In the middle of the 19th century, Mr. William Bowler was busy developing a new style of hat for the gamekeepers of William Coke TT, later the Earl of Leicester. The resulting hard felt hat became synonymous with British Hat Heritage known as simply the "Bowler Hat.”
In the Edwardian age, clothes denoted status as plainly as any military uniform. Hats, for example, were very important. For men with any claim at all to standing, the bowler hat was compulsory wear. Only the lower types wore caps, and to go out without a hat meant being seen as either "low,” wretchedly poor, just plain eccentric, or even faintly obscene.
This amazing object was recovered from the bottom of the ocean floor without the protection of a leather bag or trunk. It is brown in color and has a grosgrain ribbon around the bottom of the hat and the brim.