Talk:Wellington boot

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1st Duke of Wellington[edit]

Refering to the Wikipedia article about the 1st Duke of Wellington, his name is different. Who knows the right name?

Finally there is a quote linking his name to this boot style. Were his boots already made of rubber? Holmes, Richard. Wellington: The Iron Duke. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002 ISBN 0-00-713750-8, pages 85 - 87.

I did not read that book myself, so I do not dare to add the quote.--202.169.220.167 (talk) 20:28, 7 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Plagiarism[edit]

The text of this article appears to be heavily plagiarized from this page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/peoplesmuseum/week2_07.shtml Dr. Stephen J. Krune (talk) 20:02, 9 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure I see it, can you give specifics?TastyPoutine talk (if you dare) 00:20, 10 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
"Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St James Street, London, to modify the standard 18th century Hessian boot. The resulting innovation was designed in soft calfskin leather and had the trim removed and cut closer around the leg.
"This made the boot hard-wearing enough to suit the battlefield, but also comfortable and, of course most important to Wellington, stylish. The Iron Duke didn't know what he'd started. The boot was soon dubbed the ‘Wellington boot’."
this passage really stands out even if you aren't paying close attention--not only is much of the writing in this Wikipedia article non-encyclopedic, it matches these passages word for word (it's not spam though so that's probably why it escaped your eagle eye) Dr. Stephen J. Krune (talk) 00:50, 14 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Old comments[edit]

I removed an advert for a little known (one google reference to it) music venue. The hyperlink was dead, suggesting the pub went out of business four years after it opened. Monk Bretton 22:40, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Does anyone know when the term "Wellington" started to be used? In Blackadder the episode featuring the Duke has a number of inevitable puns (e.g. "sleeping with a pair of Wellingtons" or "when a man soils a Wellington, he puts his foot in it") and I'm not sure if they're anachronistic or not. Timrollpickering 16:09, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm tightening up the text to make it flow better. The section at the beginning metions that the boots were made from leather and then later starts talking about the rubber boots. 81.56.139.182 20:17, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]


Wellies[edit]

Maybe there should be some sort of link to Billy Connolly's "Welly Boot Song"? Or was that the "musical venue" link that was removed?

Any one got any good links to Wellies Web sites to share with us all?

I just added a trivia note about Gaelic Storm's album, "Bring Yer Wellies". It's a fun album, and the first time this American ever heard the term. That's what led me to this entry; and I found out that Wellies are what we always called "barn boots". The "official" name is more clever.--12.2.82.78 20:25, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oops! Just found the Gaelic Storm song referenced deep in the body. Removed it from trivia.--12.2.82.78 22:47, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Surely it is nonsense to say that Goodyear decided to make tires. Reference to the Wiki entry on Goodyear himself indicates that he did no such think and that the Goodyear tire company was not founded until the end of the century, long after his death. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.194.31.219 (talk) 15:52, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Timeline?[edit]

"Considered fashionable and foppish in the best circles, they remained the main fashion for men through the 1840s. In the 1950s they were more commonly made in the calf high version and in the 1960s they were both superseded by the ankle boot, except for riding." I assume 1850s/1860s were meant? -Ahruman 07:10, 17 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Unrelated to the previous comment but similarly, "It was in 2009 worn and popularised by the 1st Duke of Wellington and fashionable among the British aristocracy in the early 19th century."? This is obviously wrong but I don't know what it should actually be. --user.lain (talk) 12:36, 29 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Finland[edit]

No mention of Scandinavia when talking about rubber boots? At least here in Finland, just about everybody wears them when working on a farm, walking in a forest, etc. And no mention of Nokian Footwear?--Elmeri B. Suokirahvi 15:11, 26 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe it's just me but the whole article seems somewhat US/UK-focused. Pasi 00:21, 22 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Probably because the original article was written by US/UK people. Alex Holowczak 19:04, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I would tend to agree with the point regarding Nokian Footwear. The problem is that they are not really available in the UK, so few people in the UK wear their products. Horsetan 10:44, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Canada[edit]

As a Canadian, I've seen many people wearing these boots, but I've never heard them referred to as "Wellingtons" here, only "rubber boots." I'd like to note this in the article, but I don't have a proper source for it. Does anyone know of a study of Canadian slang that might mention this?

