Cordwainers & shoe makers

Cordwain, "Cordovan" or "Spanish leather" Cordwain, once a synonym of cordovan (through Old French cordewan) meaning "from Córdoba" describes painted or gilded embossed leather hangings manufactured in panels and assembled for covering walls as an alternative to tapestry. Such "Cordovan leathers" were a north African style that was introduced to Spain in the ninth century (hence it is sometimes referred to as 'Spanish leather'); in Spain such embossed leather hangings were known as guadamecí or guadamecil, from the Libyan town of Ghadames, while cordobanes signified soft goat leather. Leather was even more proof against draughts and dampness than tapestry, and it was unaffected by insects. From the fourteenth century, the technique in which panels of wet leather were shaped over wooden moulds, painted, then oil-gilded and lacquered, reached Flanders and Brabant in the Low Countries. Though there were craftsmen in several cities (such as Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent), the major handicraft centre for this cordwain was Mechelen, where it was mentioned as early as 1504. Patterns for these panels followed fashions in silk damask, at some lag in time, since the high-relief wooden moulds were laborious to make. After the second half of the 18th century, this luxurious artisan product was no longer made, its place taken in part by chintz hangings and printed wallpapers. Cordwainer is still used to describe someone in the profession of shoemaking.

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Thomas Farmer about 1845	George H Parker 1806?-?	Isaac around 1735?	John Greene around 1693?	John Long 1780-?	Henry 1650-1722	William Herring about 1693	Thomas Quelch about 1924
John about 1675	Richard about 1667-1735	John about 1665-1725	Richard about 1667-1735	William Shepherd about 1865	Frederick Franklin about 1842-?	George 1836-1914	Ernest Edward Brind 1887-1907
Edgar William Brind 1887-1928