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

information provided by the 'Register of Apprentice Bindings'. It is in fact
possible to investigate intergenerational links within the trade through the
occupation of the apprentices' fathers (table 2.3).
Table 2.3 - Selected occupations of London Cordwainers' apprentices' fathers
1710-11 1738-41 1759-64 1778-83 1797-1802
Baker 2 3 3 6 2
Blacksmith 4 1 0 0 2
Butcher 1 2 2 1 0
Carpenter 2 3 6 4 4
Cordwainer 15 22 9 17 18
Craftsman 6 1 0 1 0
Gentleman 0 2 6 7 6
Husbandman 7 1 7 2 3
Labourer 4 3 2 1 3
Merchant 1 1 0 0 3
Taylor 4 4 5 0 0
Victualler 0 7 0 1 6
Watchmaker 0 1 1 6 0
Weaver 3 4 1 2 1
Yeoman 6 6 7 4 0
Other Occupations 32 42 38 52 57
Sample 85 103 87 104 105
Source: GL, MS 24,139: Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, 'Membership Records -
Register of Apprentice Bindings, 1709-1965'.
The father's occupation can be used as a measure of social origin and the level
of occupational mobility in shoemaking. One noticeable result is the relative
absence of fathers with high-status or high-income occupations. Bakers,
blacksmiths, coopers, tailors or weavers were not only among the commonest
trades in eighteenth-century London, but were often the humblest. This clearly
supports a vision of apprenticeship as "a paternal desire to widen the social and
educational horizons of their offspring". 56 Perhaps, most striking, is that
although there were few apprentices from families involved in other parts of the
56 G. Mayhew, 'Life-cycle service and the family unit in early modern Rye', Continuity and
Change, VI —2 (1991), p. 202.
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