John Hetherington

Events

1

Episodes

3

Years

1797

Every event in Historedia whose sources name John Hetherington, with the role they cite and all of that event’s episodes. This is not a biography, and mentions are grouped by name, so two people with the same name can share this page.

Events and episodes

1. John Hetherington's Top Hat Riot

   1797

   Role: apocryphal haberdasher said to have worn the silk hat; identity unresolved

   1. 11797 (claimed date of the apocryphal story) · No specific location for the story's circulationApocryphal Status of the Story

      The riot story is apocryphal; top hats appeared in English fashion as early as the 1780s, contradicting the invention claim.

   2. 215 January 1797 (claimed) · London public highway (as claimed in the story)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.

   3. 316 January 1797 (claimed) · London, site of the alleged crowd disturbanceAlleged 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.

Sources

1. John Hetherington (haberdasher) Wikipedia, revision of 2025-07-26