Corsets; made in Portsmouth
The speaker at the club’s November supper meeting was Madeleine Selby, who spoke about the Corsetry industry in Portsmouth.
Her interest in the topic had all started 3 years ago when a Rotarian, the then Chairman of the Foundation Committee, thought it would be a good joke to have a speaker on the industry: an uplifting talk, at a well-supported meeting, etc. Despite a free dinner, Madeleine was still reluctant, feeling sure she had been stitched up!
Whilst researching the topic she found that in previous centuries although the dockyard employed many men there was little open to the women, and so it is not surprising that a “lighter industry” arose for this under-used workforce. The industry grew to such an extent that at one point in the 19th century there were 12 times as many women making corsets in Portsmouth than in the rest of all England and Wales. At this, Madeleine charged us all to: “un-do your stays and gasp!”
The industry was a well-kept secret, without recognition as an association or mention in polite society. The women in the workforce were skilled labour, and often earned more than the men in the dockyard. Even with the mechanisation of the industry it remained a skilled job, with “stay-making families” supporting the corset dynasties that grew up in the city. It spawned other crafts too, such as cardboard boxes and metal springs. Dynasties such as Leitham Reynolds, which developed the Twilfit brand, and Vollers were major players.
The heyday was in the 19th century, when the factory hooter controlled the working day within 3-storey purpose-built factories with small square windows in high-walled compounds, offering piece-work rates per dozen for careful workers seaming, boning, slotting and fannying etc. Different materials and social changes saw the move to steel rather than whalebone, more colours rather than just white and peach, hooks rather than laces at the back. After the second World War, black came in, and lace, which were previously regarded as tart-ish! But the biggest change was the arrival of tights, so that suspenders were no longer required. There has been a recent resurgence in the market, through the internet, but nothing on the scale of the original factories in Portsmouth.
Despite the evolution of corsets, Madeleine closed with: “Thank God for tights!”