In March 1905, 115 bootmakers from Raunds in Northamptonshire, marched to London, under the leadership of Joe Gribble, in an attempt to ‘intimidate’ the War Office into offering fair wages in all army contracts as the Raunds bootmakers were heavily involved in the production of footwear for the military at the time and were unhappy with the rates of pay. Although we are not 100% sure, it’s pretty certain that some of those 115 men would have been from Adams Bros. – who made the boots we have here in the collection – as they were making boots in Raunds at the time and continued to do so until the 1960s. This mint condition pair were almost certainly the last batch of this type to be made for the military, as by 1967, nailed boots were just about history, Vibram soles and other composite soles having become more popular. With their Tricouni nails, beautifully stitched soles and fabulous leather, this pair of boots are a wonderful example of a past era in mountaineering. Edward Robinson, Gairlochy, kindly donated them to our collection having bought them back in the 1970s and found them to be the wrong size. Once again, we are not 100% sure, but suspect that these boots could have been made for the RAF Mountain Rescue Teams as they look very similar to ones that have been donated by ex RAF MRT members and the nailing pattern on the boot is very similar to that suggested in the RAF MRT Training Manual – see opposite – and just in case you are wondering, Joe Gribble and his mates got their way and won standard rates of pay along with the establishment of a conciliation board.