Focus on Worcestershire’s Gloving Industry

8th September 2026

Gloving in Worcester was a very important and lucrative trade. For hundreds of years the manufacture of gloves involved many thousands of employees both inside factories and working from home. Census returns show the different roles performed in the gloving industry. Many of these roles allowed women to work from home, combining work with childcare and gaining a wage to add to slim family incomes. Yet, despite its importance to the city of Worcester and to the surrounding county, not a lot is known about this industry. We have relatively few items in the archives to research this industry.

Or so we thought, until this item caught the eye of one of our members of staff.

Colour photograph of the outside of a minute book bound in archival tape

Minute book of Worcestershire Gloving Association. BA 14726

Minutes of the Worcester Association of Glove Manufacturers

This was purchased for Worcestershire Record Office by the Friends of Worcestershire Record Office. It covers the minutes of the association, from its inaugural meeting On 9 Jan 1918 to 13 Nov 1947. The association was possibly disbanded then or soon after.

The minutes show that the first meeting on 9^th January 1918 was at the Hop Market Hotel, Worcester. Included on the committee were Sir Henry Urwick, president, representing Fownes brothers, Mr Edward Fownes Rigden chair, of Whittington Hall, a director of Fownes brothers, F J Adams vice president and manager for Dent Allcroft and Co glove manufacturers at Palace Row, John Glover Nicol, from Nichol Ltd, glove manufacturer at St Martins Gate, S and R Morley, of L and R Morley Glove Manufacturers at 54 Sunnyside Road, Barbourne and Richard Guise Glove Manufacturer of 12 Birdport.

The group aimed to protect the interests of the industry and to deal with any demands of employees who had recently joined a trades union. They often met with representatives from the trades unions to discuss fees paid to workers for different work. In their calculations they seemed to take into consideration the budgets of working class families and single people There was discussion of a minimum wage for workers, holiday schemes and national health insurance

The committee, during the years of WWI, discussed items that were being produced for the war effort such as aviator gloves and trench mitts, the difficulty of obtaining lamb skin for the making of gloves from Spain, and what to do about returning soldiers.

The volume ends with a meeting on 13^th November 1947 which still includes representatives from Fownes, Dent and Allcroft and R Morleys glove factories.

Black and white photograph of the Fownes building. Copyright RJ Collins.

WPS24391 Worcester City Talbot Street Fownes Factory 1961 R J Collins

Other ‘gloving related’ items in the Archives:

BA8782 which includes legal papers and a handbill of W Shuck glove manufacturer, and documents concerning the charity, Society of the Fellowship of Glovers.
BA10642 Worcestershire Glovemaking Industry Dissertation: A Study of Women in the Glovemaking Industry in Worcestershire 1800-Present Day
BA13465/2/3 Correspondence between Messrs F Bryan Ltd of Worcester glove manufacturers and Strong & Fisher Ltd relating to leather supplies
BA9360/Cab 14/Box 40/4 Copy will and codicil of Richard Guise of Worcester, glove manufacturer, 1880
BA9360/C15/Box 1/17/1 – 2 History of the Worcester Glove Trade by W R Amphlett 1954-1967
BA9360/Cab 22/Box 42/5 History of Worcester Glove Trade. History of the Leather Industry in Worcester.
Apprenticeships documents that can be found in parish deposits or the quarter session papers.

Images of the Gloving Trade

BA11744/4 Photograph of women glove workers
BA8541 an account book regarding gloves
BA5804 and BA5983 Fownes Brothers glove manufacturer records
BA9890 (3) Dents Allcroft photograph of staff
BA9875/11 19^th century catalogue of gloves
BA1332 Worcestershire Photographic Survey 9188, 16862, 16863, 16864, 16884-16886 (Palace Yard), 9188 (Dents), WPS 69506 and 73188 (Fownes) WPS15069 (D.Spicer),33402 (The Arcadia & Ye Olde Glove Shoppe).

A black and white photo of the Richard Guise factory.

Richard Guise Factory.
Courtesy of Newsquest.

Dents Factory, Palace Row. Courtsey of Newsquest.

Books on gloving:

Take a look in the Local Studies library where you will find a number of books about this industry including the recently added book by Mason, Frank ‘Thomas and Jane, Hand In Glove: A Journey Through Victorian Worcester’. A fascinating read where Frank records how his family history journey turned into a study of one of Worcestershire’s most important industries.