Meaning
A maker or seller of stockings, socks and knitted legwear.
Description
Hosiers either manufactured or retailed knitted hosiery including stockings, socks and later underwear. In the framework knitting districts of the East Midlands, hosiers were often the merchant middlemen who owned or rented out stocking frames to outworkers, supplied the yarn and collected the finished goods. As manufacturers they played a powerful role in the trade and were not always popular with the workers who depended on them. As retailers they sold the finished goods from shops or market stalls.
Also Known As
Stocking Maker, Knitter
Commonly Found In
- Census Returns
- Trade Directories
- Parish Registers
- Apprenticeship Records
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