The dyeing of straw plait in England, done individually for some time on a small scale, commenced as a separate industry about 1845, when a Mr. Randall opened some dyeing works at Sundon, a village about four miles from Luton. Black, and a very poor brown and dark blue, were the only colours then dyed. Shortly after Mr. Thomas Lye, who came from Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, Yorks, which was a plait making centre, started business as a dyer in Luton. His gamut of shades numbered only four or five, and the standard of colour then demanded was very low. Mr. Lye’s first signal success was a “grey,” which at that time no other competitor had attempted. In 1857 his business was transferred to its present site. Other colours quickly followed, and the invention of aniline dyes revolutionized the old “vegetable dye” processes, of which the ingredients were madder, indigo, logwood and fustic. These wood dyes required a long and costly process, and involved the use of mordants to prepare the straw for the different colours, and their somewhat cumbersome methods rendered them at all times rather uncertain in their results. With the advent of the more easily handled synthetic dyestuffs the operations of wood dyeing became less frequent, and although to-day black is still produced from logwood chips, practically all colours are dyed with one or the other extracts of coal tar, etc. The main considerations of dyeing are brilliance of shade with perfect evenness of colour, and penetration of the dye right through the straw. Unlike some textile fabrics, fastness either to light or even to water is not insisted on; but absolute penetration is a necessity, for should any part of the straw when plaitted become abraded, if the colour were only on the surface, the worn part would show a lighter tint; and also if when the “button” or centre of the hat was made, the turning of which being in such tiny circles, the straws are disturbed to their utmost, and the light coloured spaces which would result would impair the regularity of colour. And the dyeing penetration of straws or straw plait, composed as it is of such diversity of elements, the hard flint like exterior and the soft pappy inside, is a matter of considerable difficulty, even if dyers had not to contend, first, with the extreme hardness of water which is common in the South Bedfordshire district, and second, the constant cleansing necessary on changes in fashionable colours necessitating the use of coppers, the chemical effects of which in some instances need counter action to achieve a good result.