doing a great trade, and of retailers and little men there are a dozen
gross, not counting cobblers who come with the last. American-made
articles were first on sale here in March 1877. Rivetted boots may be
said to have originated (in 1840) through the mistake of a local
factor's traveller, who booked an order for copper sprigs too extensive
for his customer. Another of the firm's commercials suggested the
rivetting if iron lasts were used. A Leicester man, in a small way, took
up the notion, and made a fortune at it, the real inventor only getting
good orders. Ellis's patent boot studs to save the sole, and the
Euknemida, or concave-convex fastening springs, are the latest
novelties.
_Brass_.--The making of goods in brass was commenced here about 1668,
but the manufacturer of brass itself was not carried on before 1740,
when Mr. Turner built his works in Coleshill Street. The Brass and
Spelter Co. was started in February 1781, with a capital of £20,000 in
£100 shares. Brasshouse Passage, Broad Street, tells of the site of
another smelting place, the last chimney of which was demolished on
January 27. 1866. The Waterworks Co. bought the site for offices.
Stamped brass came in through Richard Ford in 1769, and the process at
first was confined to the manufacture of small basins and pans, but in a
very few years it was adapted to the production of an infinitude of
articles. Pressed brass rack pulleys for window blinds were the
invention of Thomas Horne, in 1823, who applied the process of pressure
to many other articles. Picture frames, nicely moulded in brass, were
made here in 1825, by a modeller named Maurice Garvey. In 1865 it was
estimated that the quantities of metal used here in the manufacture of
brass were 19,000 tons of copper, 8,000 tons of old metal, 11,000 tons
of zinc or spelter, 200 tons of tin, and 100 tons of lead, the total
value being £2,371,658. Nearly double this quantity is now used every
year. The number of hands employed in the brass trade is about 18,000.
_Buckles_ were first worn as shoe fastenings in the reign of Charles II.
When in fashion they were made of all sizes and all prices, from the
tiny half-inch on the hatband to the huge shoebuckle for the foot, and
varying from a few pence in price to many guineas the pair. The extent
of the manufactures at one time may be guessed from the fact of there
being over 20,000 buckle makers out of employ in 1791-2, when vain
petitions were made to the royal princes to stem the change then taking
place in the "fashions." Sir Edward Thomason said his father in 1780
made 1,000 pair par day, mostly of white metal, but some few plated; by
one pattern, known as the "silver penny," he cleared a profit of £1,000.
The introduction of shoestrings, and naturally so, was much ridiculed in
our local papers, and on one occasion was made the pretext for a
disgraceful riot, the pickpockets mobbing the gentlemen going to and
from one of the Musical Festivals, the wearers of shoestrings being
hustled about and robbed of their purses and watches.
_Buttons_.--The earliest record of button-making we have is dated 1689,
but Mr. Baddeley (inventor of the oval chuck), who retired from business
about 1739, is the earliest local manufacturer we read of as doing
largely in the trade, though sixty or seventy years ago there were four
or five times as many in the business as at present, blue coats and gilt
buttons being in fashion. By an Act passed in the 4th of William and
Mary foreign buttons made of hair were forbidden to be imported. By
another Act, in the 8th of Queen Anne it was decreed that "any taylor or
other person convicted of making, covering, selling, using, or setting
on to a garment any buttons covered with cloth, or other stuff of which
garments are made, shall forfeit five pounds for every dozen of such
buttons, or in proportion for any lesser quantity;" by an Act of the
seventh of George the First, "any wearer of such unlawful buttons is
liable to the penalty of forty shillings per dozen, and in proportion
for any lesser quantity." Several cases are on record in which tradesmen
have been heavily fined under these; strange laws, and before they were
repealed it is related by Dr. Doran (in 1855) that one individual not
only got out of paying for a suit of clothes because of the illegality
of the tailor in using covered buttons, but actually sued the
unfortunate "snip" for the informer's share of the penalties, the
funniest part of the tale being that the judge who decided the case, the
barrister who pleaded the statute, and the client who gained the clothes
he ought to have paid for, were all of them buttoned contrary to law.
