G Jenkinson Advertising flyer

G Jenkinson’s shop in Market Place was among the local shops which produced flyers to advertise clothing/footwear in late Victorian/Edwardian times; the flyers could be inserted in other publications or distributed direct to customers.

A popular price for boots was 4/11 (4 shillings and 11 pence), about 25p. The ‘very durable’ men’s boots at 10/6 and 12/6 represented a considerable outlay –about half a weekly wage for labourers. Today’s equivalent value of 10/6 is about £52. Buyers would expect to have the soles and heels repaired as necessary to prolong the boots’ life, although the hobnails would protect the leather for a good while.  

Where the boots were buttoned rather than laced a button hook would most likely be used. Ceramic shoe-shaped hot water bottles could be inserted to warm the boots.

This pale green flyer is included in a folder of varied material in Tom Beastall’s papers held at Doncaster Archives, reference: DZ/Beastall/2/5. It may be compared with a flyer which featured in Newsletter No. 17, Summer 2008, and headed ‘Advertising c. 1910’ (also available in the snippets section of our main website under ‘trades’). That flyer was produced by Jarvis & Sons (The Drapers) in Sunderland Street and advertised ladies’ ‘semi-trimmed’ straw hats.

This flyer is reproduced by kind permission of Doncaster Archives. No restrictions are placed on viewing the Tom Beastall Archive which is available for all to see.