The advent and development of the stocking frame

This was really the first big innovation for hosiery making and also the first mechanical machine in the textile industry. Invented by William Lee of Calverton near Nottingham in 1589 it is said the William Lee who was a Vicar studied his fierce whilst she was knitting and worked out how the needles moved and translated this into a mechanical movement which a machine can reproduce.

The first machines used wool with 8 needles producing a course woollen garment which only needed to be sewn down the back to produce the stockings, mechanical knitting was referred to as framework knitting. 

William Lee tried to get a patent for his new machine from Queen Elizabeth I which was refused; it's thought on the ground that this machine would harm the employment security of the UK hand knitting industry.

William then made further improvements to his frame adding another 12 needles by 1598 these frames could also knit silk stockings taking this new and improved machine back to Queen Elizabeth for another patent submission which was again turn down. Disappointed with the reception which his knitting frame receive in the UK William with his brother James moved to France with 9 frame workers and 9 frames setting up the frames Rouen (France ) and started producing stocking.
William Lee Died in France in 1614 and his brother James returned to London where he sold off most of the Frames, then moved to Thoroton, near Nottingham Lee's apprentice John Aston (or Ashton) who originally was a miller by profession added some more improvements known as the " Divider" and slowly establishing an East Midlands as the second centre for frame knitting in England.

The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitter

Was one of the Livery Companies in the City of London incorporated by Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, on 13th June 1657, reissued as a Royal Charter in 1663. There are about 108 of these guild or Livery Companies covering many trades some of their original can be traced back to medieval periods, there purpose was to bring together people from the same trade to help and protect them and maintain standards within the industry. The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters is still active today with its own web site. www.frameworkknitters.co.uk
The next addition to the knitting frame was carried out in 1758 by Jedediah Strutt who introduced an attachment for the frame called the "Derby rig which would allows the frame to also knit cotton making even finer stockings.

Most frames were used by individuals and family concerns as a cottage industry, around 1812 it is estimated that there was over 25,000 frames in use, most frames were not always own by the frame workers a lot frames would be leased.
The Frame knitting industry originally started in London alongside the Protestant Huguenots silk weavers who had come over from France to avoid persecution from the Catholic in the 16th and 17th Centuries setting up in Spitalfields London, which soon became known as 'weaver town'. The frame worker and the hosiery industry were now moving always from London and becoming based in the West Midlands.

By the end of the nineteenth century most of these frame working would slowly die out because they were uneconomic to operate as the larger mill took over and could use the principle of mass production to produce even cheaper cotton isle and wool stocking. Just a very small number of workers would remain in independent use until the end of the century.
In 1771, Richard Arkwright installed the water powered knitting frame in his cotton mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, on the River Derwent this was a predecessor to one powered by horses which when out of use because it require too many horses to power it and they had to be changed frequently, this was the start of the industrial revolution (1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840) which changed the way many things were manufactured.
Silk hosiery manufacture was slightly different and would also remain in smaller manufactures for some time to come