THE WELLINGTON BOOT

The Wellington boot, also known as a wellie, a topboot, a gumboot, or a rubber boot, is a type of boot based upon Hessian boots. It was worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and fashionable among the British aristocracy in the early 19th century.

The first Duke of Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St. James' Street, London, to modify the 18th century Hessian boot. The resulting new boot designed in soft calfskin leather had the trim removed and was cut more closely around the leg. The heels were low cut, stacked around an inch, and the boot stopped at mid-calf. It was hard wearing for battle yet comfortable for the evening. The Iron Duke didn't know what he'd started – the boot was dubbed the Wellington and the name has stuck ever since.

These boots quickly caught on with patriotic British gentlemen eager to emulate their war heroism. Considered fashionable and foppish in the best circles and worn by dandies, they remained the main fashion for men through the 1840s. In the 1850s they were more commonly made in the calf high version and in the 1860s they were both superseded by the ankle boot, except for riding.

These boots were at first made of leather. However in 1852, Hiram Hutchinson met Charles Goodyear who had just invented the vulcanization process for natural rubber. While Goodyear decided to manufacture tyres, Hutchinson bought the patent to manufacture footwear and moved to France to establish "A l'Aigle" in 1853 (the company today is simply called "AIGLE", "Eagle"). In a country where 95% of the population were working on fields in wooden clogs as it had been for generations, the introduction of the Wellington type rubber boot became an immediate success: farmers were finally able to come home with their feet dry and mud-free.

Wellington boots are waterproof and are most often made from rubber or a synthetic equivalent. They are usually worn when walking on wet or muddy ground, or to protect the wearer from heavy showers. They are generally just below knee-high.

In Britain, there is a light-hearted sport, known as wellie wanging, which involves throwing Wellington boots as far as possible. The boots, especially Black Rubber, are also popular fetish items among many people.

Wellington boots, though invented in Britain, are very popular in Canada, particularly in springtime, when melting snows leave wet and muddy ground for a couple of months. Young people can be seen wearing them to school or university and taking them to summer camps.

Green Wellingtons are most popular in Britain, while black Wellingtons, particularly with red or green soles, remain the favourite of Canadians.

Yellow-soled black Wellingtons are often seen in the US, in addition to Canadian styles. Wellingtons specifically made for cold weather, lined with warm insulating material, are especially popular during Canadian winters.

Lately designers have made "wellies" another item of fashionable footwear.

In New Zealand, where they are called gumboots, they are considered to be essential footwear for farmers.

They are also called gumboots in Australia and Southern Africa. Apartheid-era mine workers in South Africa were supplied with gumboots to protect them from infected water since it was cheaper than draining the water in the mines.

An alternative name "Blucher Boot" is occasionally heard in Australia. This term is only used by some older Australians and may die out. Blücher was Wellington's colleague at the Battle of Waterloo and there is speculation that some early emigrants to Australia, remembering the battle, may have preserved an earlier term for the boots that has died out elsewhere.

In some parts of Ireland one can hear older people refer to their Wellington boots as "topboots", usually black in colour, as this was a popular name for Wellingtons in the 1960s.

In Russia rubber boots were first introduced in 1920s. Immediately, they became extremely popular because of Russian weather conditions. During the rule of Stalin, 17 factories which produced rubber boots were built in different parts of the USSR. Along with valenki in winter, rubber boots became a traditional footwear in springs and autumns. When Nikita Khrushchev came to power, in frames of the "battle for modesty", rubber footwear was proclaimed as "Socialism style", while leather, which was obviously more expensive, was as "Capitalism style". During the period 1961-1964 leather footwear disappeared from Soviet shops. This process was abruptly halted by Leonid Brezhnev, who came to power in 1964. Usual footwear returned to shops, and rubber boots quickly lost their popularity.

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