A HISTORY OF SURREY 



John Wood of Woking,' and Thomas Paten- 

 son of Carshalton.' In 1568 Godstone seems 

 to have been a small centre for the leather 

 trade, not merely in its own neighbourhood 

 but even for tanners in Sussex and London. 

 Three Sussex tanners' and one, Nicholas 

 Sw)'er of Godstone itself,* were charged with 

 selling leather there out of open market, 

 whilst a London currier seems to have been 

 buying his leather there in the same illegal 

 way.* In addition to the places already 

 noticed the leather industry had its representa- 

 tives during this period at Letherhead,* 

 Lingfield,^ Stoke d'Abernon and Bookham,* 

 and at Croydon was quite a small colony or 

 shoemakers, of whom eight were summoned 

 in Hilary term, 1564-5, to answer to charges 

 of having, in spite of their calling as shoe- 

 makers, performed the business of curriers in 

 their own houses.* 



The examples we have quoted of cases of 

 infringements of the leather trade laws oc- 

 curring in Surrey are not by any means ex- 

 haustive, but are sufficient to show how 

 general was the industry throughout the 

 county, and also under what conditions and 

 regulations it was carried on during the six- 

 teenth century. There would seem to have 

 been an outcry at the time against the hasty 

 and imperfect processes which the leather 

 manufacturers were adopting. William Har- 

 rison, to whom we may look for a reflection 

 of much of the popular sentiment of his day, 

 says, speaking of the English oaks and their 

 use in tanning : — 



Only this I wish that our sole and upper leather- 

 ing may have their due time, and not be hasted 

 on by extraordinary slights, as with ash bark, &c. 

 Whereby as I grant that it seemeth outwardly to 

 be very thick and well done: so, if you respect 

 the sadness (i.e. durability) thereof, it doth prove 

 in the end to be very hollow, and not able to 

 hold out water. 



He refers to the laws against hasty tanning, 

 but adds that the tanners bribed the adminis- 

 trators of the law and made worse leather 

 than ever.'" 



1 Exch. K. R. Mem. R. Mich. 15 Eliz. 413. 



= Ibid. 



3 Ibid. Hil. 10 Eliz. 13 1-2. 



* Ibid. Mich. 10 Eliz. 279. 



» Ibid. 276. 



6 Ibid. Hil. 7 Eliz. 192 andTrin. 8 Eliz. 252. 



' Ibid. Hil. 10 Eliz. 132. 



8 Ibid. 5 Eliz. 127. 



» Ibid. 7 Eliz. 180, 181, 183, 191. 

 "• William Harrison, The Descriftim of England 

 (ed. Fumivall, New Shakespeare Soc.), pt. i. p. 

 340- 



So far we have been considering the leather 

 industry of Surrey as carried on by native 

 artisans. That the large immigrations of 

 aliens into the country during the Tudor 

 period must have had considerable effect up)on 

 the native industry is certain when we con- 

 sider that there were more foreigners then 

 engaged in the leather trade in England than 

 in any other occupation. But these foreign 

 workmen, among whom were tanners, cor- 

 vesers, shoemakers, saddlers and cobblers, for 

 the most part dwelt in the precincts of the 

 Blackfriars and St. Martin's-le-Grand, where 

 they had their own gild called, * the Brother- 

 hood of the Holy Trinity of Straungiers 

 Courvysours,' and came into frequent collision 

 with the Cordwainers' Company." The 

 several valuable returns made by the Lord 

 Mayor of London of the aliens dwelling in 

 the dilFerent wards, and of the trades in which 

 they were engaged, so far as they have been 

 printed," enable us to see that in Southwark 

 at least a certain foreign element had been 

 introduced into the leather trade. For re- 

 turns of aliens into Bermondsey and other 

 parts of the county we must have recourse for 

 the most part to the subsidy assessments, 

 where usually we are without means to deter- 

 mine the particular trades of those whose 

 names appear in these lists. 



It must be confessed that so far as South- 

 wark is concerned the returns do not point 

 to any immigration of foreign workers in 

 leather large enough to have had any very far- 

 reaching effects on the native industry in 

 that district. It must be remembered how- 

 ever that very many, whose names appear in 

 the lists, are not assigned to any particular 

 occupation. They are mostly dependents or 

 servants in the house of some bigger man, 

 who may be either a native or a foreigner, 

 and their trades can only be surmised when 

 we know those of their masters. But of 

 those who can definitely be associated with 

 the leather industry it is to be remarked that 

 all, or nearly all, dealt with the commodity 

 in its final stages of preparation. Thus 

 not one Southwark alien in any of the lists, 

 so far printed, is described as a tanner. 

 Of leather-dressers and curriers there were 

 eleven in 1571, but in 1583 only six. The 

 greater number were shoemakers or cord- 



" W. Page, F.S.A., Denizations and Naturalixa- 

 tions, 1509-1603 (Huguenot Soc. Publ. viii.), p. 

 xlvii. 



" In the Returns of Aliens dwelling in the City 

 and Suburbs of London, ed. R. E. G. and E. F. Kirk 

 (Huguenot Soc. Publ. x.). Parts i. and ii., em- 

 bracing the period between 1525 and 1597, are 

 now published. 



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