Georgette Heyer's Regency World (25 page)

Hoby’s for Boots

The most fashionable bootmaker of the period was George Hoby, whose shop on the corner of Piccadilly and St James’s Street was patronised by all the best-dressed men of the
ton
. Renowned for a superb fit and the finest leather, Hoby made boots for royalty, officers in the military—including the Duke of Wellington—and for the most notable bucks and dandies of the
beau monde
. A boot by Hoby was instantly recognisable, as the valet Crimplesham explained to Hugo in
The Unknown Ajax
. Gentlemen could buy every kind of boot from Hoby’s, including Hussar boots, Wellington boots, military long boots and halfboots. The most popular were the highly polished hessians with their high V-shaped fronts and tassels, or the top-boots used for everyday wear or for hunting. For Court wear, evening wear, formal occasions or for dancing a man could also buy low-cut shoes or pumps. Hoby employed up to 300 workers and the success of his business made him extremely wealthy as well as rather arrogant (despite being a Methodist preacher as well a bootmaker). From his youth, the Duke of Wellington always had his boots made by him and after Wellington’s victory at Vittoria, Hoby was reputed to have attributed the General’s success to the combination of Hoby’s boots and prayers. Neither his arrogance nor his insolence to even his wealthiest customers appears to have affected sales of his magnificent footwear. It was to Hoby’s that Sir Nugent Fotherby in
Sylvester
went to have his hessian boots with their specially designed tassels made and it was to Hoby’s that the boots went back five times before Sir Nugent was satisfied.

As with most Regency trades, the shoemaker was also the shoe seller. In the towns and villages shoemakers often worked from home without a shopfront or display of wares, but in London many shoemakers had shops with goods exhibited in the window. Larger shops catered to both women and men, offering a range of made-to-measure shoes, boots and accessories such as leather gaiters or the cloth leggings known as spatterdashes which were worn to protect one’s stockings from mud splashes. Footwear was rarely bought ready-made by the upper classes, although in
The Toll-Gate
Captain Staple was forced to find himself a pair of brogues in a warehouse in Tideswell, Derbyshire. For most shoes, however, the shoemaker had to measure his customers’ feet and cut out the leather or fabric for their shoes himself. In a large and successful business the master shoemaker employed a foreman for this task while he waited on customers and oversaw the dressing, cutting and sewing of the leather or other material by his staff. It took a great deal of skill to make an elegant, well-formed shoe, and a shoemaker, or his journeyman, was usually adept at making either women’s or men’s shoes but not both. The material for ladies’ shoes was generally finer than that needed for men’s footwear and so neater seams were essential in order for the finished product to look its best. In the shops catering particularly to the upper class, the shoemaker would often make and keep labelled ‘shoe lasts’ for individual customers. These were wooden moulds, with a left and right last carefully made to match the customer’s feet, from which the shoemaker could construct a pair of shoes to order.

Fribourg & Treyer’s for Snuff

One of the most famous tobacconists in Britain was Fribourg & Treyer’s in Piccadilly. Many Regency men—and women—indulged in the fashionable habit of taking powdered tobacco or snuff in small pinches breathed up the nostrils, and over the years it became so popular that the famous Piccadilly tobacconists, Fribourg & Treyer, reported that in the hundred years to 1820 ninety per cent of their retail custom was in snuff. There were many different types with variations in texture, colour and smell. The best known was Havana snuff which was the base (Brazil snuff excepted) of all other types. Snuffs such as Spanish Bran, Brazil, Lisbon and Macouba could be carefully mixed to produce new varieties known as ‘sorts’ and connoisseurs such as Lord Petersham made up their own trademark mixtures which became well known among tobacconists. Judith Taverner in
Regency Buck
had her own jar labelled as ‘Miss Taverner’s sort’ at Fribourg & Treyer’s. In addition to its own fragrance, snuff was frequently scented with additives such as the Prince Regent’s favourite, Otto or Attar of Roses. Snuff taking reached the height of its popularity in England between 1760 and the end of the Regency in 1820, becoming less common as the century progressed and tobacco smoking became increasingly preferred.

Linen Drapers

Linen drapers sold all kinds of fabrics, threads, trimmings and a wide range of accessories, and the predominance of linen drapers in the larger cities reflected the importance of fabric choice for all classes of customers whose personal wardrobe and household linen—including sheets, table linen, curtains and bath cloths—were all hand-made. For country customers without the means to visit London or order from drapers in the larger towns and cities, itinerant haberdashers, travelling lace men and travelling linen drapers (also known as talleymen or Scotchmen) supplied most householders’ needs. In London many linen drapers established large shops both before and during the Regency. Wholesale drapers were mainly located in the City of London but the increasing popularity of shopping as a recreational activity and the establishment of shopping streets in the fashionable areas west of the City saw many businesses open premises in Piccadilly, Oxford, Regent and New Bond Streets. In 1817 there were thirty-three linen drapers in Oxford Street alone, with five additional drapers specialising in woollen fabric, twelve haberdashers, four furriers, a ribbon warehouse and two drapers-and-tailors. Kate Malvern shopped at Bedford House in
Cousin Kate
where she was able to purchase a variety of goods including ribbon trimmings, a shawl and a handkerchief. Linen drapers also attracted other businesses to retail districts and shoemakers, glovers, hat and bonnet makers, perfumers, button, fringe and trimming sellers, plumassiers or feather workers, silk mercers and hosiers would often set up businesses in the same street in hope of attracting follow-on custom to their shops.

Layton and Shear’s at Bedford House, Newton’s in Leicester Square, and Grafton House at 164 New Bond Street, were all well-known London linen drapers and so popular with ladies of the
ton
that it was considered advisable to visit before 11.00 a.m. to avoid the crowds. Kitty and Meg visited Grafton House in
Cotillion
and were delighted by the range and variety of wares in that popular emporium. Customers were always served by men, as female shop assistants (other than in the exclusive precincts of the milliner’s or modiste’s shop) did not become a force in the retail industry until well after the Regency. Fabrics were often hung in the window or placed outside the front door where they could be shown to their best advantage and would entice customers into the shop.

Jewellers

Although the Regency period witnessed a marked trend towards wearing simple or minimal jewellery during the day, the demands for truly elegant evening wear enabled many London jewellers and goldsmiths to create magnificent necklaces, brooches, jewelled tiaras, hair ornaments, aigrettes, rings and bracelets to set off the finest dresses and most fashionable hairstyles. Among the best-known Regency jewellers were Rundell and Bridge at 32 Ludgate Hill (est. 1788), Phillip’s on Bond Street, Gray’s in Sackville Street and Jeffrey’s—jeweller to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent (and to whom at one point the Prince owed £89,000 in unpaid bills). Diamonds and pearls were especially popular during the period, although many kinds of precious and semi-precious stones such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topazes, garnets and amethysts were also favoured. Lady Denville in
False Colours
had a topaz necklace set in filigree made for her by her jeweller as well as a necklace of clear amber beads—although this she unfortunately discovered did not at all become her and would have to be given away.