Handmade of high-quality fabrics and in the typical style of the period, this pleated grey bonnet was one of Martha Ann Cotterell’s (née Tarrant) (1825-1891) most prized possessions. Martha grew up in the middle of London, where she met Thomas Cotterell (1825-1903). On their wedding day in 1848, Martha was dressed to the latest fashion, […]
While today it’s considered a staple of men’s formal attire, the bow tie has more humble origins. Inspired by the scarves which Croatian mercenaries tied around their necks during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), the style was soon adopted in French fashion as the ‘cravat.’ In the 18th Century, a man named Beau Brummell – […]
This day dress and petticoat were owned and worn by Mrs Ann Chellew nee Milburn (1872-1948) when a young woman around the turn of the twentieth century. Ann was the daughter of Janet Miller and James Milburn, who migrated to Australia from Scotland and England. Arriving with her family (in 1852) Janet was a baby, […]
Many objects from previous generations tightly conceal the identities and lives of the people who made and used them, but occasionally, they give away a few clues. We may never know who made or first wore this beautifully printed nineteenth century day dress from Newcastle. But a close look at its construction tells us the […]
This elegant top hat first belonged to James Dalton Jnr (1834-1919) of Orange, who purchased and wore it in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Several decades earlier, James had fled the Great Irish Famine, leaving the town of Duntryleague in Limerick County, Ireland and migrating to NSW as a free-settler on the Panama, arriving […]
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