As I research my own family I come across interesting people who are not part of it, or on the very edges. Some of them are really worth noting, and one of these is George Hoby (1759-1832). He was the son of a wealthy man, Richard Hoby (1717-1762) of Mansell Lacey, Herefordshire, who had squandered his fortune in gambling, forcing his sons to seek their own fortunes. George became famous as a boot maker, with premises in Covent Garden and later in St James Street, Westminster. Hoby was the most fashionable London boot maker of his day, dealing with Royalty, the aristocracy and London’s fashionistas. He was also a Methodist preacher. He was an arrogant, self-confident man – attitudes reflected in his remarks on being told that one of his customers, the Duke of Wellington, had beaten the French at Vittoria
“ If Lord Wellington had any other bootmaker than myself, he never would have had his great and constant successes; for my boots and prayers bring his lordship out of all his difficulties.”
When another customer complained that his new riding boots had split as he walked to the stables, Hoby retorted
“ Walking to your stable! I made the boots for riding, not walking.”
He is credited with innovating the Wellington boot to a design suggested by the Iron Duke himself. The boots can be seen worn by Wellington in an 1815 portrait by James Londsdale.
His daughter, Elizabeth Hoby was the first wife of Joshua Russell. Joshua’s son (by his second wife) was to become an apprentice in the Hoby shipyards on the Clyde – from whence one of the great late-19th century shipping fortunes would be made. The shipyards belonged to a member of the extended Hoby family and the relationship almost certainly did much to further Russell’s career.