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The History of the Wellington Boot

The following table provides a summary of the important people, major events and inventions that have shaped the Wellington Boot over the years.

The history of Wellies has an obvious connection with the history of rubber. The increased capacity in the global economy to produce rubber has a positive impact on the production of Wellington boots. Rubber becomes cheaper as manufacturing processes improve and industrial rubber production increases.

You will also find by reading that wars and boot production go together. Once the wars are over the boot factories remain and these factories were put to good use producing fashion boots instead of war boots!

Lastly, another interesting connection is the raincoat or "Mac" - in wetter climates such as England, wellies are to macs like books are to libraries! Please email any suggestions or corrections to info@bootkidz.co.uk. Thank you.

When	Description
1700's - 1800's	Hessian boot, initially used by military, and adopted as men's fashion. The Hessian boot will later evolve into the rubber work boots known as "wellies" and the cowboy boot.
1736	Charles Marie de La Condamine brings samples of rubber to the Académie Royale des Sciences of France
1751	First scientific paper on rubber presented by François Fresneau to the Académie Royale des Sciences of France. He is the first person to propose wearing rubber as a waterproof material.
1 May 1769	Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington is born in Ireland
1807 - 1814	Peninsular War
1815	The Duke of Wellington instructs his shoemaker, Hoby of St. James's Street, London, to modify the 18th-century Hessian boot to create the "Wellington Boot" style.
Sunday 18 June 1815	Battle of Waterloo; Emperor Napoleon was defeated by an Anglo-Allied army led by the Duke of Wellington
1817	Wellington Boot first appears
1817	Foundation laid for Wellington Monument, Somerset. Completed in 1854.
1817 - 1850	Wellington Boot fashionable amongst the British aristocracy
18 June 1822	Wellington Monument, London, Hyde Park
1821	First rain coat made by G Fox of London. Raincoat made of Gambroon - a fabric made with mohair.
1823	Charles Macintosh patents "Macintosh Coat" - a rubberised waterproof rain coat. Early models of the raincoat included a "brush on rubber" called rubber-naphtha. Early adopters of these raincoats were the military.
1827	Johann Nepomuk Reithoffer makes his first impermeable rubber boots. He starts Europes oldest rubber factory.
1839	Goodyear claims discovery of vulcanization by the addition of sulphur to rubber. This invention will allow rubber products including rubber rainboots to last longer. "Vulcanised Rubber" was a rubber material that was less affected by changes in temperature.
November 21, 1843	Thomas Hancock (1786-1865), a scientist and engineer, patents the vulcanisation process in the UK
June 15, 1844	Goodyear patents vulcanisation process in the USA.
1840 - 1860	Wellington Boot is the main fashion boot for men. The Wellington boot, was popular with cowboys in the USA until the 1860's.
1850	Hiram Hutchinson meets Charles Goodyear to discuss patent rights for the Vulcanisation process Goodyear has invented.
1850 - 1860	Cowboy boots (topstitching, cutouts of geometric or other natural elements and underslung heel) replaces The Wellington boot as fashion boot for men in the USA.
1851	Alexander Parkes invents man-made plastic called Parkensine. Parkesine could be heated, molded, and retain its shape when cooled.
1852	Hiram Hutchinson buys vulcanisation of rubber patent from Charles Goodyear
14 September 1852	Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington dies at Walmer Castle aged 83
1853 - 1856	Crimean War
1853	Hiram Hutchinson starts L'Aigle in France and starts manufacturing rubber boots for farming activities in Europe.
1854	Wellington Monument in Somerset, Completed
1856	Two Frenchmen Albert and Louis Cohen set up a rubber factory in Harburg, near Hamburg. They hired 280 workers who started manufacturing rubber boots and rubberized fabrics 24 hours a day. The company is called Gummiwarenfabrik Albert & Louis Cohen, later to become Phoenix AG.
September 1856	Henry Lee Norris starts North British Rubber Company in Scotland (later to be known as Hunter Boot Ltd, makers of Hunter Wellington Boots)
1864	The Phoenix boot brand is introduced by Phoenix AG.
1868	American inventor John Wesley Hyatt developed a plastic material he named Celluloid.
1872	Polyvinyl chloride or PVC was first created by the German chemist Eugen Baumann. PVC or Vinyl (a type of plastic) becomes a popular material for low-cost rain boots.
