Description: This was once the home of William Felkin. William Felkin, born at Ilkeston, in Derbyshire, in 1795, was the son of the Rev. William Felkin, a Baptist minister of talent and note. A large family and limited means rendered it a difficult task for the good pastor to furnish his son with an education such as he desired. Happily, self-denial ruled that humble household, and the difficulty was overcome. When thirteen years old William, having been well grounded in English, was earning his bread in the stocking frame, and at that early age he was in the habit of making three pairs of women's 26-gauge fashioned hose in one day. The uncommon application and skill displayed by the youth won for him the notice of Messrs. Heard and Hurst of Nottingham, by whose kind influence he was introduced to the hosiery trade, which he followed until 1820. In that year he became connected with John Heathcote, esquire, Tiverton, and the machine-wrought bobbin-net trade. On Mr. Heathcoat's behalf he passed the greater part of the years 1824-5 in France and Italy, investigating into the products and manufactures of those countries. The result of his enquiries was the discovery and patenting of the process of preparing silk, since well known under the name of 'patent reeling.' In 1825-6 Mr. Felkin superintended at Tiverton the only commercial silk filature ever set up in this country, and in that single season he reeled for Mr. Heathcote 35,000 pounds of cocoons into lace silk. In 1826 he came to reside in Nottingham as agent for the firm to which the enterprising Mr. Heathcote belonged. In 1828-9 he presided over the committee sitting for the extraordinary purpose of attempting to regulate the working hours of the bobbin-net trade. At the numerous public meetings held in connection with this combination, which soon fell to pieces, Mr. Felkin came prominently before the public, always as the attached friend of the working class. In 1830-33-36 Mr. Felkin drew up statistical accounts of the lace trade; in 1832 an account of the hosiery trade; and in 1844 a second and very elaborate statement of the latter trade. This analytical paper, read at the second York meeting of the British Association, was the result of an enquiry instituted by the author's agents in 230 parishes of the three midland counties. Its completion occupied upwards of six months, and was carried on at a large expenditure of money as well as time. With untiring energy and self-sacrificing zeal Mr. Felkin applied himself to the production of valuable statistical papers, doubtless finding in the laborious and expensive compilation of these documents a precious consolation in the fact that he was doing good service for his town and the country at large. In 1832 he published a descriptive and numerical statement of the production of silk throughout Europe, and a proposition for improving Bengal silk; in 1835 a condensed translation from the 'Code Napoleon' of the laws by which 'Conseils des Prud'hommes' are governed in France; in 1837 a paper on wages, read at the Liverpool meeting of the British Association; in 1838, 'State of the Labouring Classes at Hyde,' together with an account of the 'Strike at Derby,' read before the British Association at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; in 1841, a speech in favour of the Property Tax, delivered in the Nottingham Town Council; and in 1845, a 'Plea for Missions beyond the Alps and Pyrenees.' In 1835 he was elected a fellow of the Statistical Society of London, and in 1840 a fellow of the Linaean Society. His profound acquaintance with the general parliamentary committees, and he gave evidence on the Children's Employment Commission, the Ten Hours Bill, Export of Machinery, Silk Manufacture's Inquiry, Hand-loom Weaver's Commission, Health of Town's Bill, Educational Inquiries, Penny Postage, Midland Railways, Nottingham Inclosures, Repeal of the Corn Laws, and several other matters of great public interest. In the midst of his accumulating private and public duties, he found time to furnish almost weekly contributions to the local press, chiefly upon the trade and business of the town. In 1850, when he had sat in the town council for eight years, he was elected mayor, an honour which was again conferred upon him in 1851. In 1851 he officiated as chairman of Jury No.20 in the Industrial Exposition, having previously written, and dedicated by permission to Prince Albert, a lucid and meritorious essay on 'The Commercial Aspect of the Great Exhibition.' (information from 'an index of Nottinghamshire worthies')