James Whitie – Shoemaker, Gorebridge

James Whitie was born in Peebles in 1828 where his father, John and both his grandfather and great-grandfather had all been shoemakers. In 1839 his father moved to Temple to start up a shoemaking business there and James followed his father into the business. In 1856, just before his marriage, James left Temple and opened a shoemaking shop in Gorebridge although there were already 3 other shoemakers established there, employing 7 men between them.

He rented a shop on the east side of the Main Street, from Thomas Clapperton, a cooper in the gunpowder works, for £20 a year rent. James was hard working and ambitious. Very quickly his was the most successful shoemaking business in Gorebridge and only 5 years after he began, he was employing 6 men. Most of these men came from Peebles and they were in the habit of walking home to Peebles on a Saturday night when work finished and returning to Gorebridge for 7.30am on Monday morning. By 1871, James had 7 men and 4 boys working for him and by 1880 he decided that the time was right to build his own premises.

The west side of the Main Street was not completely built upon at that time so he leased some land there and had plans drawn up fro a substantial building which included a shop with an office and back room, a workshop and cellars in the basement and a roomy flat on two floors above for his own use. Also included on the original plan were 3 small flats to rent out, one in the basement, one directly above on the ground floor and the third on the first floor. However, the ground floor flat was never used as such and was converted into a shop. James’s brother’s firm in Galashiels did the joinery work and plumbing.

James moved into the shops in 1881 and downstairs in the large, well-lit workshop worked James worked himself with his 16 year old son, Benjamin and 11 other men and boys. They sat at tables like boxes with holes cut out. Each man had his own tools. Shoes and boots were made on a wooden last, held firm by a continuous canvas belt, the other end of which was gripped by the instep of the shoemaker’s foot. The leather had to be kept wet during the process. The men kept the sprigs or tickets in their mouths, bringing one to the front as needed. Farm workers habitually ordered a pair of boots at term time (in May or November) and would return to collect, and pay for them at the next term day, six months later.

Once the last was made for an adult it was kept and used every times a new pair of boots or shoes was needed and although by then made-to-measure shoes were giving way to ready-made factory ones, James continued to make good strong boots for everyday wear at work or school. However, together with the cheaper ready-made shoes, the 1880’s were years of severe depression in farming. Men were sacked, wages lowered. Farm workers had less money to spend and this affected the business.

James died in 1888 and his son Benjamin helped by his two sisters took over the business. Trade declined to such a level that in 1894 Benjamin decided to emigrate to Australia, leaving the businesses in the hands of one of his sisters who was about to get married. Her husband was not a shoemaker, but an engineer. Over the years the shops had also hols ironmongery and it was this side of the business that was built up, mainly supplying Arniston Colliery with mining and engineering goods. By 1910 the boot making business was finished with only one old boot maker still being employed in repairing footwear.

In 1919 James’s grandson, David Gibb, became a partner with his father in the business and when he died in 1979 the business ended and the shop was sold.

James Whitie, 1859-1979: a total of 143 years in business.