The Leicester and Leicestershire Amalgamated Hosiery Union was a trade union representing machine knitters in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. Until 1885, machine knitters in Leicestershire were represented by the Leicester and Leicestershire Framework Knitters' Union, but Jimmy Holmes argued that it prioritised the interests of hand knitters. He led a breakaway of about 500 members, forming the Leicester and Leicestershire Amalgamated Hosiery Union. The union grew rapidly, and in 1888 it began working with the Nottingham United Rotary Power Framework Knitters' Society and the new Ilkeston and District Hosiery Union in the Midland Counties Hosiery Federation. From 1892, it worked with these unions and various other small unions in the National Amalgamated Hosiery Federation. The union's Loughborough branch broke away in 1895, forming the Loughborough Federated Hosiery Union, but it continued to grow. In 1911, when terminally ill, Holmes was found to have embezzled large amounts of money from the union and the national federation, but it survived without him, reaching a peak membership of 8,538 in 1926. In 1928,

Horace Moulden Horace Matthew Moulden-Colton (14 July 1898 – 30 April 1988) was a British trade union leader. Born in Leicester, Moulden left school at the age of thirteen before completing a short apprenticeship in hosiery knitting. He spent four years fig ...

was appointed as its general secretary, and in 1945 he finally persuaded the various hosiery unions to merge, forming the

National Union of Hosiery and Knitwear Workers National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

.International Textile and Garment Workers' Federation, ''Bulletin of the International Textile and Garment Workers' Federation'', vols.10-20

General Secretaries

:1886: Tom Barclay :1886: Jimmy Holmes :1911: Jabez Chaplin :1928: George Bailey and

:1931:

References

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Leicester Trade unions established in 1885 Trade unions disestablished in 1945 Textile and clothing trade unions Trade unions based in Leicestershire