INDUSTRIES 



haustively told.* On his death his brother, 

 James Lee, removed from Old Street Square, 

 London, to Thoroton, where he was joined by 

 Aston, the miller who had refused to accompany 

 William Lee to France, and who was the first 

 to apply to the stocking-frame the still-existing 

 improvement of the lead-sinkers. 6 The trade 

 grew but slowly in Nottinghamshire. In 1641 

 there were two master hosiers in Nottingham, 7 

 whilst in 1664 200 workmen were engaged at 

 100 frames. 8 



The web produced on the first stocking-frame 

 was flat and even, making, when joined at the 

 selvedges, an unshapen cylinder ; Lee, however, 

 we are told, soon learned to narrow or take in, 

 or to widen or let out, the web, by loops added 

 or taken away at the outer edges. The flat web 

 continued to be the only one which could be 

 produced until the invention by Sir Marc 

 Brunei of the tricoteur, by which a stocking 

 could be knitted in one piece. 9 This machine, 

 the largest wheel in which was only i6in. in 

 diameter, although coming into existence in 

 1 8 1 6, does not appear to have reached the Not- 

 tingham market until 1845. It eventually became 

 the property of M. Ternaux of Paris. 10 



At the first enumeration of frames in the 

 United Kingdom in 1669 there were 660 in the 

 whole country, 100 being in Nottingham, three- 

 fifths of the articles produced being of silk. 11 

 Roger Ryley(i688) and John Goodall (1694) 

 are amongst the earliest members of the craft 

 whose names occur in the Borough Records of 

 Nottingham, the latter having been made a 

 burgess in the above-mentioned year. 12 At the 

 opening of the i8th century there were 8,000 

 frames at work, 400 of these being at Notting- 

 ham. 13 In 1714 a stocking-maker, working 

 four days a week, could earn 10*. 6d. 1 * 



At this date, the framework knitters of the 

 midland counties, where the industry was gradu- 

 ally growing in importance, and centering to an 

 almost exclusive degree, were about to enter on 

 their prolonged resistance to the claims and exac- 

 tions of the parent company of the London Frame- 

 work Knitters, who were incorporated during 

 the Commonwealth. Their charter was renewed 

 by Charles II in 16634, the jurisdiction assigned 

 to them extending over all members of the craft 

 in England and Wales. 16 The note of rebellion 

 was most vehemently struck against the fees im- 



5 See Felkin, Hist. Hosiery and Lace ; Blackner, Hist. 

 Nott. ; Cunningham, Engl. Industry and Commerce, &c. 

 8 Gaz. Engl. and Wales, 546. 



7 Henson, Hist, framework Knitting, 58. 



8 Ibid. 60. * Ency. Brit, xii, 12. 



10 Beamish, Life of Brunei, 143. 



11 Rep. Com. Framework Knitters, 1845, p. 15. 

 " Rec. Bon. Nott. v, 340. 



13 Rep. Com. Framework Knitters, loc. cit. 



14 Henson, op. cit. 105. 



15 Brentano, ' Origin Trade Unions,' in Toulmin 

 Smith, Engl. Gilds, clxxix. 



posed upon the country craftsmen, which were 

 universally regarded as excessive. These fees 

 were : for entering and binding an apprentice, 

 9*. ; for admittance on becoming a journeyman, 

 1 5*. ; on becoming a workhouse keeper, to take 

 apprentices, 13;. ; a total of 37*. a year, with 5*. 

 for stamps, and is. a. year for quarterage. 18 In 

 response to the protest, the London Company 

 appointed deputies for the three hosiery-producing 

 counties of Nottingham, Leicester, and Derby, 

 their names being William Wilson, John Wright, 

 John Gillman, William Robinson, James Stephen- 

 son, William Hurst, and William Pagett. 17 In 

 1727 out of a total of 3,500 framework knitters 

 in the Midlands, 400 were in Nottingham, about 

 forty in Mansfield, and rather more in Sutton 

 in Ashfield. 18 From about 1730 onwards, a 

 feature of the trade, pointed out by Blackner, 19 

 was its gradual migration from London to 

 Nottingham, a migration which must have been 

 complete but for the fact that it was then the 

 fashion to wear stockings of the same colour as 

 the suit, 20 and consequently more convenient to 

 have the former made on the spot, where it was 

 easier to effect a match. Between 1732 and 

 1750 it is estimated that 8,000 frames were 

 brought from London to Nottingham, where 

 they were sold for less than half-price. 21 From 

 *733 to X 739> J 35 framework knitters were en- 

 rolled and took up their freedom as burgesses. 22 

 In 1739 there were fifty framework-knitters, 

 fourteen frame-smiths, twelve needle-makers, 

 eight setters-up, and five sinker-makers engaged 

 in the industry in Nottingham. 23 In addition 

 to their standing grievance against the London 

 Company regarding fees, the number of appren- 

 tices which a master framework knitter was 

 allowed to take, and the employment of women 

 at the frames, were now put forward as subjects 

 requiring the restrictive attention of Parliament. 24 

 Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire associated 

 themselves with the framework-knitters of Derby- 

 shire in 1773, when at a meeting held at the 

 ' Green Dragon ' at Derby, the following resolu- 

 tion was passed : 26 



It was unanimously resolved First, with the con- 

 sent of the London Company of Framework Knitters, 

 that Courts of Assistants should be established in every 

 principal town where the manufacture is carried on, in 

 order the more effectually to remedy those abuses which 



18 Henson, op. cit. 198. 



"Ibid. 136. "Ibid. 1 06. 



19 Blackner, Hist. Nott. 215. 



10 Yellow, pompadour, peach, and pea-green were 

 favourite colours at this date ; Henson, op. cit. 1 68. 



11 Ibid. 169. 



" Bailey, Annals of 'Notts, iii, 1,181. 



" Blackner, Hist, of Nott. 215. 



14 One man in Brewhouse Yard had as many as 

 twenty-six apprentices, and ' never a journeyman for 

 30 years' ; Henson, op. cit. 100. 



" f.C.H. Derb. ii, 368. 



353 



45 



