INDUSTRIES 



town markets were guarded. Here it is ordered 

 that no craftsman having a shop in the town 

 shall be allowed to exhibit his shoes for sale in 

 the market-place. Regulations of the relation 

 between masters and journeymen were also 

 framed. 



Any journeyman detected in theft shall not 

 be allowed to continue to work in the town. 



Any journeyman, or workman by the day, 

 coming into the town and obtaining work, after 

 one month shall pay 2d. to the lights and torches 

 of the craft, and if he stay longer shall pay id. 

 every quarter. 



The penalty for a shopkeeper exposing his 

 shoes for sale in the market-place is 2od. to the 

 town chest and 2od. to the torches and lights of 

 the craft. 



Just a century later (30 January, 1 55 1-2)' an 

 order of the town authorities, confirmed in sub- 

 stance the regulations previously made, with the 

 exception that the fines were to be divided be- 

 tween the town chest and 'the occupation.' 

 There were also the following additions. : — 



Every shoemaker 'setting up shop' in the 

 town that has not been apprenticed there is to 

 pay 305. — 1 35. 4^. to the mayor, a like sum to 

 the ' chamber of the town,' and 3;. 4^. to the 

 'occupation.' 



For one that has been locally apprenticed the 

 payment is lbs. 8d. — los. to the mayor and 3;. ^d. 

 each to the chamber and occupation ; while a 

 shoemaker born in the town is to pay 31. ^.d. 

 only, half to the mayor and half to the occu- 

 pation." 



The ordinance further decreed that no shoe- 

 maker within the town should exhibit his goods 

 for sale either in the market-place or iffore his 

 shop ; and no shoemaker not being a franchised 

 man should show or sell any boots and shoes 

 within the liberties of this town under penalty of 

 confiscation. 



All master shoemakers shall assemble on the 

 25 October (St. Crispin's Day), by the consent 

 of the mayor, and choose two discreet men of 

 their occupation 



' to vewe and serche all manner off hides being barkyd 

 and solde within any place off this town for thintent 

 to knowe whether they be lawfully wrought or no 

 and that no man put anye on sale before they be 

 serchyed and sealyd upon payne off forfayture of all 

 soche hydes so put to sale halfF to the Mayor, halff to 

 the occupation.' ■* 



It is also ordered that the wardens of the craft 

 shall yearly collect and gather fines and render a 



clear account of the same to the mayor and 

 chamberlains and 



' Further if any of the said Occupation be it mr. or 

 Jornyman do Resist or wilfully stond in any Conten- 

 tion with the Wardens of the occupation contrary, 

 as master to paye for every tyme offendinge 

 vi'viij'^ ut supra .... and every Jornyman xij'* ut 

 supra.' 



One other clause is suggestive of the tiresome 

 restrictions which hampered the mere wage- 

 earner or journeyman, for such a one having 

 worked for any master for the ' space of a fort- 

 night or longer and so departeth out of the town 

 and within a quarter of a year doth return again,' 

 is forced to offer his services to his old master 

 before he may seek work elsewhere ; and no 

 other master is permitted to employ him unless 

 this course has been taken, under penalty of 

 6s. Sd., half to the mayor and half to the occu- 

 pation. 



In 1555 Robert Horsley and William Saun- 

 ders, masters of the shoemakers, delivered the 

 ' funds of the holle corporation of corviers craft 

 the some of iij iij' ij'' ' to Thomas Grene, the 

 chamberlain of the town, for its safe keeping.* 



In a curious book entitled k.\inikh, or ' Diet 

 of the Diseased,' published by John Beale, 

 London, in 1633, and written by Dr. James 

 Hart of Northampton, an interesting account is 

 given of the attempt that was made to introduce 

 new industries into the town. Dr. Hart does 

 not even name shoemaking as one of the trades 

 of the town, but it is possible that the move- 

 ment which he initiated together with Alderman 

 Danby resulted in an impetus being given to 

 the local shoe trade. 



At any rate, within a few years Northampton 

 was in a position to justify Fuller's statement that 



' the town of Northampton may be said to stand chiefly 

 on other men's legs, where (if not the best) the most 

 and cheapest boots and stockens are bought in Eng- 

 land.'* 



In the year 1642 Northampton executed a large 

 order for boots and shoes for the soldiers destined 

 for Ireland, and had much difficulty in obtaining 

 payment for the same. On 16 April, 165 1, 

 Thomas Pendleton and twelve other shoemakers 

 of Northampton petitioned the Committee for 

 Compounding for an order for the Lady-day 

 rents of the estate of Wm. Baud of Walgrave, 

 Northants, a Popish recusant and delinquent, in 

 discharge of their account for furnishing the 

 Treasurers-at-VVar for Ireland in 1642 by special 

 order of a Committee of Parliament, with 4,000 



' Northampton Boro. Rcc. ii, 293. 



' In many towns it was both difficult and expensive 

 to obtain the franchise, but in Northampton the free- 

 dom of the borough could be obtained in five ways : 

 by birth, by marriage with the daughter of a freeman , 

 by apprenticeship, by purchase, and by gift. 



' See article ' Leather.' 



* Northampton Boro. Rec. ii, 264. 



' Fuller, H'orthies, 279. An ordinance of iS Jan. 

 1656, may point to a reviving of the boot industrj-, 

 for at an assembly held on that date, ' It was ordered 

 and agreed that the shoemakers shall have A Consti- 

 tution amongs themselves as other Tradesmen have, 

 and as heretofore they commonly have had.' 



319 



