Nothing quite like them for following in mud
From battlefields to fens, gumboots have proved themselves to be a quintessentially British and remarkably useful item of country kit
Daniel Pembrey on gumboots
Gumboots are a peculiarly British phenomenon and a mark of the true country person. Indeed, no country home is complete without a mound of boots stacked up at the back door or in the boot room, ready to be pulled on and covered in mud. Many are the walks after lunch on a Sunday when gumboots of all shapes and sizes are produced for a quick yomp across fields before guests depart. But where did the footwear originate from and why have we taken it so much to heart?
This essential piece of kit dates back to the 19th century, when the North British Rubber Company began manufacturing rubber or The North British Rubber Company evolved into Hunter Boots, which made the boots above right “gum” boots at scale. American businessman Henry Lee Norris was keen to exploit the rubber vulcanisation process discovered by fellow countryman Charles Goodyear (of tyre fame). This process – named after Vulcan, god of fire – adds sulphur and bakes the mixture into a durable material suited to mass manufacturing (in its natural state, rubber gum is sticky and unstable, tending to melt at warmer temperatures).
vulcans in scotland
Norris saw vast potential for waterproof rubber footwear after he noticed un-vulcanised gum galoshes arrive in the US from South America. He persuaded Goodyear to license the vulcanisation invention in an overseas territory – and where better than a rainswept island just off the coast of Europe, the empire of which appeared to be doing rather well? It didn’t hurt that Norris was himself of Scottish descent but in siting his new rubber production company in Edinburgh he was also stealing a march on Thomas Hancock, another rubber gum innovator just south of the Border.
Hancock obtained a patent for the vulcanisation process in England slightly before Goodyear did in the US. Evidently he neglected to extend his patent to all parts of the UK in time, although he compensated for this by teaming up with Charles Macintosh (the same Macintosh who gave his name to raincoats). Meanwhile, another American, Hiram Hutchinson, licensed Goodyear’s vulcanisation patent in France and went on to create the gumboot brand Aigle – with reference to the American eagle.
These were heady days in the nascent international gum-rubber business. The gum came from deep in the Amazon, which was less than ideal for British producers, firstly because of the time required for its extraction and secondly because this occurred
outside the Empire. Financed by the (British) government of India, explorer Henry Wickham bought 70,000 seeds in Brazil, for which he was reimbursed at the rate of £10 per thousand. Loading these seeds on board the SS Amazonas, he exported them to Kew Gardens, where 2,800 germinated. Most of the seedlings went to Ceylon, with some going to Java and 22 ending up in Singapore.
Back in Scotland, the North British Rubber Company developed a boot that bore a striking resemblance to the one designed by the Duke of Wellington, who had only recently died, in 1852. Wellington had designed his boots to be shorter, lighter and more comfortable than conventional riding boots – in other words, made for walking. They still fascinate today. Josephine Oxley, keeper of the Wellington Collection for English Heritage, recalls vividly the Battle of Waterloo Exhibition opening at Wellington Arch in Hyde Park Corner two years ago: “Items included the sword that Wellington carried into one of the most famous battles in history and orders handwritten on scraps of vellum. But it was his original pair of boots that captured visitors’ imagination the most.”
Wellington boots are still made, but not in a way that could be confused with gumboots. John Lobb hand makes them using lighter stiffeners (relative to riding boots), which station the foot less firmly in a stirrup but allow more give at the heel. Clients can expect eight months’ delivery time from the first measuring; they cost nearly £9,000, including trees and VAT. Who orders them? “It is a military boot, typically worn for comfort in the mess or on the parade ground by senior officers who still want to look smart,” explains John Hunter Lobb, eldest of the Lobbs today. “We use a soft, Moroccan leather for the leg part, which polishes up nicely, and we can also attach a spur to a special heel.”
wellies at war
Despite the differences with Wellington boots, the military link was a theme shared by gumboots. Debate exists today as to how much of a role they played in the First World War. Trench foot was a very real concern, as feet exposed to prolonged damp could turn gangrenous, but the British Army was alert to the risk and paired soldiers so that each was responsible for the other changing socks on a daily basis. Records show the British Army commissioned 1.2 million pairs of gumboots from the North British Rubber Company’s Castle Silk Mill site in Edinburgh. This corresponds to only a minority of those under arms and photos still in existence typically show soldiers and officers wearing traditional boots with puttees. However, those million-plus gumboots must have made a potentially life-changing difference to some troops in the trenches and after the war ended, many would have found their way onto farms and estates across the UK.
