Satin slippers, made in France, c.1838-1848
These shoes wouldn't have lasted long outdoors. The thin suede soles and silk uppers would be damaged easily. They are pretty but impractical.
A card found with the shoes says they belonged to Catherine Stephenson. Catherine's husband was William Stephenson, who published and sold books in Hull. Catherine would have worn these shoes to parties. Having the right clothes would have been important for the Stephensons, because they were part of fashionable middle class society.
These shoes have 'droite' and 'gauche' (French for right and left) marked inside them on paper stickers. It was very fashionable to have imported French shoes in the 1800s. The shoes were well looked after. They came to Hull Museums in a handmade cotton bag, with 'shoes' embroidered neatly near the fastening.
The 1841 census shows that Catherine and William Stephenson lived on Grimston Street. The Street overlooked Queens Dock, now Queens Gardens. They lived there with three servants, one of whom was a nurse maid. Catherine and William had two children who survived childhood.
William established the Eastern Counties Herald in 1838 as a newspaper 'without politics'. It was an advertiser for hotels, inns, reading rooms and coffee houses. The Herald claimed to have a readership of 160,000 in June 1842. This would have outstripped the competition from the Hull Advertiser, Hull Packet and Hull Rockingham newspapers.
By 1842 Catherine and William had risen in society. William published his own local trade directory, 'Stephenson's Directory'. In the directory, he lists himself as:
"Bookseller, stationer, printer and publisher of the Eastern Counties Herald; advertising and news agent; and agent to the Australia Emigration Company, 51 Lowgate".
In the same year, Catherine and William moved to 45 High Street. Unfortunately Catherine didn't enjoy life there for very long as she died in the 1840s. The 1851 census shows William Stephenson had married another lady, Caroline.