These Acts were originally enforced to protect the many thousands who at
the time were employed in making buttons of silk, thread, &c., by hand,
and _not_, as is generally supposed, in favour of the metal button
manufacturers, though on April 4, 1791, Thomas Gem, the solicitor to the
committee for the protection of the button trade, advertised a reward
for any information against the wearers of the unlawful covered buttons.
The "gilt button days" of Birmingham was a time of rare prosperity, and
dire was the distress when, like the old buckles, the fashion of wearing
the gilt on the blue went out. Deputations to royalty had no effect in
staying the change, and thousands were thrown on the parish. It was
sought to revive the old style in 1850, when a deputation of button
makers solicited Prince Albert to patronise the metallic buttons for
gentlemen's coats, but Fashion's fiat was not to be gainsayed. John
Taylor, High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1756, is said to have sent out
about £800 worth of buttons per week. Papier maché buttons came in with
Henry Clay's patent in 1778. He also made buttons of slate. Boulton, of
Soho, was the first to bring out steel buttons with facets, and it is
said that for some of superior design he received as much as 140 guineas
per gross. Horn buttons, though more correctly speaking they should have
been called "hoof" buttons, were a great trade at one time, selling in
1801 as low as 5-1/2d. per gross. "Maltese buttons" (glass beads mounted
in metal) were, in 1812, made here in large quantities, as were also the
"Bath metal drilled shank button" of which 20,000 gross per week were
sent out, and a fancy cut white metal button, in making which 40 to 50
firms were engaged, each employing 20 to 40 hands, but the whole trade
in these specialities was lost in consequence of a few men being enticed
to or imprisoned in France, and there establishing a rival manufacture.
Flexible shanks were patented in 1825 by B. Sanders. Fancy silk buttons,
with worked figured tops, were patented by Wm. Elliott, in 1837.
Porcelain buttons, though not made here, were designed and patented by a
Birmingham man, R. Prosser, in 1841. The three-fold linen button was the
invention of Humphrey Jeffries, in 1841, and patented by John Aston. In
1864 so great was the demand for these articles that one firm is said to
have used up 63,000 yards of cloth and 34 tons of metal in making them.
Cadbury and Green's "very" button is an improvement on these. Vegetable
ivory, the product of a tree growing in Central America and known as the
Corozo palm, was brought into the button trade about 1857. The shells
used in the manufacture of pearl buttons are brought from many parts of
the world, the principal places being the East Indies, the Red Sea, the
Persian Gulf, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, Panama, and the coasts
of Central America, Australia, New Zealand, &c. The prices of "shell"
vary very much, some not being worth more than £20 per ton, while as
high as £160 to £170 has been paid for some few choice samples brought
from Macassar, a seaport in India. The average import of shell is about
1,000 tons per year, and the value about £30,000.--There are 265 button
manufacturers in Birmingham, of whom 152 make pearl buttons, 26 glass, 8
horn and bone, 14 ivory, 12 gilt metal, 3 wood, and 5 linen, the other
45 being of a mixed or general character, silver, brass, steel, wood,
and papier maché, being all, more or less, used. Nearly 6,000 hands are
employed in the trade, of whom about 1,700 are in the pearl line, though
that branch is not so prosperous as it was a few years back.
_Chemical Manufactures_.--About 50,000 tons of soda, soup, bleaching
powder, oil of vitriol, muriatic acid, sulphuric acid, &c., are
manufactured in or near Birmingham, every year, more than 20,000 tons of
salt, 20,000 tons of pyrites, and 60,000 tons of coal being used in the
process.
_China_, in the shape of knobs, &c., was introduced into the brass
founding trade by Harcourt Bros, in 1844. China bowls or wheels for
castors were first used in 1849 by J.B. Geithner.
_Chlorine_.--James Watt was one of the first to introduce the use of
chlorine as a bleaching agent.
_Citric Acid_.--Messrs. Sturge have over sixty years been manufacturing
this pleasant and useful commodity at their works in Wheeley's Lane. The
acid is extracted from the juice of the citron, the lime, and the lemon,
fruits grown in Sicily and the West Indies. The Mountserrat Lime-Juice
Cordial, lately brought into the market, is also made from these fruits.
