A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



In 1843, wages were much reduced in 

 Nottingham, the younger hands earning ios., 

 the men from i6j. to 18*. per week, plat-net 

 hands earning from 2 ios. to ^3, plain net 

 costing 4</. per square yard, plat net from ^5 to 

 10. There were 600 fewer machines at 

 work, 500 had been broken up, 100 sent abroad, 

 2,600 however being still engaged, 2,300 in 

 making cotton and 300 silk goods. Of these 

 1,500 made plain and 1,100 fancy work. 66 



In 1848 the trade was crippled by commercial 

 depression." At this date there was beginning 

 in Nottinghamshire the manufacture of black 

 silk ornamented shawls, scarves, and flounces. 68 

 In 1851" 150 machines, chiefly Jacquards, 

 were employed in the production of cotton and 

 muslin edgings, insertions, linen laces, coverlets, 

 blinds, toilet covers, d'oyleys, &c., the curtain 

 manufacture alone, which was to become so marked 

 a feature of the Nottinghamshire trade, being 

 responsible for an output of no less than several 

 tons per week. 60 At the opening of the next 

 decade there were 250 manufacturers and 700 

 bobbin-net frames. 61 



From the evidence of Mr. Richard Birkin, 

 lace maker and lace-machine builder, in 1845, 

 before a commission of inquiry into the condi- 

 tion of the framework knitters, thirty machines, 

 valued at ^6,500, were engaged at his establish- 

 ment, which gave occupation to 2,250 persons. 62 

 This firm, which is represented at the present 

 day by that of Messrs. Birkin & Co., the largest 

 warehouse merchants in the lace trade of Not- 

 tingham, was almost exclusively engaged in the 

 manufacture of fancy bobbin net, which was 

 ornamented by machine and partly embroidered 

 by hand by women. 63 In the employ of the 

 firm at that date were also 172 frame and 

 jobbing smiths, who worked to order, under the 

 superintendence of the manufacturer. 64 In a 

 period of eighteen months Mr. Birkin had sold 

 to French agents at his warehouse 3,580 worth 

 of bobbin net. 65 



The modern history of the Nottingham lace 

 trade, in spite of the inevitable fluctuations of 

 fashion which govern it, is practically that of the 

 preponderant commercial interest of the county. 

 From 1873 to 1883 was a period of great pros- 

 perity in the trade, the number of machines in 

 use during that period increasing from 1,050 to 

 2,25O. 66 At the beginning of the next decade 

 the home worker was much in evidence, engaged 

 for the most part in the processes known as 

 clipping, scolloping, and drawing, all of which 

 take place after the actual manufacture has been 



" Ibid. 378. 

 59 Ibid. 382. 

 61 Ibid. 397. 



46 Felkin, op. cit. 395. 



58 Ibid. 379. 



60 Ibid. 379. 



68 Rep. Framework Knitters, 1845, p. 171 



63 Ibid. 172. "Ibid. 179. 



65 Ibid. 



66 Rep. Cost of Living, 1908, p. 350 



accomplished. 87 In 1903 there were 2,282 out- 

 workers thus employed, one firm alone employ- 

 ing 2OO. 68 According to the latest returns there 

 were 24,731 persons engaged in this industry, of 

 whom 14,000 are women, their employers num- 

 bering about 600 firms. 69 The majority of the 

 Nottingham lace-makers are employed in what is 

 known as the Levers branch, that is to say, in 

 connexion with Levers machine. Of about 

 3,500 persons engaged on the three principal 

 lace machines about 900 are employed on curtain 

 machines and 700 on plain net machines, the 

 remainder being engaged on Levers machines, 

 the plain net being the simplest. 70 The warp in 

 this machine comes off the beam in much the 

 same way as in cotton weaving, the threads, 

 however, occupying an upright instead of a 

 horizontal position. A number of bobbins swing 

 between these upright threads, passing on one 

 side, and, owing to a motion communicated to 

 the warp, returning on the other, thus putting a 

 simple twist round the warp thread. These 

 bobbins, which may be described as narrow 

 metal rollers about 2 in. in diameter, and of 

 about the thickness of a penny, are carried on 

 the machine in a metal carriage which slides in 

 a special groove, a small spring in the carriage 

 controlling the tension of the bobbin thread. 

 After executing a certain number of motions, the 

 bobbins are carried by the action of the machine 

 to the right, the twist being then put round the 

 next warp thread. The twist is held up and 

 the holes in the network created by a series of 

 steel points inserted at each warp thread, which 

 may be considered, according to expert authority, 

 as occupying much the position of the reel in an 

 ordinary power loom. This traversing motion 

 is peculiar to the plain net machines, the bobbins 

 thereby passing the whole way across the breadth 

 of the lace in front, being then transferred to 

 the back row, two sets of bobbins being always in 

 operation, front and back. The fineness of the 

 lace is measured by the number of points to the 

 inch. Machines coming under the head of 

 ' plain net ' are of many varieties, never making 

 patterns, in the strict acceptation of the term, 

 but producing, nevertheless, numerous variations 

 of plain net-work, as, for instance, quillings (lace 

 in which the threads are so arranged, at short 

 intervals, that the lace can be cut across at these 



67 jinn. Rep. Factories and Workshops, 1905, p. 102. 



68 Ibid. 1903, p. 228. 



69 Rep. Trade, 1900, p. 168. 



70 The lace trade of Nottingham is divided into the 

 ' Fancy Lace ' department, including all kinds of 

 trimmings ; that known as ' Lace Curtains and Nets ' ; 

 and a third, ' Plain Nets,' a large quantity of lace 

 being produced off warp lace machines, different in 

 character from any of the above-mentioned. About 

 600 firms are engaged in the manufacture, employing 

 about 20,000 hands ; Official Programme, Assoc. 

 Chambers of Commerce of United Kingdom Notting- 

 ham Meeting, 1901, p. 49. 





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