“Casting Off Powder:” The Death of the Powdered Wig and Birth of British Sartorial Modernity, 1795–1812 “Leaving off powder- or- a frugal family saving the Guinea.” James Gillray, 1795. National Por trait Gallery. Master's Thesis (45 Credits) Samuel Marknäs Thesis Advisor: Mikael Alm Examinator: Christine Ekholst Term: Spring 2021 Date of Defense: Spring 01/06/2021 HISTORISKA INSTITUTIONEN Marknäs, 2021- Casting off Powder: The Demise of the Powdered Wig Marknäs, 2021- Casting off Powder: The Demise of the Powdered Wig ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................................. 1 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION- THE GREAT MALE “UN-POWDERING” ................................................................... 2 ENTERING SARTORIAL MODERNITY ....................................................................................................................... 2 HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF WIGS AND POWDER ............................................................ 4 William Pitt and the Pittite Conservatives- Revolution, War, And Repression .............................................. 7 RESEARCH QUESTION AND AIMS .......................................................................................................................... 10 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 11 The Tradition of Daniel Roche ........................................................................................................................ 14 Respectability, Masculinity, and Differentiation of Status- Intertwined Analytical Categories ................. 17 METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ....................................................................................................................... 18 Sources and Study Design ................................................................................................................................ 20 HISTORIOGRAPHY- WORKING WITH WIGS AND POWDER .................................................................................... 22 PART I- DEBATING THE DUTY ON HAIR POWDER ACT- PAMPHLETEERS AND PARLIAMENT . 25 INTRODUCING THE DUTY ON HAIR POWDER ACT (1795) ................................................................................... 25 DEBATING THE ACT-HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT- THE PARLIAMENTARY REGISTERS ........................................ 26 Principle-Based Opposition: Inefficiency and Regressive(ness) .................................................................. 26 A Lack of Exemptions- Hairdressers & Half Pay Officers and the Unravelling of Deserving Respectability .................................................................................................................................................... 27 A Competing Aristocratic Vanities- “Spruce Powdered Footmen” .............................................................. 29 MOTIVATING THE DUTY ON HAIR POWDER ACT................................................................................................. 30 French Revolutionary Wars and Skyrocketing Debt ...................................................................................... 30 The 1794-1796 Wheat Crisis- Curtailing Rebellious Sedition ......................................................................... 31 Reducing ‘Vain’ Consumption-The “Undeserving” Poor ............................................................................. 33 A PROGRESSIVE OR REGRESSIVE ACT? PARLIAMENT, PAMPHLETEERS, AND CONFLICTS OF OPINION ........... 34 Pamphleteers and Public Opinion: A Regressive “Sumptuary Law” ........................................................... 35 ANALYZING THE DUTY ON HAIR POWDER ACT ................................................................................................... 37 Social Differentiation and the Powdered Wig- From “Positional Good” To “Common Necessity” (And Back Again) ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 Respectability: “Polite Society” and the Powdered Wig in 1750-1795 Discourse......................................... 42 The Politicization of Hair Powder- Symbolic Displays Of Allegiance ......................................................... 44 A Notable Omission- Masculinity and the Duty on Hair Powder Act ......................................................... 47 PART II- THE RISE OF THE “GUINEA PIG”........................................................................................... 49 BRITISH WRITTEN SATIRE AND CARICATURE IN THE 18TH CENTURY ................................................................ 49 EARLIER WIG SATIRES- FRANCOPHOBIA, MORAL DEVIANCY, AND MACARONI MEN ....................................... 50 Macaroni Effeminacy- Frenchified “Beaus,” Corrupted by Fashion ........................................................... 52 THE DUTY ON HAIR POWDER ACT- A “SINGULAR” AND “RIDICULOUS” ACT: THE CARICATURES OF WILLIAM HANLON ................................................................................................................................................................. 55 FRENCH FRIVOLITY, BRITISH MASCULINITY ....................................................................................................... 58 The Rise of the Guinea Pig- Effeminate “Fops” ............................................................................................ 61 Middling-Class Masculinity And The Erosion Of “Polite Masculinity” ...................................................... 63 GUINEA-LESS-PIGS- A FAILED ATTEMPT TO RIDICULE ...................................................................................... 67 POLITICIZING POWDER: “ROUNDHEADS,” “CAVALIERS,” “GUINEA PIG’S” AND THE “SWINISH MULTITUDE” ................................................................................................................................................................................. 69 CONCLUSION: A FAILED ATTEMPT TO REVIVE ARISTOCRATIC HEGEMONY ............................. 73 AFTERWORD: THE PERIWIG’S FINAL DAYS… ALMOST….................................................................. 77 Marknäs, 2021- Casting off Powder: The Demise of the Powdered Wig PRIMARY SOURCES: ................................................................................................................................................ 82 SECONDARY SOURCES: ........................................................................................................................................... 85 Marknäs, 2021- Casting off Powder: The Demise of the Powdered Wig Acknowledgements I would like to extend my humble gratitude to all those who have helped me with this thesis. In particular, I want to give my appreciation to my advisor, Mikael Alm, for your excellent book recommendations, edits, ideas, letters of recommendation, and kindness. This thesis would not be possible without the resourceful and energetic assistance I received from Alm, who shows more passion for history and his students than any educator I have previously known. I would also like to thank Gudrun Andersson for introducing me to the field of consumption and material culture, which quickly became my passion, and is the academic area in which this thesis is rooted. In addition, I would like to thank Constantin J, Hugo I, Richard B, Katherine H, as well as my wonderful partner, Lisa, for your readings of my draft, as well as excellent and thoughtful comments I received from all of you. I would also like to thank Ragnar Hedlund, the curator at the Uppsala University Coin Cabinet, for the stimulating conversations we have had about my thesis. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for encouraging me to continue my education in history, which led me to the wonderful community of Uppsala University. Abstract This thesis explores the macrocosmic effects of the Duty on Hair Powder Act (1795) on the culture of clothing in Great Britain from 1795 to 1812, a period of rapid sartorial democratization. This Act resulted in the loss of aristocratic hegemony over dress and accompanying social mores- a profound Sartorial Revolution. Though the French context of sartorial democratization has been thoroughly investigated through the research of Daniel Roche in The Culture of Clothing (1994), such research is embryonic in the British context. As of yet, there has been no cohesive or systematic attempt to address (what I have termed) the British Sartorial Revolution, despite strong evidence which suggests that this phenomenon did occur around 1800, a fact that is often mentioned in passing by cultural historians. This study seeks to seal this scholarly void by analyzing the effects of the Duty on Hair Powder Act through the lens of the Parliamentary Debates, pamphlets, satires, and caricatures of the age to trace a rapid and profound shift through which the powdered wig was abandoned, as well as through an analysis of the changing cultural context which enabled this alteration to take place. Though this process of abandonment was initiated through an overtly political Act, its aftereffects were mainly social in nature. It is demonstrated herein that the Act, which was a covert