Although we find the use of umbrellas as an everyday fact when it is raining, in mid 18th century in England they were unknown rare gadgets coming from France and reserved for the noblewomen of that country to protect themselves from the sun.

However, an unconventional English traveler named Jonas Hanway was the responsible to bring into fashion this gadget in his country after coming back from a trip to France in the 1750s, where he found the benefit of carrying the French parasol to protect also from the usual rain in London.

But the contemporaries of Jonas Hanway did not like this new gadget, but just the opposite. They thought that the use of that parasol by a man was a synonymous of lack of masculinity, a public mockery. And some of the men who saw him walking in the rain with his splendid umbrella began to insult him and even to throw trash over him.

Fortunately, Jonas Hanway kept determined with the use of his new umbrella, and the popularity of this useful gadget became greater across England and other countries in Europe in the 18th century.

More information: “Meet the first man who dared to use an umbrella“, Look and Learn, “The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User“.