The Portsmouth Athenaeum Journal 2013 www.PortsmouthAthenaeum.org

“Goods to America” The Hose Family Exports Shoes From London, c. 1730-1797

Kimberly Alexander, Ph.D. History Department

University of New Hampshire, Durham It was a Thursday, June 3rd, 1773, when Mary Simpkins married Robert Rand in Boston.

Mary’s father, William, was a well-known jeweler and silversmith. Rand was a Boston merchant,

from an established New England family. Despite the fact that the Boston Tea Party was a mere

six months away and her husband fought against the British, serving as sergeant of the Bedford

Minute-Men at Concord, Mary (b. 1754) wore wedding shoes from London. She was most likely

quite pleased with her stylish silk brocade wedding shoes. [illus. 1] Clearly a treasured family

heirloom, they were passed down to her daughter and eventually, found their way to the

collections of the Connecticut Historical Society. The cream-colored silk shoes, brocaded with

pink and green flowers were made, according to their label, by the cordwainers “Jno. Hose &

Son. At the Rose in Cheapside near Milk Street. London.”1

1. John Hose, c. 1773 Connecticut Historical Society, Object Number: 1953.16.0a,b Mary Simpkins Rand Wedding Shoes http://emuseum.chs.org:8080/emuseum/

Like hundreds of London shoes which made their way to the shops of Colonial America,

one may be inclined to ponder just how this came to be. The question of how a product--or, in the

case of women’s shoes, a commodity-- found their way to the Colonies, is intriguing to say the

least. The author was recently contacted regarding a rich collection of documents related to the

Hose family, providing material for a valuable case study.2 The focus of this paper will be limited

to the 1730s-1790s, the primary years of activity of the Hose firm. This paper will trace the

journey of several pairs of shoes, beginning with their production in a London shop, across the

Atlantic, and ending on the feet of customers in British America.

The Hose Family Shop, London

Visiting the Ward of the Cordwainer in Georgian London was to experience the crowded,

bustling streets of a great metropolis in which vendors and shopkeepers feverishly hawked their

wares to sophisticated consumers who sought the ultimate in fashion. Skilled cordwainers such

as the well-established concern of the Hose family (John and his only son, Thomas, junior) were

located on Lombard Street “at the boot." The Chamberlain family occupied a shop at Cheapside,

while Ridout & Davis did business near Aldgate. They were among the scores of cordwainers

who maintained active workshops and stores throughout London. Most were concentrated within

the Ward of the Cordwainer, bounded to the North by Cheapside and Poultry, to the South by

Cannon Street, to the West by Bread Street and to the East by Walbrook.3 In 1738, D.A. Saguto

reveals that there were between six to seven hundred master cordwainers in metropolitan

London.4

While there were certainly many variations on the experience, there are elements common

to most: An indentured apprenticeship of approximately seven years with a Master cordwainer

was followed by time as a journeyman and ultimately, if one attained a high level of proficiency,

acceptance into the Worshipful Brotherhood of Cordwainers. The goal was to eventually achieve

the status of Master and accept apprentices, thus continuing the cycle of the “art and mystery of

making shoes.”5

Even a cordwainer fortunate enough to open his own shop found that the hours were long-

-most worked from about six in the morning until eight in the evening, six days a week. The

monetary rewards were uneven, even for those in the upper echelon of their trade. Theft and

shoplifting were constant concerns. Competition was stiff. Materials were dear as goods from

around the globe arrived in great quantities in ships to be used in crafting the most fashionable

footwear: goat skin leather from Spain and Morocco, silk and silk thread from China and France.6

As observed by leading authority on historic garments, Linda Baumgarten, the availability of

textiles in British America was dictated far more by “tariffs and navigation acts than by distance.”

We get a sense of the day-to-day struggles of a London cordwainer from the few

documents that have survived in the collections of the Hose family. Through birth, marriage, and

death records, apprenticeship documents, a will, and depositions that describe two cases of theft

from the shop (heard before the Old Bailey in 1740 and 1744), the activities and personalities of

this cordwaining family begin to emerge from the shadows of over two centuries of history.

