fustian dresser

[Mallyjam]

Hi everyone,

Have a convict in the family who was a fustian dresser at the time of his arrest - stole a coat which figures. When I looked up fustion dresser on one of the sites Sue kindly refers us to I discovered fustion was a cloth much like corduroy and ladies' stays were made out of it LOL

Already knew the term "fustian" meant -"old-fashioned" with some shade to the meaning that I've never really thought about but found a very interesting and amusing explanation of it online while ago. Don't know if I'm allowed to post the link but if you look up omrite and fustion you'll find it.

All that is by the way. I've found fustian cutters and weavers but not fustian dressers and wonder what exactly a dresser did.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

[Colin Rowledge]

Mannequins in shops had to be 'dressed'. Given the nature of what is above [post#1], could he have been involved in putting corsets or stays on the mannequins prior to the garments being fitted?

Possibly, 'I'm out to lunch', but that aint anything new!!

[Mallyjam]

Thought hadn't entered my head but makes sense Colin. Maybe he had to fit the cloth to the client much like a tailor do you think? Haven't a clue whether they had mannequins those days.

I wonder what sort of coat my convict stole. Whether he just took a fancy to that particular one or was desperate and just grabbed one LOL

[Procat]

The Dictionary of Old Trades and Occupations records a dresser as being "a person engaged in "dressing fabrics", mainly cottons and linens, usually with chemicals, to make them appear to touch and sight, to be of better quality than they originally were. This dressing would often wash out after first or second laundering, leaving fabric limp and easily creased"

It also describes a fustian manufacturer as being from the 18 century. "A manufacturer of fustian which was a kind of coarse, twilled cotton fabric, including moleskin, velveteen and corduroy"

[notanotherminer]

A "dresser" was also the name given to the person who operated the machine which prepared threads in the textile industry. Given that it was used in conjunction with a material such as fustian I think this may be the likely explanation to what he did for a living.

[Mallyjam]

Thank you everyone. I think that answers my question. Appreciate your help.

Yes fustian was obviously a fabric that was 'dressed' so to speak. I won't look at that word again in a novel without thinking of all its connotations.

My interest is piqued and so went looking for a bit more information.

Fustian was a fabric worn by the working classes in the 18th century. Very heavy and homespun in the days before machinery.

If it was a fustian coat my convict stole then he wasn't trying to dress himself in style LOL

Sorry to waffle on - appreciate your time. Thanks again!

[Colin Rowledge]

Hi everyone,

Have a convict in the family who was a fustian dresser at the time of his arrest - stole a coat which figures.

What became of the chap? Just curious as I'm interested in what happened to those who stepped off the straight and narrow.

[Coromandel]

I couldn't resist this little extract from 'The Statutes at large, of England and Great Britain'. It takes us back to the 1490s, when there was an 'Act against unlawful & deceitful making of Fustians':

Now so it is, that divers persons by subtil and undue sleights and means, have deceivably imagined and contrived instruments of iron, with the which irons, in the most highest and secret places of their houses, they strike and draw the said irons over the said fustians unshorn; by means whereof they pluck off both the nap and cotton of the same fustians, and break commonly both the ground and threads in sunder, and after by crafty sleeking they make the same fustians to appear to the common people fine, whole and sound; and also they raise up the cotton of such fustians, and then take a light candle and set it in the fustian burning, which singeth and burneth away the cotton of the same fustian from the one end to the other, down to the hard threads, instead of shearing, and after that put them in colour, and so subtily dress them, that their false work cannot be espied...

In order to protect the Common People who would be fooled into buying doublets that looked like the real thing but only lasted a few months, a fine of 20 shillings was to be inflicted on anyone 'using such deceivable instruments or sleights'.

From a 19th century account of fustian making it appears that the practice of singeing was still going on:

While in the loom the pile forms a series of loops, which are afterwards cut and sheared. The cutting is performed by running a knife through each series of loops as they occur in the weft; this gives an uneven and hairy appearance to the cloth, which is afterwards remedied first by the shearing process, and afterwards by singeing and brushing, which latter operations are repeated until the fustian has acquired a smooth and polished appearance. The shearing of fustians is a separate art; and several hundred persons are engaged in it in the town of Manchester alone. Until lately the operations were conducted by hand. . .

From The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Vol. XI, 1838)

[Mallyjam]

Sorry I didn't get back here. Really enjoyed the read Coromandel. Thank you. Love the history behind all of this.

Colin, in answer to your question. Not sure I should own to him at all but he's not in my direct line lol and in fact I was off on a wild goose chase when I found him.

Sentenced to 7 years transportation and of course no chance of ever getting back to England. Turns out he was a married man with at least one child at the time of his sentencing. Apparently the authorities sometimes turned a blind eye when these blokes wanted to marry again - kept them off the streets I suppose. He married a 16 year old who he had lots in common with - was sent to prison for 3 months for stealing something when she was 15.

They were married by banns and she was in the care of a guardian at the time. The two of them settled down to respectability and had 8 children. He was killed accidentally while ploughing a field. A young horse kicked him when he went to disentangle the trace from around its legs.

His wife married again - three times lol They kept dying on her! She worked all her life as a domestic servant and was still working when she was 75. Ended her days in an asylum suffering from dementia. She was reported to be 'good humoured and gentle - no harm in her'. Her family thought well of her and that counts.

As for my fustian dresser - his last words to someone who came running to his aid were - "I think he's done for me!"