Jonas Hanway - the English eccentric who dared to use an umbrella!
Jonas Hanway was a great English eccentric. He is credited with being the first man in London to dare to use an umbrella, which was considered both a foreign and effeminate thing to do. He was also an opponent of tea drinking.
Jonas Hanway (1712 – 1786) had an adventurous life. He grew up in London, and was then apprenticed to a merchant in Lisbon. His subsequent career led to much travel, particularly in Russia, Central Asia and Persia (modern Iran). His adventures included various privations, sickness, the seizure of his goods, pirates, plague and all sorts of obstacles that made a ripping yarn when he published accounts of his travels in 1753.
Hanway had made both his fortune and his name bringing textiles and silk to England. After this, he concentrated on philanthropy. In 1756, Hanway founded The Marine Society, which offered grants to boys wishing to make their career in the Merchant Navy; in 1758, he became a governor of the Foundling Hospital, for orphans; and he was instrumental in the establishment of the Magdalen Hospital - a home for “fallen women.” Hanway also worked toward getting streets paved, and campaigned against using little boys as chimney sweeps.
More controversially, he campaigned against the drinking of tea, arguing that tea was "pernicious to health, obstructing industry and impoverishing the nation". Tea was costly and he was also concerned about money going out of the country to the Chinese instead of back into the British economy. (Imagine his thoughts today!)
But Hanway's enduring fame is due to his dogged determination to use an umbrella when walking the streets of London in the rain - despite the scorn of passers-by and the jeers of cab drivers who saw umbrella use as a threat to their fares.
Further reading
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