THE INDUSTRIES OF LEICESTER 61 
however, that in a long period consideration a non-seasonal depression 
in the hosiery industry rarely corresponds in time to a non-seasonal 
depression in the boot and shoe industry. There has thus grown up in 
Leicester a considerable body of mobile labour capable of ready assimila- 
tion into either of these staple trades—a phenomenon relatively rare in 
industrial towns and possessed of very definite advantages. 
Tue Hosiery INDUSTRY. 
Since the time of King Alfred the scarps and meadows of Leicestershire 
have been recognised as highly suitable pasture lands for sheep, and 
even in that remote age crude textile fabrics were produced in both town 
and country. In the thirteenth century wool was spun by hand and 
woven into blankets and coarse fabrics, and wool fairs were held in 
Leicester. 
In the sixteenth century a new industry had arisen; wool-combers 
supplied the yarn they spun to persons willing to knit stockings by hand. 
The trade prospered, and about two thousand people were employed. 
Meanwhile in 1589 the Rev. William Lee of Calverton, Nottingham- 
shire, invented the hand stocking-frame, and in the early years of the 
following century the industry established itself in Leicester and Leicester- 
shire. Although the frame-work knitters of London obtained a Charter 
in 1663, the trade gradually left London and developed in the Midlands. 
The eighteenth century witnessed a period of trade depression, and 
stockingers who had been earning from nine to eleven shillings per week 
were compelled to refund from two to four shillings for certain ‘ charges,’ 
such as frame rent, standing room, light and fuel, winding, taking-in, 
deductions for faulty work, etc. The workers were even required to 
purchase the needles to replace breakages, and, before the passing of the 
Truck Act, were often forced to accept commodities in lieu of money. 
A large number of small stockingers’ shops existed, and ‘ middlemen ’ 
obtained yarn from the warehouses and knitted it into stockings, which 
they returned at the end of each week. This method of trading continued 
until the Industrial Revolution, when factories were erected and power 
machines introduced. 
By about 1860 machinery developments had resulted in the construction 
of several types of machines, the chief of which were ‘ Cotton’s Patent 
Frames’ in 1863 (which produced fully fashioned garments), circular 
loop wheel and sinker wheel machines, and, thanks to Matthew Townsend’s 
invention of the latch needle in 1849, circular and flat latch needle 
machines. Cotton, who was born at Seagrave, Leicestershire, in 1819, 
invented his machine at Loughborough, whilst Townsend was a Leicester 
‘fancy hosier.’ Since that time many improvements have been made in 
the mechanisation of knitting, and knitted fabrics are now used for all 
types of hose in both underwear and outerwear. The ‘ fancy ’ trade was 
inaugurated in Leicester by William Kelly early in the nineteenth century, 
and although many different articles of apparel were knitted—gloves, 
cravats, franklins or jerseys, children’s boots, etc——the term “ hosiery ’ 
still held its ground ; even to-day it is still used in a generic sense. 