About 350 tons of the acid, which is used in some dying processes, &c.,
is sent out annually.
_Coins, Tokens, and Medals_.--Let other towns and cities claim
preeminence for what they may, few will deny Birmingham's right to stand
high in the list of money-making places. At what date it acquired its
evil renown for the manufacture of base coin it would be hard to tell,
but it must have been long prior to the Revolution of 1688, as in some
verses printed in 1682, respecting the Shaftesbury medal, it is thus
sneeringly alluded to:
"The wretch that stamped got immortal fame,
'Twas coined by stealth, like groats in Birminghame."
Smiles, in his lives of Boulton and Watt, referring to the middle of the
last century, says, "One of the grimmest sights of those days were the
skeletons of convicted coiners dangling from gibbets on Handsworth
Heath." Coining was a capital offence for hundreds of years, but more
poor wretches paid the penalty of their crimes in London in a single
year than here in a century, wicked as the bad boys of Brummagem were.
An immense trade was certainly done in the way of manufacturing
"tokens," but comparatively few counterfeits of the legal currency were
issued, except in cases where "a royal patent" had been granted for the
purpose, as in the instance of the historical "Wood's half-pence,"
£100,000 worth (nominal) of which, it is said, were issued for
circulation in Ireland. These were called in, as being too bad, even for
Paddy's land, and probably it was some of these that the hawker,
arrested here Oct. 31, 1733, offered to take in payment for his goods.
He was released on consenting to the £7 worth he had received being cut
by a brazier and sold as metal, and his advertisements (hand bills)
burnt. These bad half pence weighed about 60 to the lb., 2s. 6d. worth
(nominal) being somewhat less than 10d. in value. In the ten years prior
to 1797 it has been estimated that 700 tons of copper were manufactured
here into tokens, and the issue of the celebrated Soho pence, providing
the nation with a sufficiency of legitimate copper coin, did not stay
the work, the number of tokens in circulation in the early part of the
present century being something wonderful, as many as 4,000 different
varieties having been described by collectors, including all
denominations, from the Bank of England's silver dollar to a country
huckster's brass farthing. More than nine-tenths of these were made in
Birmingham, and, of course, our tradesmen were not backward with their
own specimens. The Overseers issued the well-known "Workhouse Penny," a
copper threepenny piece, silver shillings and sixpences, paper notes for
2s. 6d., and leather bonds for 5s. With the exception of the penny these
are all scarce now, particularly the 5s., 2s. 6d., and 6d., a specimen
of the latter lately being sold at auction for 47s. In 1812 Sir Edward
Thomason struck, for a Reading banker (Mr. J.B. Monk), 800 gold tokens
of the nominal value of 40s. each; but this was just a step too far, and
the Government forbade their use. In the same year he also manufactured
two million penny tokens for our soldiers in Spain, which were _not_
forbidden. The permitted manufacture of token money came to an end with
the year 1817, an Act coming into force Jan. 1, 1818, forbidding further
issue from that date, or the circulation of them after the end of the
year, except in the case of the Overseers of Birmingham, who were
granted grace till Lady-day, 1820, to call in what they had issued. In
1786 Boulton struck over 100 tons of copper for the East India Co., and,
adding to his presses yearly, soon had plenty of orders, including
copper for the American Colonies, silver for Sierra Leone, and a
beautiful set for the French Republic. To enumerate all the various