While numerous elegant examples of the production by these skilled artisans have survived and

are preserved in North American and British collections, this paper posits an alternate

perspective, a behind-the-scene glimpse of the daily challenges which faced one family of

artisans in Georgian London. It is rare to have such full documentation on cordwainers, despite a

strong guild and the generational family involvement. Many are known to us now only through

the labels remaining on their shoes and little else. Because information on the makers is scant and

the visual results so pleasing, we tend to focus on the final product rather than the process of

creation and the driving market forces which create them. John Hose, the senior family member,

was listed as a Master in the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers’ records in 1760. He was

followed in 1760 by Thomas Hose, junior in 1784. It is likely that additional family members

assisted in some capacity and several apprentices have been documented as well.7

The research is significant as the shoes fabricated by these skilled artisans were among the

earliest to feature labels, illustrating not only pride in their craft, but also a growing interest in

advertising and trade specialization. As noted authority on the history of shoes, June Swann

(Shoes, 1982) comments: “The labels suggest not just mass-produced “ready-mades”, but also

pride of workmanship…” My research indicates the use of labels may also be related to duties

and tariffs on foreign goods into Colonial ports. The appearance of shoes by the Hose family, and

others such as Ridout & Davis and W. Chamberlain & Sons in North American collections

underscores their importance as "commodities" in Colonial America. As costume and fashion

historians, we generally observe the final product rather than the fabricator of these sought-after

accessories. Further, when one is able to establish even a rudimentary timeline, it aids in the

dating of these significant Georgian-era survivals.

Two particularly poignant examples of documents pertaining to the lives of the Hose

family will shape this article: the 9 July 1740 theft by James Waldron of "a Pair of Pumps" from

John Hose (b. abt 1699) and the 1780s application of Thomas Hose, junior, to enter Morden

College, Blackheath, after the shoe business had failed in the late 1790s. A thorough record of his

life and livelihood was documented in order for him to live in Morden College, a home for

merchants and skilled tradesmen who had fallen on hard times.8

Even after a Hose shoe was finished, it faced a number of obstacles before it reached its

destination in Portsmouth, Boston, or Philadelphia. One of the more common problems was

theft, like that which occurred on a warm Saturday evening, June 28th, 1740. A Saturday evening

in congested, dense commercial Cheapside, would have seen many strollers out and about-– there

were dozens of taverns lining the streets where Thomas and John Hose ran their cordwainers

shop. It was getting on toward 9:00, the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow had probably just rung, when

shouts disturbed John Hose’s concentration.9

As Hose testified:

Last Saturday was se'nnight, about half an Hour after 8 at Night, I had a Customer or

two in my Shop, (I live in Cheapside ) and a little Girl cry'd out – Mr. Hose, a Man

has got a Pair of Pumps. I being lame, could not run after him; but my People

pursued him, and took him in Bow Church Yard, and told me he had dropped the

Pumps, by the Corner of the Church Yard. When he was brought to my Shop, he

fell down on his Knees, begg'd Mercy, and desired I would let the People pump him.10

This account from the Old Bailey proceedings is revealing on many counts. It provides a

strong lens for looking into the life and work of a mid-eighteenth century urban craftsman. In the

short passage, we learn that the Hose shop was open until at least 8:30 on a Saturday night. The

long hours were hardly unusual and this is supported by contemporary accounts.11 Further, he

still had customers in his shop at this late hour. He notes living in Cheapside, which was within

the traditional boundaries of the Ward of the Corwainer. The fact that "a little Girl" sounded the

alarm, gives a sense of community--of looking out for one another, for knowing your neighbor.

Of the stolen goods, the “turn’d Leather Pumps" were valued at 10d. While we do not know

whether his lameness was permanent or temporary, in 1740, John Hose was approximately 41, at

a time when the average person’s life expectancy in Britain was just under about 36.9 years of

age. He notes "his people pursued him" indicating several hands in the shop, most likely

apprentices, chased down the culprit and brought him back to Mr. Hose. The would-be thief

begged for mercy and asked that Hose "let the people pump" him. Clearly, that did not satisfy Mr.

Hose, who pressed charges. It is of interest that, despite the presence of witnesses, Mr. Waldron

was found not guilty and acquitted. Perhaps this was due to the fact that he was able to hide the

proof--the ill-gotten pumps--in the churchyard.12

The crafting of elegant shoes did not guarantee a life of comfort or ease for its maker. We

get an idea of the precarious nature of a cordwainer’s life from another seemingly mundane

document in the Hose family papers. John Hose’s son, Thomas Hose junior, finished his

apprenticeship with his father, becoming a master himself in 1784. In the previous year, he notes

that he was actively “engaged in business [at Lombard Street] in exporting goods to America and

the British West Indies from the period of 1783-1797.” This significant quote survives in Mr.

