71–80 of 193 posts
Striking that there were more shoemakers than tailors.
In tracing my family tree, I found a branch that went back to a small town in Scotland, and at least 3-4 generations back were shoemakers. When did my forefather leave the family trade? Circa 1850, when the Industrial Revolution apparently hit shoemaking hard. He ended up keeper of a coffee shop in Glasgow, and his daughter was on a ship to Australia in 1891.
Striking that there were more shoemakers than tailors.
4% of the workforce being shoemakers seems enormous. One person working full time making shoes for every fifty-ish adults? I don't know what the right comparison is today. According to [0], the fashion industry accounts for about 3% of world GDP. Perhaps shoes are a quarter of that? [0] https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/
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There's always an overlap of skills. Cobblers may have been tailoring on the side but wouldn't be counted as such. I've been to many dry cleaners that will do alterations or repairs on clothes but also will do some light shoe repair as well. They won't make you a shoe but can fix a broken heel just like I'm sure there are cobblers out there who are capable of clothing repairs.
Cobblers are very good for doing repairs of anything that requires heavier duty needles and threads.
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My Dad was born before WW2 in a village in Eastern Europe, which was probably closer to a medieval village than to a 21st century one. He told me that a blacksmith would ask for 3 plum trees to do a certain job, presumably in order to make charcoal. I don't think there was anything special about plum trees, other than the local availability: people were (and still are) growing plum trees in order to make spirits. Giv…
Of extraordinary interest is the fact that the blacksmith made his own charcoal and presumably other consumables and tools. From whence his anvil? Would you mind sharing some more details, such as where was the village? This is exactly the type of history story that I enjoy telling my children. If you'd prefer to share privately, my Gmail username is the same as my HN username. Thank you!
True. In medieval Europe charcoal burner was typically a very specialized profession.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal_burner#Medieval_charc...
"During the Middle Ages, charcoal burners were ostracised. Their profession was considered dishonourable and they were frequently accused of evil practices. Even today there is a certain denigration of this former occupation."
It surprises me that all 10 jobs still exist, while there are several more recent occupations that no longer exist (albeit they were not that common): Milkmen, Elevator operator, Switchboard Operator, Ice Cutter, Bowling Pin Setter, Film projectionist, Lamplighter, Leech collector, Alchemist, Bematist, Redsmith, Daguerreotypist, Town crier
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Blacksmith wasn't a major job until the 1800s when industrial revolution made the job possible. In the 1800s a blacksmith should made nothing: everything was made in a factory and the blacksmith just did the final fitting or repair work. Sure they could and did do some custom decorative stuff, but only the rich could afford that. Before then a city might have a couple in employee of the noble to make armor or swords,…
So who shoe-d the horses then, was it the farmers?
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I’m not a native speaker so this was entirely unintentional, but now that you point it out I see the pun. Thank you.
I've never met a non-native speaker who used the word "cobble", and successfully too. Props to you!
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Reception at my doctor's in Norway are all qualified nurses. My sister on the other hand goes to a surgery in the UK has a dedicated receptionist. My sister's experience of visiting the surgery is considerably worse than mine. At the dental practice that I use the hygienists take turns to run the reception desk. > Would anyone like to have the dentist use his time to answer the phone rather than fix teeth? I don't ca…
Wouldn't that raise prices, to use a nurse as a reception? In the US it would be something like: Receptionist: 30k / year Nurse: 80k / year. So you have: Doctor's office 1: 3x Nurse, 240k per year in salary Doctor's office 2: 2x Nurse, 1x Receptionist, 190k pear year. That 50k in extra cost has to come from somewhere. Lower paid doctors, higher costs, ???
It always struck me as weird that the guardhouse gate to enter was manned by a $12 hour off-brand security guard. I mentioned it to someone at one point, and I was told "Do you know how much it costs to train a Marine? It would be an outrageous waste of resources to staff that guardhouse with a Marine."
Go figure.
It surprises me that all 10 jobs still exist, while there are several more recent occupations that no longer exist (albeit they were not that common): Milkmen, Elevator operator, Switchboard Operator, Ice Cutter, Bowling Pin Setter, Film projectionist, Lamplighter, Leech collector, Alchemist, Bematist, Redsmith, Daguerreotypist, Town crier
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Definitely a blacksmith in almost every city, but probably fewer blacksmiths per city than the other jobs. Metal tools are built to last, and are expensive, so it was probably often a low volume high cost kind of business where production could be covered by a minimal number of smiths.
They must have been quite prolific then. There's a reason Smith is the most common surname in the English speaking world.