Shoemakers from the past:William Horton, David Hollin and James Dyche

William Horton

" William Horton (1750-1832) was born in Stafford, the son of Walter Horton, a shoemaker. He started his book and shoemaking business in 1767, and is generally regarded as the founder of Stafford’s shoe trade. Before the Napoleonic Wars he had a thriving export trade to North America and the Baltic states, and sold his shoes via agents in London, Manchester and Liverpool.

He built a warehouse on Mill Street at the rear of his home at Chetwynd House. Here workers cut out the leather parts of the shoe. Outworkers would collect these shoe parts, assemble them in their own homes or workshops, and return the completed shoes to the warehouse to be paid and to collect more leather. At its peak, Horton’s business employed over a 1,000 people. By 1813 the shoe trade had slackened off as demand reduced after the Napoleonic Wars, and Horton’s business employed 300 to 400 people.

Horton’s contribution to the Stafford shoe trade’s success was such that his friend Richard Brinsley Sheridan (M.P. for Stafford 1780-1806) proposed a toast at an election dinner in the town: ‘may the manufactures of Stafford be trodden under foot by all the world’.

William Horton was a high profile figure in Stafford’s social and business world. He was Lieutenant Colonel in the local volunteer militia, became Mayor of Stafford in 1804, and issued token coinage under his name between 1798 and 1803." 

David Hollin with his wife and niece.
 Highfield Manor, Stafford, 1900.

"David Hollin became one of the most successful of Stafford’s shoe manufacturers, and like many others, his origins were humble. Born in Crewe in 1844, his first job was as a messenger for the Staffordshire Advertiser. He was then apprenticed to George Jones, boot manufacturer on Martin Street. On completing his apprenticeship, he worked at Bostock’s factory as a clicker.

In 1865 he set up a partnership, Hollins and Anderson, and by 1871, at the age of 27, he had a factory on Mill Street and employed 120 people. In 1873 David Hoillins and Zachariah Anderson bought land on Rowley Street and built a new, state-of-the-art factory, which is still a striking landmark in the north part of Stafford. Anderson died in 1886, but the company continued to thrive as a maker of high quality women’s boots and shoes as David Hollin & Co Ltd.

By 1898 Hollin had become extremely wealthy, and had moved to Highfield Manor on Newport Road, where he was able to live the life of a country gentleman, with servants, a carriage, and a fine garden with conservatories.

On his death in 1916 he left a legacy of £12,000 to build a Nurses’ Home at Stafford General Infirmary. This stood on Foregate Street until 1999.

His shoemaking company continued until 1931, a victim of the economic depression of the late 1920s."

 James Dyche and family at their home at 206 Stone Road, Stafford, 1918.
 James Dyche is standing 3rd from left at the back. (Mr. M. Ellis)

"James Dyche Ltd., later Cook & Dyche, were one of only five boot and shoe manufacturers to survive into the 1950s. They were typical of the smaller companies in the town, employing 58 people in 1939.

James Dyche was born in 1852. Like many of the leading businessmen in Stafford’s shoe industry, he had relativley humble origins, but became a wealthy and prominent citizen of the town, and was living at Silkmore Hall at the time of his death in 1939, aged 87. He was also a director of Stafford Railway Building Society and an active member of Gaol Square Methodist Church.

The company operated from the ‘Queen of Sheba Works’ on Marsh Street. Cook & Dyche ceased trading in 1952, but the factory buildings were not demolished until 1989."

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For more information about shoe making in Stafford and Stone visit staffscc.net.  All imagines are from  Staffordshire County Museum at Shugborough via staffscc.net. The site is full with very interesting information about shoemaking traditions, people and companies from the past.