Impression sketch: boots and puttees - by Jamie. See original
at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25879184
In creating uniformity and
solidity,
For every able
bodied man to fight
Was the
fundamental needs for boots -
From the centre
of the British
Shoe industry, Northamptonshire
Proved ability to
step up to the mark.
Shoe leather
supplies had
Provided from the
break of war
Needs for up to
five armies
Together with British and French
Were Serbian, Belgium - along
With Italian
armies boot needs.
The British style
army boot
Alone, would rack up on
A normal week, pairs
to be worth
£325,000 - to peak
£400,000
During the
busiest of weeks -
All built to an
Empires designs.
Overcoming a pre-war
slump,
The industry set
to make up
Field service
knees boots -
Then with Marines
marching boots,
Gurkhas
short-footed boots or sailors
Thigh boots, a man
might float in.
Furthermore were
flying Corps
Boots, sandals
for West African
Soldiers; then there
were felt soled
Powder magazine
boots and special
Issue, designed
for those tropical
Countries needing
Mosquito boots.
These latter
issue for soldiers
Destined for
tropical climes,
Had been ordered one
Saturday,
To be shipped by
the Tuesday -
Barely 4 days for
a company who
Before had never
heard of them.
Designed and
patterns cut out by
Evening of day
one, so that Sunday
The shoe factory
ran at full steam -
For the boots
were ready on rails
By Monday, prepared to be taken
To the transport
boat on Tuesday.
Another army of
the Russian type
Was on the cards
for high legged
Boots, to number
three million -
To push demands
on industry
30,000,000 feet
of upper leather
And soles numbers of 250,000.
In terms of sole
leather 'bends'
Would number
250,000, while repair
Bends could add
up to 200,000 -
With additions of
hides of 300,000 -
Such would be demands
of the
Russian Army’s
high-legged boots.
Recounted as the
most challenging
Of boots were
those for Italians,
In designs demanding toe cases,
Like those of
football boots -
Made with
insistence of certain nails
Used, to raise demand of £20 a ton.
Boom time had
returned to county
Of
Northamptonshire - with such
Numbers being
used since 1914,
What figures
might then be reached,
By wars finish, with a call for sturdiest
Thick-soled, hob
nailed army boots.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Boots
For Five Armies - Northamptonshire's Output. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 21 January 1916.
P.5. Col.5. Available at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12108578/Daily-Telegraph-January-24-1916.html
[Accessed: 22 January 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 22 January 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Northampton
