With Skills at Their Fingertips

a machine showing how gloves are being sewn

During the 20th century, hundreds of dozens of pairs of gloves were made each year in Warminster, Westbury and Westbury Leigh.

As well as factory workers, designers and admin staff, there were hundreds of outworkers, mostly women working at home. For many years, leather was prepared here too, emitting foul smells into the communities. ‘Gloving’ truly was everywhere!

Through this oral history project, Rachael Holtom, brings to life memories of just some of the people who made the gloves or remember parents or grandparents being “in the gloving”.