The shovel hat was a style of hat formerly associated with the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergy, particularly

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

s and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

William Alexander Vanity Fair 21 November 1895

The hat was usually made of black

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

or felt, and had a low, round crown and a wide brim, which projected in a shovel-like curve at the front and rear and was often worn turned up at the sides.Cumming (ed.) ''The Carlyle Encyclopaedia'', FDUP, 2004, p.428Picken, ''A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion'', 2013, p.167 Like the

tricorne The tricorne or tricorn is a style of hat that was popular during the 18th century, falling out of style by 1800, though actually not called a "tricorne" until the mid-19th century. During the 18th century, hats of this general style were referr ...

it was a development of the low-crowned broad-brimmed hats fashionable in the later 17th century. Along with the bishop's

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

and

gaiters Gaiters are garments worn over the shoe and bottom of the pant or trouser leg, and used primarily as personal protective equipment; similar garments used primarily for display are spats. Originally, gaiters were made of leather or canvas. T ...

, the shovel hat was an instantly recognisable accoutrement of senior Anglican clergy between the 18th and late 19th century, although it was also worn by

parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...

s and less senior figures. By the mid 19th century it was already seen as somewhat traditionalist or old-fashioned: Carlyle coined the term "''shovelhattery''" to attack hidebound orthodoxy in the Church of England. The term "''broad-brimmed''", occasionally used to describe Anglican churchmen in the 19th century (particularly the Evangelical party) was also derived from the shovel hat.Bradshaw (ed) ''The voice of toil: nineteenth-century British writings about work'', OUP, 2000, p.51 In the 1849 novel ''

Shirley Shirley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë * ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film * ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American film * ''Shirley'' (album), a 1961 album by Shirley Bas ...

'' by

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

, chapters 1 and 17, the clergyman Mr Helstone is described as wearing a "

Rehoboam Rehoboam (; , ; , ; la, Roboam, ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the last monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel and the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the former's split. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a gr ...

, or shovel hat".

References

{{Hats Hats Anglican vestments Religious headgear