Hose’s letter to the regents of Morden College, Blackheath, which maintained a home for

impoverished but hard-working tradespeople and guild members. It is significant because it

reveals, without question, that the cordwainer was at least to a certain extent “self-selecting” his

clientele and certainly had abundant knowledge of the destination of his products. Although only

referencing his own experience, it is natural to speculate that his father had also had a direct role

in exporting shoes to America, especially when combined with the evidence supplied by the shoe

labels which have survived.13

Goods To America

Today, the diligent researcher can identify a good number of pairs of shoes in North

American collections, and trace the labels back to their manufacturers in London. Clearly, the

Hose family production was available to an elite clientele and was thereby acknowledged to be in

the upper tier of their art. Not surprisingly, many of their shoes were for “special occasions”

weddings, balls, inaugurations and so forth – another reason these shoes have often survived as

they were connected with significant family or national events. Once completed in the Hose shop,

shoes had several avenues to their destinations in Colonial America: special, custom orders, in

shop sales, or export to other British towns or the Colonies and West Indies, via ships or Colonial

merchants or factors.

In some cases, shoes were special order items taken home by an individual ship captain, a

super cargo, a traveler or a merchant for a wife, a sweetheart, daughter(s) or for themselves. An

example of this may be seen in the following receipt dated, 17 September 1767, in which a

Philadelphia client contracts a bootmaker for custom boots and shoes:

Mr. Didsbury desired to make for Edward Shippen of Philadelphia a pair of high boots;

a pair of neat dress shoes with stitched heels; 4 pairs of stronger shoes, with common

heels; 2 pair of very stout shoes, with thick soals [sic] for Winter.14

He carefully measured the foot and the lower leg for boots--“according to Mr. Didsbury’s

Directions.” Boots were one of the most important and expensive items in a man's wardrobe,

generally costing between one and five times as much as shoes. Indeed, to be a boot maker was to

have attained the highest echelon of the trade, followed by shoemaker or cordwainer and then

cobbler and piece workers. In other cases, Colonists worked with British-based merchants and

factors who acquired goods on behalf of clients. One of the best-known examples is George

Washington, who, early in his career, ordered his garments directly from London via a factor or

representative. After his marriage to Martha Custis Washington, he frequently turned to the

London-based Carr & Co., which secured goods, such as textiles, clothing and shoes for her.

By the mid-1700s, there is substantial evidence in ship manifests and cargo lists, custom

house records and store advertisements to suggest that ladies shoes were in high demand and were

being purchased for the export trade in large numbers. To wit: 80 pairs of ladies shoes were listed

as coming in to Salem, Massachusetts with Captain Bowditch in 1772; on January 5th 1775, the

sloop Exeter Packet, owned by James Bott, also of Salem, sailed with 33 pairs of women’s shoes,

and so on. Indeed, "women's shoes" were frequently listed separately from other items in ships'

cargos.15

In Portsmouth, NH, as with other seaport cities and towns, there was much travel between

the American colonies and Britain. In 1777, the powerful Hunkings and the Wentworths families

had strong ties to Great Britain and the Crown and travelled back and forth frequently. Indeed, in

his article on John Fisher, Esq., Thomas Hardiman shared the following from a letter dated

January 17, 1777 from John Wentworth to Mrs. Fisher:

I think it probable that Mr. Fisher and Rindge will be here early in the spring… I

have a box qt 16 pr. childrens shoes -- 3 pr. woms. silk and 3 pr. Calamanco

shoes…which Mr. Fisher sent for you, by Mr. Brinley.16

Shoes and boots had a high duty or tax imposed upon them, a trend that continued with Secretary

of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton’s 1790 duty, in which: “boots, per pair, fifty cents; shoes,

slippers and goloshoes, made of leather, per pair, seven cents; shoes and slippers, made of silk or

stuff, per pair, ten cents…,” and so on.17

Ladies shoes were readily available--at a price--to the “foot-trade” via sale in various

seaport towns in high-end shops. Their arrival from London is noted almost gleefully in the

newspaper advertisements. As found in the ship manifests, ladies shoes tend to be listed

separately, even in shop advertisements and handbills; Gilliam Butler, Robert Trail, Samuel

Penhallow, and John MacMacmaster were among those in Portsmouth who singled out women’s

shoes from their lists of available products. Ship logs and manifests, shopkeepers’ advertisements

in newspapers and custom house records, all support the importance of the shoe trade for

fashionable ladies and the British economy.

