perfection by Francis Eginton, of the Soho Works, in 1784. He supplied
windows for St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Salisbury and Lichfield
Cathedrals, and many country churches. The east window of St. Paul's,
Birmingham, and the east window of the south aisle in Aston Church, are
by Eginton. One of the commissions he obtained was from the celebrated
William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London, for windows at Fonthill, to the
value of £12,000. He was not, however, the first local artist of the
kind, for a Birmingham man is said to have painted a window in Haglev
Church, in 1756-57, for Lord Lyttelton, though his name is not now
known. William Raphael Eginton (son of Francis) appeared in the
Directory of 1818, as a glass-painter to the Princess Charlotte, but we
can find no trace of his work. Robert Henderson started in the same line
about 1820, and specimens of his work may be seen in Trinity Chapel; he
died in 1848. John Hardman began in Paradise Street about 1837,
afterwards removing to Great Charles Street, and thence to Newhall Hill,
from which place much valuable work has been issued, as the world-known
name well testifies. Engraving on glass is almost as old as the
introduction of glass itself. There is a beautiful specimen in the Art
Gallery. Glass flowers, fruit, &c., as ornamental adjuncts to
brassfoundry, must be accredited to W. C. Aitken, who first used them in
1846. American writers claim that the first pressed glass tumbler was
made about 40 years back in that country, by a carpenter. We have good
authority for stating that the first pressed tumbler was made in this
country by Rice Harris, Birmingham, as far back as 1834. But some years
earlier than this dishes had been pressed by Thomas Hawkes and Co., of
Dudley, and by Bacchus and Green, of Birmingham. No doubt the earliest
pressing was the old square feet to goblets, ales, jellies, &c.
Primitive it was, but like Watt's first engine, it was the starting
point, and Birmingham is entitled to the credit of it. It is very
remarkable that none of the samples of Venetian glass show any pressing,
although moulding was brought by them to great perfection. It would not
be fair to omit the name of the first mould-maker who made the
tumbler-mould in question. It was Mr. James Stevens, then of Camden
Street, Birmingham, and it is to him, and his sons, James and William,
that the world is greatly indebted for the pressing of glass. The older
Stevens has been dead some years, and the sons have left the trade.
Previous to this mould being made for tumblers, Mr. James Stevens made
some pressed salt-moulds to order for an American gentleman visiting
Birmingham. Some of the most beautiful works in glass fountains,
candelabra, &c., that the world has ever seen have been made at Messrs.
Oslers, Broad Street, whose show rooms are always open to visitors.
_Guns_.--The imitative, if not inventive, powers of our forefathers have
been shown in so many instances, that it is not surprising we have no
absolute record of the first gun-maker, when he lived, or where he
worked, but we may be confident that firearms were not long in use
before they were manufactured here. The men who made 15,000 swords for
the Commonwealth were not likely to go far for the "musquets" with which
they opposed Prince Rupert. The honour of procuring the first Government
contract for guns rests with Sir Richard Newdigate, one of the members
for the county in William III.'s reign, a trial order being given in
1692, followed by a contract for 2,400 in 1693, at 17/-each. For the
next hundred years the trade progressed until the Government, in 1798,
found it necessary to erect "view-rooms" (now "the Tower", Bagot Street)
in Birmingham. From 1804 to 1817 the number of muskets, rifles,
carbines, and pistols made here for the Government, amounted to
1,827,889, in addition to 3,037,644 barrels and 2,879,203 locks sent to
be "set up" in London, and more than 1,000,000 supplied to the East
India Co. In the ten years ending 1864 (including the Crimean War) over
4,000,000 military barrels were proved in this town, and it has been
estimated that during the American civil war our quarreling cousins were
supplied with 800,000 weapons from our workshops. Gunstocks are chiefly
made from beech and walnut, the latter for military and best work, the
other being used principally for the African trade, wherein the prices
have ranged as low as 6s. 6d. per gun. Walnut wood is nearly all
imported, Germany and Italy being the principal markets;--during the
Crimean war one of our manufacturers set up sawmills at Turin, and it is
stated that before he closed them he had used up nearly 10,000 trees,
averaging not more than thirty gunstocks from each. To give anything
like a history of the expansion of, and changes in, the gun trade during
the last fifteen years, would require a volume devoted solely to the
subject, but it may not be uninteresting to enumerate the manifold
branches into which the trade has been divided--till late years most of
them being carried on under different roofs:--The first portion, or
"makers", include--stock-makers, barrel welders, borers, grinders,
filers, and breechers; rib makers, breech forgers and stampers; lock
forgers, machiners, and filers; furniture forgers, casters, and filers;
rod forgers, grinders, polishers, and finishers; bayonet forgers, socket
and ring stampers, grinders, polishers, machiners, hardeners, and
filers; band forgers, stampers, machiners, filers, and pin makers; sight
stampers, machiners, jointers, and filers; trigger boxes, oddwork
makers, &c. The "setters up" include machines, jiggers (lump filers and
break-off fitters), stockers, percussioners, screwers, strippers, barrel
borers and riflers, sighters and sight-adjusters, smoothers, finishers
makers-off, polishers, engravers, browners, lock freers, &c., &c. The
Proof-house in Banbury Street, "established for public safety" as the
inscription over the entrance says, was erected in 1813, and with the
exception of one in London is the only building of the kind in England.
