Jersey bonnets

Jersey bonnets

This Jersey sun bonnet, photographed by Edwin Dale, is as close to what is recognised as the standard design as any

The Jersey bonnet, or sun bonnet, to distinguish it from other types, has long disappeared from use, but was once recognised as a defining article of clothing, mainly in farming families. Jerripedia editor Mike Bisson, who lives in Normandy, where the Jersey bonnet may have originated, investigates their use in the island and compares them with their French 'cousins'.

Sun bonnets are now worn almost exclusively by babies, but in the Victorian era, stretching into the early years of the 20th century, when farmers' wives and daughters would frequently be found working in the fields, they were worn by women of all ages.

Brittany and Normandy

Known also as the Jersey coiffe, they were not the same thing as the famous Breton coiffe. Still to be seen today when women dress in traditional costume for fetes, parades and other special occasions, the Breton coiffe is usually a delicate, lacy bonnet. Styles vary enormously and it is said that every town and village has its own unique pattern, some of them undeniably very beautiful.

The same cannot be said for Normandy, where many coiffes are remarkable for their size, rather than their beauty. And although some patterns are attributed to particular locations, others were worn (or still are) over a wider area. A search for a coiffe which is traditional to my closest town, Mortain, revealed just one, described as common to an area covering the whole of the south-west of the Manche department, as far as the border with Brittany at Pontorson, and Avranches on the coast.

A search for Vire, a short distance north in the Calvados department, revealed two very distinct styles, and for St Hilaire-du-Harcouet just to the south, revealed nothing except adverts for today's hairdressers.

I cannot recall the last time I saw a Normandy coiffe being worn, but they were frequently on display at village events and functions when I lived in Brittany some 25 years ago. But there seemed to be no consensus as to what was actually the accepted pattern for any location, and I remember good-natured debates between young ladies sporting dramatically different styles as to which was actually the 'real' one for the village.

Breton workers wearing their best suits and dresses in Hilgrove Street (French Lane) on a Saturday in the early 20th century, the ladies wearing their traditional Breton *coiffes*

Jersey

Jersey does not appear to have any tradition of coiffes of its own to be worn on special occasions, and although farmworkers from Brittany and Normandy brought theirs with them and regularly wore them when the congregated in Hilgrove Street, known as 'French Lane' on their days off.

It is doubtful, though, that there is any connection between the coiffes worn as part of a traditional costume and the sun bonnets worn by islanders and their French labourers while working in the fields. Indeed, it has been suggested that the Jersey sun bonnet which was popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was of no great antiquity, and far from being of French origin, was brought to the island from England.

It was not designed with beauty in mind, but was a purely functional garment designed to protect the wearer from the sun's rays, while the men wore flat caps.

The sun bonnet was built over a structure of canes which supported its shape, and was then tied with a ribbon under the chin. Many who wore them found this somewhat claustrophobic and left the bonnet open. Some bonnets had a cloth extension beneath to cover the shoulders. Others, of a similar shape, could be folded flat, leading to the name 'concertina bonnet'.

Colour

The majority of the evidence for the type of bonnets which were worn comes from black and white photographs and postcards, so it is difficult to be certain what colour the coiffes were, but it seems likely that they were white, balck, and perhaps light grey.

Black coiffes were traditionally worn for funerals in Brittany, but we have found no confirmation that the same was the case in Jersey.

The traditional shape of Jersey bonnet seems not to have been looked on as a fashion item, but it was very common for ladies having their photograph taken by a professional photographer to were a more delicate bonnet, although there does not seem to be any consistency of pattern.

Babies had their white bonnets, and children of various ages would often be photographed wearing one, as evidenced by the delightful photograph of Brighton Road infants below.

When Queen Victoria became the first reigning monarch to visit Jersey in 1846, she was greeted by her aide-de-camp, Col John Le Couteur, and a line of local ladies. All of them were wearing the same style of bonnet as their Queen. It seems unlikely that this was a coincidence, and it tends to support the idea that the Jersey bonnet actually had its origins in England

In this Jersey farmyard the woman on the left is wearing a traditional style bonnet, whereas her companion seems to have a wide-brimmed sun hat

A variety of bonnet styles for these potato pickers

Alicia Godfray photographed at Paul Mill by Marguerite Hamilton
This milkmaid in a Jersey farmyard was wearing a very stiff type of bonnet with none of the pleats of the more traditional variety
From an LL tinted postcard
This lady was clearly determined that the rays of the sun would not reach an inch of her body
A mother and two daughters wearing matching bonnets, probably for the garden rather than for farm work
A young lady wearing an untied, pleated bonnet
Re-creation of a Jersey scene, complete with bonnets, at Hamptonne in 1990
A Francis de Faye portrait
A Francis de Faye portrait
A Francis Foot photograph, probably of his daughter
Harriet Le Couteur
Harriet Le Couteur
A C P Ouless photograph
Sophie Allix (1886-1942) and her cousin Mary Ann Billot, dressed ready for milking in a field
Miss Beazley
Miss De Ste Croix in 1880, photographed by Baudoux
Mr and Mrs Beakbane
Mrs Amy
Mrs Angier
Mrs B de Veulle, Societe Jersiaise Librarian
Ms Corbet Le Breton in 1846
Mrs Cross, photographed by Baudaux
Mrs de Carteret
Mrs Finlay
Mrs Pacquet
Mrs Prime and her children
Mrs Rive
A Baudoux portrait from the late 1870s
A portrait by Joshua Picot
Rozel Cottage
Brighton Road Infants, 1913
Brook Farm, St Brelade
The Gaudin family's Green Farm laundry
Picking tomatoes at L'Etacq