Hair Ornament

A piece of thee here 

Wyndham Museum's hair-work bouquet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hair-work bouquet on loan from Mrs Agnes Thwaites, Wyndham

This object from the collections of the Wyndham & District Museum is described as a "Hair ornament" - Made by Mrs A. Dickie of Edenglen, Tuturau (Southland).

It is dated to 1896 and is an example of the Victorian craft of 'hair work'.

Hair work or hair plaiting as a commercial craft orginated amongst the women of the village of Vamhus in Mora, Sweden in the early 1800s. [1] Groups of unmarried girls traveled throughout northern Europe selling their intricate handmade products and by 1825 the craft had reached England.

Small lockets or brooches that held a lock of a loved ones hair became common. Those in mourning often wore such an item as a token of remembrance during the observance of the Victorian period of deep mourning (a year and a day).

By the mid 1800s, hair jewellery and other forms of hair work were being made to represent those loved ones who were still alive but had gone away, as well as those who had died and Godey's Lady's Book [2], the women's magazine of the day, eventually supplied patterns for the craft.

When Queen Victoria had her own hair made into a bracelet for Empress Eugene, the popularity of the craft increased and beautifully detailed landscapes and floral designs were made by jewellers using human hair.

Detail showing a variety of hair colours

Hair, a symbol of life or eternity, has been associated with death and funerals in many cultures and many people nowadays who come across mourning jewellery or hair work bouquets, such as this spectacular example from Wyndham & Districts Museum, are quite disturbed by this use of human hair but the quote below from Godey's illustrates the attitudes contemporaneous with this craft.

"Hair is at once the most delicate and last of our materials and survives us like love. It is so light, so gentle, so escaping from the idea of death, that, with a lock of hair belonging to a child or friend we may almost look up to heaven and compare notes with angelic nature, may almost say, I have a piece of thee here, not unworthy of thy being now." [3]

Detail - central trunk of hair-work bouquet

 

 

 

 

This example from Wyndham & Districts Museum represents an entire family tree!

The numbered 'flowers' made from the hair of relatives and friends of Mrs Dickie represent each individual.

A descendant of Mrs Dickie notes that the names of these individuals (whom may also have been the women who worked collectively on the hair ornament) are no longer known but it is assigned to Mrs Dickie and was thought to have been made by her for an entry at a pre 1900s show in Wyndham and that "most of the hair would have been from her [Mrs Dickie's] family of daughters and other Tuturau women of whom there would not have been very many in those days". [4]

Dickie family, Christmas, Edenglen (Tuturau) 1919. Mrs A. Dickie [nee Elizabeth Young] (bottom left) was the creator of the hair-work bouquet. WY88.273. Collection of Wyndham & Districts Museum.

 

 

Detail - each numbered flower represents a relative or friend

 

 

 

 

The fashion for all mourning jewellery, and indeed the craft of hair work as a ladies craft that was as common as crochet or knitting, came to an end at the turn of the 20th century with the death of Queen Victoria, the onset of World War I and the increased freedom for women. [5]

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[1] The art of hair work is handed down to new generations of women at Våmhus where hair art has been done continuously for almost 200 years. The Våmhus hair work society can be visited at: http://www.myranshemslojd.nu/en/Hairwork.html

[2] Alternatively known as Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, it was a United States magazine which was published, popular among women, during the 19th century.

[3] Godey's Lady's Book ca. 1850

[4] Conversation between Betty Geary (President, Wyndham & Districts Historical Society) and descendent Agnes ...

[5] The history and craft of hair work is discussed at: http://www.hairworksociety.org/