The issue of buying locally made versus imported goods such as shoes had vexed the

colonists from the early days of settlement, when shoemakers were scarce and so were the

materials needed to adhere to the latest fashions in England. As early as 1764 there was what

might be considered the first shoe exhibit or trade fair in New York. The “Exposition for the

Promotion of Arts and Agriculture...” offered as a first prize 10 pounds to the best pair of

women’s shoes fabricated using materials found in the Colonies. Thomas F. Pierce & Son, based

in Providence, Rhode Island, began selling shoes at retail by 1767, and by 1782, also from Rhode

Island, individual embroidered vamps were offered for sale.18

While Lyn [sic] calamancoes and leathers [from the shoemaking region of Essex County,

Massachusetts] were offered for sale in Portsmouth by the 1780s, the value of the London shoe

was vastly higher. Indeed, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire shopkeeper advertised Lyn [sic] made

calamanco shoes, indicating wide availability and yet, women who could afford the additional

costs of fabrication and import duties (enacted in 1789 for example at the Continental Congress),

would choose the latest from London over domestic made-product.

While average daily wages fluctuate from region to region and from job to job, the

average cost of a day of labor in Northern New England in the 1780s was roughly about three

shillings a day. Based on sources, such as account books in Deerfield, Massachusetts and

Haverhill, New Hampshire, a pair of women's shoes cost about six shillings and a man's, eight

shillings. This translates into roughly 2 day’s labor to purchase a pair of shoes. Shoe buckles cost

(again this is a very limited sampling) approximately half a day’s work for the silver-plated

variety. A published broadside with a price list from Philadelphia in 1790 is consistent with these

costs: good men’s shoes, such as the channeled pumps, started at 18 shillings and 6 pence; while a

good ladies shoe “lined and bound” started at 10 shillings.19 [Illus. 2]

2. “A List of Prices of Boots and Shoes, & c….1790” Philadelphia Master Cordwainers Price List, broadside Note that the broadside refers to the "Master Cordwainers," suggestive of its roots in the British guild and apprenticeship system. The document has been published in numerous historical imprint volumes.

Whether it was because of the initial investment or the intervening Revolutionary War, or

a combination of both, one finds a great number of women's shoes available leading up to 1770-

1775, and then the supply dries up. The various “non-intercourse” or non-importation acts are put

into place in the Colonies, beginning as early as 1764 and culminating with the closing of Boston

Harbor in 1775. A gap follows until about 1784 and the close of the conflict. In 1784, a new,

easily identifiable style emerges and the London merchants attempt to glut the new American

market with excess stock. This is the time period mentioned by Thomas Hose in his

correspondence to Morden College.

3. Thomas Hose, c. 1770 Charleston Museum Eliza Pinckney light blue satin shoes with metallic braid http://charlestonmuseum.tumblr.com/post/3701726426#.UkF1Bxbm6uk

Fortunately, shoes by the Hose family have found their way into public institutions, due to

their link with significant people and events and no doubt also due to their high level of

craftsmanship. Among several noteworthy examples, one may cite Hose family shoes in the

collections of the Charleston Museum, Connecticut Historical Society, Historic Deerfield and

Historic New England. The Hose family shoes were highly sought after. They may have been

shipped to the Colonies as special or custom orders, requiring makers’ labels to identify country

of origin for importation duties. Perhaps, the labeling was simply to promote the individual

cordwainers, in a profitable North American Colonial marketplace. Surviving evidence reveals

that the labeling of shoes did not begin much before the fourth decade of the eighteenth-century.

American shoemakers would soon follow suit with labels appearing in the work of Rhode Island,

New York and New Jersey shoes just after the mid-eighteenth century.

For additional examples of work by the Hose family, see collections at Historic Deerfield and Historic New England.

