The Boot and Shoe School, in Rectory Road, Rushden, was opened in October 1928, by Lord Eustace Percy, M.P., President of the Board of Education. The cost was £4,850, of which £1,250 was donated by the Rushden and District Boot Manufacturer’s Association as well as many other gifts and loans from the industry. The supervising instructor was Mr W. Goode at £60 per annum and his teaching salary. There were 200 students.
Left to right: E. Denton, C. W. Clarke, F. Sharwood, Sir Capell Brooke,
Lord Eustace Percy, Owen Parker at the opening of the Boot and Shoe School
The school was equipped with all the machinery of a modern factory, and the boys came from Rushden, Wellingborough, Raunds and Irthlingborough at the age of 13. They were also taught English grammar and maths until they reached school leaving age when they went to one of the local factories.
The factory of William Green & Son (Grenson) Ltd., Cromwell Road, Rushden
Wallet and shoe horn with the Grenson logo
Having learned a lot about making a shoe by hand, the boys went into the clicking room where they learnt pattern cutting and how to cut the skins economically.
Shoe patterns
Shoe patterns
They worked on the machines in the Making and Finishing rooms, and after practising on odd scraps of leather they moved on to making slippers and walking shoes which were then sold.
Girls were released from local factories two afternoons a week to learn more about the machining, rather than just the one job they did at work.
Trade Unionism was also added to the curriculum.
Girls learning how to use the different machines
By 1967 the number of students was falling and the school was in danger of closing, although it was considered that it would be a disaster to the industry if it closed. However, it remained open and the Prospectus for 1972-3 pointed out that with the help of a grant from the Northamptonshire Footwear Manufacturer’s Association the machinery had been renewed and now included equipment for design and pattern cutting, pattern making, clicking, closing, bottom stock cutting and preparation, lasting, attaching, finishing and shoe room work as well as a science laboratory, lecture rooms and provision for both day and evening classes. A complete range of machinery and equipment by the British United Shoe Machinery Co., The Singer Sewing Machine Co., and other companies was available for the students’ instruction.
Among the courses offered at the College were:-
Pre – Senior Full Time Course. This was a one year full time course for boys and girls leaving school and providing preliminary training for boot and shoe manufacture with continued general education.
Secondary Transfer Course. This course was aimed at boys and girls making their last year of attendance at Secondary type schools. Students transferred to the Boot and Shoe Technical College one day a week for instruction in shoemaking.
Day Release Courses. Two were available.
In a 1973 careers leaflet promoting the shoe trade, 18 Rushden factories were offering training, including Wilkins and Denton who made the Totectors boots.
Wilkins & Denton factory in Duck Street, Rushden
Inside the factory
A Totectors boot with box
The College building in 2007 – no longer the Boot and Shoe School
I was at the school in 1970?. I got a city and guild. Is there anywhere of getting a copy of it please.
Thank you,
Kind regards
V P Wills
I think we have a copy of the the certificate in the museum, obviously not with your name on it. I will check next time I go to the museum and get back to you. That might not be until Thursday.
Kind regards,
Gill
From my earliest days in Rushden (1955) the Boot and Shoe School was a place I would walk past several times a week. Boot making was ‘in the family’, from my Great Great Grandfather Henry Mead (of Easton Maudit) whose set of archaic boot making tools have been passed down to me across the generations. In the 1960’s my mother worked at ‘Chapmans Box factory’ on Cromwell Road, stapling the cardboard boxes used to package locally made footwear for Grensons located ‘next door’, for John Whites and the other local shoe factories. Occasionally stapling her fingers in that rush to produce while working with other local ladies on a ‘piece rate’ basis. I did a stint in the local shoe industry working at TecNic shoes on Bedford Road, another quality footwear manufacturer in Rushden and a ‘name’ now lost to history.
It’s interesting to read about your connections to the Boot and Shoe Industry. We have recently received a sample case from the Tecnic Boot Company containing shoes in various stages of manufacture. Sadly, the boot and shoe industry has almost disappeared from the town. Gill