See G. B. Malleson,Life of Warren Hastings(1894); G. W. Forrest,The Administration of Warren Hastings(Calcutta, 1892); Sir Charles Lawson,The Private Life of Warren Hastings(1895); L. J. Trotter,Warren Hastings(“Rulers of India” series) (1890); Sir Alfred Lyall,Warren Hastings(“English Men of Action” series) (1889); F. M. Holmes,Four Heroes of India(1892); G. W. Hastings,A Vindication of Warren Hastings(1909). Macaulay’s famous essay, though a classic, is very partial and inaccurate; and Burke’s speech, on the impeachment of Warren Hastings, is magnificent rhetoric. The true historical view has been restored by Sir James Stephen’sStory of Nuncomar(1885) and by Sir John Strachey’sHastings and the Rohilla War(1892), and it is enforced in some detail in Sydney C. Grier’sLetters of Warren Hastings to his Wife(1905), material for which existed in a mass of documents relating to Hastings, acquired by the British Museum.
See G. B. Malleson,Life of Warren Hastings(1894); G. W. Forrest,The Administration of Warren Hastings(Calcutta, 1892); Sir Charles Lawson,The Private Life of Warren Hastings(1895); L. J. Trotter,Warren Hastings(“Rulers of India” series) (1890); Sir Alfred Lyall,Warren Hastings(“English Men of Action” series) (1889); F. M. Holmes,Four Heroes of India(1892); G. W. Hastings,A Vindication of Warren Hastings(1909). Macaulay’s famous essay, though a classic, is very partial and inaccurate; and Burke’s speech, on the impeachment of Warren Hastings, is magnificent rhetoric. The true historical view has been restored by Sir James Stephen’sStory of Nuncomar(1885) and by Sir John Strachey’sHastings and the Rohilla War(1892), and it is enforced in some detail in Sydney C. Grier’sLetters of Warren Hastings to his Wife(1905), material for which existed in a mass of documents relating to Hastings, acquired by the British Museum.
(J. S. Co.)
HASTINGS,a municipal, county and parliamentary borough and watering-place of Sussex, England, one of the Cinque Ports, 62 m. S.E. by S. from London, on the South Eastern & Chatham and the London, Brighton & South Coast railways. Pop. (1901), 65,528. It is picturesquely situated at the mouth of two narrow valleys, and, being sheltered by considerable hills on the north and east, has an especially mild climate. Eastward along the coast towards Fairlight, and inland, the country is beautiful. A parade fronts the English Channel, and connects the town on the west with St Leonard’s, which is included within the borough. This is mainly a residential quarter, and has four railway stations on the lines serving Hastings. Both Hastings and St Leonard’s have fine piers; there is a covered parade known as the Marina, and the Alexandra Park of 75 acres was opened in 1891. There are also numerous public gardens. The sandy beach is extensive, and affords excellent bathing. On the brink of the West Cliff stand a square and a circular tower and other fragments of the castle, probably erected soon after the time of William the Conqueror; together with the ruins, opened up by excavation in 1824, of the castle chapel, a transitional Norman structure 110 ft. long, with a nave, chancel and aisles. Besides the chapel there was formerly a college, both being under the control of a dean and secular canons. The deanery was held by Thomas Becket, and one of the canonries by William of Wykeham. The principal public buildings are the old parish churches of All Saints and St Clements, the first containing in its register for 1619 the baptism of Titus Oates, whose father was rector of the parish; numerous modern churches, the town hall (1880); theatre, music hall and assembly rooms. The Brassey Institute contains a public library, museum and art school. The Albert Memorial clock-tower was erected in 1864. Educational institutions include the grammar school (1883), school of science and art (1878) and technical schools. At the west end of the town are several hospitals and convalescent homes. The prosperity of the town depends almost wholly on its reputation as a watering-place, but there is a small fishing and boat-building industry. In 1890 an act of parliament authorized the construction of a harbour, but the work, begun in 1896, was not completed. The fish-market beneath the castle cliff is picturesque. The parliamentary borough, returning one member, falls within the Rye division of the county. The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors. Area, 4857 acres.
Rock shelters on Castle Hill and numerous flint instruments which have been discovered at Hastings point to an extensive neolithic population, and there are ancient earthworks and a promontory camp of unknown date. There is no evidence that Hastings was a Roman settlement, but it was a place of some note in the Anglo-Saxon period. In 795 land at Hastings (Haestingaceaster, Haestingas, Haestingaport) is included in a grant, which may possibly be a forgery, of a South Saxon chieftain to the abbey of St Denis in France; and a royal mint was established at the town by Æthelstan. The battle of Hastings in 1066 described below was the first and decisive act of the Norman Conquest. It was fought near the present Battle Abbey, about 6 m. inland. After the Conquest William I. erected the earthworks of the existing castle. By 1086 Hastings was a borough and had given its name to the rape of Sussex in which it lay. The town at that time had a harbour and a market. Whether Hastings was one of the towns afterwards known as the Cinque Ports at the time when they received their first charter from Edward the Confessor is uncertain, but in the reign of William I. it was undoubtedly among them. These combined towns, of which Hastings was the head, had special liberties and a separate jurisdiction under a warden. The only charter peculiar to Hastings was granted in 1589 by Elizabeth, and incorporated the borough under the name of “mayor, jurats and commonalty,” instead of the former title of “bailiff, jurats and commonalty.” Hastings returned two members to parliament probably from 1322, and certainly from 1366, until 1885, when the number was reduced to one.
Battle of Hastings.—On the 28th of September 1066, William of Normandy, bent on asserting by arms his right to the English crown, landed at Pevensey. King Harold, who had destroyed the invaders of northern England at the battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, on hearing the news hurried southward, gathering what forces he could on the way. He took up his position, athwart the road from Hastings to London, on a hill1some 6 m. inland from Hastings, with his back to the great forest of Anderida (the Weald) and in front of him a long glacis-like slope, at the bottom of which began the opposing slope of Telham Hill. The English army was composed almost entirely of infantry. The shire levies, for the most part destitute of body armour and with miscellaneous and even improvised weapons, were arranged on either flank of Harold’s guards (huscarles), picked men armed principally with the Danish axe and shield.