The North British Rubber Company evolved into Hunter Boots. It is still based in Edinburgh and has forged royal links. Hunter
‘Good, waterproof boots are a daily requirement’ shooting over fenland
was awarded a Royal Warrant by Appointment to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and later to HM The Queen. Photos of the royals at Balmoral regularly show them sporting the distinctive logo. While HRH The Prince of Wales is rumoured to keep a pair of black Dunlops to hand, he is also seen in Hunters – for example, when visiting the flooded Somerset Levels in 2014.
trusted methods
The process of making gumboots has not altered fundamentally since the 1850s. David Niblock has worked in the rubber products industry for more than 40 years (including at Hunter Boots) and now works as an independent technical consultant. “Cost and other factors have tended to take production offshore but the three-step method of making them remains the same,” he explains. “First, you mix the rubber gum with additives, then shape the mixture into a boot and finally bake it.”
Specialist companies have now stepped into the breach between inexpensive gumboots and fully bespoke Wellingtons. Alistair Paterson was solving a practical problem when he started Gumleaf Boots in 2004. His home, Hall Farm in Dilham, Norfolk, is one thousand acres that includes a wetland farm with broadland marshes for grazing cattle and sheep, plus shooting over fenland. “Good, waterproof boots are a daily requirement,” he concluded.
Gumleaf Boots are designed to be slightly taller than most other gumboots – “essential if you are attending the shoot at Dilham Hall,” says Paterson; “the duck flight is on the edge of the fenland and guests wearing other boots tend to find the wading too deep, ending up paying the price.” Other refinements include a higher rubber content than standard boots, which preserves both flexibility and the shape (the tops never “flop down”), fully stitched-in neoprene socks placed around a standard but well-shaped last during the production process and, finally, tractable Vibram soles.
Sir William Cubitt is an ex-army officer and Norfolk local. He shoots pheasants, duck and lowland deer, and has put Gumleaf’s boots through their paces. “I’ve worn many types of boot,” he recounts, “including military-issue riding and Wellington boots. Clearly it is important that the boots are fully waterproof but what is really noticeable with these ones is that my feet don’t get cold, even by the end of a day’s shooting in the depths of winter.”
Other gumboot makers are using materials and production methods in a similar way to contend with challenging environments. Arxus boots come from Sweden, where the mercury can sink far in winter. The company uses natural rubber that is thicker than industry-standard width, plus a lower temperature during the vulcanisation process that helps it retain moisture and flexibility.
What trends are the retailers seeing? Mole Valley Farmers has retail outlets from the tip of Cornwall to Ayr in Scotland. Its customer base is made up of country workers and dwellers. “We always see healthy demand across our comprehensive range of gumboots,” says Helene Hill, product manager for clothing, footwear and wellingtons. “There’s a lot of interest in £150, handmade, neoprene-lined Aigle boots, while other customers are happy with a £15 basic boot.”
John Norris sells fishing tackle, countrywear and dog products from a single site in Penrith. The shop prides itself on understanding different customers’ needs. “Being on the edge of the Lake District, we get a fair number of visitors to the area popping in for an emergency pair of Le Chameau or Barbour boots,” reports David Garfoot, who has worked there for five years. “We also have local customers who’ve shopped here for decades and who I’ve rarely seen shod in anything other than rubber boots. For them, Jack Pyke or Seeland Allround are viewed as sturdy, good-value options.”
In the world of style and fashion, trends tend to favour the down-to-earth, too – in an almost evergreen way. Peter York co-wrote The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook in the early 1980s and while he thought of it as semi-satirical, the guide captured unerringly a world of strictures in which green gumboots might be worn often (with London Sloanes sprouting them in wet weather “like a plague of frogs”) but never in too considered a way. “Since then, brands have updated and re-packaged themselves,” comments York, “but best of all is that pair of old gumboots kept by the back door ready to be pulled on without a second thought.”
Sophie Goodwin, fashion director at Tatler, has a similar assessment with reference to the magazine embracing gumboots. “Posh people like nothing better than being practical,” she says. “It’s bad manners to make a fuss, so Tatler took a basic piece of kit and declared them the socially acceptable height of fashion, worn with anything from ball gowns to jeans.”
If history tells us anything, it is that gumboots’ unending appeal lies in this unfussy practicality. Keep dry and carry on.
‘Best of all is that pair of gumboots by the back door ready to be pulled on’