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Shoes

By the way--I know what you mean about that horrible pong from the rubber mask used by the dentists long ago, I had a lunchtime extraction and it made me so sick that I had to take the afternoon off from my job. It also gave me a very early reminder from the wartime, when as a little toddler, I wore a ' Mickey Mouse' style Gas Mask, made to fit us young 'uns, but it was frightening and sickly--lovely memory.
 
As an infant, (I shudder to think why), I was required to go to a dental place in Great Charles St., for an extraction. I remember a long room with a row of dental chairs in it and someone in a white coat pressing a rubber mask onto my (screaming) face. Whatever was going on in the Forties, our parents never challenged "AUTHORITY". Looking back to such incidents, and recalling the physical abuse we kids were subjected to in those days at school, I wonder what would happen if our generation started a Jimmy Savile-type witch hunt on the people in charge of us kids in those days ?
 
Day's shoe shop on New Street in 1945. Day's don't seem to have worried too much about window dressing. The shoe display seems pretty random, almost as though someone thought: "lets get as much stock in the window as we possibly can" ! They seem to be promoting something that increases employment, maybe it was 'buy British-made shoes'. I don't remember this shop but do remember the shoe department in the Co-op on High Street in the early-1960s - a very spacious and highly organised place with lots of assistants. Viv.

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I wonder how on earth the window dresser got into the window? I don't remember Day's either, but I think it was the Co-Op for school shoes. We also used to go to Cooper's near the Broadway, where Mr and Mrs Cooper were very friendly. Lewis's had a "heel bar" I think.

maria
 
Forgot about heel bars Maria until you mentioned it. You could sit on high stools while your shoes were repaired. My early shoes and school shoes were from England's, early teens Co-op and Shoe Fayre then advanced to Ravels and Freeman Hardy Willis.Thinking about it there were an awful lot of shoe shop branches around in the 1960s and 70s. Also used to buy suede platform boots in the 70s from the outside Bull Ring stall under the ramp by Woolworth's. Viv.
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During the war I used to repair my shoes using material from a rubber conveyor belt I found in the local river. I used a last and fixed the sole with small brads but often these protruded to the inside leading to sore feet !! Trimming the rubber was a problem resulting in very rough edges , but in those days we all had ill fitting and hand - down clothes nobody took a second look.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Forgot about heel bars Maria until you mentioned it. You could sit on high stools while your shoes were repaired. My early shoes and school shoes were from England's, early teens Co-op and Shoe Fayre then advanced to Ravels and Freeman Hardy Willis.Thinking about it there were an awful lot of shoe shop branches around in the 1960s and 70s. Also used to buy suede platform boots in the 70s from the outside Bull Ring stall under the ramp by Woolworth's. Viv.
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Click to expand...

I don't think they exist, now, Viv. They were very convenient.

maryjanes.jpg
My favourite style, the Mary Jane. The picture is authetic 1960s, it says. Don't forget Saxone!

maria
 
anvil man said:
During the war I used to repair my shoes using material from a rubber conveyor belt I found in the local river. I used a last and fixed the sole with small brads but often these protruded to the inside leading to sore feet !! Trimming the rubber was a problem resulting in very rough edges , but in those days we all had ill fitting and hand - down clothes nobody took a second look.
Click to expand...

In the 1970s television series "Sam" there were scenes of DIY shoe-mending. They were probably in the parts of the series set in the 1930s.

maria
 
My shoe-mending last makes a good doorstop! I used to love sticking new soles on and banging in the "segs" then making sparks on the park swings!
It's not too easy to mend shoes these days. I find shoe polish doesn't have as much pigment in too.

When my cousin was married I was one of her bridesmaids and we all had our satin shoes dyed to match the dresses, some were apricot and others were mint green.
rosie.
 
They sound lovely, rosie. I coveted shoes like that but was never a bridesmaid!

My older sister used to wear shoes rather like some of these

1964-dancing-shoes-300x401.jpg

This morning in Waitrose I saw a woman wearing some very 1960s-ish footwear - court shoes with a pointed toe and stiletto heel. Perhaps they were vintage.

maria
 
This is the nearest thread I can find that may be able to help me with my query. On the 1881 census two of my ancestors are listed with the following occupations. William, a boot and shoe riveter. Selina his wife, a boot and shoe machinist. Now would they have been working in a shoe manufacturing factory or would they have been working for a shoe shop who made their own shoes (As in that wonderful film Hobsons Choice, which was set about the same time). Their address at the time was 19 Thomas Street, Balsall Heath(?)
 