Before this position Duke William appeared on the morning of the 14th of October. His host, composed not only of his Norman vassals but of barons, knights and adventurers from all quarters, was arranged in a centre and two wings, each corps having its archers and arblasters in the front line, the rest of the infantry in the second and the heavy armoured cavalry in the third. Neither the arrows nor the charge of the second line of foot-men, who, unlike the English, wore defensive mail, made any impression on the English standing in a serried mass behind their interlocked shields.2
Then the heavy cavalry came on, led by the duke and his brother Odo, and encouraged by the example of the minstrel Taillefer, who rode forward, tossing and catching his sword, into the midst of the English line before he was pulled down and killed. All along the front the cavalry came to close quarters with the defenders, but the long powerful Danish axes wereas formidable as the halbert and the bill proved to be in battles of later centuries, and they lopped off the arms of the assailants and cut down their horses. The fire of the attack died out and the left wing (Bretons) fled in rout. But as thefyrdlevies broke out of the line and pursued the Bretons down the hill in a wild, formless mob, William’s cavalry swung round and destroyed them, and this suggested to the duke to repeat deliberately what the Bretons had done from fear. Another advance, followed by a feigned retreat, drew down a second large body of the English from the crest, and these in turn, once in the open, were ridden over and slaughtered by the men-at-arms. Lastly, these two disasters having weakened the defenders both materially and morally, William subjected thehuscarles, who had stood fast when thefyrdbroke its ranks, to a constant rain of arrows, varied from time to time by cavalry charges. These magnificent soldiers endured the trial for many hours, from noon till close on nightfall; but at last, when the Norman archers raised their bows so as to pitch the arrows at a steep angle of descent in the midst of thehuscarles, the strain became too great. While some rushed forward alone or in twos and threes to die in the midst of the enemy, the remainder stood fast, too closely crowded almost for the wounded to drop. At last Harold received a mortal wound, the English began to waver, and the knights forced their way in. Only a remnant of the defenders made its way back to the forest; and William, after resting for a night on the hardly-won ground, began the work of the Norman Conquest.
1Freeman called this hill Senlac and introduced the fashion of describing the battle as “the battle of Senlac.” Mr J. H. Round, however, proved conclusively that this name, being French (Senlecque), could not have been in use at the time of the Conquest, that the battlefield had in fact no name, pointing out that in William of Malmesbury and in Domesday Book the battle is called “of Hastings” (Bellum Hastingense), while only one writer, Ordericus Vitalis, describes it two hundred years after the event asBellum Senlacium. See Round,Feudal England(London, 1895), p. 333 et seq.2There is still a difference of opinion as to whether the English were, or were not, defended by any other rampart than that of the customary “shield-wall.” Freeman, apparently as a result of a misunderstanding of a passage in Henry of Huntingdon and the slightly ambiguous verse of Wace in theRoman du Rou(ll. 6991-6994 and ll. 7815-7826), affirms that Harold turned “the battle as far as possible into the likeness of a siege,” by building round his troops a “palisade” of solid timber (Norman Conquest, iii. 444). This was proved to be a fable by J. H. Round, in the course of a general attack on Freeman’s historical method, which provoked the professor’s defenders to take up the cudgels on his behalf in a very long and lively controversy. The result of this was that Freeman’s account was wholly discredited, though Round’s view—that there was no wall of any kind save the shield-wall—is not generally accepted. Professor Oman (Academy, June 9, 1894), for instance, holds that there was “anabattisof some sort” set to hamper the advance of cavalry (see alsoEnglish History, vol. ix., p. 474). Mr Round sums up the controversy, from his point of view, in hisFeudal England, p. 340 et seq., where references to other monographs on the subject will be found.
1Freeman called this hill Senlac and introduced the fashion of describing the battle as “the battle of Senlac.” Mr J. H. Round, however, proved conclusively that this name, being French (Senlecque), could not have been in use at the time of the Conquest, that the battlefield had in fact no name, pointing out that in William of Malmesbury and in Domesday Book the battle is called “of Hastings” (Bellum Hastingense), while only one writer, Ordericus Vitalis, describes it two hundred years after the event asBellum Senlacium. See Round,Feudal England(London, 1895), p. 333 et seq.
2There is still a difference of opinion as to whether the English were, or were not, defended by any other rampart than that of the customary “shield-wall.” Freeman, apparently as a result of a misunderstanding of a passage in Henry of Huntingdon and the slightly ambiguous verse of Wace in theRoman du Rou(ll. 6991-6994 and ll. 7815-7826), affirms that Harold turned “the battle as far as possible into the likeness of a siege,” by building round his troops a “palisade” of solid timber (Norman Conquest, iii. 444). This was proved to be a fable by J. H. Round, in the course of a general attack on Freeman’s historical method, which provoked the professor’s defenders to take up the cudgels on his behalf in a very long and lively controversy. The result of this was that Freeman’s account was wholly discredited, though Round’s view—that there was no wall of any kind save the shield-wall—is not generally accepted. Professor Oman (Academy, June 9, 1894), for instance, holds that there was “anabattisof some sort” set to hamper the advance of cavalry (see alsoEnglish History, vol. ix., p. 474). Mr Round sums up the controversy, from his point of view, in hisFeudal England, p. 340 et seq., where references to other monographs on the subject will be found.
HASTINGS,a city and the county-seat of Adams county, Nebraska, U.S.A., about 95 m. W. by S. of Lincoln. Pop. (1890) 13,584; (1900) 7188 (1253 foreign-born); (1910) 9338. Hastings is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago & North-western, the Missouri Pacific and the St Joseph & Grand Island railways. It is the seat of Hastings College (Presbyterian, coeducational), opened in 1882, and having 286 students in 1908, and of the state asylum for the chronic insane. The city carries on a considerable jobbing business for the farming region of which it is the centre and produce market. There are a large foundry and several large brickyards here. Hastings was settled in 1872, was incorporated in 1874 and was chartered as a city in the same year.
HAT,a covering for the head worn by both sexes, and distinguished from the cap or bonnet by the possession of a brim. The word in O.E. ishœt, which is cognate with O. Frisianhatt, O.N.hotte, &c., meaning head-covering, hood; it is distantly related to the O.E.hod, hood, which is cognate with the German for “hat,”Hut. The history of the hat as part of the apparel of both sexes, with the various changes in shape which it has undergone, is treated in the articleCostume.
Hats were originally made by the process of felting, and as tradition ascribed the discovery of that very ancient operation to St Clement, he was assumed as the patron saint of the craft. At the present day the trade is divided into two distinct classes. The first and most ancient is concerned with the manufacture of felt hats, and the second has to do with the recent but now most extensive and important manufacture of silk or dress hats. In addition to these there is the important manufacture of straw or plaited hats (seeStraw and Straw Manufactures); and hats are occasionally manufactured of materials and by processes not included under any of these heads, but such manufactures do not take a large or permanent position in the industry.
