YORE SHOES

 

 

 

Lord Byron was a world renowned poet from the 1800s. His poems are still incredibly famous. There was a large group of these poets and writers who are now called the 'romantics'. Most of them were friends; for example Byron was particularly good friends with the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. They are all studied in secondary schools today. Byron spent years getting a reputation for partying and travelling Europe a lot. When Lord Byron, (George) was a boy though he was born with a deformed right foot which caused him a lot of pain and frustration. It is said that one day he got so angry that he threw his leg brace into a pond. This boot is the one George owned. Doctors used very simple methods in the pre victorian era and no pain relief would have been given to little Lord Byron whilst he was growing up. His leg was supposed to get better by just forcing it to grow straight in this metal brace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

England wasn't the only place trying to correct feet shape. But a long time ago in China, women wanted their feet to change shape not for health but for fashion. They would squeeze their feet into tiny shoes from a young age so that when they grew up they would be the envy of their friends. Do you think this would have been extremely painful? These shoes date from 1825-1920 but in a film produced in 1958 these issues were still being discussed and were probably still going on. It was called the Inn of the Sixth Happiness starring famous actress Ingrid Bergman.