While a number of people think that tattoos have only recently gained in popularity, the truth is that they have been popular since before the 21st century. In fact, tattoos were very popular among the Victorian English and people from high society had no qualms about getting their skin inked.
Latest Fad in London
Tattooing is Now All the Rage
I spent an afternoon with the tattooer in his office or “den” in the Hammam Turkish baths on Jermyn street in London, says a correspondent of the New York World, and what I saw, heard and learned will be sufficient evidence to Americans that tattooing is the height of fashion in England today. I question if I should ever have been able to penetrate the mysterious secrets of this strange locality without the introduction and assistance of Charles Sugden, actor and man-about-town in London. However, we met Mr. Satherland MacDonald, the young gentleman who is actually, practically and solely responsible for the number of old family name and high titles that are going about loose tattooed.
That afternoon he had two gentlemen waiting operations, and later there would be a lady, so another time was set when he thought there would be present a certain dapper little captain in the English army, who was nearly covered with the tattooer’s artistic efforts.
It was growing dusk some days after when, as arranged, I found my way through dark passageways to Mr. MacDonald’s den. A large square table, littered with colored inks, needles, small vials of opiates, books and one or two empty champagne bottles stood in the center of the room. In a corner was a massive sideboard bearing decanters of brandy, sherry, and port, while a freshly opened box of Egyptian cigarettes lay invitingly amid the bacchanalian display. One or two short legged, broad armed chairs stretched their wide cushioned depths temptingly, while several cases of books and a small electrical accumulator completed the outward bearings of the furniture.
As I entered a bright, good looking, gentlemanly little fellow, who I afterward learned was a dashing young officer in a foot regiment, was idly puffing a cigarette and waiting for the huge Japanese design of a dragon that had just been tattooed in six colors from the armpit to the waist to dry. It was then 6 in the evening and the tattooer had been busy with him on this operation since noontime. It was a horrible beast which he had designed on the skin, and every line, no matter how minute, constituted an infinitesimal quantity of punctured holes, into which the needle had pressed the indelible colored inks.
Covered with Fantastic Designs
This victim was indeed one to be proud of. He was literally covered with all sorts of artistic fancies, from a copy of some famous nude study exhibited in the Paris salon to comic sketches, miniature landscapes, dream faces taken from women’s photographs, likenesses of well known actresses, and flowers, birds, bees and insects innumerable. A complete pair of navy blue socks had been tattooed from above the ankle to the tips of the toes, which defied detection. He was quite proud of all of this, and showed the designs with evident pleasure.
“I am an electrician by profession,” said the man, “and it was while serving in the English army that I learned tattooing. I used to do odd jobs among the soldiers. Then when I left the army some gentlemen came to me to have certain designs tattooed on them, and I consented. My work developed into a business, and I have been here these years just as busy as I can be.”
“You have ladies also who come to you for this purpose?”
“Yes. Their designs are simple, however. Usually flowers, insects, or birds. I have in mind at present a lady much famed at court, a friend of the prince of Wales, who has a bee tattooed on her shoulder to represent the initial of her christian name.”
No Danger if Care be Taken
“Can you use any color with safety to the health of the victim?” I asked.
“Yes, almost any color but yellow. The inks never wash or rub out, and by my process never fade. The manner of doing the work is my own invention, which I will show you presently.”
“Then you have never had a case of blood poisoning?”
“Out of about three hundred cases I can remember four that resulted badly. The causes are really neglect, however, and need never occur if due caution is observed. They usually happen through the carelessness of the sufferer, who, in a hurry to go, puts on his shirt when the inks are still wet. Of course the flannel adheres to the skin, and when he drags it off the dye enters the blood and then there is danger.”
“Is the process attended with any pain?”
“Not anything to speak of. Nothing compared to the Japanese custom. For instance, Lord de Clifford, who underwent an exhaustive tattooing experiment in Japan, was seven weeks under care of operators, and it took him seven more weeks to recover his normal health. I know that no one living has the system of tattooing by electricity that I have here.”
We were interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Sugden, who was to have a design completed on the arm for my benefit. He was seated in a high chair near the table, where a strong light was thrown upon the bare arm, held rigid for operating purposes. Two large sized grasshoppers, one flying with open wings above one lower down, which had apparently settled, were already traced in black India ink.
The tattooist suggested and sketched the design of a barley stalk with leaves and silken beard, upon which the two grasshoppers should meet. He drew the lines roughly on a sheet of note paper, and the victim approved. A liquid preparation was then smeared over the skin so that the outlines could be traced with a lead pencil on the arm. This being done, the patient expressed his desire to have cocaine injected so as to make the action of the needle painless.
Unique Needle Apparatus
This proved to be the most painful part of the operation, as every minute line in the drawing had to be separately injected with the drug on the same principle that doctors inject morphine. The entire quantity of cocaine used was not over two grains. But it was visibly enough to produce that dazed and pleasant sensation which accompanies the after effects of all strong opiates. Of course, the action of the needle after this was painless. In fact, Mr. MacDonald implied that after all it was not really necessary to use cocaine, because the pricking was almost as slight as the sensations of an electric shock. As a modern invention, this particular needle apparatus, which is the only one in the world, is a unique piece of mechanism. This needle or needles, for sometimes two or three are used with their points bent towards a single apex, are attached in a closed leather tube about the breadth of the arm. Within this tube is a diminutive rod that is set in motion on the principle of a piston rob by electrical connections to which the needles are attached. The point of the needle is gauged to shoot from within the tube just far enough outward minutely to pierce the skin, and so delicately is this calculation made that there are different apparatus extending the depth at which the needle punctures the body, regulated and utilized according to the thickness or tenderness of the skin. The motion of the needle up and down, in and out is so rapid that when in action it is invisible. By this means the points are dipped in the colors like a paint brush. The operator merely draws it as a pencil along the lines of his original tracing and the ink saturates and sinks into the skin, leaving the indelible marks. The design was completed in less than an hour’s time.
The needles used are especially selected instruments, as even in an assorted packet they vary in dimensions and shape. During the operation I glanced through various books, or rather records, of the tattooer’s work where each design that had been made was placed on a separate page, with the name of the man or woman who carries that design on his or her body written in a corner of the same page. Of course, I could not reprint the names.
Source: The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]), 16 June 1893.
