About
Credited to the invention of haberdasher, John Hetherinton, and made famous worldwide in the 19th Century by Abraham Lincoln and Price Albert, Stovepipe is another name for that most iconic of fashion accessories: the Top Hat. Wilson Bothamley was born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire in 1851 and moved to Manchester at the height of the Second Industrial Revolution. At a time when the city was black with the soot and fumes from the endless mills and furnaces that littered the skyline, Wilson Bothamley (born Henry) would leave his home in rural Lincolnshire to develop his craft as a milliner. In 1897, he built and opened Wilson Bothamley & Co at 58-62 HIgh Street: a wholesale millinery warehouse with a ground floor hat shop and 5 floors of storage accommodation above. The initials 'WB' and the date '1897' are still visible at the front of the building, carved into the iron work. Wilson Bothamley passed away in 1931 at the age of 80, but his building will continue to stand proud through many generations to come. 2017 has seen it reborn, and while the hats are no longer here, we hope we can add our bit to what is already a rich and brilliant history, and continue the legacy of this wonderful building.
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