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Not heard of it, but (just thinking out loud) Bermondsey was London's centre for leather and hide processing and selling (my ancestors were leather factors there) so maybe it was a by-product of this trade?
Jill is spot on.
London: A Social History By Roy Porter
"[In Bermondsey] the hair and wool by-products of the leather trades provided the bodies for stuff hats.."
"[Bermondsey] the ox and horse hides too are brought to market with the hair on and this hair gives a busy activity to the hair merchant, the horsehair maker, the hair felt maker, and so forth.."
There was also a big mattress making and upholstery industry in Bermondsey. Another use for the hair I remember as a kiddie sitting on my nans old leather sofa in her flat in Bermondsey and pulling the horse hair out of the arm, pmsl.
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