A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



GLOVE-MAKING 



The glove-making industry is among the most 

 ancient in the county. In 1311 Walter the 

 Cooper was convicted at Newark of stealing 

 twelve pairs, whilst Gilbert son of John Wygan, 

 of the same town, stole six pairs of his master's 

 goods. 1 Robert de Burton, glover, was made a 

 burgess, paying the customary fine of 6s. 8d., in 

 I395-6. 2 In 1418 Roger Malyng, glover, was 

 convicted of housebreaking at Newark. 3 William 

 Spondon, who carried on the craft in the same 

 town, by his will dated 2O July 1476, left be- 

 quests to his apprentices William Atkynson and 

 John Wyngale. 4 Thomas de Lenton, glover, 

 brought an action against Thomas del Peek at 

 Nottingham in 1480, the said Thomas having 

 agreed to take from him twenty-two dozen gloves, 

 to be supplied at the rate of two dozen a week, 

 until 5*. 6<-/. advanced for leather should be paid 

 back. Thomas only cut six dozen and four 

 pairs of gloves, and left sixteen dozen and eight 

 pairs unworked, which should have been sold at 

 Lenton Fair. 6 Thomas Huby, glover, was en- 

 rolled as burgess in 1547-8, and similar entries 

 are numerous in the records of the borough. 



The manufacture of gloves continued to be 

 an industry of the county throughout the fol- 

 lowing centuries, leather being largely replaced, 

 however, by silk, cotton, and thread, gloves of 

 these materials, together with mitts, being made 

 upon the stocking-frame. 7 



The Spanish industry of glove-making on the 

 stocking-frame, which was introduced from Cor- 



dova into England about the middle of the 1 8th 

 century, soon become a very lucrative trade of 

 Nottingham, high wages being obtained. The 

 gloves in question were made by split fingers, 

 in which the workman wrought with seven 

 threads at once, one for the forefinger and two 

 for each of the other ringers, the thumb and 

 gussets between being made after the glove was 

 completed. A quantity of ornamentation was 

 introduced round the thumb and on the back 

 leading to the fingers. It was in silk mitts, how- 

 ever, that the greatest ingenuity was displayed in 

 this direction, rose leaves, branches, and other 

 designs being worked by hand with running 

 stitches from one needle to another. 8 



Numbers of persons were engaged at Mans- 

 field in 1 800 in the manufacture of silk and 

 cotton gloves, principally the latter, two frames 

 having been set up there by Messrs. W. and T. 

 Haynes of Nottingham. 9 In 1828 the ' fashion of 

 black kid gloves ' caused the silk glove to suffer. 10 



In 1843 'here was 'an enormous demand for 

 French point net gloves and mitts,' which were 

 exquisitely embroidered, we are told, in gold, 

 silver, and coloured threads, pearls being even 

 sometimes inserted in the fabric. The cost of 

 these articles was from 145. to 32*. u Mitts were 

 largely manufactured by Mr. Fellowes of Not- 

 tingham, whose factory was at the Weekday 

 Cross, under the direction of Ferdinando Shaw 

 of Mansfield, who learnt some secrets of the 

 trade from a widow in Valenciennes. 1 ' 



WOOL 



The geographical position of the towns of 

 Nottingham and Newark, commanding alike the 

 great highway to the north and the no less im- 

 portant waterway of 'princely Trent,' together 

 with the easy access of these commercial centres 

 to the staple ports of Lincoln, Boston, and 

 Kingston on Hull, gave a singular impetus to 

 the wool trade of the county in mediaeval times. 

 Early alien colonies, for the most part Flemish 

 in constitution, 1 were established in both Not- 



1 Brown, Hist. Newark, 191. 



1 Stevenson, Rfc. Born. Nott. i, 287. 



3 Brown, op. cit. 191. ' Ibid. 358. 



5 Stevenson, op. cit. i, 329. Thomas Greg, glover, 

 rented a close called the Hermitage in 1513; ibid, 

 iii, 472. 



* Ibid, iv, 2. 



7 Henson, Hist. Framework Knitting. 6 Ibid. 105. 



9 Harrod, Hist. Mansfield, 6. 



10 Gaz. Engl. and Wales, 1843, p. 547. 



tingham and Newark,* whilst intimate trade 

 relations existed at as early a date between both 

 Flemish and Florentine wool merchants and the 

 great religious houses of the shire. 3 



Such transactions, however, were by no means 

 confined to alien purchasers. A mediaeval in- 

 cident of the wool commerce of the county is 

 recorded in the chartulary of Welbeck Abbey, 

 William, merchant of Lincoln, being ordered 

 ' to come to reasonable terms with the Abbot,' 



11 Henson, Hist, framework Knitting, 282. 



" Phillips, Persona/ Tour; 1 70. 



1 It may be assumed that weavers were numerous 

 in colonies of this character. 



1 Robert le Fleming was a burgess of Nottingham 

 in 1276 ; Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. 176. 



3 The following sold wool in the 1 3th century to 

 foreign merchants : Rufford, Welbeck, Mattcrsey, 

 Worksop, Shelford, Lenton, and Newstead ; Cun- 

 ningham, Engl. Industry and Commerce, 628 (App.). 



340 



