Beatrice H. Leigh: The Seamstress of Igboshere, Lagos (1915), By Tayo Agunbiade

It sounded like Beatrice Hamilton Leigh was part of the new wave of fashion that the swept Lagos society. But who was she? A read through the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies (2016) shows she married into the Leigh family, who were descendants of Thomas William Dupigny-Leigh (1888-1968). The family had ties which cut across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

In April 1915, during the First World War, a rather unusual advertisement was published by the Lagos-based Nigerian Pioneer. But it was rare to see women’s entrepreneurial activities promoted in the Nigerian press at this time.

There were two distinct classes of women in society: wives of the political and commercial elites, who were mostly home managers and social hostesses. These women were mainly from families that were descendants of the returnee slaves from Brazil and Sierra-Leone, which settled in various parts of the Colony of Lagos and Protectorate of Nigeria. Many of the women married within their class and settled into the Lagos and Abeokuta high societies. A few of them opened schools, sewing institutes, etc., but by and large, they planned musical and drama concerts; ran church societies, as well as fund-raising events. They often accompanied their husbands to dinner parties at Government House.

At the other end of the spectrum were the working class women who identified as “native women.” They thronged the swampy markets of the municipal areas of Lagos as market women, petty traders and street hawkers. To the displeasure of the Municipal Board, the latter usually flocked the Marina with their wares and were subjected to a rash of policies to curtail their activities. Historically, these women were in regular disputes with the Board over space.

Somewhere in the middle of these two distinct groups were a handful of women who worked as educationists, social welfarists and retailers, etc. We know that the daughters of the wealthy businessman, Mr Richard B. Blaize Snr., Mrs Charlotte Olajumoke Obasa, and Mrs Ethel Gibson, for example, set up businesses in Lagos. The former owned the Anfani Motor Enterprise, while the latter, who was a midwife, also ran the Caxton Boarding House School.

Overall, elaborate advertisements in the newspapers came from male-run corporations and ventures. The categories of businesses advertised included banks (the Colonial Bank, Nigerian Mercantile Bank), shipping lines such as Elder Dempster; beverages, patent medicines and pharmaceutical remedies (Calabar Craw Craw Ointment), auction services, cold room companies, manufactured goods; trading companies and importers promoted motor cycles, furniture, motor cars, tyres, clothes, etc.

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The likes of Lever Brothers advertised Sunlight soap (“a guarantee of purity and excellence”), while G. B. Ollivant and Co. Ltd., in 1915, took out a one-page advertisement to announce their new provision store in Lagos. They also reminded readers about their other branches in Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oshogbo, Zaria, Kano and Oye. Similarly, agents of big firms such as Miller Brothers and Anglo-African Supply Co. Ltd. of Liverpool and Manchester, respectively, advertised their goods; while others solicited for buyers to place their orders to “help the British in this great war.”

Beatrice would have paid a handsome amount for this extensive advert, which appeared in a few editions of the newspaper that year. The advertising scales of the Nigerian Pioneer as of 1914 were: Twelve lines and under five shillings per issue; additional lines, 6 pence per issue. Beatrice’s poetic advert was 28 lines, while the extra information took up another 13 lines.

Thus, the single-column advertisement placed by Mrs Beatrice Hamilton Leigh in 1915, caught attention. She was in competition with the big-time importers and general merchants like Paterson Zochonis, who brought a range of goods, such as ready-made clothes, and hats for men and women, into the country.

Still, she declared her interest in the sector. Afterall, on the other side of the world that same year, Coco Channel had also set up her first fashion outlet in France. And as we are told by the Nigerian Pioneer of January 1915, the winds of fashion and cosmetics had hit Nigeria as “women are taking to smearing their faces with an ashen grey powder…”

It sounded like Beatrice Hamilton Leigh was part of the new wave of fashion that the swept Lagos society. But who was she? A read through the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies (2016) shows she married into the Leigh family, who were descendants of Thomas William Dupigny-Leigh (1888-1968). The family had ties which cut across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

As was the practice during the period, married women bore their husband’s full names. Being married to Herbert Hamilton Leigh, she answered as Mrs Hamilton Leigh. Her husband, according to the journal cited above, settled in Eastern Nigeria, where he worked as an educationist. 

But thanks also to the journal, we know that she was “the seamstress whose advertisements appeared in the Nigerian press” and her first name was Beatrice. This information provided the answer as to who was the face behind the adverts published by the Nigerian Pioneer.

 The following is the re-production of Beatrice’s historical four-stanza poetic advertisement of her sewing venture:

            Mrs Hamilton Leigh
             Superior Dressmaker and Repairer.
             If you want every one you meet
            Always to see you nice and sweet,
            Just take a step to Hausa Street,
            And ask for Mrs Leigh’s retreat.
            I am sure your order you’ll repeat.
            For dresses made at that retreat
            Are sure to give you quite a treat.

           If at your nuptial’s you’d appear
          So sweet and charming to your dear,
          That when he sees is lovely Bride,
          His heart will glow with manly Pride,
          Then if you like take my advice,
          Mrs Leigh’ll make you pretty and nice,
          And see at very low price,

         If at a wedding as a guest
        You’d like to appear in your best;
        If in ballroom You’d be dressed
       So, well as to eclipse the rest;
       Why not give Mrs Leigh the test?
       And have your robe and evening gown,
      Made by this Seamstress in the town.

      If you would be fascinating,
      If you would look captivating,
     To set some hearts palpitating,
     Just take a step to Hausa Street,
     And ask for Mrs Leigh’s Retreat,
    Just knock and enter at the door,
    Do not delay a day or more.

                                                       L.

 Give a trial order to Mrs Hamilton Leigh and you will be surprised to see how she’ll fit you. She has a        style all her own; she gives the correct fit to everything she touches. Bring your old dresses to be re-made, old hats to be re-trimmed, chairs to be covered, lampshades, electric lamp shades, etc. In fact, bring everything to make yourself and the house beautiful to Mrs Hamilton Leigh, the perfect dressmaker (whose prices are low), Corner of Hausa Street and Igboshere Road, late Mrs Furt’s building.

Mrs Hamilton Leigh,
No. 46, Igboshere Road, Lagos.
Superior dresses made for Europeans and African ladies.
Gentlemen’s clothing and house linen kept in repair.
A trial is respectfully solicited.
Moderate Charge; Prompt attention; Every description of Sewing undertaken, Curtains, Lamp Shades, Chair Covers, Tea Cloths, to order.

Beatrice would have paid a handsome amount for this extensive advert, which appeared in a few editions of the newspaper that year. The advertising scales of the Nigerian Pioneer as of 1914 were: Twelve lines and under five shillings per issue; additional lines, 6 pence per issue. Beatrice’s poetic advert was 28 lines, while the extra information took up another 13 lines.

Throughout her professional call for new clients, she kept her first name in the background, and in deference to her husband and ethos of the era, addressed only herself as Mrs Hamilton Leigh. At the end of her entrepreneurial creative to sell her skills, she humbly signed off her initials as B. L.

This article essentially recognises her agency, and names her as Beatrice H. Leigh to celebrate her not only a seamstress, but also as a woman who possessed an artistic mind.

Tayo Agunbiade is the author of Emerging From the Margins: Women’s Experiences in Colonial and Contemporary Nigerian History.