It is under the management of an independent corporation elected by and
from members of the gun trade, more than half-a-million of barrels being
proved within its walls yearly, the report for the year 1883 showing
383,735 provisional proofs, and 297,704 definitive proofs. Of the
barrels subjected to provisional proof, 29,794 were best birding single,
150,176 best birding double, and 160,441 African. Of those proved
definitively, 63,197 were best double birding barrels, 110,369
breech-loading birding, 37,171 breech-loading choke bore, and 54,297
saddle-pistol barrels. As an instance of the changes going on in the
trades of the country, and as a contrast to the above figures,
Birmingham formerly supplying nearly every firearm sold in England or
exported from it, trade returns show that in 1882 Belgium imported
252,850 guns and pistols, France 48,496, the United States 15,785,
Holland 84,126, Italy 155,985, making (with 3,411 from other countries)
560,653 firearms, valued at £124,813, rather a serious loss to the gun
trade of Birmingham.
_Handcuffs and Leg Irons_.--It is likely enough true that prior to the
abolition of slavery shackles and chains were made here for use in the
horrible traffic; but it was then a legal trade, and possibly the
articles were classed as "heavy steel toys," like the handcuffs and leg
irons made by several firms now. A very heavy Australian order for these
last named was executed here in 1853, and there is always a small demand
for them.
_Hinges_.--Cast-iron hinges, secret joint, were patented in 1775 by
Messrs. Izon and Whitehurst, who afterwards removed to West Bromwich.
The patent wrought iron hinge dates from 1840, since which year many
improvements have been made in the manufacture of iron, brass, wire,
cast, wrought, pressed, and welded hinges, the makers numbering over
three score.
_Hollow-ware_.--The invention of tinning iron pots and other hollow-ware
was patented in 1779 by Jonathan Taylor, the process being first carried
out by Messrs. Izon and Whitehurst at their foundry in Duke Street. The
enamelling of hollow-ware was Mr. Hickling's patent (1799), but his
method was not very satisfactory, the present mode of enamelling dating
from another patent taken out in 1839. Messrs. Griffiths and Browett,
Bradford Street, have the lion's share of the local trade, which is
carried on to a much greater extent at Wolverhampton than here.
_Hydraulic Machinery_ is the specialite almost solely of Messrs. Tangye
Bros., who established their Cornwall Works in 1855.
