John Hetherington's Top Hat Riot
- When
- 1797
- Where
- London public highway (as claimed in the story); London, site of the alleged crowd disturbance; No specific location for the story's circulation
- Episodes
- 3
A late nineteenth-century story claims haberdasher John Hetherington caused a London riot in January 1797 by wearing a newly invented silk hat, but the tale is apocryphal and contradicted by earlier top hats.
Episodes
- Apocryphal Status of the Story
The riot story is apocryphal; top hats appeared in English fashion as early as the 1780s, contradicting the invention claim.
- Claimed Silk Hat Riot of January 1797
A late nineteenth-century note claims Hetherington wore a silk hat in London on 15 January 1797, provoking a mob and legal charges.
- Alleged Casualties and Press Comment
The story alleges fainting women, screaming children, a boy's broken arm, and a supposedly approving Times comment of 16 January 1797.
Background and detail
Background. John Hetherington is an apocryphal English haberdasher. The frequently republished story, dating from the late nineteenth century, claims that in 1797 he invented the top hat and caused a riot by wearing it in public in London.
The Claimed Incident. According to the note, Hetherington wore his invention of a silk hat in public on 15 January 1797 intending to cause a sensation, and was surrounded by a howling mob. He was supposedly arraigned before the Lord Mayor for breach of the peace and inciting to riot, required to give bonds of £500.
Alleged Consequences. The story describes several women fainting at the unusual sight, children screaming, dogs yelping, and a boy thrown down by the crowd with a broken right arm. It also claims The Times of 16 January 1797 approved the hat as destined to work a revolution in headgear.
Historicity. The account is apocryphal: top hats had appeared in English fashion as early as the 1780s, undermining the claim that Hetherington invented the hat or wore one for the first time in 1797.
People involved
- John Hetherington · apocryphal haberdasher said to have worn the silk hat; identity unresolved
Sources
- John Hetherington (haberdasher) Wikipedia, revision of 2025-07-26
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.