60 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF LEICESTER AND DISTRICT 
VI. 
THE INDUSTRIES OF LEICESTER 
BY 
L. W. KERSHAW, B.Sc., A.M.Inst.C.E., F.G.S. (PRINCIPAL, 
LEICESTER COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY) ; F.R. ANTCLIFF, B.Sc., 
A.M.1I.Mech.E.; J. CHAMBERLAIN, F.T.L.; J. P. IVENS, 
M.A.; anp F. W. ROBERTS, F.B.S.1. 
The Hosiery Industyy.—Introduction—State of Employment—Early Period— 
Introduction of Machinery—Materials Used—Purchase of Raw Materials— 
Processes—Machines Used—Labour—Marketing—Piece-work—Technical 
and Art Training. 
Boot and Shoe Industyy.—Mass-production—Invention of Machines—Domestic 
System—Raw Materials—Specialisation—Processes—Statistics—Relations 
of Employers and Employed—Wages—Agents and Merchants—Women’s 
Shoes. 
Engineering Industvyy—Products—Hosiery Machines—Elastic Web Industry— 
Shoe Machinery—Machine Tools—Quarry and Roadstone Machines— 
Wood-working Machines—Heating and Ventilating—Scientific and Optical 
Instruments and Photographic Lenses—Electric Clocks—Cardboard Boxes 
—Typewriters—Technical Training. 
Subsidiary Industries and other Industries, including Printing. 
THE popular slogan which avers that ‘ Leicester clothes the world,’ 
doubtless owes its origin to a sudden consciousness of local patriotism 
strengthened by the city’s relative prosperity in a world of economic 
depression. As a statement of tendency and asa reference to the multi- 
plicity of trades established there, the boast is true and invites analysis, 
as affording a possible explanation of this prosperity. Of the population 
of 239,000, nearly 50 per cent. (115,000) are insured workers, of whom 
65,000 are men and 50,000 women. ‘This percentage, in respect of both 
men and women, is nearly double the average percentage for the whole 
of the country, and indicates that the purchasing power of the working- 
classes in Leicester, other things being equal, must be approximately 
twice as great as that of the ‘ average’ worker for the whole country. 
Other things, however, are not equal. At the beginning of the present 
year about 16,000 men and women in Leicester were unemployed, a 
proportion (x4: 4 per cent.) which compares very favourably with the 
national percentage of 21-5. Some explanation of these figures is to be 
sought in the nature of the two staple industries on which the economic 
life of the city and county depends. If food and rent together constitute 
a ‘first charge’ upon income, clothing and footwear are none the less 
to be included among primary necessities. Further, the fact of the 
existence of two staple industries exerts, even in normal times, an im- 
portant influence on local conditions. It is true that these trades are 
seasonal and that their ‘ off’ seasons usually coincide; it is also true, 
