INDUSTRIES 



chosen warden in 1769, together with William 

 Henshaw. 33 In 1801 inspectors of hides were 

 appointed, the office being filled by Robert 

 Lineker and John Bailey, fellmonger in 1815. 

 These inspectors, the last of whom was Thomas 

 Radforth, were provided with two stamps, one 

 marked S. (sound) and the other D. (damaged), 

 the hides after inspection being marked according 

 to their quality. The fees for sealing ranged 

 from \d. to \d. 



In 1812, when Thomas Roberts, then the 

 only master tanner in the town, applied to the 

 corporation for the yearly stipend formerly paid 

 to his company, the ancient grant 33 of 401. was 



bestowed upon him without discussion, the sum 

 beina; divided by Roberts between his journey- 

 men? 34 



The modern tanning trade of Nottingham 

 gives rise to an extensive export and import trade, 

 largely carried on by means of the Trent route, 

 as many as 60-70 tons of birch bark from 

 Sweden being brought to the town at a time by 

 this means. 36 Seven thousand bags of tanning 

 materials from Palermo are delivered yearly to one 

 establishment, which exports pickled skins and 

 leather to Hull for shipment to Boston, U.S.A., 

 and also imports sheepskins from Holland and 

 Belgium. 38 



SHOE-MAKING 



Intimately connected with the tanning trade 

 was that of the corvisers, or shoemakers, who 

 appear in early records of the county. In 1385 

 the shoemakers of Nottingham were presented 

 by the Mickletorn jury for selling their shoes 

 too dear, for putting calf-skin therein among ox- 

 leather, and for selling bazen (sheepskin) for 

 cordewan 1 to the deception of the people. 2 Ten 

 years later the same craftsmen were accused of 

 selling shoes of cloth steeped in water, and each 

 of them tempered old cloth with new in the 

 ' wamppeys,' 3 to the deception of the people. 4 

 Six shillings and eightpence was ["aid to the war- 

 dens of the company for setting up as a corviser. 6 

 In 1484-5 the Bridge Wardens at Nottingham 

 answered for 3*. \d. received from the wardens 

 of the Shoemakers' Company for the fine of 

 Richard Spencer and Thomas Colt, who had 

 engaged in the craft of shoemakers within the 

 town aforesaid against the form of the ordinance 

 of the said craft. 6 In 1517 we find Thomas 



a Blackner, Hist. Nott. 210. 



53 On 1 8 Feb. 1545, the mayor and burgesses of 

 Nottingham ' obliged themselves ' by deed ' to William 

 Sharpington, James Mason, John Revell, John 

 Gregorie, Thomas Sibthorpe, tanners, to pay to 

 them and their successor tanners of Nottingham for ever, 

 an annuity of 4O/.' (Deering, Nottinghamia, 92.) In 

 1774 the mayor and burgesses refused to make good 

 this payment to the tanners. From this date they 

 only received 2O/. per annum. 



34 Blackner, op. cit. 210. 



35 Rep. Com. Canals, 1908, i, 466. 

 "Ibid. 461-2. 



Barbur, corviser, suing Robert Taverner for a 

 pair of shoes, price 6d. r Michael Bell, ' cordy- 

 ner,' leased a shop in the Saturday Market in 

 1590. In 1619 John Ratliffe, Henry New- 

 come, Gervase Huthwait, and John Raggett 

 were charged with inciting divers and sundry 

 shoemakers in Nottingham not to make three- 

 soled shoes under 3;., nor two-soled shoes under 

 2s. 6d. 9 The defendants were fined 2s. It was 

 the office of the leather searchers at Newark not 

 only to oversee the preparation of the hides to be 

 converted into leather, but also to see if the shoe- 

 makers harboured either 'insufficient leather,' or 

 boots and shoes made of ' unlawful stuff.' 10 



Abraham Booth, of Hen Cross, was the first 

 shoemaker in Nottingham to keep ready-made 

 shoes and boots in his shop. His prices in 1796 

 were as follows : Good strong wax-leather 

 shoes, 6s. per pair ; women's leather slippers, 

 35. ()d. per pair ; and Spanish leather slippers, 



1 Leather prepared from goatskins ; Rec. Bora 

 Nott. i, 445. 



I Ibid. 271. 



3 Vampey the bottoms of hose, or gaiters attached 

 to the hose, covering the foot ; H.illiwcll, Diet. 

 Archaic Words, 907. (?) vamp. 



4 Rec. Bora. Nott. i, 273. 



'Ibid. 155. 6 Ibid. 5. 



7 Ibid, iii, 484. 



8 Ibid, iv, 402. 

 Ibid. 362. 



10 Brown, Hist. Newark, ii, 190. 



II Granger, Old Notts. 135. 



339 



