CELEBRATING 350 YEARS OF LOCK & CO.

In 1662, as more and more buildings begin to pop up on both sides of the dirt track that leads from St James's Palace, a street is paved and from these humble beginnings, St James's Street is born.

Even today, ambassadors are accredited to the Court of St James, not Buckingham Palace, reflecting its central place in established London Society.

During the reign of Charles II, thrift gives way to refinement, and in 1676 the milliner Robert Davis opens a shop in St James's Street to cater for the fashionable upper classes - the home of hats begins to trade. Customers include the great Whig families of Marlborough, Bedford, Devonshire, and Walpole.

In 1765, James and Mary Lock, along with their four children and workers, move across the street to No. 6 St James’s Street and establish what is today the oldest hat shop in the world.

In 1800, Admiral Lord Nelson visits Lock & Co. for the first time to order a "cocked hat and cockade 7 1/8th full" - his signature bicorne complete with eyeshade. He returns in subsequent years to order two more. His last visit is recorded in September 1805, when he settles his account before sailing for Spain. He would never return, losing his life in the Battle of Trafalgar.

“You can draw water out of a water-well," said the Hatter; "so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well - eh, stupid?" (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). In 1865, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland under the pen name, Lewis Carroll. Some claim that James Benning, the shop manager of James Lock III, inspired Sir John Tenniel’s famous illustration of the memorable character of the Mad Hatter., as seen below.

Sir Winston Churchill, as famous for his personal style as for his politics, wears a silk top hat by Lock & Co. on his wedding day to Clementine Hozier in 1908. He returns to Lock & Co. in 1911 to order his trademark Cambridge and Homburg hats, as well as a white yachting cap bearing the insignia of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

See our Top Hats

Lock & Co. had long topped the heads of British statesmen, but never the Head of State until Queen Elizabeth II. In conjunction with crown jewellers Garrard and Co, Lock & Co. designs the fitments for the coronation crown, worn on 2nd June, 1953, and seen that day by over 20 million people worldwide.

The Coke hat gets a starring role in the 1964 film, Goldfinger,courtesy of the Bond villain, Oddjob. The hat from the film sells for £62,000 at a Christie's auction in 1998.

See our 007 Collection

In 2020, Awon Golding joins Lock & Co. as Head Millinery Designer and produces her debut collection for Lock Couture inspired by some of her greatest heroines such as Marlene Dietrich and Bianca Jagger.