Ladies shoes, 1810
In a previous post, I discussed how ladies slippers and boots were so delicately made that they could not withstand much wear and tear. In fact, a lady would not venture to walk outside the house in rainy weather and would be confined inside, whether she was in the city or country. Jane Austen described a rainy day in Mansfield Park:
… to poor Miss Crawford, who had just been contemplating the dismal rain in a very desponding state of mind, sighing over the ruin of all her plan of exercise for that morning, and of every chance of seeing a single creature beyond themselves for the next twenty-four hours; the sound of a little bustle at the front door, and the sight of Miss Price dripping with wet in the vestibule, was delightful. The value of an event on a wet day in the country, was most forcibly brought before her.”
1801, Two ladies in morning dresses, Nicholas Heideloff, Gallery of Fashion
In the country a lady would not soil her delicate kid slippers on grass or muddy lanes, but would walk along gravel paths in the shrubbery, as shown in the Heideloff image above. Elizabeth Bennet, who walked the three miles to Netherfield Park, muddying her petticoats in the process, would have worn sturdier shoes, such as those worn by the women in the watercolor below.
Studies of female figures with children, James Ward
Female fashionable attire in the eighteenth century was very ill fitted for country life, which is so largely spent out of doors. Indeed, it was not fitted for out door wear at all. No fashionable woman was properly shod in the first place, for the coloured shoes, which, as has been stated, all ladies wore, were not adapted for vigorous exercise, or damp weather, with their high heels and very open tops. Those were the kind of shoes worn for walking in London. Country life in shoes of that sort would mean endless expense. The wonder is that town bred women did not insist upon the shoemakers providing something more fitted for the dirty, uneven pathways. But, then, walking was not a daily exercise as it is now. Foot gear has undergone much reformation in the present century, in spite of the persistence of high heels…”
Knife Sharpener, W.H. Pyne. This traveling craftsman would have worn sturdy old boots like William Conway.
“… A notable itinerant trader of the middle of the eighteenth century, known to all Londoners, was William Conway of Bethnal Green, who made a living by selling and exchanging metal spoons. As he walked twenty five miles a day, Sundays excepted, his shoes were the most important articles of his attire, and these he made out of the uppers of old boots. A pair of shoes lasted him six weeks. He was an odd figure, with his long spindle legs encased in tight knee breeches, short coat, high hat, and bag slung over his shoulder.” – A history of English dress from the Saxon period to the present day, Volume 1, By Georgiana Hill , 1893, p 181
"Cash", Rowlandson, 1800. Note the dark leather slippers worn by the maid, and the sturdy buckled shoes by her elderly swain.
- Putting Your Best Foot Forward, Slightly Obsessed
- My archived posts about Regency shoes
- Crafting Shoes for an !8th Century Lady, Two Nerdy History Girls
- Shoes in 18th Century Europe
- 18th Century Shoe Collection:Deviant Art
Jane Austen's World 
I would sure love to see some pictures of recreated shoes from the 18th and 19th century. I’ve got a book on order of 19th century fashions and I wonder if it’ll have them in it? This didn’t mention half boots. How were they different? Does Jane Austen mention half boots or am I transferring that from other books set in that time period? Wouldn’t Elizabeth Bennet have worn them? I guess if you were able to afford new shoes you could get out and walk a bit more than a poorer woman. Did pattens not work well enough or were they just too much bother? I know they made a lot of noise.
Just some questions your blog inspired in me. I’m rereading Sense and Sensibility, the Annotated edition, and will be watching for footgear in it now!
Hi Karen, Thanks for stopping by. This post discusses half boots, which actually were flimsy too: https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/regency-fashion-ladies-half-boots/
Pattens worked well enough, but were quite clumsy. They went out of style around the early part of the 19th century, when shoes were still delicate.
Let’s face it, a fine lady was not supposed to trot around London on her feet, and her thin slippers prevented her from doing much walking.
