Wolsey Knitting Wools

 

Wolsey leaflet 943

I was aware of Wolsey as a long established brand name of ready-made knitwear and hosiery, and I can just about remember it as a brand of stockings in the 1960s.  But I had not heard of Wolsey as a brand of knitting wool until I found Wolsey knitting patterns in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection. 

The company seems to have kept that side of the business quite quiet - the only ads for the knitting wool I have seen were in the 1930s, while their ready-made clothing was widely advertised over a long period. Below is an ad from 1941, showing that they then made stockings, underwear and outerwear for women  - no mention of knitting wool. 

Wolsey ad in Vogue, October 1941

A bit of history: the company Wolsey Ltd. of Leicester was formed in 1920 as an amalgamation of several existing companies, covering the range of processes from spinners to manufacturers of ready-to-wear clothing.  The main company involved, R. Walker and Sons, had a history in Leicester going back to 1755, and it was claimed that the new company was one of the largest hosiery manufacturing firms in the world.  It made "all classes of knitted fabrics, including underwear, stockings, socks, gloves, sports coats and jerseys".  The company was apparently named for Cardinal Wolsey (who died in Leicester) - and presumably because it is an appropriately woolly name. And it still exists, though now only making menswear, and no longer in Leicester - their website is here.

The first Wolsey knitting pattern in the KCG collection is no. 23, published in 1932. (1932 was a good year for hand knitters - the first issues of Vogue Knitting Book and Stitchcraft magazine appeared then.).  The leaflet is not in the best condition, but the instructions are legible, and it is a pretty pattern. The bands knitted in the darker wool are in feather-and-fan stitch, while the lighter bands have just a single line of eyelets. "A chic jumper", as it says.  

Wolsey leaflet 23

Wolsey knitting wool was sold earlier than 1932 - I have not seen any ads for it from the company, but ads for yarn shops often listed the yarns that they sold, and I have seen a 1921 ad mentioning "Wolsey Art. Knitting Silk" (i.e. rayon, or art. silk). 

The KCG collection has only 10 Wolsey patterns with numbers less than 400 (though presumably there were 400 published) - this is typical of 1930s leaflets, I think because many of them went for salvage during World War 2. Here's one of the survivors. 

Wolsey leaflet 389

A nice cardigan to go for a walk in, as in the little drawing.  It's knitted mostly on size 8 (4mm.) needles, partly single rib and partly the openwork panels shown, on the fronts, back and sleeves.  The leaflet shows (top left) the Cardinal Wolsey trademark. 

Leaflet 433 is from the end of the 1930s, and has an intriguing stitch pattern on the front. (The back and sleeves are in a knit 4, purl 1 rib.)

Wolsey leaflet 433

There are also Wolsey patterns for men - mostly V neck sleeveless pullovers, which I haven't shown, because there were so many similar patterns published in the 1930s.  But after the start of the war in 1939, like many other knitting wool producers, Wolsey produced a leaflet of "Service Woollies" for men in the armed forces, including scarves and gloves as well as the balaclava on the cover. 

Wolsey leaflet 488

And because the Wolsey name was strongly associated with underwear (especially in wool), there were, of course, patterns for you to knit your own. 

Wolsey leaflet 509

During the war, leaflets were printed in a smaller format, to save paper.  Here's an example.  

Wolsey leaflet 633

The jumper has buttons at the back of the neck, so the collar is in two parts, and the cable on the front is repeated on the collar.  A nice design, I think. 

Dating the Wolsey leaflets is difficult, without ads to help, but I think that the leaflets numbered 900+ are from the late 1940s.  We have far more of them in the KCG collection - almost half of those numbered from 950 to 999 (compared with 10 numbered up to 400).  Most of these, like number 943 at the top of the post, are printed with a red background - presumably Cardinal red.  Some of them have very exaggerated shoulders - leaflet 959 has instructions for knitted shoulder pads, to support that very long shoulder seam. 

Wolsey leaflet 959

But the fashions were changing rapidly: leaflet 984 shows a more natural shoulder line.  It is trimmed with stranded colour work in five additional colours - colour work was very popular in the late 1940s.    

Wolsey leaflet 984

Some of the late 1940s Wolsey patterns were printed in colour, which shows off the stranded colour work in leaflet 987 very well. 

Wolsey leaflet 987

And then...  there were no more Wolsey patterns, apparently.  We have leaflets numbered up to 997 in the KCG collection.  Some of the leaflets advertise other Wolsey leaflets on the back, and leaflets numbered up to 998 are shown there.  It is as though the company realised they were about to run out of three-digit numbers for their leaflets and just decided to .... stop. 

If anyone knows any more about Wolsey knitting wools and leaflets produced in Leicester around 1950, please let me know in the comments. I know that there was a company Sunbeam Wolsey based in Millfield, County Cork, who were also using the Wolsey name and trademark.  It appears to be an entirely separate company, and operating in another country, but perhaps it had something to do with Wolsey on Leicester ceasing to publish knitting patterns. I'd love to know. 

Copies of any of the patterns shown in this post are available free to members of the Knitting & Crochet Guild.  Please email requests to collections@kcguild.org.uk.