Willy Clarkson

William Berry Clarkson (31 March 1861 – 12/13 October 1934) was a prominent British theatrical costume designer and wigmaker.

Career Clarkson's father had been making wigs since 1833. Willie Clarkson was educated in Paris but left school at the age of twelve to assist in his father's business.

Starting in 1889, He provided the wigs for the princesses who were attending the fancy-dress Devonshire House Ball of 1897, and visited Buckingham Palace beforehand to arrange their hair. In 1910, Clarkson helped disguise the members of Horace de Vere Cole's Dreadnought hoax (including a young Virginia Woolf) as an Abyssinian royal delegation – this is recorded in Adrian Stephen's 1936 account of the incident.

During World War 1, he supplied realistic papier-mâché heads to Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard – a pioneer of sniping in the British Army. The heads were used in the trenches on the Western Front. A dummy head mounted on a stick would be raised over the lip of a British trench. If a German sniper shot it, the bullet holes would reveal the direction the bullet came from and the location of the German.

In the 1920s, Clarkson was the owner of the Duchess Theatre in Catherin Street. At its peak, his company had over 100 employees and had 50,000 costumes in stock. Clarkson was a well-known figure in theatrical circles. He attended every West End production's first night and knew many of the leading figures, such as Marie Lloyd, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Dame Nellie Melba and Lillie Langtry. Signed photographs of famous clients covered the walls of his shops.

During his life there were widespread rumours of Clarkson's homosexuality, at that time a crime under the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. The public lavatory in Dansey Place, an alley opposite his Wardour Street shop, was known locally as Clarkson's Cottage. Clarkson also made disguises for detectives from Scotland Yard

A long-standing acquaintance of Clarkson was William Cooper Hobbs; they first met in 1886. Hobbs was initially a solicitor's clerk, but became a notorious, convicted blackmailer. The police found Hobbs was carrying £1500 in cash . This money was suspected to be criminal proceeds, but Clarkson produced a document that claimed it was his money that he had lent to Hobbs, and it was handed over to him. Hobbs was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for attempting to blackmail Hari Singh for £150,000 .

On 5 September 1931, a fire broke out in the basement of Clarkson's Wardour Street shop but was quickly extinguished by seven fire engines. Clarkson received £26,000 from his insurers Clarkson made an insurance claim of £36,748 but his insurers refused to make a payment. Sir William Crocker, a solicitor acting for the insurance companies, began an investigation and gathered enough evidence to prosecute Clarkson for making fraudulent claims, but Clarkson died in 1934, before the prosecution could take place.

In March 1937, a consortium of insurance companies and Lloyds underwriters filed two suits against Clarkson's estate. Their purpose was to recover money paid to Clarkson when he was alive for fire insurance claims. One of those giving evidence was a man called Leopald Harris. In 1933 Harris had received a 14-year prison sentence as the ringleader of a large gang of arsonists, who set fires for the purpose of insurance fraud. The Probate court decided in their favour in July 1935. and in March 1938, Hobbs and a former solicitor, Edmond O'Connor went on trial, accused of together forging the earlier will. Both were convicted; Hobbs was sentenced to five years in prison and O'Connor to seven.

Neither party in the will dispute ultimately profited as Clarkson's estate was made insolvent by the successful claim against it by the fire insurers in 1937.

Legacy The blue plaque commemorating Clarkson, and the original Costumer and Perruquier advertising clock, 2016A London County Council blue plaque unveiled in 1966 commemorates Clarkson at his former shop in Wardour street. The building retains a clock above the entrance, advertising it as the business premises of a Costumer and Perruquier. In 1974, the building was Grade II Listed. Since the 1980s, it has been occupied by the well-known Wong Kei Chinese restaurant.

Clarkson's ability at creating disguises is referenced in a number of novels. These include Sax Rohmer's The Golden Scorpion (1919); The Clockwork Man by Edwin Vincent Odle (1923) – an early science-fiction novel featuring a time-travelling cyborg; Graham Seton Hutchison's Colonel Grant's To-morrow (1931); Black August (1934) by Dennis Wheatley; and Spy (1935) by Bernard Newman.

Examples of Clarkson's wigs are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, including one possibly worn by the dancer Adeline Genée. The museum also has a complete Harlequin costume supplied by his company, that was worn on stage by Harold Chapin. The Museum of London has a Clarkson horsehair wig that was made specially for the famous clown, Whimsical Walker (Born Thomas Walker (1851-1934).) and another that is claimed to have been worn on-stage by Sir Henry Irving.

Jack the Ripper suspect Clarkson has been named as a potential suspect in the 1888 Whitechapel murders attributed to "Jack the Ripper". This theory was first introduced and explored in the 2019 short film "The Wigmaker of Wellington Street".

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