Secrets of the James - Captain Smith, what are you doing here?

by Judith Warrington, JRA's Communications Coordinator

Do you recognize this man? Of course, it’s a statue of our own Captain John Smith, just as we picture him, the swashbuckler, outfitted in short cape, sword and slouchy boots as he bravely explores the New World. But this is not the statue that was erected on Jamestown Island. This is the representation of a slightly more portly Captain Smith located in front of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in Cheapside, London.

Here, in the city to which he returned after his extraordinary adventures in the New World, he is identified simply as: Captain John Smith, citizen and cordwainer 1580-1631. The statue’s base reads: “First among the leaders of the settlement at Jamestown from which began the overseas expansion of the English speaking peoples.”

Who would call Captain John Smith, merely a citizen and cordwainer and not the explorer of the Chesapeake Bay or governor of Virginia and admiral of New England? It’s hardly the veneration he receives in Virginia. And exactly what is a cordwainer anyway?

It turns out that a cordwainer made shoes and boots from luxurious, soft cordovan leather that only the wealthy could afford. However, American biographers tend to say that Smith was an “alleged” cordwainer. Either way, it was an honorable profession and in London the cordwainers maintained a strong and wealthy guild. So it makes you wonder… if Captain John Smith was a boot maker, perhaps he made those fabulous boots he is shown wearing in both of his statues.

In addition to the cordwainer conundrum, this chance meeting with Captain John Smith raised another question: Was the good captain right-handed or left-handed? In Jamestown, his sword is on the right, meaning he would have been left-handed. In London, his sword is on the left, meaning he would draw it with his right hand. It’s always nice to meet a familiar face when you travel, so if you’re ever in London, stop by St. Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside and visit Captain Smith.

Read more about footwear and condwainers at Jamestown:
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Summer00/shoemaker.cfm