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A lot of my Nottingham Ancesters were listed as Framework knitters in the censuses and one GGGGrandfather was a Trades Union Secretary, presumably in the same industry as he was a FWK in an earlier census.

Does anybody have any idea how I could find out any details of this?

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You will find the Union will now be part of a larger Trade Union.

For example my Father told me that My grandfather was the first secretary of the first trade Union.

Research Shows that it was my great grandfather, and the Early London Docks and Canal workers union.

Later became part of Transport & General Workers Union, and now funnily enough the Union in which

I am a steward, UNITE the Union..

How you can do research through a Union, I have yet to find out. When next at Head office London, I will ask.

Regarding the trades themselves, I am sure someone will come up with it?

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There is or was some archive stuff about the framework knitters of Calverton held I think by the Nottingham civic society, there is also the stocking frame museum at Ruddington perhaps one of those might be able to help

Rog

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Are these knitters the sort that lived in those 3 storey houses which had top floor massive windows? likes of which can be seen at Bramcote and Alfreton Rd nr Bentick Rd, The area where Hyson Green flats were between Radford Rd and Noel St was full of such houses up to mid 1960's

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If you mean these...I would have thought these were more likely the homes of merchants in the middle class.Like those on Noel street...not like the houses of the rich, but they probably employed one or two maids.

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Framework knitters were more likely to be found in the small cottages that were common in places like Wilford and Calverton.

These are knitters cottages in Calverton...built 1834

NCCC000367.jpg

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See what you mean about the windows...Hundreds of these were demolished late 60s.....good thing really,can't keep all the old houses even if they do have a history.

I've never understood why the Council haven't wiped out Hyson green,they've built new houses here and there in the middle of this lot.A right jumble.With half of Radford Road shops being shuttered for years the Council could have torn the lot down and built a new estate with sufficient small trade units for the small businesses that do exist. Before this slump that is.

All they've done is waste money...Most of it from the EEC to bodge things up.And as for the tram going through it...visitors must think it's a right muck hole.

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And visitors would be right in thinking that, I just feel very sorry for those folk that do try hard to make their properties nice and respectable only to have them spoiled by the few that dont give a damn.

To get back to the framework knitters houses/cottages, those at Calverton usually had a frame in the bedroom close by the window that faced the sun for most of the day, the sun shone on a glass globe filled with water to act as a kind of magnifying glass to illuminate the work area, later on a knitting frame was put in a kind of outhouse towards the bottom of the garden or yard thereby freeing up room in the main house/cottage,(presumably so the householders could fit in more children) some of these outhouses are still in the backyards/gardens of the cottages along the main street that runs through Calverton today easily seen from the road.

Rog

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Quote "Hundreds of these were demolished late 60s.....good thing really,can't keep all the old houses even if they do have a history."

Within reason, alot of old demolished houses were better built than new ones, with modernisation, insulation etc they could have been better than these new rabbit hutches, take for example the ones in background of below photo, perfectly good homes demolished in the name of progress. as regards wiping out hyson green, the main road from stockport to manchester is far worse and miles longer, also nobody builds slums it's "some" people that make area's estates etc thus

2098455553_6ee21e0052.jpg

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Thank you for these answers. I have his address from the census, in Kirkby in Ashfield, but just wondered about his life as a trades union secretary in the 1800s.

As for slum clearance etc. (Don`t these threads meander?)

As somebody born in the Medders in the 1940s I would dispute the 'improvements' made when the whole area was bulldozed.

Funnily enough, (well I found it funny) when I told my grandson in Carlton that I`d been born in the Medders he looked impressed and said, "Cool!"

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Like any conversation, in the pub for instance...you start off with one topic and within minutes it changes direction...happens all the time when you're chatting... :rolleyes: How many times have you heard someone say..."How did we get on to this subject"

Anyway back to the thread... :laugh:

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the sun shone on a glass globe filled with water to act as a kind of magnifying glass to illuminate the work area

There's a good example of one of those in the lower parlour window at the Calverton Folk Museum, Rog. It doesn't have the original-type mixture in though, I think the guide told me it was tap water with Fairy Liquid in it!

'The light was provided in the form of a paraffin lamp or even just a candle, placed behind a globe made of glass filled with spring water and Aqua Fortis for magnification. An example of this sits in a lower window'

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Thanks for that Stu, I remember it having a globe filled with water the rest of the info is lost in the mists of time but every now and again threads like this jog the old grey cells, when i visited that little cottage (must have been late 70s early 80s) the frame was in the upstairs bedroom and there was an elderly guy that could actually operate the thing, at the time the society was looking for a volunteer to learn the operation ready when the old fellow could no longer manage the job, I did think about it at the time, now I wish I had learned the frame, it's great to pass on knowledge.

Did you ever find out if the council still carry out these historical walks around the city and county by the way?

Rog

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Been doing a lot of research into Framework Knitting to help me write a historical novel based in Nottingham. Framework Knitting once supported nearly half the population of Nottingham and Lace Making most the other half. These two trades were related, I used to watch my late grandmother making lace with those old bobbins but in truth the lace was mostly made from machines developed from FrameWork Knitting machines. If you havent seen one get down to Ruddington FWK museum, they have loads but sadly were not demonstrating any when I was there so I am still not 100% clear except they were like looms and had to be hand ( and foot) operated plus the operator sat on a beam inside the frame. Nottingham Derby and Leicester were the main UK manufacturing centres, London another. Leicester was noted for woollen hose, Nottingham was cotton and Derby was silk. The machines turned out mostly hose ie socks and stockings but could make other items like gloves and pantaloons. Later they could be used to make most cotton clothes as sections of cotton material were cut up and sewn together to make goods.

The Framework Knitters were the original Luddites smashing frames around Nottingham and especially in Arnold. They were also involved in the sacking of Colwick Hall, burning down Nottingham Castle and a mill at Beeston. They were involved in Chartist riots. I imagine that many many Nottingham folk will be descended from Framework Knitters yet so few people know anything about them.

Yes they did first work at home on a single frame, mostly in a upstairs room and the top window would be enlarged to let in more light. They then started putting one or more frames in a single storey outside workshop, or upstairs in a workshop, often in the garden of a house owned by a merchant. Eventually lage numbers of frames were set up in large warehouses. However the trade came to and end with the invention of steam power and increasing mechanisation which could produce more material more quickly and much more cheaply than a single man sitting inside a frame working up to 14 hours a day..

And whoever said history was boring ??

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Agree, a very absorbing part of Notts history, there's quite a bit of it written about on various threads here.

Have you been to Calverton Folk Museum? Calverton being where William Lee, inventor of the stocking frame came from.

Calverton Folk Museum

William Lee

http://calverton.homestead.com/willlee.html

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The Luddite problems ended in about 1816

The burning of Colwick Hall & Nottingham Castle was connected to the rejection in the House of Lords of the reform bill of 1831.

It seems that the crowd took exception to the Duke of Newcastle who owned Nottingham Castle & was a leading anti reform man in the House of Lords

The fires were during Goose fair week.

The Duke of Newcastle received £20,000 compensation for the damage concerned.

There are several accounts of the "Luddite period" some of which I have if you would like a list please let me know.

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  • 3 weeks later...

AS I JUST FOUND THIS AGAIN I THOUGH I WOULD POST ON HERE TOO FOR ANY ONE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE STUDIO ONE 27TH APRIL 2 PM TALK ON FRAME KNITTERS

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  • 1 month later...

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