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

membership of the company and the exercise of the trade. On the other hand, it
was the only possible action the Cordwainers' company could carry out in order
to include an increasing number of producers who did not have the requirements
for membership. At the same time the 'Right to the Trade' gave to the Company
the opportunity to test the skills considered necessary for a shoemaker. In order
to acquire a certificate of 'Right to the Trade', a shoemaker had to produce a
'proofe worke' consisting of a pair of boots and shoes. The shoemaker had to
deposit ten shillings with the Company until his proof work had been made,
examined and returned. 80 The 'proofe worke' was not new in the history of the
Cordwainers' company. An Act of 1673 reported, for instance, that an
apprentice was to be admitted to the Freedom of the company without working
his proof. 8' Probably this practice had declined simply for the low number of
shoemakers who had not been apprenticed. As we saw, by the 1770s the
situation was different and the 'proofe worke' assumed a new nature in securing
minimal skills and competence for all those who were willing to be within the
company jurisdiction, but did not have proper rights.82
The French system was much more regulated: no more than four new
masters could be received within the Company each year. 83 They had to produce
a proof work in the presence of at least six jurés, although the sons of a master
were excused from this imposition "comme us ont accostumé de toute
l'antiquité". 84 We know very little about the proof system in Paris. For Le
Havre, where documents survive, we find that the proof work was much morea
vital requirement than in Britain for entering the trade. A perspective master
cordwainer had to produce a pair of riding boots, a pair of women's shoes and a
80 The introduction of the so called 'proofe worke' was very late. In Venice, for instance, the
prova was introduced in 1553 for all the new members expect masters' sons. A. Vianello, L'arte
dei calegheri e zavateri, cit., pp. 5-6. In London the 'proofe worke' was quite similar to the
sample journeymen carried with them when going 'occasioning', that is to say looking for a job
in a shop.
81 GL, MS 2,227, Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, 'Membership Records - List of
Masters of the Company, 1800-1904', introductory notes.
82 Some historians consider the 'proofe worke' as a social, rather than economic practice, by
which newcomers are initiated as member of a community. C. Brooks, "Apprenticeship, social
mobility and the middling sort, 1550-1800", in J. Barry and C. Brooks, The middling sort of
people, cit., p. 75.
83 A. Carlier, Histoire des cordonniers, cit., p. 3.
Cit. in A. Franklin, Dictionnaire historique des arts, métiers et professions (Paris, 1906), p.
203.
78