A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



some years. The managers, Cant and Fudger, 

 each started dressing calf kid in Northampton, 

 but did not achieve success. 



Allusion has already been made to the gradual 

 closing of the old style of tanyard. This has, 

 unfortunately, become a melancholy necessity 

 owing to the altered conditions of trade. The 

 leather and boot industries have suffered perhaps 

 beyond all others, from the craze for cheapness, 

 irrespective of quality, which seems likely to 

 become permanent with the British public. As 

 a consequence the ambition of the manufacturer 

 can no longer be to make the best article 

 possible, but to produce something at as low a 

 price as the power of capital, the manipulation 

 of labour-saving devices, and the saving of time 

 in manufacture (and consequently interest on 

 capital) will permit. Nor is our county in any 

 way singular, for throughout the country, year 

 by year, long process tanyards are closing down 

 as possible buyers of high-class sole leather con- 

 tinue to decrease in number. 



About 1885 a new impetus was given to the 

 enterprise of leather producers by the intro- 

 duction of coloured foot wear. This was 

 brought about in such a curious manner that it 

 is worth mention, as showing from what slender 

 sources a new industry may rise. A party went 

 on a yachting cruise to the East, agreeing that 

 during the trip a specified costume should be 

 worn. Of this, boots made from tan Russian 

 leather formed a part, and proved so comfortable 

 that some members of the party were sufficiently 

 daring to appear in them after their return home. 

 The social position of these innovators was 

 allowed to excuse their eccentricity, but it was 

 proved to the satisfaction of many who wrote 

 upon the subject, that while brown boots might 

 be possible as a luxury for the rich, the climate 

 of the country as well as the sober taste of the 

 people of England in favour of the sombre and 

 neutral tinted, precluded any general business 

 on such lines. Within a short time, however, 

 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales appeared 

 in brown boots, and at once the fashion was 

 established. Russian leather had long been 

 imported into England and used in the manu- 

 facture of pocket books, whip-handles, and the 

 like, and a Northampton leather-dresser was one 

 of the first to see that by selecting the stouter 

 skins and re-dressing them, a material suitable for 

 boots could be produced. 



Mr. Fred Tyler commenced business in 

 1878, preparing hides for enamelling, and later 

 dressing them in colours for export. He it was 

 who in 1886 made several large purchases in 

 Russian hides which he stuffed and dyed, and 

 sold to the boot manufacturers. Being one of 

 the first in the field he soon niade a lucrative 

 business in this direction. 



Boots of real Russian leather, however, were 

 expensive and beyond the reach of the million, 

 so cheaper substitutes were sought. It was 



found that calf skins could easily be tanned in 

 this country in such a manner as would render 

 them suited for coloured work, and for the next 

 ten years a great number were annually dressed 

 into 'Russia calf in all the chief leather- 

 producing centres in England. Among the 

 many firms employed in this branch of the 

 trade in Northampton mention must be made of 

 Messrs. Pettit & Sons, as they have persistently 

 kept in the front rank of those who were not 

 afraid to change their methods or alter their 

 whole process of manufacture, if occasion de- 

 manded. Mr. G. W. Pettit commenced busi- 

 ness in the year 1877 in premises situated in 

 Tanner Street as a calf kid and mock kid 

 dresser ; joined by his father the late Mr. John 

 Pettit a few years later, additional premises were 

 procured in St. James' End ; and in 1884 increase 

 of business rendered the building of larger works 

 in Spring Lane imperative. 



In 1888, being of the opinion that tan calf 

 would slowly but surely oust calf kid from its 

 position in the public favour, the firm turned all 

 its energies to the production of that com- 

 modity, and for several years manufactured large 

 quantities. Many dressers of coloured calf 

 bought their skins ready tanned, but Messrs. 

 Pettit laid down pits on their premises, and 

 buying the raw calf, tanned and dressed it right 

 through all its stages. This gave them a con- 

 siderable advantage, as they were able to study 

 the leather throughout its process of develop- 

 ment, making from time to time any alterations 

 which were considered likely to improve the 

 finished article either in appearance or wearing 

 capacity. While the boot buyer was content to 

 pay a price that would allow the manufacturer 

 to make a really reliable leather, things went 

 well. It was not long, however, before the 

 curse of 'cheapness ' spoilt what might otherwise 

 have continued to be a satisfactory trade from 

 all points of view. That lower-priced leather 

 might be produced, inferior tannages came to be 

 used, boots began to crack and split, and a 

 reaction set in. 



It is possible that but for the introduction of 

 a new method of tanning, the brown boot would 

 soon have become a thing of the past. The new 

 agent was a metal called chromium. Chrome 

 tannages from a practical point of view stand on 

 a very different footing to all others, and have 

 established their position in the manufacture of 

 almost all kinds of light leather, in competition 

 with all the older methods. Experiment with 

 it had been made in Germany as early as 1852, 

 but the first practical success was not arrived at 

 till 1879, while it was not until 1884 that 

 leather produced by its means in America turned 

 the attention of practical tanners to its import- 

 ance. From that time till 1890 much time and 

 money was spent in perfecting the process, until 

 calf and goat skins of chrome tannage were at last 

 placed on the market. The leather was found to be 



!l6 



