This photograph is one of Collingwood Historical Society’s contributions to the Friday Photo 2012 challenge under the theme Shoes.
Whybrows whose boot factory still stands in Hoddle Street Abbotsford was a big employer in Collingwood. Born of illiterate Irish immigrants in Ballarat St, Collingwood in 1871, John Wren like many Collingwood boys commenced his working life in the boot trade, working at Whybrows boot factory. Some stories say that while there he added to his income by a small scale bookmaking operation; others suggest that he worked for a bookie after his retrenchment from Whybrows in the 1891/1892 economic slump; another story is that it was a win on the Melbourne Cup that allowed him to set up business in Johnston Street. Whatever the truth of all of this John Wren was typical of many a Collingwood youth that he started his working life at Whybrows.
This photo dated to about 1920 is from the Museum of Victoria and shows the clicking room at Whybrows where the tops of shoes were cut out. John Wren would have been unlikely to have worked in this room as a skilled clicker.
CLICKER NOT CLIPPER CLICKING WAS A QUALIFICATION THAT NEEDED AN APPRENTISHIP OF 5 YEARS AND INVOLVED SELECTING CERTAIN PARTS OF THE HIDE OR SKIN BEST SUITED FOR CERTAIN PARTS OF THE SHOE IT WAS A RESPECTED PART OF THE WHO
LE COMPLETION ON THE SHOE
My mother, Phyllis Day nee Hudson did her apprenticeship at Whybrow Shoes in 1933-38. When I read out the article to Mum she immediately said ‘clicking room’ not clipping so was very pleased to note the comment above.
Thank you for pointing out this typographical error. Yes your mother is definitely correct and we will amend the spelling. Would she like to write a few notes about her working life at Why brow’s? We will be writing a page on Mr Whybrow for our Notables database soon.
Did you write something on him please? I know his granddaughter and she’d love to read it. Thanks.
Yes here is a link to his bio on our website.https://collingwoodhs.org.au/resources/notable-people-2/collingwood-notables-database/entry/469/
Thanks Anne. Would you know who supplied you with his birth date and place? I haven’t been able to find a birth certificate for him. Would you have a source please as I’m tracing his ancestry for his granddaughter. Thank you. kg
Hi, my great grandfather owned whybrowns shoes patcially or whole during the war and has given away pleanty of infomation about its role in the war, ill try to get some more infomation if you would like, I know when it was sold/ stopped trading he buried all the money before he died. My dad also immediatly jumped at the name phyllis and seemed to think there was a sub brand called phylllis shoes after her but idk not confirmed
Dear Darcy
I am sorry I missed seeing your comment before and so had not replied.
Could you tell me who your great grandfather was?
Karen
My father in law worked as a Clicker at Wybrow footware Abbotsford. I have a Souvenier Brochure of when Wybrow participated in the British Commonwealth Exhibition 1924. It contains photos of the staff, lunchroom, the building inside and out the grounds, stages of the construction of shoes and workers.
Dear Crystal
Thank you for that interesting information. would we be able to obtain a copy of the brochure?
Collingwood Historical Society
My great, great uncle worked here.
I have a photo of all the employees and owner (over 100 on photo) in front of a building . Not sure what year
Dear Meg
Thank you for that information. Would you be able to send us a copy of that photo? We would love to see it. If you told us your great great uncle’s name and any indication of when he would have worked there, or where he lived, we could probably make an educated guess as to the date.
Karen
I started work in reception at Windsor Smith shoes at Preston after they brought out Whybrow Shoes. I had the pleasure of working with Peter Whybrow, an absolute gentleman.
Thank you Jenny, that is a lovely comment to hear.
Karen
My great great grandfather was married to one of Arthur Whybrow’s daughters – Susannah. My mother told me stories about the Whybrows and the boot factory. Apparently they were celebrities at the time. Even if my attachment is only distant, it’s interesting to read about the factory in more detail.
Thank you Helen. It is nice to hear these personal stories.