Tattoos: The Legacy of a Seafaring History
However, while today’s press get excited about every new indelible etching, this fetish for tattooing among society’s elite is not new. Indeed over a hundred years ago tattooing was a novel pastime among the very wealthy in London’s most fashionable circles: an artistic reminder of the nation’s imperial reach.
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While the precarious existence of old sea dogs was a far cry from English high society, the latter didn’t miss out. In 1774 when Banks returned home he brought with him the ultimate souvenir: a tattooed Polynesian warrior named Omai. He was an overnight sensation. Introduced to George III and taken to the state opening of Parliament, Omai with his painted face gave fad-obsessed upper-class London something new to get excited about.
However it was a while before the tattooing craze caught on. That came a little later when Prince Bertie (later Edward VII) helped ignite the fashion for body art among the British upper classes. The playboy prince was first tattooed in 1862 in the Holy Land with the ‘Jerusalem Cross’ design. Sources suggest he didn’t stop at one and his sons, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of York (later King George V), both kept up the family tradition while serving overseas in the Royal Navy. The trend spread throughout Europe’s royal houses.
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Most body art scholars seem to agree that it wasn’t until the 1970s that tattoos once again became widely fashionable and they appear to have grown in popularity ever since. Little more than a decade ago there were 300 tattoo parlours in Britain; now there are over 1,500. Celebrity fuelled, the tattoo has become the ultimate high street fashion accessory. And while a fine art graduate is as likely as an old deck-hand to become a professional tattooist, many of the traditional naval symbols remain as popular as ever: old-style swallows, ships and abandoned sweethearts are undergoing a resurgence. All modern tattooists are missing is the royal seal of approval from a contemporary playboy prince.
http://www.historytoday.com/tessa-dunlop/tattoos-legacy-seafaring-heritage