coins, medals, and tokens issued from Soho would take too much space,
but we may say that he brought the art of coining to a perfection very
little surpassed even in the present day. In 1789 he made for the Privy
Council a model penny, halfpenny, and farthing, but red-tapeism delayed
the order until 1797, when he began coining for the Government
twopennies (only for one year), pennies, halfpennies and farthings,
continuing to do so until 1806, by which time he had sent out not less
than 4,200 tons weight. In this coinage of 1797 the penny was made of
the exact weight of 1 oz., the other coins being in proportion. In 1799,
eighteen pennies were struck out of the pound of metal, but the people
thought they were counterfeit, and would not take them until a
proclamation ordering their circulation, was issued December 9th. They
became used to a deprecation of currency after that, and there was but
very little grumbling in 1805, when Boulton was ordered to divide the
pound of copper into 24 pennies. The machinery of Boulton's mint, with
the collection of dies, pattern coins, tokens, and medals, were sold by
auction in 1850. The collection should have numbered 119 different
pieces, but there was not a complete set for sale. The mint, however,
could not be called extinct, as Messrs. Watt and Co. (successors to
Bolton and Watt), who had removed to Smethwick in 1848, struck over
3,300 tons of copper and bronze coin between 1860 and 1866, mostly for
Foreign countries. The first English copper penny (1797) was struck in
Birmingham, and so was the last. Messrs. Ralph Heaton and Son (the mint,
Warstone Line) receiving the contract in April, 1853. for 500 tons of
copper coin, comprising pence, half-pence, farthings, half-farthings,
and quarter-farthings. The present bronze coinage came into use December
1st, 1860, and Messrs. Heaton have had several contracts therefor since
then. This firm has acquired a reputation quite equal to the Soho Mint,
and hive supplied the coins--silver, copper, and bronze--for Belgium,
Canada, China, Chili, Denmark, Germany, Hayti, India, Republic of
Columbia, Sarawak, Sweden, Tunis, Turkey, Tuscany, Venezuela, and other
Principalities and States, including hundreds of tons of silver blanks
for our own Government and others, sending workmen and machinery to the
countries where it was preferred to have the coins struck at home.
Boulton, in his day, supplied the presses and machinery for the Mint on
Tower Hill (and they are still in use), as well as for the Danish,
Spanish, and Russian authorities. Mexico, Calcutta, Bombay, &c. Messrs.
Heaton, and the modern Soho firm, also dealing in such articles.
Foremost among modern local medallists, is Mr. Joseph Moore, of Pitsford
Street, whose cabinet of specimens is most extensive. An effort is being
made to gather for the new Museum and Art Gallery a collection of all
coins, medals, and tokens struck in Birmingham, and if it can be
perfected it will necessarily be a very valuable one.
_Coal_.--Over half-a-million tons of coal are used in Birmingham
annually.
_Cocoa_.--The manufacture of cocoa cannot be classed among the staple
trades of the town, but one of the largest establishments of the kind in
the kingdom, if not in the world, is that of Messrs. Cadbury, at
Bournville, where nearly 400 persons are employed. The annual
consumption of cocoa in this country is estimated at 13,000,000 lbs.,
and the proportion manufactured by Messrs. Cadbury, who have houses in
Paris, Sydney, Melbourne, Montreal, &e., may be guessed at from the fact
that their works cover nearly four acres, and packing-boxes are required
at the rate of 12,000 per week.
_Copying Presses_ were invented by James Watt in, and patented in, May,
1780. His partner, Boulton, had a lot ready for the market, and sold 150
by the end of the year.
