Bohemian style was not really until the First World War that "many working women ... embarked on a revolution in fashion that greatly reduced the weight and restrictions imposed on them by their clothing". Some women working in factories wore trousers and the brassiere (invented in 1889 by the feminist Herminie Cadolle and patented in America by Mary Phelps Jacob in 1914) began gradually to supersede the corset. In shipyards "trouser suits" (the term, "pantsuit" was adopted in America in the 1920s) were virtually essential to enable women to shin up and down ladders. Music hall artists also helped to push the
William E. Phelps a blockade runner and provided information so that the Navy could intercept it before it saw use. He resigned in 1865 and returned to the family farm. In 1868, Phelps was elected as a Republican to the Illinois House of Representatives. However, after serving one term there, he became burdened by his business interests and resigned from politics. Phelps died on February 8, 1914, in Seattle. William E. Phelps William Edwin Phelps (1835–1914) was an American politician from Peoria County, Illinois. During the Civil War, he served as Consulate General of Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1868, he was elected to