Felt Hats.—There is a great range in the quality of felt hats: the finer and more expensive qualities are made entirely of fur; for commoner qualities a mixture of fur and wool is used; and for the cheapest kinds wool alone is employed. The processes and apparatus necessary for making hats of fur differ also from those required in the case of woollen bodies; and in large manufactories machinery is now generally employed for operations which at no distant date were entirely manual. An outline of the operations by which the old beaver hat was made will give an idea of the manual processes in making a fur napped hat, and the apparatus and mechanical processes employed in making ordinary hard and soft felts will afterwards be noticed.Hatters’ fur consists principally of the hair of rabbits (technically called coneys) and hares, with some proportion of nutria, musquash and beavers’ hair; and generally any parings and cuttings from furriers are also used. Furs intended for felting are deprived of their long coarse hairs, after which they are treated with a solution of nitrate of mercury, an operation called carroting orsecretage, whereby the felting properties of the fur are greatly increased. The fur is then cut by hand or machine from the skin, and in this state it is delivered to the hat maker.Fig. 1.The old process of making a beaver hat was as follows. The materials of a proper beaver consisted, for the body or foundation, of rabbits’ fur, and for the nap, of beaver fur, although the beaver was often mixed with or supplanted by a more common fur. In preparing the fur plate, the hatter weighed out a sufficient quantity of rabbit fur for a single hat, and spread it out and combined it by the operation of bowing. The bow or stang ABC (fig. 1) was about 7 ft. long, and it stretched a single cord of catgut D, which the workman vibrated by means of a wooden pin E, furnished with a half knob at each end. Holding the bow in his left hand, and the pin in his right, he caused the vibrating string to come in contact with the heap of tangled fur, which did not cover a space greater than that of the hand. At each vibration some of the filaments started up to the height of a few inches, and fell away from the mass, a little to the right of the bow, their excursions being restrained by a concave frame of wicker work called the basket. One half of the material was first operated on, and by bowing and gathering, or a patting use of the basket, the stuff was loosely matted into a triangular figure, about 50 by 36 in., called a bat. In this formation care was taken to work about two-thirds of the fur down towards what was intended for the brim, and this having been effected, greater density was induced by gentle pressure with the basket. It was then covered with a wettish linen cloth, upon which was laid the hardening skin, a piece of dry half-tanned horse hide. On this the workman pressed until the stuff adhered closely to the damp cloth, in which it was then doubled up, freely pressed with the hand, and laid aside. By this process, called basoning, the bat became compactly felted and thinned toward the sides and point. The other half of the fur was next subjected to precisely the same processes, after which a cone-shaped slip of stiff paper was laid on its surface, and the sides of the bat were folded over its edges to its form and size. It was then laid paper-side downward upon the first bat, which was now replaced on the hurdle, and its edges were transversely doubled over the introverted side-lays of the second bat, thus giving equal thickness to the whole body. In this condition it was reintroduced between folds of damp linen cloth, and again hardened, so as to unite the two halves, the knitting together of which was quickly effected. The paper was then withdrawn, and the body in the form of a large cone removed to the plank or battery room.Fig. 2.The battery consisted of an open iron boiler or kettle A (fig. 2), filled with scalding hot water, with shelves, B, C, partly of mahogany and partly of lead, sloping down to it. Here the body was first dipped in the water, and then withdrawn to the plank to cool and drain, when it was unfolded, rolled gently with a pin tapering towards the ends, turned, and worked in every direction, to toughen and shrink it, and at the same time prevent adhesion of its sides. Stopping or thickening any thin spots seen on looking through the body, was carefully performed by dabbing on additional stuff in successive supplies from the hot liquor with a brush frequently dipped into the kettle, until the body was shrunk sufficiently (about one-half) and thoroughly equalized. When quite dried, stiffening was effected with a brush dipped into a thin varnish of shellac, and rubbed into the body, the surface intended for the inside having much more laid on it than the outer, while the brim was made to absorb many times the quantity applied to any other part.On being again dried, the body was ready to be covered with a nap of beaver hair. For this, in inferior qualities, the hair of the otter, nutria or other fine fur was sometimes substituted. The requisite quantity of one or other of these was taken and mixed with a proportion of cotton, and the whole was bowed up into a thin uniform lap. The cotton merely served to give sufficient body to the material to enable the workman to handle the lap. The body of the hatbeing damped, the workman spread over it a covering of this lap, and by moistening and gentle patting with a brush the cut ends of the hair penetrated and fixed themselves in the felt body. The hat was then put into a coarse hair cloth, dipped and rolled in the hot liquor until the fur was quite worked in, the cotton being left on the surface loose and ready for removal. The blocking, dyeing and finishing processes in the case of beaver hats were similar to those employed for ordinary felts, except that greater care and dexterity were required on the part of the workmen, and further that the coarse hairs or kemps which might be in the fur were cut off by shaving the surface with a razor. The nap also had to be laid in one direction, smoothed and rendered glossy by repeated wettings, ironings and brushings. A hat so finished was very durable and much more light, cool and easy-fitting to the head than the silk hat which has now so largely superseded it.The first efficient machinery for making felt hats was devised in America, and from the United States the machine-making processes were introduced into England about the year 1858; and now in all large establishments machinery such as that alluded to below is employed. For the forming of hat bodies two kinds of machine are used, according as the material employed is fur or wool. In the case of fur, the essential portion of the apparatus is a “former,” consisting of a metal cone of the size and form of the body or bat to be made, perforated all over with small holes. The cone is made to revolve on its axis slowly over an orifice under which there is a powerful fan, which maintains a strong inward draught of air through the holes in the cone. At the side of the cone, and with an opening towards it, is a trunk or box from which the fur to be made into a hat is thrown out by the rapid revolution of a brushlike cylinder, and as the cloud of separate hairs is expelled from the trunk, the current of air being sucked through the cone carries the fibres to it and causes them to cling closely to its surface. Thus a coating of loose fibres is accumulated on the copper cone, and these are kept in position only by the exhaust at work under it. When sufficient for a hat body has been deposited, it is damped and a cloth is wrapped round it; then an outer cone is slipped over it and the whole is removed for felting, while another copper cone is placed in position for continuing the work. The fur is next felted by being rolled and pressed, these operations being performed partly by hand and partly by machine.In the case of wool hats the hat or body is prepared by first carding in a modified form of carding machine. The wool is divided into two separate slivers as delivered from the cards, and these are wound simultaneously on a double conical block of wood mounted and geared to revolve slowly with a reciprocating horizontal motion, so that there is a continual crossing and recrossing of the wool as the sliver is wound around the cone. This diagonal arrangement of the sliver is an essential feature in the apparatus, as thereby the strength of the finished felt is made equal in every direction; and when strained in the blocking