The British Shoe Size Scale
Feet measured in barleycorns, and still are.
Origin
Traced to Edward II’s standardisation of the inch as three barleycorns in 1324, with the sizing convention formalised by cordwainers thereafter.
The catch
Every British shoe size is exactly one barleycorn larger than the last: one third of an inch, a unit fixed in 1324 and abandoned for every other purpose. Your shoe size is the last place a medieval grain measure is still in daily commercial use.
| Adult size | Last length (inches) | Last length (mm) | Barleycorns above child size 0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 9.33 | 237 | 16 |
| 5 | 10.00 | 254 | 18 |
| 7 | 10.67 | 271 | 20 |
| 8 | 11.00 | 279 | 21 |
| 9 | 11.33 | 288 | 22 |
| 10 | 11.67 | 296 | 23 |
| 12 | 12.33 | 313 | 25 |
Children’s sizes run from 0 to 13 and adult sizes restart at 1, which is why the scale appears to double back on itself. The child size 0 was set at four inches, a length taken as the smallest practical shoe. The system remains in use across Britain and Ireland, while the United States uses a similar barleycorn progression offset by roughly one size, and continental Europe uses the Paris point of two thirds of a centimetre instead. The lengths are those of the last, the wooden form the shoe is built on, which runs a little longer than the foot that wears it.