Victorian and Edwardian England

It was a comfortable age... a comely, colourful age. Matters of compelling importance were developing in the dyeing world. Less than a generation before, synthetic indigo had been discovered, and madder was being ousted by alizarine.

Nobly did fashion serve the cloth and steelmakers of Victorian days, for an incredible weight of metal caging, as well as fifteen yards of fine linen, went to make just one crinoline. Call it a mousetrap or what you will, but the crinoline could look very appealing, especially in the shades made possible by the discovery of the early synthetic dyestuffs such as Perkin's Mauve, Magenta, Nicholson's Blue and Hoffman's Violet. These sensational new dyestuffs received universal acclaim, and with their production the spotlight of the dyeing world fell upon England. It is a matter of history that our new-found fame was allowed to wane, for others were quicker to exploit Perkin's epoch-making achievement.

These were forerunners of the great modern range of synthetic dyestuffs which the dyer was soon to have at his command.