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

productive time, but was strongly linked to the family life. Rowland Rugeley of
the Parish of St. Luke's (at that time just outside the metropolitan area of
London) who died in 1738 left a very prosperous activity, which was financially
very sound with £107 in cash. The impressive stock of ready-made shoes
testifiesa specialisation in retailing. In his will there is no mention to utensils
while the stock consisted of 434 pairs of men's and boy's shoes, 481 pairs
women's shoes, 140 pairs of clogs, 131 hides, 48 skins for a value of £406 and 9
shillings. However the shop consisted of merely three sash lights, two wire
glazed stalls and a few shelves with a total value of £2 and 10 shillings.54
In London as in Paris, shoe shops could be of different social levels. In Paris
the expression atelier differed from the most common boutique not only for the
quality of the goods sold, but also for the level of politeness the shop was
embodying. 55 High-class shops preserved traditional features well into the
nineteenth century. They had to provide quality to a very small number of
bespoke customers. One such shop was Pattison (illustration 4.17). This shop
located in Oxford Street during the period 1822-63 was a 'ladies' boot and shoe
maker' that had Royal appointment by Queen Adelaide in 1834 and was one of
the exhibitioners at the 1851 Great Exhibition. 56 The two customers, a lady and a
gentleman, are trying their new pairs of shoes. In the shop there are stools and
chairs, a mirror with a clock on top, with shelving on one side from which
colourful ribbons of female shoes in fashion during the 1820s are creating a
pleasant visual image. Every detail points out to politeness and the good taste of
the early nineteenth century: for instance the use of white aprons instead of the
usual leather ones. For Pattison it seems particularly true what Walsh says about
high-class shops interiors, that they "created stage sets in which consumers
could act out real or fantasy roles, in which they could perform to polite
society".57
Ibid., PROB 3/37/10: 'Will of Rowland Rugeley, shoemaker in the Parish of St. Luke,
Middlesex, 1738'.
J. Morin, Manuel du bonier et du cordonnier (Paris, 1831), p. 15.
561 owe this information to Miss June Swann.
C. Walsh, 'The newness of the department store', cit., p. 51.
187