Primitive
man hunted wild animals for food; he removed the hides and skins
from the dead animal carcass and used them as crude tents, clothing
and footwear. The earliest record of the use of leather dates from
the Palaeolithic period, cave paintings discovered in caves near
Lerida in Spain depict the use of leather clothing. Excavation of
palaeolithic sites has yielded bone tools used for scraping hides
and skins to remove hair.
The skins rapidly putrefied
and became useless, so a method of preservation was needed. The
earliest method was to stretch the hides and skins on the ground
to dry, rubbing them with fats and animals brains while they dried.
This had a limited preserving and softening action. Primitive man
discovered also that the smoke of wood fires could preserve hides
and skins, as did treating them with an infusion of tannin-containing
barks, leaves, twigs and fruits of certain trees and plants. It
seems likely that man first discovered how to make leather when
he found that animal skins left lying on a wet forest floor became
tanned naturally by chemicals released by decaying leaves and vegetation
.
Much later the use of
earth salts containing alum
as a tanning agent to produce soft white leather was discovered.
The alum leathers could be dyed with naturally occurring dyestuffs
in various plants.
Wall paintings and artefacts
in Egyptian tombs indicate that leather was used for sandals, clothes,
gloves, buckets, bottles, shrouds for burying the dead and for military
equipment. The ancient Greeks and Romans also made extensive use
of leather and it has remained an important industrial raw material
since those times. The Romans used leather on a wide scale for footwear,
clothes, and military equipment including shields, saddles and harnesses.
Excavation of Roman sites in Great Britain has yielded large quantities
of leather articles such as footwear and clothing.
The manufacture
of leather was introduced to Britain by invaders, the Romans, and
by religious communities, whose monks were expert at making leather,
especially vellum and parchment for writing purposes. The ancient
Britons had many uses for leather from footwear, clothing and leather
bags, to articles of warfare. The hulls of the early boats, known
as coracles, were also covered in leather.
Through the centuries
leather manufacture expanded steadily and by mediaeval times most
towns and villages had a tannery, situated on the local stream or
river, which they used as a source of water for processing and as
a source of power for their water wheel driven machines. Many of
these tanneries still exist, but in many towns the only remaining
evidence is in street names, like Tanner Street, Bark Street and
Leather Lane.
Early Leather Production
The earliest crude leathers were made by first immersing the raw
hides and skins in a fermenting solution of organic matter in which
bacteria grew and attacked the hides or skins, resulting in a loosening
of the hair or wool and some dissolving out of skin protein. The
hair or wool was then scraped off with primitive blunt stone or
wooden scrapers and fat or meat still adhering to the flesh side
was removed in a similar manner. Tanning, the conversion of pelt
into leather, was done by dusting the rawstock with ground up bark
other organic matter and placing them in shallow pits or vats of
tannin solution. Further additions of ground bark, were made from
time to time until the tannin solution had penetrated right through
the skin structure, taking up to two years for very thick hides.
The leather was then hung up for several days in open sheds. The
dressing of the leather involved paring or shaving it to a level
thickness, colouring, treatment with oils and greases, drying and
final treatment of the grain surface with waxes, proteins such as
blood and egg albumins, and shellac to produce attractive surface
finishes.
During
the middle ages leather was used for all kinds of purposes such
as: footwear, clothes, leather bags, cases and trunks, leather bottles,
saddlery and harness, for the upholstery of chairs, and couches,
book binding and military uses. It was also used to decorate coaches,
sedan chairs and walls. Many leather articles have been recovered
from the Mary Rose, a Tudor
vessel which sank in 1545.
The majority of the leather
was tanned with oak bark but soft clothing, gloving and footwear
leathers were tanned with alum, oil, and combinations of these two
materials.
With
the discovery and introduction of basic chemicals like lime and
sulphuric acid, tanners gradually abandoned their traditional methods
and leather production slowly became a chemically based series of
processes. Sir Humphrey Davy, the inventor of the miner's safety
lamp, investigated some of these processes.
The growth of industrialisation
in the 18th and 19th centuries created a demand for many new kinds
of leathers, eg, belting leathers to drive the machines being introduced
into industry, special leathers for use in looms in the textile
industry, leathers for use as diaphragms and washers, leathers for
use in transport and for furniture upholstery.
At
the end of the nineteenth century, the invention of the motor car,
modern roads, new ranges of coal tar dyestuffs, the demand for softer,
lightweight footwear with a fashionable appearance, and a general
rise in the standard of living created a demand for soft, supple,
colourful leather. The traditional vegetable tanned leather was
too hard and thick for these requirements and thus, the use of the
salts of the metal chromium was adopted and chrome tanning became
the tannage for modern footwear and fashion leathers. It produces
soft, supple, beautiful and fine leathers, reflecting the way we
live
The Worshipful Company
of Leathersellers The Worshipful
Company of Leathersellers supervised the control of the quality
of mediaeval leather produced in the City of London. They received
their first Chapter of Incorporation in 1444 from King Henry VI,
having been granted articles for the regulation of their craft during
the first Mayoralty of Richard Whittington in 1398.
Through the centuries
the Company has played an important role in the leather industry,
particularly in the field of technical education. The Company founded
a technical college in Bermondsey in 1909 and in 1978 donated £500,000
for the erection of The National Leathersellers Centre at University
College Northampton. The Company continues to maintain close links
with the college and the industry as a whole and has recently been
involved with the development of new premises for the Leather Conservation
Centre, also located on the University College Northampton site.
History Links
mikeredwood.com
See the history tab for a fascinating timeline tracing the history
of leather
Primitive
man hunted wild animals for food; he removed the hides and skins
from the dead animal carcass and used them as crude tents, clothing
and footwear. The earliest record of the use of leather dates from
the Palaeolithic period, cave paintings discovered in caves near
Lerida in Spain depict the use of leather clothing. Excavation of
palaeolithic sites has yielded bone tools used for scraping hides
and skins to remove hair.
.
The manufacture
of leather was introduced to Britain by invaders, the Romans, and
by religious communities, whose monks were expert at making leather,
especially vellum and parchment for writing purposes. The ancient
Britons had many uses for leather from footwear, clothing and leather
bags, to articles of warfare. The hulls of the early boats, known
as coracles, were also covered in leather. 
During
the middle ages leather was used for all kinds of purposes such
as: footwear, clothes, leather bags, cases and trunks, leather bottles,
saddlery and harness, for the upholstery of chairs, and couches,
book binding and military uses. It was also used to decorate coaches,
sedan chairs and walls. Many leather articles have been recovered
from the 
With
the discovery and introduction of basic chemicals like lime and
sulphuric acid, tanners gradually abandoned their traditional methods
and leather production slowly became a chemically based series of
processes. Sir Humphrey Davy, the inventor of the miner's safety
lamp, investigated some of these processes. 
At
the end of the nineteenth century, the invention of the motor car,
modern roads, new ranges of coal tar dyestuffs, the demand for softer,
lightweight footwear with a fashionable appearance, and a general
rise in the standard of living created a demand for soft, supple,
colourful leather. The traditional vegetable tanned leather was
too hard and thick for these requirements and thus, the use of the
salts of the metal chromium was adopted and chrome tanning became
the tannage for modern footwear and fashion leathers. It produces
soft, supple, beautiful and fine leathers, reflecting the way we
live