet(2).jpg.763bef792b28e7e7445b648bdfa3a633.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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  • 1 year later...
On 15/08/2021 at 11:37, M_JG said:

Genuine question.

 

Did they actually serve any useful purpose for the women who wore them? They are I presume not water proof so no good in the rain and too heavy to be used in bright sun.

 

They don't look particularly practical and look as if they would be more of a hinderance than a help when working a boat.

 

I'm guessing then they were more of a purely decorative item that signified their occupation, a bit like the nurse's caps my female colleagues used to wear??

 

Open to correction though.

 

I think something similar was worn by many women who worked outdoors - whether on the water or on the fields - as protection from sun or rain. My sense of life for boatwomen was that they were unlikely to wear something to signify their occupation, I'm not sure they saw it as an 'occupation', more life that you just got on with! One thing that does seem to be clear is that they would always wear a head covering of some sort, even after the bonnet went out of fashion (according to Ramlin Rose, in the early 20s).

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On 15/08/2021 at 11:37, M_JG said:

Genuine question.

 

Did they actually serve any useful purpose for the women who wore them? They are I presume not water proof so no good in the rain and too heavy to be used in bright sun.

 

They don't look particularly practical and look as if they would be more of a hinderance than a help when working a boat.

 

I'm guessing then they were more of a purely decorative item that signified their occupation, a bit like the nurse's caps my female colleagues used to wear??

 

Open to correction though.

 

Protected their ears and faces from the effects of UV, though they probably didn't realise this at the time.

 

As a side, five years ago I was diagnosed with a Basal Cell Carcinoma on one of my ears. The medical people said this was probably due to over exposure to UV in the course of my life.

I had spent about 50% of my career working outside, many years dinghy and offshore sailing, never thought to put sun factor cream on my ears.

All is ok, I went to the GP early and an operation delt with the tumour.

Incidentally women tend to be less affected as often they have long hair covering their ears.

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1 hour ago, Kate_MM said:

 

I think something similar was worn by many women who worked outdoors - whether on the water or on the fields - as protection from sun or rain. My sense of life for boatwomen was that they were unlikely to wear something to signify their occupation, I'm not sure they saw it as an 'occupation', more life that you just got on with! One thing that does seem to be clear is that they would always wear a head covering of some sort, even after the bonnet went out of fashion (according to Ramlin Rose, in the early 20s).

Kate as i grew up the bonnets had became a distant thing &  hat or head scarf was worn . in the main bonnets where to keep the sun off of the neck but another thing that i have always pondered on was being told put your hat on girl to keep the bugs away .As you know up until 1925 ish many of the boats when serviced e.c.t. where fumigated i have often wondered if there was ever a connection. The black  bonnets where worn as a mark of respect when victoria died, most boat people had a picture of the king or queen & would & some still do have them hanging in the lounge when they came off the boats i have several in their late 80's 90's who still have a picture in their homes of the late Queen 

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47 minutes ago, jeannette smith harrison said:

Kate as i grew up the bonnets had became a distant thing &  hat or head scarf was worn . in the main bonnets where to keep the sun off of the neck but another thing that i have always pondered on was being told put your hat on girl to keep the bugs away .As you know up until 1925 ish many of the boats when serviced e.c.t. where fumigated i have often wondered if there was ever a connection. The black  bonnets where worn as a mark of respect when victoria died, most boat people had a picture of the king or queen & would & some still do have them hanging in the lounge when they came off the boats i have several in their late 80's 90's who still have a picture in their homes of the late Queen 

 

I hadn't heard the thing about the bugs - but it makes sense. And good point about the black bonnets, I think a lot of people think that black was the norm because it's what you see in most photos - probably because it happened to coincide with Victoria's death! 

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