...
The mystery object on the home page is a
shoe knife, used by shoemakers to cut out the leather
upper and trim the sole of the shoe. The blade, which is 12 cms
long, is made of carbon steel which is easily sharpened and honed to
maintain a good cutting edge. The blade is riveted into a beech or
rosewood handle.The actual
knife (much worn - unlike the pristine example shown) survived into
modern times, though it was scarcely treated as a family heirloom.
It was eventually thrown into the dustbin, and so a dramatic
artefact of my family history was lost for all time!
William was alone in the world
again, but having tasted independence he did not return to the
family business. One day, he became embroiled in an argument.
Probably fuelled by drink, tempers flared, and out of control, William pulled out his
Shoemaker's Knife and stabbed his antagonist several times,
though not wounding him fatally. Fearing imminent arrest and
trial, he fled Sussex and headed for Liverpool, where he decided
to lie low and lose himself in the densely populated streets and
alleyways of the thriving cosmopolitan port.
William
Hebden and his sons Stephen and William were shoemakers in the
family business in Market Street, Brighton Sussex. In July 1838, at
the age of 20, William Jnr, married Caroline Bristow, a local
girl who was pregnant with their child. Their daughter Ellen
was born in September 1838. By this time Caroline was a sick woman,
and young Ellen even more so. Both Ellen and Caroline died from
Consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis) in the autumn of 1840 at the
Bristow family home in Washington Sussex, a small village about 10 miles north of Brighton.