There is no listing for 18 Thomas St in the 1882 Kellys (which would refer to 1881). therefore I do not think they were part of a business at that address. I think they would have been employed somewhere else making shoes for others, probably , though not certainly , in a factory where individual tasks in show manufacture were specialised and carried out by different people. An individual shop would not employ enough people to specialise
 
Mike, Thanks for your reply. It would seem that they would have worked for a manufacturer but I didn't know that Birmingham had shoe manufacturers.
 
I have seen mention of manufacturers in Birmingham. You should remember that in the 19th century and before most large towns had some representatives of most trades as transport and distribution was not so easy, even with the railways. the following is from the website of Crocket & Jones (https://www.crockettandjones.com/our-story/)
Crockett & Jones was established in 1879 by two brothers in law, James Crockett & Charles Jones.
James was raised by his grandfather Henry Marshall, who was a boot and shoe manufacturer in Northampton. James left school at the age of 10 to work as an errand boy before becoming an apprentice clicker. He would go on to work as a shoe maker in Worcester, London and Birmingham.
There are other odd mentions. It was not like Northampton but there were small shoemakers here
 
Carolina
I understood, but am open to contradiction, that cordwainers were the more high class quality shoes,. But, as I say, am not certain of that
 
Cordovan leather emanates from Cordoba (Spain) (Cordova in English) which apparently was famed for leather products.
 
Given the history of leather production in Birmingham, there would have been shoemakers (around Deritend ?) going back to at least medieval times. Viv.
 
My 3 x great grandfather was a cordwainer and dyer. He had a shop in Worcester Street at No. 14 before the market hall was built. He died in 1830 and the family moved the shop further down the same street for a while before finally stopping in Pershore Street, dropping the shoemaking business to concentrate on the dyeing.
 
Now all this reminds me of Rambling Syd Rumpo:

Joe, he was a young cordwangler,
Munging greebles he did go,
And he loved a bogler's daughter
By the name of Chiswick Flo.

Vain she was and like a grusset
Though her gander parts were fine,
But she sneered at his cordwangle
As it hung upon the line.

So he stole a woggler's mooly
For to make a wedding ring,
But the Bow Street Runners caught him
And the judge said "He will swing."

Oh, they hung him by the postern,
Nailed his mooly to the fence
For to warn all young cordwanglers
That it was a grave offence.

There's a moral to this story,
Though your cordwangle be poor,
Keep your hands off other's moolies,
For it is against the law
 
When commenting on the UK Alliance & Permissive Bill in December 1872, the Nuneaton Advertiser claimed there were significant numbers of Birmingham boot and shoe makers at that time. Viv.

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By 1877 there were serious concerns about the effect on boot and shoemakers of imported shoes from America and Canada. It was observed that several Birmingham shoemakers made the move to become suppliers of imported shoes rather than makers of them. All down to cheaper imports coming into the U.K. Viv.
 

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Some stats on shoe/boot making from the 1891 Census for Birmingham/Aston and NE/S Warwickshire - may be of interest or just stats for stats sake!

The tables in S1 show all occupations 'like' cordwainer and those below show the most commonly recorded occupations associated with boot/shoe making at that time.
I've not attempted to look at counts less than 4 as the enumerators descriptions and spellings are far too numerous and time consuming to rationalise!

The second set of tables S2 show occupations from S1 which are listed as 'Employers'

The third table S3 is just a bit of info on general health and welfare - those with Birthplace 'unknown' were all inmates at City B'ham Asylum Winson Green and the mentally impared in the second list below were inmates of 'Warwick County Lunatic Asylum'.
Not quite PC for this day and age!
 

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In 1940's- 50's my great grand father and afterwards a great uncle ran a shoe repair shop in Sparkbrook. The husband of my late sister in law worked in a factory that made prescription shoes/boots for people with special needs. I believe this factory was in West Heath.
 
My Gt Gt grandmother and Gt Aunt worked in the shoe trade in Old Ford, East London before moving back to Birmingham. Gt Aunt Augusta, who lived in Rifle Crescent which I think was in Lozells, was a 'boot clicker' and this link takes you to wiki for a description of that occupation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_and_shoe_clicker

Both ladies were related to the cordwainer mentioned in my post #80. His daughter and granddaughter.
 
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