Occupation - Collarmaker

[philipsearching]

https://www.elgarshirts.com/historic-clothing/ is an interesting read (although it doesn't give sources for its information.  It suggests that collars and cuffs were 'made-to-measure' and sewn on to baggy shirts.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/micheliene65/18th-century-mens-shirts/ has some good images.

Philip

[Andrew Tarr]

Interesting - after transcribing about 3000 baptism records for Liverpool 1705-1730, I have just come across my first Collarmaker, in 1722, among loads of Sailors, Mariners and Carpenters.  It may have been horse collars I suppose, but I have seen no other evidence of rustic activity.

[ThrelfallYorky]

I've found collar makers who were working within saddlers, with leather - and ladies making lace ones, as well as shirtmakers who specialised in detachable collars, but just to throw another spanner into the works, I also found a young lad and his sister both employed as PAPER collar makers!! (I assume this was in dirty old industrial days, to give a superficially clean appearance if cheaper than laundry?)
Sorry.

[Kate Chamberlayne]

I think this had to do with the driving 'collar' which horses wore. I had a 5th great grandfather who was a saddler and collar maker of Crewkerne, Somerset. The two crafts went together.

http://www.saddletramps.org.uk/www.saddletramps.org.uk/info.php?p=8&pno=0

https://books.google.de/books?id=W5CNLC9nn9EC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=collar+maker+1700s&source=bl&ots=R3BTcOOgMO&sig=ACfU3U1S0DaFgaNzgejjXWlhdyXhM-USfA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBuIPAsPPuAhWSuKQKHda7A2IQ6AEwEnoECA8QAw#v=onepage&q=collar&f=false

[Gillg]

Shirt collars used to be separate from the shirts, held in place by collar studs.

I presume he was making these?

My father used to wear shirts with separate collars in the 1950s!  The idea was that when they wore thin along the fold line you could turn them inside out and they still looked respectable.  They were also starched much more fiercely than the actual shirts.  It was one of my jobs to iron them.

[Kiltpin]

Shirt collars used to be separate from the shirts, held in place by collar studs.

I presume he was making these?

My father used to wear shirts with separate collars in the 1950s!  The idea was that when they wore thin along the fold line you could turn them inside out and they still looked respectable.  They were also starched much more fiercely than the actual shirts.  It was one of my jobs to iron them.

 


I wore them as part of RAF uniform in the early 70s. Then one day the IRA blew up the factory in Belfast that made them. Within weeks we were all issued with poly-cotton Wedgwood Blue collar attached shirts - with soft collars! Oh Heaven! 

Regards 

Chas

[Gillg]

Oh yes, Chas!  I remember when drip-dry shirts with attached collars came in.  My mother was delighted.  Nylon  shirts were not so popular, as they quickly lost their whiteness and became a dingy yellow/grey colour.

[Unsprung]

I'm not positive what a collar maker is, but I suspect folks suggesting your 1750 man made collars for shirts are all wet. That was the 1800s (FYI, Troy, NY was once called the "Collar City for the shirts made there. I used to drive over the Collar City Bridge). Anyway, I found your post because MY ancestor also called himself a collar maker in his 1685 will!. That Looooong before detachable shirt collars. Could our men be making collars for work horses?

[ThrelfallYorky]

Elegantly expressed difference of opinion?