1872	In Germany, J.N. Reithoffer merge with Albert and Louis Cohen to form the successful company 'Vereinigte Gummiwaaren-Fabriken Harburg-Wien'
1872	Hyatt patented the first injection molding machine.
1876	Sir Henry Wickham shipped 70,000 seeds from the Wild Rubber Tree to England from Brazil. Those that survived the long journey were planted in Kew Gardens and later shipped to Malaysia and other hot countries in South-East Asia.
1888	Henry Nicholas Ridley was appointed director of the Singapore botanic gardens and encouraged the planting of rubber crops throughout Asia.
1898	Eduard Polón creates Nokian Footwear brand as part of the company called Finnish Rubber Works Ltd originally in Helsinki, Finland. Later, the parent company Nokia, becomes a major telecommunications company.
1887	John Boyd Dunlop invents first inflatable rubber tyre.
1891	The Washington Shoe Company is founded. The company sells boots for the Alaska Gold Rush. Later their "Western Chief" brand will become a popular make of children's rain boot.
1905	George Oenslager discovered that a derivative of aniline called thiocarbanilide accelerated the action of sulphur to rubber, leading to shorter cure times and reducing energy consumption.
1910	Henry Ford founds the "Ford Motor Company" and invents the "Model T" mass produced motorcar. Demand for rubber for use in rubber tyres increases exponentially for many years.
1914 - 1918	World War I
1914 - 1918	Millions of pairs of rubber trench boots ordered for war by The War Office.
1924	Dunlop Rubber Factory starts making shoes.
1925	Dunlop Rubber merges with Macintosh and Co.
1927	Dunlop Wellington boot is born
1927	Claude Chamot hand-crafted the first pair of Le Chameau boots in his factory in Northern France. By 2010 Le Chameau will be producing over 350,000 high quality boots per year.
1930	First research into rubber additives for road surface materials.
1930	Neoprene was invented by DuPont scientists on April 17, 1930. Neoprene will become a popular alternative to rubber.
1937	Dubarry of Ireland founded. Dubarry will produce some of the worlds most elegant boot designs the world has ever seen.
1939 - 1945	World War II. See here for a photo of the Dunlop Rubber Co Ltd factory floor manufacturing rubber Wellington boots during WWII
1946	American inventor James Watson Hendry built the first screw injection machine improving quality of injection molded products.
1966	Uniroyal Ltd purchases North British Rubber.
1981	Lady Diana Spencer wears Hunter Wellington boots in engagement photo.
19th September 1970	The first Glastonbury Festival was held on the day after Jimi Hendrix died. Glastonbury will later lead to popular fashion wellington boot production. The festival is held every year in June.
1974	Scottish comedian Billy Connolly adopted a comical ode to the boot called "The Welly Boot Song" as his theme tune.
1980's	Phoenix SA stops production of rubber boots - starting spin-off company Palladium SA.
1986	Uniroyal purchased by Gates Rubber Company
1991	Dunlop Boot makes first Wellington Boot made from recycled polyvinylchloride (PVC).
1994	L'Aigle IPO at Paris Stock Exchange
25 October 1994	William's Wish Wellingtons an animated BBC children's television series made by Hibbert Ralph Entertainment. William could wish himself anywhere in the world or ask for anything he wanted - which sometimes got him into a spot of bother.
1986	Gates Rubber Company purchased by Tomkins PLC
1997	Liping Yang and Jonathan Domsky start the Kidorable brand in Chicago, making children's apparel and accessories. Kidorable becomes a leading children's Wellington boot distributor. By 2015 Kidorable will generate $15 million in sales of raingear for children per annum.
1999	The Original Muck Boot Company starts with the purpose of building comfortable, high performance, waterproof footwear.
2000	Daniel Dunko, MD of Mackintosh Ltd launches new partnerships with fashion labels Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Liberty, making the Mackintosh a highly sought after item of clothing.
2004	Management buy out of Hunter Ltd
2005	Angelina Jolie stars in Mr and Mrs Smith wearing red hunter wellies.
2008	Kate Moss wears wellies to Glastonbury.
2009	Jimmy Choo releases crocodile print, gold rivetted, leopard-print lined, £250 fashion Wellington Boots.
2000 - 2010	Globalisation trends lead many rubber boot manufactures to relocate manufacturing to the APAC region, including China, India, and the Philippines.
2010 -	Fashion Trends in Wellington Boots continue. Two examples of modern Wellington fashions are wedge welly and the cardi welly.