Cordwainers are shoemakers who practised their trade for centuries within the walls of the City of London. During the medieval period, craftsmen formed guilds to regulate their trades and to protect the quality of their wares. The guilds trained apprentices and supported their members through good times and bad.

What is a cordwainer occupation?

A cordwainer (/ˈkɔːrdˌweɪnər/) is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes.

What was a journeyman cordwainer?

Thus "cordwainers" were the men who worked with leather. In 1794, numerous journeymen shoemakers in Philadelphia formed the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers with the goal of protecting their wages. ... Those journeymen who defied the society's request were known as "scabs," the same term still used today.