the texture yields in a uniform manner without rupture. The wool wound on the double block forms the material of two hats, which are separated by cutting around the median or base line, and slipping each half off at its own end. Into each cone of wool or bat an “inlayer” is now placed to prevent the inside from matting, after which they are folded in cloths, and placed over a perforated iron plate through which steam is blown. When well moistened and heated, they are placed between boards, and subjected to a rubbing action sufficient to harden them for bearing the subsequent strong planking or felting operations. The planking of wool hats is generally done by machine, in some cases a form of fulling mill being used; but in all forms the agencies are heat, moisture, pressure, rubbing and turning.When by thorough felting the hat bodies of any kind have been reduced to dense leathery cones about one-half the size of the original bat, they are dried, and, if hard felts are to be made, the bodies are at this stage hardened or stiffened with a varnish of shellac. Next follows the operations of blocking, in which the felt for the first time assumes approximately the form it is ultimately to possess. For this purpose the conical body is softened in boiling water, and forcibly drawn over and over a hat-shaped wooden block. The operation of dyeing next follows, and the finishing processes include shaping on a block, over which crown and brim receive ultimately their accurate form, and pouncing or pumicing, which consists of smoothing the surface with fine emery paper, the hat being for this purpose mounted on a rapidly revolving block. The trimmer finally binds the outer brim and inserts the lining, after which the brim may be given more or less of a curl or turn over according to prevailing fashion.Silk Hats.—The silk hat, which has now become co-extensive with civilization, is an article of comparatively recent introduction. It was invented in Florence about 1760, but it was more than half a century before it was worn to any great extent.A silk hat consists of a light stiff body covered with a plush of silk, the manufacture of which in a brilliant glossy condition is the most important element in the industry. Originally the bodies were made of felt and various other materials, but now calico is chiefly used. The calico is first stiffened with a varnish of shellac, and then cut into pieces sufficient for crown, side and brim. The side-piece is wound round a wooden hat block, and its edges are joined by hot ironing, and the crown-piece is put on and similarly attached to the side. The brim, consisting of three thicknesses of calico cemented together, is now slipped over and brought to its position, and thereafter a second side-piece and another crown are cemented on. The whole of the body, thus prepared, now receives a coat of size, and subsequently it is varnished over, and thus it is ready for the operation of covering. In covering this body, the under brim, generally of merino, is first attached, then the upper brim, and lastly the crown and side sewn together are drawn over. All these by hot ironing and stretching are drawn smooth and tight, and as the varnish of the body softens with the heat, body and cover adhere all over to each other without wrinkle or pucker. Dressing and polishing by means of damping, brushing and ironing, come next, after which the hat is “velured” in a revolving machine by the application of haircloth and velvet velures, which cleans the nap and gives it a smooth and glossy surface. The brim has only then to be bound, the linings inserted, and the brim finally curled, when the hat is ready for use.
Felt Hats.—There is a great range in the quality of felt hats: the finer and more expensive qualities are made entirely of fur; for commoner qualities a mixture of fur and wool is used; and for the cheapest kinds wool alone is employed. The processes and apparatus necessary for making hats of fur differ also from those required in the case of woollen bodies; and in large manufactories machinery is now generally employed for operations which at no distant date were entirely manual. An outline of the operations by which the old beaver hat was made will give an idea of the manual processes in making a fur napped hat, and the apparatus and mechanical processes employed in making ordinary hard and soft felts will afterwards be noticed.
Hatters’ fur consists principally of the hair of rabbits (technically called coneys) and hares, with some proportion of nutria, musquash and beavers’ hair; and generally any parings and cuttings from furriers are also used. Furs intended for felting are deprived of their long coarse hairs, after which they are treated with a solution of nitrate of mercury, an operation called carroting orsecretage, whereby the felting properties of the fur are greatly increased. The fur is then cut by hand or machine from the skin, and in this state it is delivered to the hat maker.
The old process of making a beaver hat was as follows. The materials of a proper beaver consisted, for the body or foundation, of rabbits’ fur, and for the nap, of beaver fur, although the beaver was often mixed with or supplanted by a more common fur. In preparing the fur plate, the hatter weighed out a sufficient quantity of rabbit fur for a single hat, and spread it out and combined it by the operation of bowing. The bow or stang ABC (fig. 1) was about 7 ft. long, and it stretched a single cord of catgut D, which the workman vibrated by means of a wooden pin E, furnished with a half knob at each end. Holding the bow in his left hand, and the pin in his right, he caused the vibrating string to come in contact with the heap of tangled fur, which did not cover a space greater than that of the hand. At each vibration some of the filaments started up to the height of a few inches, and fell away from the mass, a little to the right of the bow, their excursions being restrained by a concave frame of wicker work called the basket. One half of the material was first operated on, and by bowing and gathering, or a patting use of the basket, the stuff was loosely matted into a triangular figure, about 50 by 36 in., called a bat. In this formation care was taken to work about two-thirds of the fur down towards what was intended for the brim, and this having been effected, greater density was induced by gentle pressure with the basket. It was then covered with a wettish linen cloth, upon which was laid the hardening skin, a piece of dry half-tanned horse hide. On this the workman pressed until the stuff adhered closely to the damp cloth, in which it was then doubled up, freely pressed with the hand, and laid aside. By this process, called basoning, the bat became compactly felted and thinned toward the sides and point. The other half of the fur was next subjected to precisely the same processes, after which a cone-shaped slip of stiff paper was laid on its surface, and the sides of the bat were folded over its edges to its form and size. It was then laid paper-side downward upon the first bat, which was now replaced on the hurdle, and its edges were transversely doubled over the introverted side-lays of the second bat, thus giving equal thickness to the whole body. In this condition it was reintroduced between folds of damp linen cloth, and again hardened, so as to unite the two halves, the knitting together of which was quickly effected. The paper was then withdrawn, and the body in the form of a large cone removed to the plank or battery room.
The battery consisted of an open iron boiler or kettle A (fig. 2), filled with scalding hot water, with shelves, B, C, partly of mahogany and partly of lead, sloping down to it. Here the body was first dipped in the water, and then withdrawn to the plank to cool and drain, when it was unfolded, rolled gently with a pin tapering towards the ends, turned, and worked in every direction, to toughen and shrink it, and at the same time prevent adhesion of its sides. Stopping or thickening any thin spots seen on looking through the body, was carefully performed by dabbing on additional stuff in successive supplies from the hot liquor with a brush frequently dipped into the kettle, until the body was shrunk sufficiently (about one-half) and thoroughly equalized. When quite dried, stiffening was effected with a brush dipped into a thin varnish of shellac, and rubbed into the body, the surface intended for the inside having much more laid on it than the outer, while the brim was made to absorb many times the quantity applied to any other part.
