When is a Welly not a Welly? When it’s a gum boot!
If you thought the humble Wellington Boot was all about practicality (and kicking up piles of autumn leaves, of course), think again. Hunters were far from the first Wellies for dedicated followers of fashion; in fact, the Welly has been a high-fashion item since its inception.
We all know well the difficulty of pushing trousers inside your Wellies as you pull them on. Spare a thought for the soldiers of the 1880s, who, following Beau Brummell’s lead, were sporting a more tightly fitting linen (rather than woollen) trouser, and found that the tassels on their Hessian boots interfered with the hems of their breeches. Well what’s a chap to do?
Enter Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, who took matters into his own hand and asked his shoemaker to design something beautiful but a little more practical. George Hoby of St James’s Street, London, lost the tassel, cut the boot a little lower for ease of riding, and the Wellington was born. Arthur’s victory at the Battle of Vittoria in 1813 and then at Waterloo in 1815 did the Wellington’s public profile no harm at all. You can’t buy <that> sort of PR these days.
There was even a Russian imposter! The Blucher, which was a sort of ankle boot - a precursor to the Wellibob, we suppose, but it was not received well in Blighty.
The Wellington, however, had one major difference from what we know as a Welly today - it was made of leather, not rubber. The rubber or ‘gum’ boots we tramp around our veg patches in was not invented until 1856, four years after Wellington’s death, when the North British Rubber Company began to produce them and, rather cheekily, traded on the name Wellington. They found popularity during World War I, when they were produced en masse to help prevent trenchfoot among ordinary soldiers. When those who survived returned home, they took their practical Wellies with them, which made their way to sheds, allotments and boot rooms across the country.
In our October issue, our My Place feature is all about boot rooms, like the one above by @godsavethescene. You can admire all the other boot rooms from page 112.
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