num_pages: 36
description: Richard Gamble barber and perukemaker of Williamsburg in the middle years of the eighteenth century appears to have remained a bachelor all his life. Other than this he seems to have been no more improvident than the average craftsman of his time. That is to say he cameor was broughtinto court with startling frequency in an endless round of suits to collect unpaid debts.He was in good company. Going to the law was part of the colonial way of life in Virginia and everyone from a towns least citizen to the colonys greatest planter engaged in it. In fact suing and being sued had some of the aspects of a the plaintiff in one case might shortly be defendant in another and witness in a thirdand keep right on doing business with the other parties in all three cases!Court records abound with evidence that Williamsburg wigmakers were just as impecunious and as contentious as any of the rest. Mr. Gamble however had an additional distinctionof a sort. While most debt cases reached settlement out of court or ended in judgment for the plaintiff Gamble actually went to jail for debt. In the Virginia Gazette of May 8 1752 appeared this announcement to the BEING prevented carrying on my Business as usual by an Arrest for a Debt not justly my own. I hereby give Notice That I have taken into Partnership with me Edward Charlton late from London who will carry on the Business at my Shop next Door to the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. Gentlemen who please to favour us with their Orders for Wigs &amp;c. may depend on being well and expeditiously servd and oblige
language: English
title: Wigmaker in Eighteenth Century Williamsburg: An Account of his Barbering, Hair-Dressing, & Peruke-Making Services, & Some Remarks on Wigs of Various Styles
publisher: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation