Hat Trick!

For centuries the hats men wear have served as status symbols and fashion accessories as well as being functional and protective. From the formal, stiff top hats worn by the aristocrats and professionals of the 19th century to the soft berets favoured by intellectuals and artists, men's hats have made important statements about the individuals who wear them.   This quirky exhibition, based on Dumfries Museum's own collections, explores how social change has been reflected in the styles,designs and fabrics of this most commonplace of clothing items.
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Hat Box (1)
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Police Helmet 19th Century
This  widely issued 19th century Policeman's helmet bares much resemblance to the Prussian pickelhau
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Raffia Hat (African)
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Smoking Cap Mysreth
The smoking cap is mixture of a pill box hat and a Turkish fez, decorated with Turkish and Russian b
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Bicorn Hat
Bicorn hat from court dress, associated with Colonel Roberson of Lockerbie. On formal royal occasion
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Conical Hat (Asia)
This style, sometimes referred to as a “coolie hat” originates from 1830s China and India, when unsk
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Khaki Military Cap
This is most likely from a Second World War soldier’s uniform.
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Military Cap - 54th Sikhs
This cap was worn by Captain C B Anderson of Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, when he was in the 54th Sikh R
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Royal Dumfriesshire Yeomanry Cavalry military hat
Dumfries Yeomanry Cavalry was formed in 1798 in response to the fear of a French Napoleonic invasion
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Smoking Cap (1)
The smoking cap is mixture of a pill box hat and a Turkish fez, decorated with Turkish and Russian b
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Miners Helmet
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Royal Scots Belgic Shako, 1812 – 1815.
Hats of this type were worn at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 when an Anglo-Allied army commanded by
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Collapsible top Hat
Also known as a gibus or opera hat, this has springs inside which allow it to be folded flat for eas
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Regency style top hat, 1780s.
Regency style top hat, 1780s. This hat is made of varnished linen.  It was found in the eaves of Dr
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Military hat, with bird’s feather plume.
Initially the military bonnet was worn flat, but towards the end of the eighteenth century it was co
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Wide Brimmed Bowler Hat
From about the 1850s, people started adopting the bowler hat.  Also known as The Coke, the bowler, w
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118866 Cap
The sporting baseball cap has evolved to be worn as part of a worker’s uniform in recent years, espe
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Deerstalker
A Deerstalker, worn by a retired gamekeeper, Cowhill Estate, Dumfries. The most famous wearer of thi
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Baseball Cap - Annan Sailing Club
The Baseball Cap became very popular from the 1940s onward, and is now undoubtedly one of the most p
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WWII Zuckerman Helmet
Also known as the “Civilian Protective Helmet”, this was a British helmet designed for use by civil
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Bowler Hat (1)
From about the 1850s, people started adopting the bowler hat.  Also known as The Coke, the bowler, w
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Fireman's Helmet, ICI 1939-40
Fireman’s helmet, 1939-40, Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (Explosives Group), Dumfries.   In S
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Hat Box
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Top Hat & Brush
This hat was purchased by James MacDonald in anticipation of his wedding, planned for October 1939. 
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Military Cap - India
This hat comes from the uniform of Lieutenant-General Colin McKenzie (1806 - 1881). He was the son-i
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Solar topee, Hawkes & Co, London.
Also called a pith or safari helmet, this hat comes from the uniform of Lieutenant-General Colin McK
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Smoking Cap
The smoking cap is mixture of a pill box hat and a Turkish fez, decorated with Turkish and Russian b
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Dumfriesshire Rifle Volunteers military cap, c1840.
This belonged to Lieutenant Arnott of Kirkconnel Hall, Ecclefechan, grand nephew of Dr Archibald Arn
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Hat Cockade
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Miners Helmet & Lamp 1914
For centuries miners used oil lamps and candles to see underground, but if gas was present this coul
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Top Hat & Box
This belonged to John Malcolm Roberts (1904 - 1986), a Chartered Surveyor living in London.  His dau
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Homberg Hat
The style of hat took the world of men’s fashion by storm, replacing the stiff top hat and bowler of
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Tilley Hat
The Tilley hat originated in 1980, when Alexander Tilley, an amateur yachtsman, decided to make hims
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Palmerston Flat Cap
This cap acquired its name because of its connection with the Queen of the South Football ground.  I
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Bowler Hat
From about the 1850s, people started adopting the bowler hat.  Also known as The Coke, the bowler, w
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Royal Marine Dress Cap
This hat, complete with badge and memorial poppy, was worn for ceremonial occasions by Mark Boyd of
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Royal Marine Green Beret
This hat, complete with badge, is worn as part of the Marine’s everyday uniform.  It belongs to Mark
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Fisherman's cap
Fisherman’s cap, with netting to exclude midges, 2000s
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Hat Stand
This item was used in the process of making and displaying hats, and as can be seen from the image h
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Straw Hat
The origins of today’s boater are the sailor’s hat issued to midshipmen in the Royal Navy near the e
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Traditional Scot's Bonnet.
In 1739 independent companies were raised to perform policing duties in the highlands of Scotland. A
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Tricorn Hat
A reproduction of a Tricorn hat, believed to have been made for 'Guid Nychburris' a yearly festival
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