_Compressed Air Power_.--A hundred years ago every little brook and
streamlet was utilised for producing the power required by our local
mill-owners, gun-barrel rollers, &c. Then came the world's
revolutioniser, steam, and no place in the universe has profited more by
its introduction than this town. Gas engines are now popular, and even
water engines are not unknown, while the motive power derivable from
electricity is the next and greatest boon promised to us. Meanwhile, the
introduction of compressed air as a means of transmitting power for long
distances marks a new and important era, not only in engineering
science, but in furthering the extension of hundreds of those small
industries, which have made Birmingham so famous a workshop. In the
Birmingham Compressed Air Power Company's Bill (passed March 12, 1884),
the principle involved is the economic utility of centralising the
production of power, and many engineers are of opinion that no other
means can possibly be found so convenient as the use of compressed air
in transmitting motive power, or at so low a cost, the saving being
quite 20 per cent, compared with the use of steam for small engines. The
Birmingham Bill provides for the supply of compressed air within the
wards of St. Bartholomew, St. Martin, Deritend, and Bordesley, which
have been selected by the promoters as affording the most promising
area. In the three wards named there were rated in March of 1883, as
many as 164 engines, of which the nominal horse-power varied from 1/2 to
10, fifty-nine from 11 to 20 fifteen from 21 to 30, six from 32 to 50,
ten from 52 to 100, and four from 102 to 289. Assuming that of these the
engines up to 30-horse power would alone be likely to use compressed
air, the promoters count upon a demand in the three wards for 1,946
nominal, and perhaps 3,000 indicated horse-power. To this must be added
an allowance for the probability that the existence of so cheap and
convenient a power "laid on" in the streets will attract other
manufacturers to the area within which it is to be available. It is
proposed, therefore, to provide machinery and plant capable of
delivering 5,000 indicated horse-power in compressed air, and to acquire
for the works sufficient land to permit of their dimensions being
doubled when extension shall become necessary. The site which has been
chosen is a piece of ground belonging to the Birmingham and Warwick
Canal Company, and situated by the canal, and bounded on both sides by
Sampson Road North and Henley Street. Here the promoters are putting
down four air-compressing engines, driven by compound and condensing
steam engines and which are to be heated by six sets (four in each set)
of elephant boilers. From the delivery branches of the air-compressors a
main 30in. in diameter will be laid along Henley Street, and,
bifurcating, will be taken through Sampson Road North and Stratford
Street at a diameter of 24in. The mains will then divide, to as to pass
down Sandy Lane, Fazeley Street, Floodgate Street, Bradford Street,
Bromsgrove Street, and other thoroughfares, giving off smaller branches
at frequent intervals, and so forming an elaborate network. The whole
cost of buildings, plant, and construction is estimated at £140,500, but
upon this large outlay it is hoped to realise a net annual profit of
£9,164, or 6-1/2 per cent, on capital. The engineers, reckoning the
annual cost of producing small steam power in Birmingham at £10 per
indicated horse-power, which will probably be regarded as well within
the mark, propose to furnish compressed air at £8 per annum, and if they
succeed in carrying out the scheme as planned, it will without doubt be
one of the greatest blessings ever conferred on the smaller class of our
town's manufacturers.
_Fenders and Fireirons_.--The making of these finds work for 800 or 900
hands, and stove grates (a trade introduced from Sheffield about 20
years back) almost as many.
_Files and Rasps_ are manufactured by 60 firms, whose total product,
though perhaps not equal to the Sheffield output, is far from
inconsiderable. Machines for cutting files and rasps were patented by
Mr. Shilton, Dartmouth Street, in 1833.
_Fox, Henderson and Co_.--In March, 1853, this arm employed more than
3,000 hands, the average weekly consumption of iron being over 1,000
tons. Among the orders then in hand were the ironwork for our Central
Railway Station, and for the terminus at Paddington, in addition to
gasometers, &c., for Lima, rails, wagons and wheels for a 55-mile line
in Denmark, and the removal and re-election[1] of the Crystal Palace at
Sydenham.-See "_Exhibitions," "Noteworthy men_."
[Footnote 1: Transcriber's note: this is probably a typographical error
for "re-erection".]
_Galvanised Buckets_ and other articles are freely made, but the
galvanisers can hardly be pleasant neighbours, as at the works of one
firm 40 to 50 carboys of muriatic acid and several of sulphuric acid are
used every day, while at another place the weekly consumption of
chemicals runs to two tons of oil of vitriol and seven tons of muriatic
acid.
_German Silver_.--To imitate closely as possible the precious metals, by
a mixture of baser ones, is not exactly a Birmingham invention, as
proved by the occasional discovery of counterfeit coin of very ancient
date, but to get the best possible alloy sufficiently malleable for
general use has always been a local desideratum. Alloys of copper with
tin, spelter or zinc were used here in 1795, and the term "German" was
applied to the best of these mixtures as a Jacobinical sneer at the
pretentious appellation of silver given it by its maker. After the
introduction of nickel from the mines in Saxony, the words "German
silver" became truthfully appropriate as applied to that metal, but so
habituated have the trade and the public become to brassy mixtures that
German silver must always be understood as of that class only.