The Leather Industry
Away back in AD 303 the brothers Crispin and Crispianus
went to Soissons to promote Christianity. They maintained
themselves by making and mending shoes. The local people did
not accept Christianity. They tortured and then drowned the
brothers.Little wonder that the two were made saints! Henry
V in Shakespeare`s play, said to his men before the Battle
of Agincourt:
“...And Crispin Crispian shall ne`er go by...
But we in it shall be remembered.”
From this we find that shoemaking has been called the `gentle
art`.
It has been shown by David and Doreen Mason, Nantwich local
historians, that in 1580 there were fifteen shoemakers and
ten glovemakers in Nantwich. In the period 1580-1609 there
were 38 shoemakers and 16 glovers.
Earlier in this series of notes, we have recorded something
about the development of the salt industry and said that this
continued up to the end of the 17th century.
Farmers and others came to Nantwich from Wales. Some drove
cattle for sale and in return bought salt. From the cattle
came hides. (Even in the year 2000 there was still a small
business handling hides) Thus a leather industry was started
and soon grew. Boot, shoe and glove making were trades that
could be carried on in people`s homes. Far more than producing
these goods for local people, there were soon quantities being
handled by `factors` (or middlemen) who saw to the export
to other towns in England such as Manchester, or Chester(to
go by sea to London).
At the height of the industry it was said that one third
of all the working population was engaged in some aspect of
the trade. These names for the different operations indicate
the degree of specialisation.: currier, fellmonger, cordwainer,skinner,tanner,
clicker, closer, stabber, riveter, boot binder, harnessmaker,
glovemaker, last and tree maker, leather dealer, saddler
There were boots and shoes for the populace; where shape
for right and left did not exist. And products for the wealthy
with proper shaping and where the sizes went up by the barleycorn,
that is, one third of an inch!
Bundles of strips of leather were collected from an employer
and taken home to be made up by members of the family. In
1825, say, the finished articles went back to the `factor`
such as John or William Davenport or Thomas Barker.
The census for 1851 records at least 27 factors, each of
whom employed from 3 to 74 workers.
For self-protection and attempts to get better pay, a trade
union, the Shoemakers` Society was set up in 1832. It joined
with the National Union of Cordwainers and in 1833 a procession
was organised in the town in honour of `King Crispin` (Cordwainer
was the name for a man handling leather which was imported
from Corduba in Spain).
This was the period when other trades formed unions and
took action to make their needs known more widely. The employers
and the government saw these unions differently, either regarding
them as secret societies or as groups seeking to overthrow
the government. On charges of `treason` men might be deported
to Australia.
In 1834 two men were arrested and taken to Chester Castle.
Thomas Dunning, born in Chester but a Nantwich shoemaker who
made the `Nantwich Boot`(a type of leather Wellington boot)
tried to support the men, some of whom fled to Ireland. The
case against the two men collapsed for lack of evidence. Dunning
had a great reception from the people of Nantwich when he
returned home. Later he became very involved in the Chartist
Movement.
Between 1850 and 1860 the leather industry in Nantwich reached
its peak. In 1851 came the first shock that changes were on
the way. Hand-operated machines were invented and appeared
in Britain. There was a chain stitching machine from Paris;
and from the USA machines for pegging, lock-stitching, sewing
and riveting.
Leonard Gilbert(1831-1900), Nantwich born, was a local shoemaker
who, in 1858, introduced sewing machines into small buildings
which became the first `factories` in Welsh Row and Hospital
Street. Others were built a little later.
Workers saw the end of working at home. They would have
to go out to work in one of these new places. They would have
to work in groups, obey masters and keep to strict rules.
They protested at the prospect. They held strikes. They failed.
The factory system was here to stay. It was already to be
seen in other industries.
Gilbert was so unpopular that local men refused to work
for him. He had to `import` men from Liverpool. Moreover he
had to sleep in his factory, with a gun at his side, in case
of arsonists!
So Nantwich did not readily accept the changes. Some of
these factories can be seen in Pall Mall(now a dwelling);
off Barker Street, and in Barony Road(now flats).
The town lost out while other places employed more, not
fewer, men as the machines came in
There was more trouble in 1872 and 1874 when strikes for more
pay took place. These were organised by the Cordwainers Union
of London and Staffordshire.
A meeting was held in The Crown Hotel, Nantwich. The men
had to be satisfied with only half of what they demanded and
the promise that there would be no victimisation of those
who took part in the strikes.
Power machinery had arrived by 1900 but by 1925 the leather
industry was finished. Messrs.Steventon`s factory was the
last to close. The last pair of bespoke shoes were made in
1958 and the last tannery closed in 1974.
(The reader may be interested in Thomas Dunning`s Autobiography.
Extracts are reprinted in Johnson`s Almanack and directory
for 1958 and 1976. There is a section in Nantwich Museum devoted
to the leather industry).