On being again dried, the body was ready to be covered with a nap of beaver hair. For this, in inferior qualities, the hair of the otter, nutria or other fine fur was sometimes substituted. The requisite quantity of one or other of these was taken and mixed with a proportion of cotton, and the whole was bowed up into a thin uniform lap. The cotton merely served to give sufficient body to the material to enable the workman to handle the lap. The body of the hatbeing damped, the workman spread over it a covering of this lap, and by moistening and gentle patting with a brush the cut ends of the hair penetrated and fixed themselves in the felt body. The hat was then put into a coarse hair cloth, dipped and rolled in the hot liquor until the fur was quite worked in, the cotton being left on the surface loose and ready for removal. The blocking, dyeing and finishing processes in the case of beaver hats were similar to those employed for ordinary felts, except that greater care and dexterity were required on the part of the workmen, and further that the coarse hairs or kemps which might be in the fur were cut off by shaving the surface with a razor. The nap also had to be laid in one direction, smoothed and rendered glossy by repeated wettings, ironings and brushings. A hat so finished was very durable and much more light, cool and easy-fitting to the head than the silk hat which has now so largely superseded it.
The first efficient machinery for making felt hats was devised in America, and from the United States the machine-making processes were introduced into England about the year 1858; and now in all large establishments machinery such as that alluded to below is employed. For the forming of hat bodies two kinds of machine are used, according as the material employed is fur or wool. In the case of fur, the essential portion of the apparatus is a “former,” consisting of a metal cone of the size and form of the body or bat to be made, perforated all over with small holes. The cone is made to revolve on its axis slowly over an orifice under which there is a powerful fan, which maintains a strong inward draught of air through the holes in the cone. At the side of the cone, and with an opening towards it, is a trunk or box from which the fur to be made into a hat is thrown out by the rapid revolution of a brushlike cylinder, and as the cloud of separate hairs is expelled from the trunk, the current of air being sucked through the cone carries the fibres to it and causes them to cling closely to its surface. Thus a coating of loose fibres is accumulated on the copper cone, and these are kept in position only by the exhaust at work under it. When sufficient for a hat body has been deposited, it is damped and a cloth is wrapped round it; then an outer cone is slipped over it and the whole is removed for felting, while another copper cone is placed in position for continuing the work. The fur is next felted by being rolled and pressed, these operations being performed partly by hand and partly by machine.
In the case of wool hats the hat or body is prepared by first carding in a modified form of carding machine. The wool is divided into two separate slivers as delivered from the cards, and these are wound simultaneously on a double conical block of wood mounted and geared to revolve slowly with a reciprocating horizontal motion, so that there is a continual crossing and recrossing of the wool as the sliver is wound around the cone. This diagonal arrangement of the sliver is an essential feature in the apparatus, as thereby the strength of the finished felt is made equal in every direction; and when strained in the blocking the texture yields in a uniform manner without rupture. The wool wound on the double block forms the material of two hats, which are separated by cutting around the median or base line, and slipping each half off at its own end. Into each cone of wool or bat an “inlayer” is now placed to prevent the inside from matting, after which they are folded in cloths, and placed over a perforated iron plate through which steam is blown. When well moistened and heated, they are placed between boards, and subjected to a rubbing action sufficient to harden them for bearing the subsequent strong planking or felting operations. The planking of wool hats is generally done by machine, in some cases a form of fulling mill being used; but in all forms the agencies are heat, moisture, pressure, rubbing and turning.
When by thorough felting the hat bodies of any kind have been reduced to dense leathery cones about one-half the size of the original bat, they are dried, and, if hard felts are to be made, the bodies are at this stage hardened or stiffened with a varnish of shellac. Next follows the operations of blocking, in which the felt for the first time assumes approximately the form it is ultimately to possess. For this purpose the conical body is softened in boiling water, and forcibly drawn over and over a hat-shaped wooden block. The operation of dyeing next follows, and the finishing processes include shaping on a block, over which crown and brim receive ultimately their accurate form, and pouncing or pumicing, which consists of smoothing the surface with fine emery paper, the hat being for this purpose mounted on a rapidly revolving block. The trimmer finally binds the outer brim and inserts the lining, after which the brim may be given more or less of a curl or turn over according to prevailing fashion.
Silk Hats.—The silk hat, which has now become co-extensive with civilization, is an article of comparatively recent introduction. It was invented in Florence about 1760, but it was more than half a century before it was worn to any great extent.
A silk hat consists of a light stiff body covered with a plush of silk, the manufacture of which in a brilliant glossy condition is the most important element in the industry. Originally the bodies were made of felt and various other materials, but now calico is chiefly used. The calico is first stiffened with a varnish of shellac, and then cut into pieces sufficient for crown, side and brim. The side-piece is wound round a wooden hat block, and its edges are joined by hot ironing, and the crown-piece is put on and similarly attached to the side. The brim, consisting of three thicknesses of calico cemented together, is now slipped over and brought to its position, and thereafter a second side-piece and another crown are cemented on. The whole of the body, thus prepared, now receives a coat of size, and subsequently it is varnished over, and thus it is ready for the operation of covering. In covering this body, the under brim, generally of merino, is first attached, then the upper brim, and lastly the crown and side sewn together are drawn over. All these by hot ironing and stretching are drawn smooth and tight, and as the varnish of the body softens with the heat, body and cover adhere all over to each other without wrinkle or pucker. Dressing and polishing by means of damping, brushing and ironing, come next, after which the hat is “velured” in a revolving machine by the application of haircloth and velvet velures, which cleans the nap and gives it a smooth and glossy surface. The brim has only then to be bound, the linings inserted, and the brim finally curled, when the hat is ready for use.
HATCH, EDWIN(1835-1889), English theologian, was born at Derby on the 14th of September 1835, and was educated at King Edward’s school, Birmingham, under James Prince Lee, afterwards bishop of Manchester. He had many struggles to pass through in early life, which tended to discipline his character and to form the habits of severe study and the mental independence for which he came to be distinguished. Hatch became scholar of Pembroke College, Oxford, took a second-class in classics in 1857, and won the Ellerton prize in 1858. He was professor of classics in Trinity College, Toronto, from 1859 to 1862, when he became rector of the high school at Quebec. In 1867 he returned to Oxford, and was made vice-principal of St Mary Hall, a post which he held until 1885. In 1883 he was presented to the living of Purleigh in Essex, and in 1884 was appointed university reader in ecclesiastical history. In 1880 he was Bampton lecturer, and from 1880 to 1884 Grinfield lecturer on the Septuagint. In 1883 the university of Edinburgh conferred on him the D.D. degree. He was the first editor of the university officialGazette(1870), and of theStudent’s Handbook to the University. A reputation acquired through certain contributions to theDictionary of Christian Antiquitieswas confirmed by his treatisesOn the Organization of the Early Christian Churches(1881, his Bampton lectures), and onThe Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages on the Christian Church(the Hibbert lectures for 1888). These works provoked no little criticism on account of the challenge they threw down to the high-church party, but the research and fairness displayed were admitted on all hands. The Bampton lectures were translated into German by Harnack. Among his other works areThe Growth of Church Institutions(1887);Essays in Biblical Greek(1889);A Concordance to the Septuagint(in collaboration with H. A. Redpath);Towards Fields of Light(verse, 1889);The God of Hope(sermons with memoir, 1890). Hatch died on the 10th of November 1889.
