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cork and sock maker

  • Thread starter Thread starter jhh
  • Start date Start date
J

jhh

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Does anyone know what occupation this was ?
My great great grandad in 1881 census (John D Herrick ) was a retired cork and sock manfr
His two sons, Archibald and Joseph Herrick were also cork and sock makers
They all moved from Suffolk/Essex........which I know people did in those days but still seems a long way to go !
Thanks Julie Herrick
 
It's miraculous - you only have to ask on this site, and you get the answer in minutes. Well done, Rod.
It's interesting, too, I think, how cork was used as a former. Bending and shaping raw materials like a hide of leather into three-dimensions to fit somebody's foot is not easy. I wouldn't know how to start, but you would surely need a former or pattern in an early stage. I suppose that by the late 19th century, a lot of the work was done by machine, but someone had to do the programming, and somebody (probably someone else) would have to mind the machine and make sure it did what it was supposed to do.
Brum lost out to Northampton and Leicester in this line of businerss, but we still had our legendary 1000 trades
Peter
 
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