haberdasher

A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons and zippers.^[1] In U.S. English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter.^[2] A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.

Origin and use

The word appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Haberdashers were initially pedlars, sellers of small wares, such as needles, buttons, etc. The word could derive from the Icelandic haprtask "pedlars' wares" or the sack in which the pedlar carries them. In this sense, a haberdasher (Scandinavian name) would be very close to a mercer (French name). A haberdasher would retail smallwares, the goods of the pedlar, while a mercer would specialize in "linens, silks, fustian, worsted piece-goods and bedding".^[3]

Obsolete meanings of the term "haberdasher" refer to a "dealer in, or maker of, hats and caps".^[4]

Saint Louis IX, the King of France 1226–70, is the patron saint of haberdashers.^[5][6]

Notable haberdashers

• Daniel Defoe the famous writer of Robinson Crusoe
• William Adams was a 17th century London Haberdasher born in Newport, Shropshire, who founded Adams' Grammar School in 1656
• Robert Aske - a philanthropist
• Captain James Cook, (R.N., FRS) - 18th century British navigator and explorer, apprenticed to this job in his youth
• John Graunt - one of the first demographers
• Joseph Merrick, "the Elephant Man", worked as a haberdasher's assistant before being a freak show act
• Paavo Nurmi - legendary Finnish distance runner
• Harry S Truman - President of the United States from 1945-1953^[7]
• Johnny Carson - of The Tonight Show
• Charles Taze Russell - the founder of the Bible Student Movement, which he developed and renamed to the Jehovah's Witnesses
• Wayne Knight - actor, most famous role: "Newman" from Seinfield
• Christopher Lloyd - actor, e.g. Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy
• George Newnes - founders of the Tit-Bits newspaper (1881) and the popular The Strand Magazine, of Sherlock Holmes fame

See also

• Draper
• Hatter
• Millinery
• Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

References