A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



previously there had been a strike of frame-work 

 knitters, and in 1814 a hosiery manufacturer 

 had been threatened with death unless he raised 

 the wages of his workmen. But the present 

 moment, being that of the Bristol riots, was a 

 specially alarming one. It was thought that 



the turbulent behaviour of the stocking-makers was 

 caused by some abandoned characters from Derby 

 and Nottingham, who had made erroneous statements 

 respecting the wages paid by the manufacturers in 

 those towns. 1 



The influence of these agitators was counteracted 

 by the wisdom of the magistrates, who induced the 

 workmen ' to depute a committee to state their 

 grievances in writing,' and thereby effected a peace- 

 ful compromise between them and the masters. 

 In 1842 the hosiery trade suffered so great a de- 

 pression that 220 frames were stopped for six 

 weeks, and there was talk of providing employ- 

 ment for the knitters out of the poor-rates. 

 Most fortunately this scheme was pronounced 

 illegal by the Board of Guardians, and soon after 

 trade improved sufficiently for work to be given 

 at low wages, which the operatives thankfully 

 accepted. 2 The decline in the hosiery hand- 

 loom manufacture was, however, serious, as is 

 shown by the census reports. By 1851 the 

 number of persons employed in it had fallen to 

 276, and though the next decade showed a 

 slight improvement in numbers, yet from 1861 

 they fell steadily, till in 1891 only fifty-seven 

 persons were employed. Since then, however, 

 the last census reports a rise in the number of 

 hosiery employees to 216, thanks to the estab- 

 lishment of Messrs. Walker's hosiery factory at 

 Dunkirk Mills, Nailsworth, in 1891. This 

 firm, like many others, utilized a deserted cloth 

 mill, the oldest part of which had been built in 

 1798, and has been described, under the title 

 ' Enderley Mill,' in Mrs. Craik's John Halifax, 

 Gentleman. Only stocking-wear is turned out, 

 and this enjoys a fairly steady sale. 



This revival, however, only replaces to a small 

 degree the lack of employment created by the 

 failure of the older Tewkesbury industry. Hand- 

 looms of course, both singly and collectively, 

 demanded far more employment of labour. Two 

 thousand of them would not have turned out 

 more goods than can six of the modern electric- 

 power looms, which make 360 or 380 revolu- 

 tions for five or six of the old sort ; and two 

 power-looms can be managed by one man. 

 Each workman under the old system, however, 

 earned about as much money as his modern 

 successor. Moreover, in addition to the persons 

 actually employed in weaving, the old industry 

 gave employment to 500 or 600 persons in its 

 accessory processes, such as seaming, scouring, 



1 J. Bennett, Tewkesbury Tearly Reg. i, 70, 71. 

 1 Ibid, ii, 8 1, 82. 



bleaching, sewing on calico bands and buttons 

 to the hosiery garments, and embroidering or 

 clocking the stockings. Framesmiths, who re- 

 paired the looms, and needle-makers, who made 

 the special needles required for them, were also 

 supported at Tewkesbury by the hosiery trade 

 there. These needles were peculiarly formed 

 with a hook or ' beard ' at the knitting end, and 

 with little lumps, or notches, at the other. The 

 latter helped to fix the needle in the needle- 

 mould, into which melted pewter was also 



STOCKING-LOOM NEEDLE 



poured. These 'heads' were then ready for 

 insertion in the frame, which was made to carry 

 a larger or smaller number, according to the 

 width of work required. In the frame were 

 also 'jacks' and 'sinkers,' which knitted the 

 stitches all across the frame. About 1860 a 

 time-saving invention was made in the 'carrier,' 

 which enabled the yarn to be thrown more 

 rapidly across the loom, but such small improve- 

 ments could not save the hand-looms from going 

 down before the flood of machine competition. 

 Tewkesbury hosiers had not sufficient capital to 

 set up the large power-looms, which cost some 

 ^700. Thus by 1875 the industry had sunk 

 very low, and finally flickered out a few years 

 ago. The last batch of hand-frames, which cost 

 originally 400, were sold for 30*. as old iron 

 by Mr. Wilkes, the last of the hand-loom manu- 

 facturers. His firm, established about 1829, 

 worked for a Mr. Hooke of Exeter, and owned 

 40 looms. Up to the end he was constantly 

 called on to supplement the work of the power- 

 looms, which is undoubtedly inferior. The 

 hand-loom stocking was far stronger, containing 

 an average of nine or ten threads in thickness, 

 and was looked over individually after weaving, 

 in order that all dropped stitches might be picked 

 up by hand. Hence hand-made hosiery is still 

 in demand, and large quantities of hose used to 

 be sent to Tewkesbury to be '.doctored' and 

 sold as hand-manufactured. This is a curious 

 instance of the harking-back of fashion. 



In conclusion, it may be noticed that the 

 woollen manufacture of Gloucestershire probably 

 originated, though it does not now supply, the 

 considerable clothing business in the county, 

 especially at Stroud and Bristol. In the former 

 town is a large production of ready-made cloth- 

 ing, mainly in the hands of Jews ; in the latter 

 is a corset manufacture that employs a very large 

 number of hands, and is possibly descended from 

 the ' whalebone boddes ' made by the Merchant 

 Taylors in the seventeenth century. 8 



s See F. F. Hot.,Anct.Trat. tfMer. Taylors, 19-20. 



198 



