18th Century Knit Gloves
In addition to knitted gloves, there were also knit mittens, mitts, and muffatees.
While many of the knit gloves linked below are hand-knit, there were also machine-knit gloves in the 18th century.
The trade card for Jarvis Armstrong’s hosiery business depicts a man working at a knitting frame. Gloves — presumably knit gloves — are displayed from a garland draped along the top. The text under the illustration advertises “Silk, Cotton, Thread, & Worsted Hose, Gloves, & Mitts.”
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
National Museums Scotland H.NA 1044, the Gunnister man’s woolen knitted gauntlet gloves, Shetland, late 17th century; “The gloves have been knitted mainly in a stocking stitch pattern, one row plain, one row purl. There are a few rows of garter stitch (all plain rows) on the cuff to create a pattern.”
ModeMuseum OBJ34292, knit cotton gloves with cut-outs at the fingertips, 18th century
MFA 38.1265a-b, a pair of women’s gloves, French, 18th century; “Knitted with scarlet silk, the fingers with reddish orange silk, the backs of the gloves and border around cuff embroidered with gold thread in design of fine flowering vines.”
“The Committee of the Subſcription … have unanimouſly Reſolved and Contracted for … 12,000 Pair of knit Woollen Gloves” (The Derby Mercury, December 20, 1745)
Worshipful Company of Glovers of London 23415 + A, “a pair of men’s knitted silk gloves, probably Italian, early 18th century, lined in plain ivory silk/linen, knitted in stocking stitch with an ivory ground scrolling carnations, tulips and angular scrolling foliage, small birds and beasts, in green, two shades of pink, vivid blue and yellow, shaped curved openings, 28 cm long.”
Colonial Williamsburg 1996-855, New York, c. 1750-1770; “Single glove knitted in stocking stitch of natural linen, discolored to brown. Wrist length with hemmed cuff; fingers are short, the longest measuring 2¾".”
Pair of knit silk gloves from a set of female clothes and accessories for a lay figure used and made by Louis François Roubiliac, c. 1750-1762
“IF the Things undermentioned are pawned or offered to Sale, pleaſe to ſtop the Perſon or Perſons, or advertiſe them in this Paper, and you ſhall be ſatisfied for your Trouble … Black French knit Gloves” (The Public Advertiser, October 9, 1758)
“[Mark] Hammel: … I found also this mitten (producing a knit glove); these I found the next morning after it was robb'd …
[John] Child. There was but one piece tried to be let down by that rope; all the other pieces where toss’d down; it was soft ground, and the fall made no great noise. [John] Guest had on a pair of mittens; that is, knit gloves, and a pair of green muffatees.
Q. Look at this mitten here produc’d.
Child. He takes it in his hand. This is one of Guest’s, I believe.
Q. Look at these green muffatees. He takes them in his hand.
Child. These are the same he had on.
Mr Darking. I found this odd mitten, and these muffatees, on the top of the church, the day after it was robb’d.” (Trial of John Guest et al., 30th May 1759)
“We learn from London, that ſome Time ago, Lady Arbella Denny preſented to her Majeſty ſome curious wrought or knit Gloves, manufactured by the Children in the foundling Hoſpital, of which her Ladyſhip is a moſt benevolentpatroneſs; they were graciouſly received.” (The Public Register, or, Freeman’s Journal, April 29, 1769)
“BRIAN CAPE Has juſt imported, in the Magna Charta, Captain Maitland, from LONDON, A CARGO of GOODS, Fit for the Preſent SEASON: Among which are the following … Mens knit Worſted Gloves” (The South-Carolina Gazette, February 4, 1773)
“STOLEN Out of a Pannier ſtanding at Mr James Martin’s door, at the Sign of the Golden Lion in Sunderland … A Large Parcel of Women’s Wearing apparel, folded up in a large Ruſſia Towel, in which were the folloowing articles among many others … one pair of Green Silk Knit Gloves” (The Newcastle Weekly Courant, February 24, 1781)
Fries Museum T11154, a pair of knit gloves in brown and white wool with rounded edges along the wrist, 1783
Knit gloves found on the shipwreck of the General Carleton of Whitby, 1785:
W-32/66/95 “A right hand glove with heavy damage to the palm and cuff. The piece was hand-knit using a stockinette stitch and is now turned inside out.”
W-32/589/96 “is decorated with two rows of fringe, framing a band of checkering (each check is seven stitches high by four stitches wide). In addition, decorative three-stitch-wide channels run along the back of the hand to the finger tips. This glove was made by someone well versed in a wide range of knitting techniques. The first three fingers were torn and later darned. There were also unrepaired holes in the thumb and palm. The damage and repairs suggest the gloves were worn while handling lines or climbing aloft.”
“Among the great variety of leſſer articles in the export trade, and in which Ireland could ſpeedily and moſt advantageouſly engage, is the hoſiery buſineſs, in the articles of worſted ſtockings, knit gloves, & c. The eaſy acquirement of these manufactures, and, from the many thouſands of idle poor of all ages in this kingdom, the cheapneſs of labour with which they could be brought to market, would render it a moſt profitable branch of merchandiſe. In England, particularly in the Weſtern counties, children of both ſexes, no more than five years old, will be ſeen, throughout the towns and villages, buſily engaged in knitting worſted gloves and ſtockings. A few ſpirited undertakers, therefore, who would attempt to render the knitting of worſted ſtockings general throughout the kingdom, would be moſt amploy rewarded for their pains, from the immenſe number of hands, now out of all employment, that could be made, in the ſpace of a few months, proficients in the manufacture.” (The Public Register, or, Freeman’s Journal, November 14, 1786)
London Museum 28.4/3a-b, a child’s gloves made of knit linen or cotton, c. 1799
MFA 99.664.73a-b, pair of women’s gloves, hand-knit linen, American (used in Lexington, Massachusetts), late 18th century to early 19th century
MFA 38.1347a-b, pair of women’s gloves, English or French, late 18th or early 19th century; “Machine-made (knitting machine). Thin white silk. Gloves though similar may not have always been pair. Spot design on mesh ground.”