The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

only the ratio of masters/journeymen, but also their relationship. When the
Compagnie was reconstituted in August 1776 it established a Bureau for
registering all compagnons arriving in the capital and all changes of shops by
workmen. Again we can see the role played by the State in constructing a
system of control. All journeymen arriving in Paris had to:
go to be registered at the Bureau de la Communauté of Cordwainers, and they
have to declare their name, age, place of birth, and also the surname of the last
master where they worked; and for those without workplace, or arriving in Paris,
the surname of the last master where they worked, in Paris or in the Provinces.
This declaration will be registered by a Commis appointed by us (Police) in a
Book kept in this Bureau."3
All journeymen were given a Livret in which all their movements had to be
recorded. Every time a journeyman changed master, he had to go within 24
hours to the Bureau." 4 The Police du Châtelet appointed also an inspector who
not only had to register all journeymen, but also make frequent visits to masters
shoemakers to check possible breaches of the rules on the "travail,
1 'enregistrement et 1 'embarche des compagnons
2.7 The role of women
The increasing difficulties facing journeymen seeking to climb the
occupational hierarchy were not the only changes in eighteenth-century London
shoemaking. Women were also being increasingly marginalised." 6 The
shoemaker's craft had long been dominated by men, with women, normally
wives or daughters, helping in complementary jobs, such as sewing uppers,
113 AP, 6AZ 121, MS 4: 'Ordonnance de Police concernant les Garçons Cordonniers' (2"
Sept. 1777).
'' Ibid. It was also established that in the case the master did not want to write his comment
on the Livret (so-called Certificat de Cougé) or the journeyman thought the master's comment
to be unfair, the Police had power to investigate. Masters could not employ journeymen who did
not present a Livret and while a journeyman was employed the Livret had to be kept by the
master.
"5 Archive du Châtelet de Paris, Y 9499/930: 'Ordonnances et sentences de Police du Châtelet
de Paris' (3r( May 1786).
116 In Paris for instance the Compagnie des Cordonniers admitted women but they had no right
to vote in the Assembly of the Company. De la condition des ouvriers de Paris de 1789
jusqu'en 1841 (Paris, 1841), p. 17.
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