Working shoes of Nineteenth Century

Air Victorias

Seperate 'lasts' (a last is a model of the foot used to make a shoe around) for left and right feet were first introduced in 1818 but their use didn't become widespread until the 1850's; most boots worn by soldiers inthe American Civil War were still identical left and right.

Don't know the answer, but I find this trivia interesting. - edgarblythe

I found this brogan on google images

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.robertlandhistoricshoes.com/catalog/brogan%2520WF,front-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.robertlandhistoricshoes.com/servlet/Categories%3Fcategory%3D1861-65%2Bmen%27s%2Bshoes%2Band%2Bbootees%253Amilitary&usg=__zdYhBbcHejZmtOuaAYqcwmgfbgs=&h=372&w=440&sz=28&hl=en&start=15&sig2=uV7wHa2c6CP7oB04XpF12Q&itbs=1&tbnid=wTOWJuq1f-nDSM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3D19th%2Bcentury%2Bshoes%2B4%2Beyelets%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&ei=VoNvS43kFYjkMaDbwNwE

Didn't see any with hooks, but did not pursue the matter further.

By George, I think you got it! I had always heard "brogue" -- but it was probably an abbreviation for "brogan." Many thanks.

Thanks for sharing this nice post.

Many manufacturers made the same styles--I doubt there was one responsible for all of them. And there were many kinds of "workman's" shoe, depending on occupation and country (French and Netherlands for example probably used more wooden sabots than anything else).

This is billed as a "19th century farmer's work shoe", but it's on a 21st century self-described "luxury" shoe site.



looks like what you might be looking for.

And here's an article on (American) Civil War soldier shoes for re-enactors, which seemingly were pretty much like the shoes workers normally wore when not at war (with pictures)
http://www.fugawee.com/brogans.htm