

INDUSTRIES 



tingham as well as in other great towns in the 

 kingdom. Like other crafts, the right to exer- 

 cise their art was only granted to those who were 

 burgesses or free of the trade. On 18 July 

 1614, at Nottingham, John England was pre- 

 sented for infringing this regulation, ' to the great 

 wrong and abuse of the trade.' Similar offenders 

 were Henry King, Henry Wells, and Allen Capp. 

 Fines of y. q.d. were inflicted. 63 



Ten years later, decay seems to have set in 

 with regard to this industry, the Tailors' Com- 

 pany describing themselves in 1624-5 as 'above 

 all trades the poorest company in the town,' and 

 complaining to the authorities of the numbers of 

 strangers who were allowed to trade under the 

 names of persons who had sufficient means to 

 live by, but who, it would appear, accepted a 

 bribe from these ' strangers ' for the use of their 

 names. 64 



Instances are not wanting at Nottingham of 

 that shrewd economy which was at all times in 

 the past history of the English poor-relief system 

 concerned with the problem of ' setting the poor 

 on work.' Orders were given to this effect in 

 1640, the work assigned to those in need of it 

 to be the spinning of linen and woollen, also the 

 carding of candle wick, at the following wages : 

 For carding and spinning the finest wool 6d. per 

 lb., 5</. per Ib. the second sort, and 4^d. the third 

 sort. For spinning all sorts of linen, I d. per skein 

 (ley). The reel held 4 yds. One halfpenny 

 per Ib. was paid for carding candle-wick, id. for 

 pulling the 'middling' (coarser kind) out of it, 

 and id. for spinning candle-wick. 65 About half 

 a century later a somewhat more elaborate scheme 

 was set on foot in the city. One Abraham 

 Grooby of Melton Mowbray, described as a 

 ' woosten weaver,' 66 entered into an agreement, 

 5 February 1693, with the corporation to set up 

 a spinning school, in which, however, it was stipu- 



lated that he should not employ any ' foreigners.' 67 

 The work to be taught in this school was, in 

 addition to spinning, that of jersey combing. 68 

 A salary of ^20 and ^6 for rent were to be 

 paid to him ; 69 but four years after we gather 

 that the enterprise had not justified the expecta- 

 tions formed of it, as the rent was ordered to be 

 4 suspended,' and Grooby to return all materials 

 and wheels which had been supplied to him. 70 



The manufacture of ' coarse cloth for hop- 

 bags ' 71 was employing ' many indigent people ' 

 at Retford in 1772. 



According to the first Nottingham Directory, 

 published in 1799, there were at that date five 

 cotton manufacturers in Nottingham. 72 



Smock-making was carried on at Newark and 

 other places in the county, a well-known ' smock- 

 mill ' being that of Paul Reddish at East 

 Bridgeford. 73 



In 1839 2,272 persons were employed in 

 the textile trades of the county at twenty-one 

 mills, thirteen of these producing cotton goods 

 at Bulwell, Cuckney, Lowdham, Mansfield, 

 Nottingham, and Sutton in Ashfield, whilst at 

 Nottingham, Radford, and Sutton Bonnington 

 there were four worsted mills, and four silk mills 

 at Nottingham and Southwell. 74 



A former feature of the textile trade of Nott- 

 inghamshire, the practice of custom-weaving, had 

 by this date passed away. Custom-weavers, being 

 those who wove the yarn spun in private houses, 

 were originally a numerous class, but owing to 

 the altered conditions of production, they gradually 

 drifted into agricultural and other pursuits. 75 



A modern development of the textile trade 

 of Nottingham is the ' making-up ' industry, 

 which employs some thousands of hands in the 

 making of blouses, ladies' shirts, aprons, children's 

 pinafores, costumes, bonnet fronts, cap shapes, 

 trillings, embroideries, and trimmings. 



DYEING AND BLEACHING 



Both these trades, intimately connected at an 

 early date with the wool and cloth industries, 

 and in modern times with those of lace and 

 hosiery, were established in the county in remote 

 mediaeval times. In a deed dated 1328 mention 

 is made of the release of a house formerly be- 

 longing to Thomas le Lyster (dyer), opposite the 

 Friars Minor. 1 In 1407 Robert de Chester- 

 field, occupy ing a 'poytre,' in the highway, injured 



63 Rec. Bon. Nott. iv, 324. 



"Ibid v, 259-60. 



66 Ibid. 418. "Ibid. 380. 



69 Ibid. 395. 



" Quincey, Tour In Midlands, 44. 



71 Willoughby, Dir. 79. 



" Granger, Qld Notts. 29. 



M Ibid. 391. 



"Ibid 

 70 Ibid. 



his neighbours with his dyes (aquatincturae}? 

 Several of de Chesterfield's fellow-craftsmen were 

 similarly presented by the Mickletorn jury for 

 blocking up the king's highway with ' purpres- 

 tures ' 3 of their ' poyetres,' and defiling the same 

 with ejection of the waters of their art, to the 

 corruption of the whole people there passing, the 

 names of the offenders being Robert de Selston, 

 Richard Lister, Thomas Bedford, John Remay, 



74 Rep. Handloom Weavers, 1840, p. 254. 



"Ibid. p. 352. 



1 Stevenson, Rec. Bora. Nott. :, 275. 



1 Notts, and Derb. N. and Q. Jan. 1898, p. 13. 



* 'Purpresture' an encroachment on anything that 

 belongs to the king or the public ; Halliwcl', Diet. 

 Archaic Words, 653. 



347 



