At the Sign of the Barber's Pole: Studies in Hirsute History

Part 1

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AT THE SIGN OF THE BARBER'S POLE

STUDIES IN HIRSUTE HISTORY

BY WILLIAM ANDREWS

AUTHOR OF "BYGONE ENGLAND" ETC.

COTTINGHAM, YORKSHIRE J.R. TUTIN 1904

PREFACE

Connected with the barber and his calling are many curiosities of history. In the following pages, an attempt has been made, and I trust not without success, to bring together notices of the more interesting matters that gather round the man and his trade.

In the compilation of this little book many works have been consulted, and among those which have yielded me the most information must be mentioned the following:--

"Annals of the Barber-Surgeons of London," by Sidney Young, London, 1890.

"An Apology for the Beard," by Artium Magister, London, 1862.

"Barbers' Company," by G. Lambert, F.S.A., London, 1881.

"Barber-Surgeons and Chandlers," by D. Embleton, M.D., Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1891.

"Barber's Shop," by R.W. Proctor, edited by W.E.A. Axon, Manchester, 1883.

"Philosophy of Beards," by T.S. Cowing, Ipswich.

"Some Account of the Beard and the Moustachio," by John Adey Repton, F.S.A., London, 1839.

"Why Shave?" by H.M., London.

Notes and Queries, and other periodicals, as well as encyclopaedias, books on costume, and old plays, have been drawn upon, and numerous friends have supplied me with information. I must specially mention with gratitude Mr Everard Home Coleman, the well-known contributor to Notes and Queries.

Some of my chapters have been previously published in the magazines, but all have been carefully revised and additions have been made to them.

In conclusion, I hope this work will prove a welcome contribution to the byways of history.

WILLIAM ANDREWS.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, HULL, August 11th, 1904.

CONTENTS

PAGE THE BARBER'S POLE 1

THE BARBER'S SHOP 8

SUNDAY SHAVING 21

FROM BARBER TO SURGEON 26

BYGONE BEARDS 33

Part 2

TAXING THE BEARD 56

POWDERING THE HAIR 59

THE AGE OF WIGS 71

STEALING WIGS 93

THE WIG-MAKERS' RIOT 95

THE MOUSTACHE MOVEMENT 96

INDEX 117

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE The House of Commons in the time of Sir Robert Walpole. Wigs in Parliament Frontispiece

The Barber's Shop, from "Orbis Pictus" 3

A Barber's Shop in the time of Queen Elizabeth 10

William Shakespeare (the Stratford Portrait) 15

Henry VIII. receiving the Barber-Surgeons 29

Bayeux Tapestry 34

John Knox, born 1505, died 1572 37

John Taylor, the Water Poet, born 1580, died 1654 38

The Lord Mayor of York escorting Princess Margaret through York in 1503. Shows the Beard of the Lord Mayor 39

Beards in the Olden Time 42

The Gunpowder Conspirators, from a print published immediately after the discovery. Shows the Beards in Fashion in 1605 45

