Glovers

Glovers.

A large number of our ancestors were working in the glove making industry, the vast majority being female. There are only three men involved in the industry among our ancestors two worked in Worcester and one in Great Torrington Devon. Gloveresses are found in three areas, Worcester, North Devon and East Oxfordshire.

A few people give an indication of which material they worked. In Devon Eliza BENNETT [4714], Charlotte YOUNG[17565], Elizabeth POW[17562], Eliza Ann[17571] and sisters Ann and Jane ARNOLD and Thomas DYMENT [11619] worked with cotton and Ann FORD [6278] worked with leather while Susannah HOOKWAY [707] and Elizabeth DAVEY [12936] worked in silk. In Oxfordshire Eliza ANDREWS [8632] also worked with leather. In Monkleigh, Devon Fanny ASHPLANT [17625] was a Gloveress (allsorts) which may indicate that she was able to make a whole glove rather than just the decorative back. In Middlesex Jane GUARD [17633] and her sister both worked with both ladies and gents gloves.

Devon.

All our Devon Gloveresses lived in the vacinity of Great Torrington and Barnstaple. In Barnstaple the glove factory was Pilton’s and in Great Torrington there was a busy Glove factory founded by the Bible Christian.William Vaughan, indeed the facade of his factory resembled a Methodist chapel. Vaughan eventually became Mayor of Torrington on several occasions and lived in the biggest house in the town. As an Alderman William Vaughan did much to help the community his workers inhabited, and helped to establish a Cottage Hospital in the town. In 1880 the Vaughan Tapscott factory employed over 600 people (both in the factory and out workers). [http://www.great-torrington.com/history/index.html]

An interview with Margaret Gorvett nee Smale who was born in Bideford about 1738 appeared in the St Thomas Times journal Ontario on 3 Aug 1918. In the report Mrs Gorvett told how she was taught to sew black kid gloves embroidering the backs with white thread. She also talks about the packmen bringing supplies to the cottage and taking the completed gloves back. [http://www.angelfire.com/ct2/beharu/mgt_smale.htm]

This is a similar situation to that found in Oxfordshire.

Our Devon glove makers.

Oxfordshire.

The ancient glove making industry was centered around Woodstock. The area being famed for its light coloured leather gloves which were often enbroidered on the backs. In his book "Stonesfield" (published in 1975) G H Powell gives a detailed description of Gloving and the memories of Miss Thornett who had learned the trade from her mother. She says that it took five hours to complete a pair of gloves for which she was paid 5d but she received an extra farthing for binding button holes, strangely she did not have to sew the buttons on. In the early days they had to collect the parts and return the completed items themselves often walking or cycling to the factory in her case five miles each way. Even early in the 20th century women from Leafield would walk through the forest every week to Charlbury, Woodstock and Chipping Norton collecting cut skins and delivering sewn gloves. Our ancestors lived in Finstock and Leafield near Stonesfield. Being further from Woodstock, the gloves were probably dispatched in bundles to the cottage workers either by carrier or by a specialist village 'pack or bag woman'. On the 1871 census return for Stonesfield a Sarah SHURMER gave her occupation as glove carrier. Interestingly Sarah was originally from Worcestershire.

The glovesses sat outside their cottages with the work on their laps on a cloth which could be quickly folded over the work if they needed to move.

During that period between 1870 and 1900 prices fell pretty steadily as much manual work was being replaced by machines and pay fell. The productivity of hand sewers couldn't rise and machine-made products were cheaper. The prices of hand-made products had to fall for them to remain competitive, so the workers had to find new employment or get poorer. Most of the glovesses were home workers and had no suitable alternative employment.

This is an interesting website about the Glovesses of Leasford http://www.leafieldvillage.co.uk/gloving.html

Our Oxfordshire glove makers.

Eliza ANDREWS [8632] Finstock (Near Stonefield) 1861 leather,1871glovemaker
Ann BARRETT [7550] Duns Tew 1851
Leah Isabel BENFIELD [8652] Leaford 1881 - 1891
Hannah CLARE [8630] Charbury 1846 on her marrriage to Elias DUNSBY.
Eliza DUNSBY [8626] Finstock Oxf 1841 sister of Harriet
Harriet DUNSBY [8602] Finstock Oxf 1851 sister of Eliza
Caroline GASKINS [18129] Yarnton 1851
Elizabeth GIBBS [11960] Great Milton 1851
\Elizabeth A HARRIS[11724] 1871 North Leigh
Charity JOHNSON [4775] Glympton 1841
Elizabeth MATTHEWS [1750] Middle Barton 1861
Mary Ann MERCER [2223] Lower Heyford 1851
Sarah MOLE [9764] Duns Tew 1851
Elizabeth WOODWARD [13062] Combe 1851
Harriet QUAINTON [9588] Gloveress Yarnton 1851

Worcester.

The glove making trade was centred within the city of Worcester itself with two major firms to consider, the oldest being Dents. John Dent founded his factory in 1777 and it was improved by his sons John and William. By 1833 they were employing 133 people producing hand stitched gloves. However in 1820 the industry was at its height when 150 manufacturers were employing over 30,000 people in and around Worcester making gloves. Things changed radically after 1826 when the government lifted taxes on foreign gloves thus allowing the market to be flooded with fashionable french gloves. Napoleon apparently had over 450 pairs of gloves and encouraged Josephine to wear gloves some say even when bathing! She started a fashion of wearing very long gloves which spread across Europe. This lead to a massive slump in the market. The introduction of machine stitched gloves discussed in the paragraph on the trade in Oxfordshire further exasperated the market. However amid this unstable period of trade Fownes opened a new purpose built factory in 1884. The importance of the industry to the city is reflected in the nick name “The glover’s Needle” being given to the spire of the church of St Andrew. Both Fownes and Dents have had the reputation of producing quality gloves.

Our Worcestershire glove makers.

Glove cutter

John HODGES [8882] Worcester from his marriage in 1834. In 1841 he was an ag lab.

Glove Labourer

Henry Edward COLLEY [5119] Worcester 1901

Glove Maker
Emma JUNIPER [1396] Worcester 1891
Esther MARSHALL [2060] Worcester 1891 * sisters
Alice MARSHALL [2061] Worcester 1891 * sisters
Susannah MAYCROFT [2784] Doddenhill 1851
Sarah PRATT [6300] Hill and Moor 1861 aged 15 years
Mary PRATT [7835] Norton 1841 aged 15 years.

John SEFTON [17183] St Clements Worcester 1841 a glover journeyman aged 55.

From Worcester to Gloversville New York.

Elizabeth MARSHALL [2073], daughter of Emma JUNIPER, and her husband Henry Charles JONES emigrated to America where they worked in the glove industry at Gloversville, Fulton, New York.

In 1900 Henry and his daughter Alice [6963] were glove cutters while his wife Elizabeth was a glove maker (mach).

On the 1905 New York census Henry was a foreman, Elizabeth and daughter Florence glove workers while son William was a glove cutter. On the same census Henry’s daughter Alice [6963] and her husband Harvey HORNIDGE were both glove workers.

The area around Gloversville was renown for producing fine kid and at its height there were 200 glove manufacturers in the town employing both factory and home workers. In 1905 Alice was a glove worker at home.

Middlesex

Born in Queen Camel in Somerset Jane GUARD [17633] was a ladies and gents glover in Cripplegate in 1861. Jane’s father was an oil and white leather finisher, her mother was also a ladies and gents glover. Her husband from St Giles in the Wood Devon was a ladies shoe maker.