INDUSTRIES 



and candles.' 40 Frame rents averaged from 

 u. 3<-/. to 2s. 6d. per week, the frames costing 

 16 to 20 in the case of the narrow frames, 

 and ^30 to ^40 in that of the wide frames ; 

 3< was paid for standing room, and 6d. per week 

 was charged at the great holidays of the year. 41 

 The workers were compelled to hire their frames 

 from the master stockinger, who in all instances 

 refused to employ any workmen who did not 

 comply with this regulation. 42 



In 1779 an attempt being made to get the 



The first Nottingham Directory 48 contains 

 the names of 149 hosiers who were carrying on 

 their industry in 1799. In 1812 there were 

 said to be 6,685 frames in the county, of which 

 2,600 were at work in Nottingham. 49 A 

 noticeable feature of the trade at this date was 

 the gradual disappearance from the market of 

 many of the seventeen or eighteen different kinds 

 of hose which had been worn at the opening of 

 the century, the following now beginning to go 

 out of fashion : iilk and cotton non-elastic 



privileges of the London Company extended to plated twilled, and warp-vandyked hose, &c. ; 



Arnold, Mr. Need placed himself in opposition 

 to the movement. The operatives thereupon 

 retaliated by breaking his frames, drawing the 

 jack-wires, without which it was impossible to 

 work them, from the mechanism, and in some 

 instances depositing the ruined frames in Arnold 

 Church. 43 



The indignant remonstrance of the journey- 

 men framework-knitters drew forth from the 

 London Company an inquiry into the matter ; 

 two master hosiers, Fellowes, who had migrated 

 from London, and Cartwright of Nottingham, 

 being singled out for attack. The former, we 



the decline in this branch of the manufacture 

 put out of employment no fewer than 500 

 frames. 60 Silk tickler mitts, and silk elastic 

 mitts and gloves, which were included in the 

 hosiery trade, had also ceased to be in de- 

 mand. 51 



Great damage was being done to the industry 

 at this date by the system of 'coking,' 'colts' 

 being men who started the occupation of stock- 

 ing-makers without having served the customary 

 apprenticeship, and who were therefore con- 

 sidered inferior workmen. It was common for 

 gentlemen's servants who had saved ^150 or 



are told, had no less than forty-nine apprentices 200 to pay a premium of five or ten guineas to 





in his employ, whilst Cartwright had twenty- 

 three. For this infringing of the company's 

 regulations a fine of ^400 was levied on Fel- 

 lowes, and one of 150 on Cartwright. Sup- 

 ported by the gentry and shopkeepers of the 

 county, who desired to see the stocking trade 

 firmly established in their midst, Cartwright, on 

 his goods being seized to pay the fine, retaliated 

 by bringing an action for trespass against the 

 company, and a resultant verdict in his favour 

 struck a blow, destined to be final, at the power of 

 the London body. 44 



In March 1 8 1 1 the Luddite 45 or frame-break- 

 ing movement, to which fuller reference is 

 made elsewhere 46 in this volume, began in the 

 county. 'The curtailment of hands by the 

 wholesale hosiers ' caused great distress among 

 the framework-knitters. 47 



40 Toulmin Smith, Engl. Gilds, 233. 



41 Henson, op. cit. " Toulmin Smith, op. cit. 

 43 Factory Com. Rep. 1833 (C. i), 181. From 1794 



to 1810 (see advertisements in the Notts. Journ.) 

 framework knitters and tailors were constantly meeting 

 ' to consider of matters relative to the trade ' ; Webb, 

 Trade Unionism, 66. 



" Ref>. Framework Knitters, 1845, p. 8. 



46 From Ned Lud, a Leicestershire imbecile, who 

 is said to have destroyed his father's stocking-frames 

 in a fit of passion. Russell, Thoroton Sac. Trans, x, 

 54. The movement lasted, according to Felkin, 

 until 1817, by which time about 1,000 stocking- 

 frames and eighty lace-machines had been destroyed 

 by the rioters, many of whom suffered the death 

 penalty. Felkin, op. cit. 239. 



46 See ' Social and Economic History.' 



" Ann. Reg. 1 8 Nov. 1 8 1 1 . In a ' Statement of 

 the transactions in Nottingham and the neighbour- 



learn the art, and then to set up, frequently at 

 the end of six months, with ten or twelve frames, 

 which the poorer, skilled workman could not 

 afford to buy. 52 



In 1819, Nottingham having been selected 

 as a centre, a schedule of prices was issued, 

 which the employers agreed to pay and the 

 operatives to accept, 63 but commercial depression 

 making it impossible to maintain this schedule, 

 a general strike took place in 1821 as the result 

 of a meeting at Alfreton of the Midland frame- 

 work knitters, 'scarcely a dozen hose being made 

 in the three counties,' writes Felkin, ' for two 

 months.' 6 ' 1 



By this date Nottingham, though still ac- 

 knowledged to be the centre of the cotton 

 hosiery trade, Derby being famed for its silk 



hood from the commencement of the disturbance;, 

 II March 18 I I to 8 Feb. 1812,' transcribed by Mr. 

 Russell from the private papers of the late Mr. Richard 

 Enfield of Bramcote, and printed in the Thoroton 

 Soc. Trans, x, 54, it is stated that the ' Frame- 

 workers were very vociferous in their condemnation 

 of their employers, and clamorous for work at a more 

 liberal price.' ' Some frames at Kimberley,' we 

 learn from the same source, ' were destroyed on the 

 allegation that the person in whose possession they 

 were had been in the habit of teaching Framework 

 knitting without being bound apprentice.' 'The 

 wide frames used for cut-ups were the most obnoxious 

 to the Luddites.' See Luddite facsimiles and tran- 

 scripts, op. cit. 59-61. 



48 Willoughby, Dir. 1 799. 



49 Felkin, op. cit. 437. 



50 Ibid. 435. "Ibid. 

 52 Rep. Framework Knitters, 1812, p. 37. 



" Felkin, op. cit. 442-3. " Ibid. 445. 



355 



