BOOT ORDER FOR NORTHAMPTON – Aug 15, 1914 – Army boot buyer in town
Mr. F. J. Lovell, the Army boot buyer, was in Northampton on Sunday morning, when he inspected
a number of samples submitted at the Corn Exchange by Northampton manufacturers. Provisional orders
for heavy brown boots of the Army type were given, and have since been confirmed. Messrs. J. Sears and
Co. Ltd have received an order for over 12,000 pairs, and other orders are expected by them, whilst other
firms have also received confirmation of provisional orders. If Northampton can secure a share of the Army
trade with a guarantee that after the war they will be given the opportunity of continuing the trade if will be
a good thing for the town generally.
BOOT ORDER FOR NORTHAMPTON – Sep 19, 1914 – Joyful news for Northampton
The influx of orders for army boots is now confirmed by the actual placing of half a million orders from the French
Government besides 200,000 pairs for our own army. Thirty Northampton firms sent in tenders and all of them were
accepted. The result of all this is that those factories instead of working short time will be working overtime.
The whole of the town will reap the benefit of the boom as apart from the steady stimulus this will give to
shopkeepers and others, we shall be spared the strain of coping with such exceptional distress such as so many
other towns are already suffering, in fact there is likely to be less unemployment in Northampton this winter than
in times of peace.
The whole position of the boot and shoe trade in Northampton has been thrown into the melting pot by the
recent Army Order calling for the release of all A and B1 men from the factories. It would probably mean the
closing down of factories and the reduction of output by about fifty per cent. The men who are wanted are
naturally the young men, the men on the machines, experiences operatives who if taken in large numbers would
bring who departments, if not factories, to a standstill.
I believe, however, there are many men of military age still in the factories for whom substitutes could be obtained
without any serious dislocation to the various departments, and it is the duty of manufacturers and men alike to see
that they are released. The loss of these wage earners would not in itself be very serious to the community but
unfortunately they do not stand alone. Take them and you immediately throw out of employment not only other
men but a large amount of the female labour now employed, and reduce the output of the factories, as it is estimated,
but about £100,000 worth, of goods a week. The Army wants boots, in fact it wants nearly two millions of them in
a very short time. If these boots are to be forthcoming some A and B1 men will to be left to help produce them.