Blucher[edit]

There is a story that Wellington issued large numbers of these boots to soldiers in the Napoleonic wars. In Australia, older people often refer to gumboots as Blucher Boots. Blucher was one of the allied generals. Many earlier emigrants to Australia may actually have served at Waterloo and there has long been speculation that Blucher was just as instrumental in distributing the boots but Wellington took all the credit, the still existing name "Blucher Boots" giving the lie! I have put in a couple of sentences noting this alternative name in Aus. --MichaelGG 06:32, 4 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Those sentences are still there too..45Colt 15:41, 10 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Blucher boot was ankle length. Wellington had nothing to do with the provision of uniforms. That was the province of a different government department

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/georgians/invention-wellington-boot/ JF42 (talk) 10:23, 8 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Rubstones[edit]

Can anyone find a single instance anywhere of anyone calling cut-down rubber boots "Rubstones"? Google is silent on the subject, and no cites have been offered in the article. Eliahna (talk) 22:58, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to go ahead and remove the section. Eliahna (talk) 00:19, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wellington Boot[edit]

In his biography, it is reported that Wellington noted that many cavalry soldiers sustained crippling wounds by having been shot in the knee - a very vulnerable and exposed part of the body when one is mounted on a horse. He proposed a change in the design of the typical boot by having it cut so as to extend the front upward to cover the knee. This modification afforded some measure of protection when in battle. It should be understood, therefore, that any boot of this style not covering the knee cannot really be called a Wellington boot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.249.26.13 (talk) 06:43, 19 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]


It might be noted that over the knee --- sometimes with heavy top cuffs --- thigh-boots were already part of the heavy cavalry tradition in Europe, certainly in the 18th century, but dating from much earlier. I seem to recall soldiers in Charles the Bold's time wearing them. Claverhouse (talk) 10:25, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I am sorry but this is all nonsense. As Claverhouse points out, heavy cavalry had been wearing boots of 'jacked' leather covering the knee ever since full armour became obsolete. However, these 'jackboots' were to protect the rider's knee from being crushed when riding in close formation.
The idea that the leather of a boot whether calf length or knee length would protect a soldier from enemy fire has no basis in reality. If this was asserted in a biography of Wellington, the author must extremely gullible.

JF42 (talk) 12:31, 21 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

With no further information forthcoming, I am excising the paragraph.

JF42 (talk) 10:25, 8 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"shitkickers"[edit]

What?? lol — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.190.1.205 (talk) 06:54, 4 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Farmers wear them. Farms have a lot of manure lying around typically. "Shitkickers"..45Colt 15:54, 10 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This is still the only shitkicker I've heard of. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:46, 6 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

British usage[edit]

The article gives the impression that only the term "Wellington boots" is used in Britain, but the real situation is more complicated. The normal term in my own family was "rubber boots", and I have a feeling that there are class issues too, with the term "gumboots" being a bit more common with the gentry (perhaps because of the French associations). Diomedea Exulans (talk) 11:20, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Who the hell wrote this part?[edit]

"Green Wellington boots, introduced by Hunters in 1955[4], gradually became a shorthand for "country life" and have been popularly thought to be typical not only of "country folk" but also of people who are really townies but wear "green wellies" because they want to be thought to be "country folk", in the same way that they own Range Rovers or other 4x4 vehicles which are never driven off road." Huh!?!? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.127.120.119 (talk) 04:44, 7 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I came here to question the same part. I don't necessarily dispute the truth of the statement (I've even seen fashion magazines advising readers to buy green wellies for festivals, rather than more colourful ones, to create the "illusion" that they use them all the time and not just at festivals). But the only part that's sourced is the fact that Hunters started making green wellies in 1955 and the rest is not in a remotely encyclopaedic style and extremely POV. It could possibly be re-written but I don't have time right now so I'm just going to remove it. Danikat (talk) 15:44, 5 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

festivals[edit]

We should probably mention their significance in festival culture.Geni (talk) 19:31, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The 'festival chic' look has become quite mainstream in the UK over the last few years, and you often see young studenty women wearing them in cities for no obvious reason. I've no idea if this phenomenon is international or not. --Ef80 (talk) 22:47, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Barn boots.[edit]

Around here in New England, I've only ever heard this kind of footwear called "barn boots", or "muck boots", because they are universally worn by farmers who have to spend all day mucking about in mud and manure. I have never heard them called anything else; I didn't even know the "proper" name was "Wellington" until a day ago. I was surprised that neither term was mentioned anywhere on this page. I was even more surprised that it wasn't anywhere in the "List of Footwear". Then I find that there isn't a single reference to either term on Wikipedia. Seems kind of odd, that they have this whole long list of all these other terms and not these two.

Edit: And actually, yes, "shitkickers" is another common name you hear among rural blue-collar types. Like I said, they are for walking around in manure. Shitkickers..45Colt 15:51, 10 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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Rubber boot[edit]

The entire world calls these boots rubber boots. Most native English speakers call them rubber boots. If anything, "Wellington boots" should be a subsection in an article about rubber boots, not the other way around. 91.248.89.95 (talk) 10:41, 1 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I do agree that the term "wellington boot" can be problematical, especially in the English-speaking world beyond the country where it was coined. The term "rubber boot" can be problematical too, however. The original "wellington boots" were made from leather, while some ankle-, calf or knee-length footwear routinely classed as "wellington boots" nowadays are made from materials other than rubber, e.g. polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which means that a new article entitled "plastic boots" would have to be created to accommodate those items.Helmardine (talk) 09:33, 4 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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