An appreciation by W. Sanday appeared inThe Expositorfor February 1890.
An appreciation by W. Sanday appeared inThe Expositorfor February 1890.
HATCH.1. (In Mid. Eng.hacche; the word is of obscure origin, but cognate forms appear in Swed.häcka, and Dan.hackke; it has been connected with “hatch,” grating, with possible reference to a coop, and with “hack” in the sense “to peck,” of chickens coming out of the shell), to bring out young from the egg, by incubation or other process, natural or artificial. The word is also used as a substantive of a brood of chickens brought out from the eggs. “Hatchery” is particularly applied to a place for the hatching of fish spawn, where the natural process is aided by artificial means. In a figurative sense “to hatch” is often used of the development or contrivance of a plot or conspiracy.
2. (From the Fr.hacher, to cut,hache, hatchet), to engrave or draw by means of cutting lines on wood, metal, &c., or to ornament by inlaying with strips of some other substance as gold or silver. Engraved lines, especially those used in shading, are called “hatches” or “hachures” (seeHachure).
3. (O.E.hæc, a gate, rack in a stable; found in various Teutonic languages; cf. Dutchhek, Dan.hekke; the ultimate origin is obscure; Skeat suggests a connexion with the root seen in “hook”), the name given to the lower half of a divideddoor, as in “buttery-hatch,” the half-door leading from the buttery or kitchen, through which the dishes could be passed into the dining-hall. It was used formerly as another name for a ship’s deck, and thus the phrase “under hatches” meant properly below deck; the word is now applied to the doors of grated framework covering the openings (the “hatchways”) which lead from one deck to another into the hold through which the cargo is lowered. In Cornwall the word is used to denote certain dams or mounds used to prevent the tin-washes and the water coming from the stream-works from flowing into the fresh rivers.
HATCHET(adapted from the Fr.hachette, diminutive ofhache, axe,hacher, to cut, hack), a small, light form of axe with a short handle (seeTool); for the war-hatchet of the North American Indians and the symbolical ceremonies connected with it see Tomahawk.
HATCHETTITE,sometimes termedMountain Tallow,Mineral Adipocire, orAdipocerite, a mineral hydrocarbon occurring in the Coal-measures of Belgium and elsewhere, occupying in some cases the interior of hollow concretions of iron-ore, but more generally the cavities of fossil shells or crevices in the rocks. It is of yellow colour, and translucent, but darkens and becomes opaque on exposure. It has no odour, is greasy to the touch, and has a slightly glistening lustre. Its hardness is that of soft wax. The melting point is 46° to 47° C., and the composition is C. 85.55, H. 14.45.
HATCHMENT,properly, in heraldry, an escutcheon or armorial shield granted for some act of distinction or “achievement,” of which word it is a corruption through such forms asatcheament,achement,hachement, &c. “Achievement” is an adaptation of the Fr.achèvement, fromachever,à chef venir, Lat.ad caput venire, to come to a head, or conclusion, hence accomplish, achieve. The term “hatchment” is now usually applied to funeral escutcheons or armorial shields enclosed in a black lozenge-shaped frame suspended against the wall of a deceased person’s house. It is usually placed over the entrance at the level of the second floor, and remains for from six to twelve months, when it is removed to the parish church. This custom is falling into disuse, though still not uncommon. It is usual to hang the hatchment of a deceased head of a house at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge over the entrance to his lodge or residence.
If for a bachelor the hatchment bears upon a shield his arms, crest, and other appendages, the whole on a black ground. If for a single woman, her arms are represented upon a lozenge, bordered with knotted ribbons, also on a black ground. If the hatchment be for a married man (as in the illustration), his arms upon a shield impale those of his surviving wife; or if she be an heiress they are placed upon a scutcheon of pretence, and crest and other appendages are added. The dexter half of the ground is black, the sinister white. For a wife whose husband is alive the same arrangement is used, but the sinister ground only is black. For a widower the same is used as for a married man, but the whole ground is black; for a widow the husband’s arms are given with her own, but upon a lozenge, with ribbons, without crest or appendages, and the whole ground is black. When there have been two wives or two husbands the ground is divided into three parts per pale, and the division behind the arms of the survivor is white. Colours and military or naval emblems are sometimes placed behind the arms of military or naval officers. It is thus easy to discern from the hatchment the sex, condition and quality, and possibly the name of the deceased.
In Scottish hatchments it is not unusual to place the arms of the father and mother of the deceased in the two lateral angles of the lozenge, and sometimes the 4, 8 or 16 genealogical escutcheons are ranged along the margin.
HATFIELD,a town in the Mid or St Albans parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, 17½ m. N. of London by the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901), 4754. It lies picturesquely on the flank of a wooded hill, and about its foot, past which runs the Great North Road. The church of St Etheldreda, well situated towards the top of the hill, contains an Early English round arch with the dog-tooth moulding, but for the rest is Decorated and Perpendicular, and largely restored. The chapel north of the chancel is known as the Salisbury chapel, and was erected by Robert Cecil, first earl of Salisbury (d. 1612), who was buried here. It is in a mixture of classic and Gothic styles. In a private portion of the churchyard is buried, among others of the family, the third marquess of Salisbury (d. 1903). In the vicinity is Hatfield House, close to the site of a palace of the bishops of Ely, which was erected about the beginning of the 12th century. From this palace comes the proper form of the name of the town, Bishop’s Hatfield. In 1538 the manor was resigned to Henry VIII. by Bishop Thomas Goodrich of Ely, in exchange for certain lands in Cambridge, Essex and Norfolk; and after that monarch the palace was successively the residence of Edward VI. immediately before his accession, of Queen Elizabeth during the reign of her sister Mary, and of James I. The last-named exchanged it in 1607 for Theobalds, near Cheshunt, in the same county, an estate of Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, in whose family Hatfield House has since remained. The west wing of the present mansion, built for Cecil in 1608-1611, was destroyed by fire in November 1835, the dowager marchioness of Salisbury, widow of the 1st marquess, perishing in the flames. Hatfield House was built, and has been restored and maintained, in the richest style of its period, both without and within. The buildings of mellowed red brick now used as stables and offices are, however, of a period far anterior to Cecil’s time, and are probably part of the erection of John Morton, bishop of Ely in 1478-1486. The park measures some 10 m. in circumference. From the eminence on which the mansion stands the ground falls towards the river Lea, which here expands into a small lake. Beyond this is a rare example of a monks’ walled vineyard. In the park is also an ancient oak under which Elizabeth is said to have been seated when the news of her sister’s death was brought to her. Brocket Park is another fine demesne, at the neighbouring village of Lemsford, and the Brocket chapel in Hatfield church contains memorials of the families who have held this seat.
