Cecil Willett Cunnington (22 November 1878 – 21 January 1961) was an English medical doctor and collector, writer and historian on costume and fashion. When he died ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' called him the ''Leading Authority on English Costume''. He and his wife Phillis Emily Cunnington (1887–1974) worked together not only in their medical practice but also on their collection and writing. In 1947 the Cunningtons' extensive costume collection was acquired by the Manchester City Art Gallery and the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall was opened.

Early life

Cunnington was born in 1878 in Devizes, Wiltshire, the son of Annette Wright ''née'' Leach (1848-1919) and Henry Alfred Cunnington (1850-1879), a wine merchant, and was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

and Cambridge. He later moved to

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (die ...

to train as a Physician."Dr. C. Willett Cunnington." Times ondon, England24 January 1961: 14. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014.

War and marriage

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Cunnington served as a Captain in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

. In 1918 he married Phillis Webb who was also a qualified doctor and for a number of years they had a joint practice in Finchley.

Costume and fashion

Cunnington and his wife collected clothes, and they soon had to build a large shed in the garden to house them all. By the end of the 1930s, they had about a thousand costumes, some of which they loaned out for some of the first British television transmissions. Using his collection as a source, Cunnington published his first work, ''English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century'', in 1937. Although his second major work ''English Women's Clothing in the Present Century'' did not follow for 15 years he wrote a number of smaller works on the social implications and psychology of fashion. In collaboration with his wife he produced, ''A History of Underclothes'', one of only a few studies on the subject at that time. When they retired, they sold the collection to the Manchester Art Gallery for display at the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall. Having moved to

West Mersea West Mersea is a town and electoral ward in Essex, England. It is the larger (in terms of population) of two settlements on Mersea Island, south of Colchester. History Roman buildings and tesselated pavements close to the quayside have led to ...

, Essex the couple began a series of five handbooks that covered the history of English dress which they completed by 1959. Cunnington died at his home at West Mersea on 21 January 1961 aged 82.

Museum of Clothes

In a letter to ''

'' in November 1937 Cunnington suggested a national costume museum.C. WILLETT CUNNINGTON. "Costume Down The Ages." Times ondon, England26 November 1937: 17. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014. He also suggested that he would donate his collection to the nation if such a museum was established, if a museum was not established he would offer his collection for sale as he wanted it to remain together rather than being, as he said, "scattered here and there in existing museums". In 1945 the collection was offered for sale for £7,000 with the hope that a single benefactor would keep it together.OUR MUSEUMS CORRESPONDENT. "Englishwomen's Dress." Times ondon, England10 October 1945: 6. ''

'' Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014. The collection was said to contain over 900 dresses, 650 hats or bonnets, 550 items of underclothing, 100 pairs of shoes, 90 shawls, 100 parasols and 350 examples of ribbons. The collection also included 1,200 bound and 2,600 unbound publications and 15,000 photographs."English Costumes." Times ondon, England12 June 1946: 3. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2014. In 1945 Lawrence Haward, the Director of the Manchester City Art Gallery, launched a campaign to raise funds for the purchase of the Cunnigtons' extensive collection. In 1947 the collection was acquired and the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall was opened. Cunnington served as an Honorary Advisor to the collection.

Selected publications

*Cunnington, Cecil Willett. (1937) ''English women's clothing in the nineteenth century'', Courier Dover Publications. *Cunnington, C. Willett. (1941) ''Why women wear clothes'', Faber and Faber. *Cunnington, C. Willett. (1948) ''The perfect lady'', M. Parrish. *Cunnington, C. W., & Cunnington, P. (1951) ''The history of underclothes''. Courier Dover Publications. *Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Cunnington. (1952) ''Handbook of English mediaeval costume.'' London: Faber and Faber. *Cunnington, Cecil Willett. (1954) ''Handbook of English costume in the sixteenth century.'' London: Faber & Faber. *Cunnington, Cecil Willet, and Phillis Cunnington. (1963) ''Handbook of English costume in the seventeenth century.'' London: Faber. *Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Cunnington. (1966) ''Handbook of English costume in the nineteenth century,'' Faber & Faber.

References