Elizabeth Bennet might have worn pattens to protect her shoes when walking to church, but they would have prevented her from walking for exercise.
This link will lead you to a post about pattens: https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/metal-pattens-awkward-protection-for-18th-and-19th-century-shoes/
Here is another fascinating collection of shoe history.
http://eng.shoe-icons.com/collection/shoes.htm?age=806&cat=shoes&perpage=50
Many styles, eras and cultures represented here, as well as the half boots you were looking for.
And I meant to mention, aren’t the colors such a revelation? The tintypes and sepia tone photos just didn’t give a clue to the lively color palettes. You can certainly see these shoes in 1890’s rooms hung with C.F.A. Voysey wall papers or perhaps William Morris!
to dry our wet shoes, my mother would stuff them with wadded newspaper. it was to help them keep their shape. i’m sure it had been passed down from her parents.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? My grandmother made lace doilies, a craft passed down by her mother and grandmother. The skill died with her, but I still have some of the samples that remind me of the Victorian doilies I see in museums.
I suppose delicate footwear for ladies was a subtle form of control by men.
I think you might be right, Grace. Fine young ladies were restricted in all aspects of their life; why not walking?
Even my modern day good shoe can’t escape the rain and mud. I admire Miss Bennet’s walk very much!
Chemical Fusion
I do too, Enid!
Since the majority of women were working women, I doubt that they minced around in kid slippers any more than we all walk around all day in four inch heels, although anyone researching “fashion of 2011” would probably come across some pretty bizarre looking footwear that has nothing to do with what the majority of us wear. Wooden shoes, leather boots or bare feet I bet for most of the women. From: http://www.chaddsfordhistory.org/history/clothing.htm
The shoes were black leather with a wooden sole. It had a low-heel and closed in the front with a buckle.
Also see illustrations at:
http://www.scarreenactors.com/Homespun/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=2
Thanks for this interesting post! Yet, in Sense and Sensibility movies, we see the girls walking all over the cliffs and hills…how could they do that in flimsy shoes? Or was that just an addition to the films?
Else, I think the Dashwood women would have worn sturdier country shoes for those long walks once they moved into Barton Cottage, just like Elizabeth Bennet must have when she walked to Netherfield Park. When the Dashwood women were rich, they were most likely confined to walking along the gravel paths at Norland, or rode their horses or in carriages.
Does anyone else have thoughts along this topic?
“Cash”, Rowlandson, 1800. The old gent is not her ’swain [lover] but her ‘mark’:
‘ . . 25. cant and colloq. a. Among criminals: a person, property, etc., targeted for robbery or burglary . .
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 53 None is so much the thieves mark as the myser and the Carle . .
b. A person who is easily persuaded, deceived, or taken advantage of; a victim targeted by a swindler, cheat, etc. Freq. with modifying word, as soft, easy, etc.
1749 in E. Partridge Dict. Underworld (1949) 432/1 You are a full Mark; you can’t well be missed.
1860 F. Greenwood & J. Greenwood Under Cloud II. xiv. 332 ‘There’s a mark!’ exclaimed one to the other, looking towards the spot where Hatcher was standing . . ‘
Her accomplice is lurking behind the mark, cudgel in hand . .
The Austen excerpt is reminder of just how unimaginably profoundly boring life was for the female members of the leisure class in the countryside. Something anyone with a romantic yearning for the Olden Days should constantly remind themselves of.
Thanks, Chris. These images have more meaning than seems obvious at first. And thus, this pretty maid is steering the leering codger to a private spot, where her accomplice is waiting. I should have seen that.
As for the boredom those ladies experienced back in the day, oh yes. I would think the intelligent ones would have found the routine stultifying. I loved how Amanda Vickery described that boredom for some women in At Home With the Georgians, and how other women coped quite well within the limitations of the time.
This was a fascinating post! I’d love to find some Regency slippers for costumes sometime.