HATHERLEY, WILLIAM PAGE WOOD,1st Baron(1801-1881), lord chancellor of Great Britain, son of Sir Matthew Wood, a London alderman and lord mayor who became famous for befriending Queen Caroline and braving George IV., was born in London on the 29th of November 1801. He was educated at Winchester, Geneva University, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow after being 24th wrangler in 1824. He entered Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar in 1824, studying conveyancing in Mr John Tyrrell’s chambers. He soon obtained a good practice as an equity draughtsman and before parliamentary committees, and in 1830 married Miss Charlotte Moor. In 1845 he became Q.C., and in 1847 was elected to parliament for the city of Oxford as a Liberal. In 1849 he was appointed vice-chancellor of the county palatine of Lancaster, and in 1851 was made solicitor-general and knighted, vacating that position in 1852. When his party returned to power in 1853, he was raised to the bench as a vice-chancellor. In 1868 he was made a lord justice of appeal, but before the end of the year was selected by Mr Gladstone to be lord chancellor, and was raised to the peerage as Lord Hatherley of Down Hatherley. He retired in 1872 owing to failing eyesight, but sat occasionally as a law lord. His wife’s death in 1878 was a great blow, from which he never recovered, and he died in London on the 10th of July 1881. Dean Hook said that Lord Hatherley—who was a sound and benevolent supporter of the Church ofEngland—was the best man he had ever known. He was a particularly clear-headed lawyer, and his judgments—always delivered extempore—commanded the greatest confidence both with the public and the legal profession. He left no issue and the title became extinct on his death.
HATHERTON, EDWARD JOHN LITTLETON,1st Baron(1791-1863), was born on the 18th of March 1791 and was educated at Rugby school and at Brasenose College, Oxford. He was the only son of Moreton Walhouse of Hatherton, Staffordshire; but in 1812, in accordance with the will of his great-uncle Sir Edward Littleton, Bart. (d. 1812), he took the name of Littleton. From 1812 to 1832 he was member of parliament for Staffordshire and from 1832 to 1835 for the southern division of that county, being specially prominent in the House of Commons as an advocate of Roman Catholic emancipation. In January 1833, against his own wish, he was put forward by the Radicals as a candidate for the office of speaker, but he was not elected and in May 1833 he became chief secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the ministry of Earl Grey. His duties in this capacity brought him frequently into conflict with O’Connell, but he was obviously unequal to the great Irishman, although he told his colleagues to “leave me to manage Dan.” He had to deal with the vexed and difficult question of the Irish tithes on which the government was divided, and with his colleagues had to face the problem of a new coercion act. Rather hastily he made a compact with O’Connell on the assumption that the new act could not contain certain clauses which were part of the old act. The clauses, however, were inserted; O’Connell charged Littleton with deception; and in July 1834 Grey, Althorp (afterwards Earl Spencer) and the Irish secretary resigned. The two latter were induced to serve under the new premier, Lord Melbourne, and they remained in office until Melbourne was dismissed in November 1834. In 1835 Littleton was created Baron Hatherton, and he died at his Staffordshire residence, Teddesley Hall, on the 4th of May 1863. In 1888 his grandson, Edward George Littleton (b. 1842), became 3rd Baron Hatherton.
See Hatherton’sMemoirs and Correspondence relating to Political Occurrences, June-July 1834, edited by H. Reeve (1872); and Sir S. Walpole,History of England, vol. iii. (1890).
See Hatherton’sMemoirs and Correspondence relating to Political Occurrences, June-July 1834, edited by H. Reeve (1872); and Sir S. Walpole,History of England, vol. iii. (1890).
HATHRAS,a town of British India, in the Aligarh district of the United Provinces, 29 m. N. of Agra. Pop. (1901), 42,578. At the end of the 18th century it was held by a Jat chieftain, whose ruined fort still stands at the east end of the town, and was annexed by the British in 1803, but insubordination on the part of the chief necessitated the siege of the fort in 1817. Since it came under British rule, Hathras has rapidly risen to commercial importance, and now ranks second to Cawnpore among the trading centres of the Doab. The chief articles of commerce are sugar and grain, there are also factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and a cotton spinning-mill. Hathras is connected by a light railway with Muttra, and by a branch with Hathras junction, on the EastIndianmain line.
HATTIESBURG,a city and the county-seat of Forrest county, Mississippi, U.S.A., on the Hastahatchee (or Leaf) river, about 90 m. S.E. of Jackson. Pop. (1890) 1172; (1900) 4175 (1687 negroes); (1910) 11,733. Hattiesburg is served by the Gulf & Ship Island, the Mississippi Central, the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago and the New Orleans & North Eastern railways. The officers and employees of the Gulf & Ship Island railway own and maintain a hospital here. The city is in a rich farming, truck-gardening and lumbering country. Among its manufactures are lumber (especially yellow-pine), wood-alcohol, turpentine, paper and pulp, fertilizers, wagons, mattresses and machine-shop products. Hattiesburg was founded about 1882 and was named in honour of the wife of W. H. Hardy, a railway official, who planned a town at the intersection of the New Orleans & North-Eastern (which built a round house and repair shops here in 1885) and the Gulf & Ship Island railways. The latter railway was opened from Gulfport to Hattiesburg in January 1897, and from Hattiesburg to Jackson in September 1900. Hattiesburg was incorporated as a town in 1884 and was chartered as a city in 1899. Formerly the “court house” of the second judicial district of Perry county, Hattiesburg became on the 1st of January 1908 the county-seat of Forrest county, erected from the W. part of Perry county.
HATTINGEN,a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the river Ruhr, 21 m. N.E. of Düsseldorf. Pop. (1900), 8975. It has two Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church. The manufactures include tobacco, and iron and steel goods. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of the Isenburg, demolished in 1226. Hattingen, which received communal rights in 1396, was one of the Hanse towns.
