莲履 Chinese lotus shoes
These were brought to Liverpool from China in the late 19th or early 20th century. I say that with some confidence for two reasons: (1) The shoes, which may be wedding shoes, have a design that appears to be consistent with those of the Qing dynasty; (2) John Thomson, who was the father of my mother’s mother, reportedly worked on a ship that sailed to China. Some notes on the family tree, which I made in 1978-79, read in regard to John Thomson: “Born Princes Street, Edinburgh; became chief marine engineer on China sailing ship; took to drink; died 1914 war.” This information almost certainly came to me from my mother, Elsie Fletcher.
