A well travelled hat box

Technically, this item of luggage should probably not be in Market Lavington Museum, as it belonged to a West Lavington lady, so came from about a mile from our collection area.

It is a hat box, made of leatherette, cardboard and artificial silk with chrome fittings. It is obviously well travelled, as it it is covered with labels showing that it made the long sea journey between Sydney, Australia and London. on the P & O ship, RMS Stratheden. The white label shows that it had arrived in Sydney from Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. A second white label gives a clue to the date of the journey.

The date is not clear, but in the 1950s.

The owner of the case was Mrs Holloway.

So, this simple piece of luggage had travelled across the world about 70 years ago, before finding a home in a museum about a mile from the owner’s Wiltshire home.