HATTO I.(c.850-913), archbishop of Mainz, belonged to a Swabian family, and was probably educated at the monastery of Reichenau, of which he became abbot in 888. He soon became known to the German king, Arnulf, who appointed him archbishop of Mainz in 891; and he became such a trustworthy and confidential counsellor that he was popularly called “the heart of the king.” He presided over the important synod at Tribur in 895, and accompanied the king to Italy in 894 and 895, where he was received with great favour by Pope Formosus. In 899, when Arnulf died, Hatto became regent of Germany, and guardian of the young king, Louis the Child, whose authority he compelled Zwentibold, king of Lorraine, an illegitimate son of Arnulf, to recognize. During these years he did not neglect his own interests, for in 896 he secured for himself the abbey of Ellwangen and in 898 that of Lorsch. He assisted the Franconian family of the Conradines in its feud with the Babenbergs, and was accused of betraying Adalbert, count of Babenberg, to death. He retained his influence during the whole of the reign of Louis; and on the king’s death in 911 was prominent in securing the election of Conrad, duke of Franconia, to the vacant throne. When trouble arose between Conrad and Henry, duke of Saxony, afterwards King Henry the Fowler, the attitude of Conrad was ascribed by the Saxons to the influence of Hatto, who wished to prevent Henry from securing authority in Thuringia, where the see of Mainz had extensive possessions. He was accused of complicity in a plot to murder Duke Henry, who in return ravaged the archiepiscopal lands in Saxony and Thuringia. He died on the 15th of May 913, one tradition saying he was struck by lightning, and another that he was thrown alive by the devil into the crater of Mount Etna. His memory was long regarded in Saxony with great abhorrence, and stories of cruelty and treachery gathered round his name. The legend of the Mouse Tower at Bingen is connected with Hatto II., who was archbishop of Mainz from 968 to 970. This Hatto built the church of St George on the island of Reichenau, was generous to the see of Mainz and to the abbeys of Fulda and Reichenau, and was a patron of the chronicler Regino, abbot of Prüm.
See E. Dümmler,Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reichs(Leipzig, 1887-1888); G. Phillips,Die grosse Synode von Tribur(Vienna, 1865); J. Heidemann,Hatto I., Erzbischof von Mainz(Berlin, 1865); G. Waitz,Jahrbücher der deutschen Geschichte unter Heinrich I.(Berlin and Leipzig, 1863); and J. F. Böhmer,Regesta archiepiscoporum Maguntinensium, edited by C. Will (Innsbruck, 1877-1886).
See E. Dümmler,Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reichs(Leipzig, 1887-1888); G. Phillips,Die grosse Synode von Tribur(Vienna, 1865); J. Heidemann,Hatto I., Erzbischof von Mainz(Berlin, 1865); G. Waitz,Jahrbücher der deutschen Geschichte unter Heinrich I.(Berlin and Leipzig, 1863); and J. F. Böhmer,Regesta archiepiscoporum Maguntinensium, edited by C. Will (Innsbruck, 1877-1886).
HATTON, SIR CHRISTOPHER(1540-1591), lord chancellor of England and favourite of Queen Elizabeth, was a son of William Hatton (d. 1546) of Holdenby, Northamptonshire, and was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford. A handsome and accomplished man, being especially distinguished for bis elegant dancing, he soon attracted the notice of Queen Elizabeth, became one of her gentlemen pensioners in 1564, and captain of her bodyguard in 1572. He received numerous estates and many positions of trust and profit from the queen, and suspicion was not slow to assert that he was Elizabeth’s lover, a charge which was definitely made by Mary queen of Scots in 1584. Hatton, who was probably innocent in this matter, had been made vice-chamberlain of the royal household and a member of the privy council in 1578, and had been a member of parliament since 1571, first representing the borough of Higham Ferrers and afterwards the county of Northampton. In 1578 he was knighted, and was now regarded as the queen’s spokesman in the House of Commons, being an active agent in the prosecutions of John Stubbs and William Parry. He was one of those who were appointed to arrange a marriage between Elizabeth and Francis, duke ofAlençon, in 1581; was a member of the court which tried Anthony Babington in 1586; and was one of the commissioners who found Mary queen of Scots guilty. He besought Elizabeth not to marry the French prince; and according to one account repeatedly assured Mary that he would fetch her to London if the English queen died. Whether or no this story be true, Hatton’s loyalty was not questioned; and he was the foremost figure in that striking scene in the House of Commons in December 1584, when four hundred kneeling members repeated after him a prayer for Elizabeth’s safety. Having been the constant recipient of substantial marks of the queen’s favour, he vigorously denounced Mary Stuart in parliament, and advised William Davison to forward the warrant for her execution to Fotheringay. In the same year (1587) Hatton was made lord chancellor, and although he had no great knowledge of the law, he appears to have acted with sound sense and good judgment in his new position. He is said to have been a Roman Catholic in all but name, yet he treated religious questions in a moderate and tolerant way. He died in London on the 20th of November 1591, and was buried in St Paul’s cathedral. Although mention has been made of a secret marriage, Hatton appears to have remained single, and his large and valuable estates descended to his nephew, Sir William Newport, who took the name of Hatton. Sir Christopher was a knight of the Garter and chancellor of the university of Oxford. Elizabeth frequently showed her affection for her favourite in an extravagant and ostentatious manner. She called him hermouton, and forced the bishop of Ely to give him the freehold of Ely Place, Holborn, which became his residence, his name being perpetuated in the neighbouring Hatton Garden. Hatton is reported to have been a very mean man, but he patronized men of letters, and among his friends was Edmund Spenser. He wrote the fourth act of a tragedy,Tancred and Gismund, and his death occasioned several panegyrics in both prose and verse.
When Hatton’s nephew, Sir William Hatton, died without sons in 1597, his estates passed to a kinsman, another Sir Christopher Hatton (d. 1619), whose son and successor, Christopher (c.1605-1670), was elected a member of the Long Parliament in 1640, and during the Civil War was a partisan of Charles I. In 1643 he was created Baron Hatton of Kirby; and, acting as comptroller of the royal household, he represented the king during the negotiations at Uxbridge in 1645. Later he lived for some years in France, and after the Restoration was made a privy councillor and governor of Guernsey. He died at Kirby on the 4th of July 1670, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. By his wife Elizabeth (d. 1672), daughter of Sir Charles Montagu of Boughton, he had two sons and three daughters. His eldest son Christopher (1632-1706), succeeded his father as Baron Hatton and also as governor of Guernsey in 1670. In 1683 he was created Viscount Hatton of Grendon. He was married three times, and left two sons: William (1690-1760), who succeeded to his father’s titles and estates, and Henry Charles (c.1700-1762), who enjoyed the same dignities for a short time after his brother’s death. When Henry Charles died, the titles became extinct, and the family is now represented by the Finch-Hattons, earls of Winchilsea and Nottingham, whose ancestor, Daniel Finch, 2nd earl of Nottingham, married Anne (d. 1743), daughter of the 1st Viscount Hatton.