Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine Feb 2019 Vol 4 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

HAMLEY HISTORY BY RANDY CORNELIUS

Sometime back my dear friend Jana, asked if I would write something for her Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine. I told her that I was a leather worker, saddle maker, bullshitter, whiskey drinking cowboy but not a writer. Her dad and I were friends and some of his writing skills rubbed off on me during the time I knew him. So here goes. I was telling Jana that an old Hamley Saddle came into my shop one time for repair. I could tell it was old just by looking at it. The saddle was sewn with all linen thread, a dead giveaway that it was made prior to 1965 or so. That is when nylon and other synthetic thread came out for use in saddle making. The saddle needed new wool lining and as I took it apart a lot of history unfolded in front of me. The kind of construction you don't see in saddles today. There was a reason that this saddle was still around, quality materials and craftsmanship. Two of

the things we don't see a lot today. Probably about 90% of the saddles I see come through my shop for repairs lack those two things. Most of the reason they are in my shop in the first place. Some people will buy a cheap saddle, then wonder why it falls apart or something breaks. Simply, you get what you pay for. Now, back to Hamley Saddle. As I took this saddle apart, I kept wondering how old it really was. I was seeing things that made me think it was older than the 60's. I knew Hamley was still in business, so I wrote down the serial number off the saddle and I called a nice lady at Hamley. She told me that that serial number was old but would have to go look it up in the old records by hand as the number I had was not in her computer system. She called me back in a few hours, kind of excited, as I remember it, the saddle was ordered and delivered in 1938. I don't remember the names, but she

told me who ordered it, when it was ordered, the Hamley Saddle Makers name that made it and the date it was delivered. We talked for a few minutes she told me they had records on every saddle that was ever made and carried the Hamley name, starting back in the late 1800s. I wrote all this information down and gave it to the owner and he seemed to be happy that I took the time and effort to track down the history of his saddle. I don't remember the year that I repaired it but it had to be 2001-2004 or so. A lot of the facts are faded now in my mind. I went back to the owner to get some information for this article, but he had sold the saddle sometime after I repaired it. I only had a few old pictures that are not too good. Unfortunately, they won’t print well so we included a great example of a Hamley saddle. When I told Jana about this story, she thought that their readers would love hearing about it. I did a little digging

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