Bootmakers Almshouses

Behind the London platform of Mortlake Station stand the Bootmakers' Almshouses. Albert Betts' drawing of 1903 shows there have been a few changes over the past 120 years. The almshouses which were built in 1849 by the Master Boot and Shoe Makers' Provident and Benevolent Institution.

The Society, which exists today as Footwear Friends, was originally formed in 1836 by five master bootmakers as the "Master Boot and Shoe Makers' Association for the Relief of Aged and Decayed Members, their Widows and Orphans". In the early days the association provided annuities to masters who had been in the business for at least five years. But the intention had always been to build almshouses for their members. In 1849 the Committee purchased a one and quarter acre plot beside the new Mortlake station, and the building of the 15 "habitations" commenced. The middle dwelling included a chapel and there was a great cistern at the back which served the common washhouse. Residents were selected who were aged at least 56 and had annual incomes of less than £40.

In 1900 the name was changed to "Boot Trade Benevolent Society" and the rules were substantially rewritten so that employees of the trade and their widows and orphans could benefit. The 1901 Census records that 12 of the dwellings were occupied and three empty. All the heads of household were retired bootmakers aged between 69 and 90, with Mrs Sarah Bristow, the Institutional Custodian, living in the middle house at No.8. By the 1911 Census only eight dwellings were occupied: four by retired members of the Society including Warden Richard Mesley, three by households of working age, and one by an "old aged pensioner".

By 1930 the state of the building was a concern and the houses did not meet "present day standards of comfort and hygiene". Also the demand for housing in London from retired boot and shoe makers had fallen, so the Committee decided to sell. An auction was held on 2 October 1930, and within three years the purchaser had submitted plans to build blocks of flats on the east and west sides of the almshouses, as well as to make alterations to the cottages themselves. In the 1950s the end towers were truncated and the stone colonnade was removed. The almshouses still stand today as private houses forming part of Rosemary Gardens.