London Guided Walks » Episode 141: Mocked in London Part 1: Umbrellas

Episode 141: Mocked in London Part 1: Umbrellas

London is a city shaped by its traditions—and just as much by those brave enough to break them. In this episode, Hazel Baker uncovers the comic, sometimes outrageous history of umbrella-toting pioneers in London: from Jonas Hanway dodging cabbies’ missiles, to satirical cartoons by Gillray, to the Duke of Wellington’s battlefield bans. Explore four millennia of social resistance, ridiculous trends, and eventual transformation—when Londoners moved from mocking umbrellas as foreign folly to embracing them as city essentials. Discover why every innovation in London seems, at first, scandalous, and how mockery drives progress. Tune in for real tales of Georgian gentlemen, Victorian entrepreneurs, royal umbrella endorsements, and cheeky street urchins—and meet the original Londoners who changed the city, one soggy stroll at a time.

Host: Hazel Baker

Hazel is an active Londoner, a keen theatre-goer and qualified CIGA London tour guide.

She has won awards for tour guiding and is proud to be involved with some great organisations. She is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and am an honorary member of The Leaders Council.

Channel 4: The Orient Express: A Golden Era of Travel (Episode 1). Channel 5’s Walking Wartime Britain(Episode 3) and Yesterday Channel’s The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Het Rampjaar 1672, Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland and Arte.fr Invitation au Voyage, À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément. Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play: The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play: Secrets of the London Underground (Series 3, Episode 2) and Secrets of the London Underground (Series 4, Episode 10). NPO (Netherlands): Het Rampjaar 1672 – Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland. Arte France: Invitation au Voyage – À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément

Mocked in London, Part 1: The Umbrella Wars

Host Hazel Baker introduces “Mocked in London” by tracing how umbrellas went from foreign, feminized curiosities to an English essential. She links umbrellas to ancient Egyptian parasols and Chinese waterproof, collapsible designs, then to 18th-century London where Jonas Hanway’s rain umbrella provoked ridicule and attacks from children, sedan chairmen, and hackney cab drivers; caricaturists like James Gillray mocked the trend, yet satire boosted sales. Innovations such as Samuel Fox’s steel ribs (1847), sewing-machine manufacturing, and later pocket umbrellas (Haupt, 1929) made umbrellas lighter and affordable, fueling London makers like Ince & Sons and James Smith & Sons. The episode covers Wellington’s ban on battlefield umbrellas, Baron de Berenger’s umbrella self-defense teachings, Victorian theft and “floating” ownership satire, street-corner umbrella rentals, wartime trench umbrellas, and London transport’s vast lost-property piles, arguing London first mocks innovations before embracing them.