Notes

1 Connecticut Historical Society, Object Number 1953.16.0a,b

2 The author is indebted to the research contributions of two Hose descendants, Linda Pardoe and Colin Michael

Hose, for making key documents available to the author. Further, Judith Millidge of the Worshipful Company of

Cordwainers has generously shared her knowledge. 3 Bow Lane and Queen Street run along a north-south axis through the Ward; Watling Street runs east-west and

Queen Victoria Street runs diagonally through part of the Ward.

4 4. D.A. Saguto has annotated and republished M. De Garsault’s 1767 classic, Art of the Shoemaker, subtitled An

Annotated Translation (Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2009), 2. 5 For a contemporary account of apprenticeships, see Robert Campbell “The London Tradesman, 1767,” and others,

in Saguto, Art of the Shoemaker; Cordwainers: Shoemakers of the City of London, Clive Willcocks, 2009 and

materials available on the historic trades on Colonial Williamsburg’s website are especially useful. 6 Robert Campbell, “The London Tradesman” (1747), in Saguto, Art of the Shoemaker, 2.

7 Hose Family documents suggest a date of about 1699 for John Hose’s birth, based on Church records. He married

Elizabeth Collver in Notthingham on August 18, 1731. In the same year, he acquired his Freedom papers (signifying

the end of his apprenticeship) from the City of London and established himself in Cheapside. His only son was

Thomas who followed him in the business. John Hose died March 31, 1769 and was buried in a vault at St. Mary

Islington. In addition to passing his skill as a cordwainer to his son, he also apprenticed William Chamberlain,

another cordwainer whose shoes are found in North American collections and whose production quality was very

high.

8 Old Bailey records are available online for two thefts relating to John Hose--the 1740 theft discussed in this paper

and a second theft in 1744. The documents presented to the officials at Morden College, for Thomas Hose, junior, are

in family papers, but the family has kindly made it available to the author.

9 Among the dozens of taverns and hostelries in this part of the ward, there were also two churches in the mid-

seventeenth century: St. Mary Aldermay and St. Mary-le-Bow. Given Mr. Hose’s reference to catching the culprit in

the Bow Church Yard, St. Mary-le-Bow seems likely.

10 Old Bailey records available online: Heard on 9 July 1740 James Waldron, Theft. Trial number: t17400709-25.

11 Saguto, Art of the Shoemaker.

12 Saguto, Art of the Shoemaker.

13 Petition to Morden College, from Thomas Hose, City of London. Hose Family Papers. Underline by author.

14 Edward Shippen, Philadelphia, To J. Didsbury, London, order for shoes September 7, 1767.

Ms1989.10 Microfilm, M-1561.

http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Special_Collections/SpecialCollectionsDocs/MiscShippen.cfm 15 Electronic correspondence with Thomas Hardiman, Keeper, Portsmouth Atheneaum, April 2012.

16 Electronic correspondence with Thomas Hardiman, Keeper, Portsmouth Atheneaum, April 2012.

17 The Act Laying Duties on Imports was communicated by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to the

United States House of Representatives on April 23, 1790. In order to promote manufacturing in the United States,

Hamilton proposed that imported goods be more costly thereby forcing, Americans to buy more local products.

While the proposition failed as it was essentially a tariff, it is nonetheless instructive regarding considerable public

sentiment. 18 Little is currently known about this event which took place in New York, and which has been mentioned as “the

first shoe exhibit or trade fair. The “Exposition for the Promotion of Arts and Agriculture...” but it is worthy of

further investigation.

19 “A List of Prices of Boots and Shoes…Philadelphia 8th November, 1790.” The events that resulted in the creation

of this document are outside the scope of the current paper.

A short, selected bibliography for shoes and shoemaking in the Georgian and Regency eras: Shoes and Slippers from Snowshill, Althea Mackenzie This slim volume is an extremely well-written and well-sourced with some rare images from the National Trust Collection at Snowshill. Shoes: The Complete Source Book, John Peacock Useful cornucopia of styles & types Women's Shoes in America, 1795-1930, Nancy Rexford A gem, must have. M. De Garsault's 1767 Art of the Shoemaker. An Annotated Translation by D.A. Saguto “Go-to” book on shoes and a constant inspiration from a true master. Shoes, June Swan A thorough book by a leading light in the field. Would love to see an updated version with more color plates. Although not specifically about shoes, Colonial Williamsburg's What Clothes Reveal by Linda Baumgarten, is an especially useful source book and includes material on selling to America.