I Walk the (Plimsoll) Line

 

by Chairman Joe McDonnell

A week ago Tuesday, December 1, my fellow Almanacker, Mr. Hot Cocoa, noted than the first tennis shoes  were called Plimsolls. I knew a Plimsoll line was something on a ship, but I didn't know what a line  had to do with tennis shoes, nor that this line had ended the Parliamentary career of it's inventor, Samuel Plimsoll.

Rubber soles were first attached to uppers in the 1830s. By the 1870s there was enough of a middle class in England that there was a demand for rubber soled shoes for tennis and croquet. Samuel Plimsoll was born in 1824 in Bristol, England. He started off at the bottom working in a brewery and rose to be manager. He started his own coal business but went bankrupt and was reduced to living with other down and outers in a boarding house. This experience gave him sympathy for the poor, and when fortune returned, he vowed to do what he could to help the working class.

He was elected to Parliament as a member of the Liberal party during the time of the notorious coffin ships. Ship owners would overload their ships, making sure they were heavily insured. If the ship made it, the owner made a good profit. If the ship sank the owner collected the insurance and to hell with the crew. 

Plimsoll  worked for years on a bill that, if it became law, would limit the amount of cargo a ship could carry. His main opposition was from other members of Parliament who were also ship owners. Just as the bill was coming to a vote, the Conservative prime minister withdrew it. Old Plimsoll lost his cool. He called his opponents "villains" and shook his fist at the house speaker. This was unacceptable behavior and Plimsoll apologized. The populace knew the bill had been withdrawn at the bidding of the shipowners and public opinion forced a new vote and a law with teeth was passed. The line on ships showing how heavily they could be loaded was named after Plimsoll.

Plimsoll resigned from Parliament and became president of the National Sailors Union. He worked for the humane treatment of cattle being transported on ships. Later, he traveled to the U.S. to lobby publishers there to tone down the anti-British sentiments in textbooks used by American children. What an excellent fellow!

Enough about Sam Plimsoll. What about Plimsoll tennis shoes? As noted above, tennis and croquet shoes first appeared in 1876. In 1920, a new brand came out with a colored line around the top of the sole. If the wearer went into water deeper than the line, his or her feet would get wet. Plimsoll had died 22 years earlier so was never aware of this tribute. 

Plimsolls went with Scott on his expedition to the South Pole. That doesn't seem very practical, but perhaps they were only used inside the tent. Between the two World Wars, British soldiers were issued either white or black versions. The soldiers were kept busy either whitening or blackening their Plimsolls. The shoes were also used to apply corporeal punishment to erring soldiers, and acquired the name slappers.

Plimsoll with line

Plimsoll line

Plimsoll