Hirsute heritage and facial fashions

We have combed our collections to uncover a wealth of 19th and early 20th century inspiration for those interested in the history of facial hair.

Clean-shaven gentry

In the early years of colonial life facial hair was relatively unusual, especially in the gentry. John Macarthur of Elizabeth Farm, Alexander Macleay of Elizabeth Bay House and William Charles Wentworth of Vaucluse House were all clean-shaven their entire lives. A notable rebel to colonial fashion was Sir Henry Brown Hayes, a transported Irishman who lived at Vaucluse House and who “vowed never to cut the Hair on his Upper lip” until released. In consequence, wrote Judge-Advocate Ellis Bent, Hayes sported a moustache which was “very long and [gave] him a very formidable and grotesque appearance”.

In 1821 the Hobart Gazette announced to its readers that: “A Chemist of Paris has invented a soap for the beard, which will take it off without the use of a razor!!! We hope that this article will speedily find its way hither.”

Beards back in fashion

By the mid 1800s facial hair again moved into fashion - just as the classical Romans of the Hadrianic period before them quickly adopted ‘Greek’ style beards after centuries of smooth chins. Macleay’s nephew Sir William John sported a full beard, giving him the air of a Greek philosopher.

Edwin Stephen Rouse (1849-1931; inherited Rouse Hill House in 1862 aged only 13) stands out in this collection as possessing a particularly fine beard and moustache; the photographs of Edwin below show him both in a relaxed, brushed-forward style, and in a groomed alternative with a full moustache that covers the top lip and sweeps down to the sides; a style suitable for the squire of Rouse Hill. Likewise, his centre-parted hair is respectively brushed or slicked down.

A c1854 volume in the collection at Meroogal, Nowra – a house usually associated with four generations of women – sets out the history of the beard in a lecture by T. S. Gowing entitled The philosophy of beards: A lecture physiological artistic & historical.

To Gowing the beard had returned to European civilisation with the rise of Napoleon, “and a more simple, severe and classic taste” – the neoclassical Empire style. Somewhat ironically the ‘Imperial’, a short pointed goatee, was restricted to the military and not, Gowing notes, worn by the 'Emperor' himself.

“With every attempt at freedom on the continent” he continues, “the Beard reappears; …it was one of the most effective standards in the war of freedom, when Germany rose against Napoleon". In 1830, it was partially revived in France, and later still it has made many a pergered continental monarch “quake and tremble in his capital”, and reminded him that in spite of neglected promises and false posts, the rain of injustice 'hangs but on a hair' of which the police will not always be able to check the free growth.”

The beard was intended by nature to:

An abundance of styles

By the 1860 and 70s facial hair was worn in a multitude of styles: grown to a point, square-cut, flared, as a goatee with sideburns, the ‘handlebar’, sans moustache and of course the iconic ‘mutton chop’ – named quite literally for the shape of the cut of meat. Three photographs in this selection show Edwin Stephen’s brother, Richard Rouse (1842-1903) of Guntawang, in the various stages of growing a truly prodigious set of ‘mutton chops’ that eventually flows over his shoulders.

Fashion and male dignity aside, to the Victorian gentlemen an abundant moustache was a challenge when eating and drinking. As the owner of a full moustache and like generations of Victorians and Edwardians before me I often resort to a ‘moustache cup’, which has a built-in guard that sits above the lip.

By the late 19th century, and with full beards now associated with the passing Victorian age, the fashion was switching to the moustache alone – note the photographs below of William Quinton Mason and the very dapper Dr James Adam Dick, who sports a moustache with long, waxed points.

If you study the group photograph of the Sydney Hunt Club (at top of this page), as assembled at Rouse Hill House in 1895, you’ll notice that only two elder men now sport full beards – most notably the distinguished Edwin Stephen Rouse in the front row - while 13 men feature moustaches. Bush poet ‘Banjo’ Patterson, standing third from the right in the back row, is one of four younger men who are clean shaven. For the opening decades of the 20th century full beards became the preserve of the older gentleman from the previous century, and the moustache reigned.

This continued for many years, particularly for the military. Photographed in 1936, Superintendent John Thomas Pattinson has a typical example, full but swept to the sides and a slight point.

A law above fashion

The finishing advice on letting a style of facial hair ‘choose itself’ goes to Gowing: