by Mark Palmer
The heritage collections also include a large photographic archive, which documents the history of the Street factory site as well as other Clarks sites across the southwest of England and the development of Street itself. Also available is a rich selection of photographs relating to the Clark family, together with a sizeable collection of nineteenth-century Quaker costume from former family members, as well as family artworks, artefacts and furniture.
Paper-based archive collections include the papers of John Bright MP (1811–89, father-in-law of William Stephens Clark), as well as members of the Clark family and related branches, including the Pease, Hinde and Gillett families. Those branches who lived at Millfield and Whitenights in Street are especially well represented. One unusual part of the family’s papers is The Village Album, compiled by the Clark family literary society. This family group was begun by James and Eleanor Clark in 1856–7, and met several times a year to read wide-ranging ‘Album Pieces’, covering poetry, stories, history, comedy, description, travel writing, philology, satire and natural, family and local history. The tradition still continues in Street to this day and the set of albums now contains nearly 100 volumes.
The Trust also looks after an extensive reference library, which covers the history of Quakerism, Street and environs, fashion and shoemaking.
The heritage collections are open to members of the public by prior appointment. Please contact the Trust for further details:
Alfred Gillett Trust
The Grange
Farm Road
Street
Somerset BA16 0BQ
[email protected]
The Shoe Museum is open during usual office hours, and is situated next to the High Street entrance of C. & J. Clark Ltd:
Shoe Museum
C. & J. Clark Ltd
40 High Street
Street
Somerset BA16 0BE
(01458) 842243
Bibliography
Autumn in England, Street, C. & J. Clark Ltd, 2011.
Blakeway, Denys, The Last Dance: 1936, The Year of Change, London, John Murray, 2010.
Bossan, Marie-Josephe, The Art of the Shoe, Rochester, Grange Books, 2007.
Braithwaite, William C., The Beginnings of Quakerism, London, Macmillan, 1912: reissued, Cambridge University Press, 1961.
Braithwaite, William C., The Second Period of Quakerism, London, Macmillan, 1919: reissued, Sessions of York, 1979.
Brooke, Iris, Footwear: A Short History of European and American Shoes, London, Pitman, 1972.
Cadbury, Deborah, Chocolate Wars, London, Harper Collins, 2010.
Carlock, Randel S., and John L. Ward, When Family Businesses are Best, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Corley, T. A. B., Quaker Enterprise in Biscuits: Huntley & Palmers, Reading 1822–1972, London, Hutchinson, 1972.
Clark, Roger, Somerset Anthology, York, William Sessions, 1975.
The Clarks Desert Boot: Fifty Years of Style, Street, C. & J. Clark Ltd, 2000.
Clarks of Street, 1825–1950, Street, C. & J. Clark Ltd, 1950.
Clutterbuck, David, and Marion Devine, Clore: The Man and his Millions, London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987.
Crookenden, Spencer, K Shoes – The First 150 Years, 1842–1992, Carnforth, Mayoh Press, 1992.
Czerwinski, Michael, Fifty Shoes That Changed the World, London, Conran Octopus, 2009.
Ferguson, Niall, Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, London, Penguin, 2003.
Gordon, Charles, The Two Tycoons: A Personal Memoir of Charles Clore and Jack Cotton, London, Hamish Hamilton, 1984.
Hannibal, Alfred, Last Fitting and Pattern-cutting, 1885.
Hudson, Kenneth, Towards Precision Shoemaking, Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1968.
Jenkins, Simon, A Short History of England, London, Profile Books, 2011.
Kynaston, David, Austerity Britain 1945–51, London, Bloomsbury, 2007.
Lehane, Brendan, C. & J. Clark, 1825–1975, Street, C. & J. Clark Ltd, 1975.
Lovell, Percy, Quaker Inheritance, London, The Bannisdale Press, 1970.
McGarvie, Michael, Guide to Historic Street, Street, C. & J. Clark Ltd, 1986.
McGarvie, Michael, Bowlingreen Mill, Street, Avalon Leatherboard Co. Ltd., 1979.
McGarvie, Michael, Street in Old Picture Postcards, Someren-Eind, Holland, European Library, 1995.
Morrison, Kathryn A., and Ann Bond, Built to Last? The Buildings of the Northamptonshire Boot and Shoes Industry, London, English Heritage, 2004.
Pedersen, Stephanie, Shoes: What Every Woman Should Know, Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 2005.
Quaker Faith and Practice: The Book of Christian Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, London, The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1995.
Steele, Valerie, Shoes: A Lexicon of Style, New York, Rizzoli, 1999.
Sutton, Barry, C. & J. Clark, 1833–1903: A History of Shoemaking in Street, Somerset, Sessions of York, 1979.
Swann, June, Shoemaking, Aylesbury, Shire Publications, 1986.
Thomson, Ruth, and Chris Fairclough, Making Shoes, London, Franklin Watts, 1986.
Walford, Jonathan, The Seductive Shoe: Four Centuries of Fashion Footwear, London, Thames & Hudson, 2007.
Walvin, James, The Quakers: Money and Morals, London, John Murray, 1997.
Wilson, A. N., The Victorians, London, Arrow Books, 2003.
Wilson, A. N., Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II, London, Hutchinson, 2008.
Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, The, The Boots and Shoes of Our Ancestors, London, 1898.
Index
Figures in italics indicate captions; col. pl. indicates colour plates.
A. & F. Shoes Ltd 213, 233
A. Lovell & Co. 96–7
Abba 246
Abbotts 142, 177
Abbotts Phitt-Easy Ltd 142
Aberdeen, Lord 52
Aberdeen Trust plc 314
Abingdon School 335
Académie Moderne, Paris 151
Adelaide 56, 104, 189, 203, 230
Adidas 247
Admiralty 155
advertising
Glastonbury Tor trademark 3
col. pls. 2, 4
Clarks’ initial attitude to 5
holders of the Clarks advertising account 5
newspaper 57–8, 164, 181, 219, 253–4
col. pls. 12, 16
Clarks’ first advertising campaign 115
Clarks’ first national advertising campaign 151
trade catalogues 151
Cecil Notley 152, 198, 252
celebrities 5, 152–4, 181–2, 181, 182
col. pls. 6–7, 13, 14
posters 111, 344–5
col. pls. 10, 16
in-shop 179
Clarks advertises on Soviet State television 201
Wallabees billboard 204, 205
cinema commercials 216
television commercials with a James Bond theme 216–17
aerial promotions 250, 251–2
Hobson & Grey 252
Collett Dickenson Pearce 252–4
promotion of the Desert Boot 289–90
Parker committed to increased advertising 342
Portas’s magazine ad campaigns 356
continued investment in 357
importance of 358
see also ‘showcards’
aeroplane parts 155
Africa 187, 203, 353
AIDS 3, 353
Air-Comfort shoes 278, 279
A. J. Bull 276
Al-Fayed, Mohamed 333
Albert, Prince Consort 41–2
alcohol 3, 9, 18, 35–7, 50, 91, 171, 193, 239
Alexander, Mr (schoolmaster) 124
Allen and Hanbury 24
Alma Shoes Ltd 188, 229
Amalgamated Cordwainers Association 84
Ambur, India 334
American Civil War (1861–5) 48, 69
Amies
, Sir Hardy 218, 219, 225
Anatomical range 99; col. pl. 2
Andy Imprint Rangnoddye 246
Anglican Church 10
see also Church of England
Anne, HRH The Princess Royal 233
Anti-Corn Law League 78
anti-slavery movement 33
Any Questions (television programme) 217
apprenticeships
James Clark apprenticed to brother Cyrus 1, 2, 14–16, 19
and their masters’ drinking 36–7
apprentices from Muller’s Orphanage, Bristol 83
Hugh Clark 114
Ara 297
Aram, John 251, 331, 331
Arena magazine 290
army shoes, nailing of 47
Arons, Bob 187–8
Art Deco 137
Arundel Advertising Company 115
Arup 348
Ashcroft, Richard 342
Asia 350
Askam factory, Cumbria 307, 339
Atlas Shoes of Nicosia 243–4
Attenborough, Richard 241
Austen, Jane: Emma 153
col. pl. 7
Australasia 187
Australia
Cyrus considers emigrating to 39
dip in Clarks’ trade to 56, 97
credit issue 56
outlet for surplus stock 56
imposes tariffs on foreign goods 97
tension between agents 97
limited range of footwear offered to Australians 97
first adult Clarks shoe made in (Desert Boot) 186
formation of Clarks Australia Ltd 188
Nathan’s ‘shilly shallying’ in 190
Clarks’ acquisitions in 203
Raymond Footwear Components bought 231
Cotton in 282, 285
Clarks retailing failing 284
Clarks’ factories in 327, 339
Australian Shoe Corporation 230
Austria 98, 118, 123, 291
export of cheap shoes to Britain 94–5
Automobile Association 345
Auxiliary Territorial Service 155
Avalon Chemicals 209, 227
Avalon Components 307
Avalon Engineering 234
Avalon group 209, 293
Avalon Industries Ltd 209, 210, 226, 239, 270, 287, 295
Avalon Leather Board Company 90–91, 147, 148–50, 161, 170, 209
Avalon Shoe Supplies Ltd 209
Avengers, The (television series) 217
Avis RentaCar 349
Babycham 320
Bagehot, Walter 62–3
Baird’s (bootmaker) 230
balance of payments crisis (1966) 225
Bally 262, 333
Bally factory, Schoenenwerd, Switzerland 144–5
Balogh, Lord 242–3
Bancroft, Emma 105, 127
Bancroft, Samuel 105
Bancroft, William 105, 106
Bancroft family 104, 105
Banque Hunziker 311
Bantham, South Devon 170
Barbarys 236
Barber, Laurence: Clarks of Street, 1825–1950 28, 36–7, 71, 113, 135–6, 138, 173
Barcelona, Spain 175
Barclays Bank 4, 320
Baring Brothers 315, 325
Barnstaple, Devon 171, 298, 299, 307, 343
Barratts 212, 213, 275
Bata 219, 226, 262
Bates Worldwide 307
Bath 2, 171, 209, 212
Baxter, Stanley 216
Bay City Rollers 246
Bayne and Duckett 230, 274
BBC 216, 217, 236, 278
Overseas Monitoring Service 201
Radio 4 125, 332
Bear Coffee House (now Bear Inn), Street, Somerset 3, 91, 93, 177, 237
Beard, Freda col. pl. 3
Beaumont Leys, Leicester 277
Beckham, David col. pl. 13
Belfast 31, 95, 243
Belgians, King of the (Léopold I) 41
Belgium 98, 118, 187
Belle Epoque era (1890–1914) 102
Bellers, John 89
Benetton 328
Benn, Tony 243
Bennetts, Ben Messer 331
Bent, Annie 124
Benton & Bowles 252
Berisford International plc 314–20, 322–4, 343, 354, 359
Bermuda 232
Berners Street, London 242
Berry, Stanley F. 216
bespoke shoes 18, 29, 44, 57, 59
Biba 246
Bid Committee 314
Big Sky 280, 284
binders 30
see also closers
binding 30
Birch, Philip 266
Birmingham 37, 89
Blachford Shoe Manufacturing Company Ltd 202–3
Black & Decker 328
Blackman, Honor 217
Blahnik, Manolo 102
Blair, Tony 5, 187
Blake, Lyman 69
Blake Sole Sewer 69–70
Blitz magazine 290
Blue Lias limestone 8
Blue Ribbon Sports 247
Bo Ningen 357
Board of Health 50, 51
Board of Trade 59, 155, 158, 159, 177, 214
Boardman, Nigel 313
Boase Massimi Pollitt 289–90
Bolan, Marc 246
Bolliger, Peter 333, 338, 339, 346, 347, 349, 350, 351
Bombay Light col. pl. 15
Boot & Shoe Manufacturers’ Federation 137–8
Boot and Shoe Association 221
Boot and Shoe Industry Working Party Report 176
Bootham School, York 46, 47, 94, 103, 114, 166
boots
hand-welted 18
Gentlemen’s Pump Boots 41
rubberised 45
riveted 47, 49
goloshed 56
range of sizes and fittings in ladies’ boots 59
army 155, 176
flying 155
Wellington 166, 356
see also under individual boot names
Bostock, Edwin 85
Bostock, Harry 113
Bostock, John Walter
introduced by his cousin to Clarks 113
joins Clarks 111, 113–14
American links 112, 134, 135
a moderniser 112–13, 134
issue of non-family members securing promotions 116, 135
on slip in standards 134–5
emphasis on quality 136
depicting the word Clarks in handwritten style 150
wooden-soled footwear 158–9
retirement 167
and footgauge 176
and foot measurement during the war 177
Bostock, Thomas 112
Bostock, William 112
Bostock family 111–12
Boston, Massachusetts 112, 165
Boston Consulting Group 232–3, 274, 275, 295
Bostonian Shoe Company 245, 327, 339, 346
Bournville, Birmingham 89
Bowerman, Bill 247
Bowie, David 246
Bowkett, Alan 315, 318, 319, 325
‘Bowler’ 247
Bowlingreen Mill, Somerset 78, 150
Boyce, David 208
Boyce, Samuel 49
Boyd Henderson, William 124–5
Strode School 125
‘Boy’s Derby Balmoral’ boot 95
Bracher, Alan 318, 320–21, 325
Bracher Rawlins 318
Bradshaw, George 24
Bradshaw’s Railway Times 24
Braithwaite, Charles: The Second Period of Quakerism 23, 89
Bramwell, Grant 312
Brasher, Chris 270
Brazil 232, 297, 354
Breakfast (television programme) 236
Bridgwater, Somerset 11, 14, 39, 65, 109, 171
closing room in St John Street 167, 226
launch of full-scale factory 167
factory enlarged 167–8
Redgate factory opened 169
extra units built 170
factory closed 339
Briggs, Barry, MBE 251
Bright, Elizabeth (née Priestman) 78
Bright, Jacob 79
Bright, John, MP 78–9, 90, 107
Brisbane 56
Bristol 9, 13, 31, 86, 108, 141, 142, 160, 161, 217
Bristol Aeroplane Company 155
Bristol Evening World 181, 208
Bristol Friends 13
Bristol University 313, 326
Britain Clarks’ sales in 4
col. pl. 16
Clarks’ dominance of children’s market 4–5
influx of cheap shoes from abroad 94–5, 232, 243, 274
north/south divide 133
shoe export statistics 133–4
exports to traditional markets 232
‘sick man of Europe’ 243
joins European Economic Community 244
footwear trade in doldrums 306
current UK turnover (year ending 31 January 2012) 352
Britannia 151
British and Foreign Bible Society 120
British Association for the Promotion of Temperance 36
British Council of Shopping Centres 328
British Footwear Manufacturers Federation 206, 235, 239, 296
British Home Stores 222, 293
British India Corporation 188
British Industries Fair (Olympia, London, 1949) 182
British Institute of Management 288
British Open Golf Championship 278
British School, Street (later Board School) 53, 92
British Shoe Corporation 239, 296
Clore forms 198
growing power and influence 211, 219
looks to source cheaper shoes from overseas 211
and the unbranded shoe market 211–12
and Wansdyke 212, 213
and Clothier 213–14
criticism of 219–20
brands of 276
largest share of British footwear industry 306
collapse of 342
British Sugar 315
British Trade Journal 91
Britoil 288
Broadbent, Norman 326
Bromley, Kent 259
Bromley Registry Office, Kent 222
Brown & Green Ltd 215
Brown Petersburgs (‘Brown Peters’) 17–18
col. pl. 1
Brown Shoe Company 250
Bruggink, Marijke col. pl. 14
Brunei, Sultan of 302
Brunel, Marc Isambard 47