Ada Nettleship

Adaline Cort Hinton was born in either Whitechapel, London or Middlesex, the daughter of surgeon James Hinton and Margaret (Haddon) Hinton. Her siblings included the mathematician Charles Howard Hinton and they grew up in Brighton. Their oldest daughter, Ida, became an artist and the first wife of British painter Augustus John. Her grandchildren included Caspar John who became First Sea Lord. == Career ==

Nettleship established herself as a dressmaker in London, expanding from an earlier specialisation in embroidery. Nettleship collaborated with Carr to make a dress for a production of Henry VIII, and she created a dress for the play Henry of Navarre that Terry complained was almost unbearably heavy due to the use of steel panniers and extensive oversewing with jewels. She also costumed Terry as Cordelia in King Lear (1892), Guinevere in King Arthur (1895), and Imogen in Cymbeline (1896). == Rational dress ==

Nettleship's adventurous designs in the Aesthetic dress style — especially those for Lloyd — were admired by the London avant-garde, and in 1883 her work was included in a landmark exhibition by the Rational Dress Society. Among the items she presented was a "Ladies Walking Costume" that included trousers, a feature that allowed for radical shortening of the overskirt, thereby reducing the weight of the entire ensemble. This was more than two decades before European women started wearing trousers in public. Nettleship's designs were generally regarded as too eccentric by the wider public and often subjected to ridicule in the press and in private letters. == Death ==

Ada Nettleship died on 19 December 1932 at her home 45 Weymouth Street, London. ==References==