Geoffrey Chaucer, born about 1340, died 1400 52

Russian Beard Token, A.D. 1705 58

Egyptian Wig (probably for female), from the British Museum 72

The Earl of Albemarle 78

Man with Wig and Muff, 1693 (from a print of the period) 80

Campaign Wig 81

Periwig with Tail 82

Ramillie Wig 83

Pig-tail Wig 84

Part 3

Bag-Wig 84

Heart-Breakers 89

With and Without a Wig 90

Lord Mansfield 93

Stealing a Wig 94

George Frederick Muntz, M.P. 100

Charles Dickens, born 1812, died 1870 106

THE BARBER'S POLE

In most instances the old signs which indicated the callings of shopkeepers have been swept away. Indeed, the three brass balls of the pawn-broker and the pole of the barber are all that are left of signs of the olden time. Round the barber's pole gather much curious fact and fiction. So many suggestions have been put forth as to its origin and meaning that the student of history is puzzled to give a correct solution. One circumstance is clear: its origin goes back to far distant times. An attempt is made in "The Athenian Oracle" (i. 334), to trace the remote origin of the pole. "The barber's art," says the book, "was so beneficial to the publick, that he who first brought it up in Rome had, as authors relate, a statue erected to his memory. In England they were in some sort the surgeons of old times, into whose art those beautiful leeches, [Footnote: This is the old word for doctors or surgeons.] our fair virgins, were also accustomed to be initiated. In cities and corporate towns they still retain their name Barber-Chirurgeons. They therefore used to hang their basons out upon poles to make known at a distance to the weary and wounded traveller where all might have recourse. They used poles, as some inns still gibbet their signs, across a town." It is a doubtful solution of the origin of the barber's sign.

A more satisfactory explanation is given in the "Antiquarian Repertory." "The barber's pole," it is there stated, "has been the subject of many conjectures, some conceiving it to have originated from the word poll or head, with several other conceits far-fetched and as unmeaning; but the true intention of the party coloured staff was to show that the master of the shop practised surgery and could breathe a vein as well as mow a beard: such a staff being to this day by every village practitioner put in the hand of the patient undergoing the operation of phlebotomy. The white band, which encompasses the staff, was meant to represent the fillet thus elegantly twined about it." We reproduce a page from "Comenii Orbis Pictus," perhaps better known under its English title of the "Visible World." It is said to have been the first illustrated school-book printed, and was published in 1658. Comenius was born in 1592, was a Moravian bishop, a famous educational reformer, and the writer of many works, including the "Visible World: or a Nomenclature, and Pictures of all the chief things that are in the World, and of Men's Employments therein; in above an 150 Copper Cuts." Under each picture are explanatory sentences in two columns, one in Latin, and the other in English, and by this means the pupil in addition to learning Latin, was able to gain much useful knowledge respecting industries and other "chief things that are in the World." For a century this was the most popular text-book in Europe, and was translated into not fewer than fourteen languages. It has been described as a crude effort to interest the young, and it was more like an illustrated dictionary than a child's reading-book. In the picture of the interior of a barber's shop, a patient is undergoing the operation of phlebotomy (figure 11). He holds in his hand a pole or staff having a bandage twisted round it. It is stated in Brand's "Popular Antiquities" that an illustration in a missal of the time of Edward the First represents this ancient practice.

In a speech made in the House of Peers by Lord Thurlow, in support of postponing the further reading of the Surgeons' Incorporation Bill, from July 17th, 1797, to that day three months, the noble lord said that by a statute still in force, the barbers and surgeons were each to use a pole. The barbers were to have theirs blue and white, striped, with no other appendage; but the surgeon's pole, which was the same in other respects, was likewise to have a galley-pot and a red rag, to denote the particular nature of their vocation.

A question is put in the British Apollo (London, 1708):--

"... Why a barber at port-hole Puts forth a party-coloured pole?"

This is the answer given:--

"In ancient Rome, when men lov'd fighting, And wounds and scars took much delight in, Man-menders then had noble pay, Which we call surgeons to this day. 'Twas order'd that a hughe long pole, With bason deck'd should grace the hole, To guide the wounded, who unlopt Could walk, on stumps the others hopt; But, when they ended all their wars, And men grew out of love with scars, Their trade decaying; to keep swimming They joyn'd the other trade of trimming, And on their poles to publish either, Thus twisted both their trades together."

During his residence at his living in the county of Meath, before he was advanced to the deanery of St Patrick's, Dean Swift was daily shaved by the village barber, who gained his esteem. The barber one morning, when busy lathering Swift, said he had a great favour to ask his reverence, adding that at the suggestion of his neighbours he had taken a small public-house at the corner of the churchyard. He hoped that with the two businesses he might make a better living for his family.

"Indeed," said the future Dean, "and what can I do to promote the happy union?"

"And please you," said the barber, "some of our customers have heard much about your reverence's poetry; so that, if you would but condescend to give me a smart little touch in that way to clap under my sign, it might be the making of me and mine for ever."

"But what do you intend for your sign?" inquired the cleric.

"The 'Jolly Barber,' if it please your reverence, with a razor in one hand and a full pot in the other."

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