_Jewellery_.--A deputation from Birmingham waited upon Prince Albert,
May 28, 1845, at Buckingham Palace, for the purpose of appealing to Her
Majesty, through His Royal Highness, to take into gracious consideration
the then depressed condition of the operative jewellers of Birmingham,
and entreating the Queen and Prince to set the example of wearing
British jewellery on such occasions and to such an extent as might meet
the royal approval. The deputation took with them as presents for the
Queen, an armlet, a brooch, a pair of ear-rings, and a buckle for the
waist; for the Prince Consort a watch-chain, seal, and key, the value of
the whole being over 400 guineas. The armlet (described by good judges
as the most splendid thing ever produced in the town) brooch, ear-rings,
chain and key were made by Mr. Thomas Aston, Regent's Place; the buckle
and seal (designed from the Warwick vase) by Mr. Baleny, St. Paul's
Square. It was stated by the deputation that 5,000 families were
dependent on the jewellery trades in Birmingham. The "custom of trade"
in connection with jewellers and the public was formerly of the most
arbitrary character, so much so indeed that at the Great Exhibition of
1851, the Birmingham jewellers did not exhibit, except through the
London houses they were in the habit of supplying, and the specimens
shewn by these middlemen were of a very unsatisfactory character as
regards design. It is almost impossible to describe them without
appearing to exaggerate. Construction in relation to use went for
nothing. A group of Louis Quatorze scrolls put together to form
something like a brooch with a pin at the back to fasten it to the
dress, which it rather disfigured than adorned; heavy chain-like
bracelet, pins, studs, &c., of the most hideous conceits imaginable,
characterised the jewellery designs of Birmingham until about 1854-55,
when a little more intelligence and enterprise was introduced, and our
manufacturers learned that work well designed sold even better than the
old-styled ugliness. A great advance has taken place during the past
thirty years, and Birmingham jewellers now stand foremost in all matters
of taste and design, the workmen of to-day ranking as artists indeed,
even the commonest gilt jewellery turned out by them now being of
high-class design and frequently of most elaborate workmanship. At the
present time (March 1885) the trade is in a very depressed condition,
thousands of hands being out of employ or on short time, partly arising,
no doubt, from one of those "changes of fashion" which at several
periods of our local history have brought disaster to many of our
industrial branches. It has been estimated that not more than one-half
of the silver jewellery manufactured in Birmingham in 1883, passed
through the Assay Office, but the total received there in the twelve
months ending June 24th, 1883, amounted to no less than 856,180 ounces,
or 31 tons 17 cwt. 4 lbs. 4 oz., the gold wares received during same
period weighing 92,195 ounces, or 3 tons 7 cwt. 12 lbs. 3 oz., the total
number of articles sent in for assaying being 2,649,379. The directory
of 1780 gave the names of twenty-six jewellers; that of 1880 gives
nearly 700, including cognate trades. The fashion of wearing long silver
guard-chains came in in about 1806, the long gold ones dating a score
years later, heavy fob chains then going out. The yearly make of wedding
rings in Birmingham is put at 5,000 dozen. Precious stones are not to be
included in the list of locally manufactured articles, nor yet "Paris
pastes," though very many thousands of pounds worth are used up every
year, and those anxious to become possessed of such glittering trifles
will find dealers here who can supply them with pearls from 6d., garnets
from 2d., opals from 1s., diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, &c.,
from half-a-crown, the prices of all running up according to size, &c.,
to hundreds of pounds per stone.
_Latten_, the term given to thin sheets of brass, was formerly applied
to sheets of tinned iron.
_Lockmakers_ are not so numerous here as they once were, though several
well known patentees still have their works in the borough. The general
trade centres round Willenhall, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.
_Looking-glasses_.--Messrs. Hawkes's, Sromsgrove Street, is the largest
looking-glass manufactory in the world, more than 300 hands being
employed on the premises. A fire which took place Jan. 8, 1879,
destroyed nearly £12,000 worth of stock, the turnout of the
establishment comprising all classes of mirrors, from those at 2. a
dozen to £40 or £50 each.
_Mediæval Metalwork_.--Mr. John Hardman, who had Pugin for his friend,
was the first to introduce the manufacture of mediæval and
ecclesiastical metal work in this town, opening his first factory in
Great Charles Street in 1845. The exhibits at the old Bingley Hall in
1849 attracted great attention and each national Exhibition since has
added to the triumphs of the firm. Messrs. Jones and Willis also take
high rank.
_Metronome_, an instrument for marking time, was invented by Mr. W.
Heaton, a local musician, about 1817.
_Mineral Waters_.--The oldest local establishment for the manufacture of
aërated artificial and mineral waters is that of Messrs. James Goffe and
Son, of Duke Street, the present proprietors of the artesian well in
Allison Street. This well was formed some years ago by Mr. Clark, a
London engineer, who had undertaken a Corporation contract connected
with the sewers. Finding himself embarassed with the flow of water from
the many springs about Park Street and Digbeth, he leased a small plot
of land and formed a bore-hole, or artesian well, to check the
percolation into his sewerage works. After boring about 400 feet he
reached a main spring in the red sandstone formation which gives a
constant flow of the purest water, winter and summer, of over 70,000
gals. per day, at the uniform temperature of 50 deg. The bore is only
4in. diameter, and is doubly tubed the whole depth, the water rising
into a 12ft. brick well, from which a 4,000 gallon tank is daily filled,
the remainder passing through a fountain and down to the sewers as
waste. Dr. Bostock Hill, the eminent analyst, reports most favourably
upon the freedom of the water from all organic or other impurities, and
as eminently fitted for all kinds of aërated waters, soda, potass,
seltzer, lithia, &c. The old-fashioned water-carriers who used to supply
householders with Digbeth water from "the Old Cock pump" by St. Martin's
have long since departed, but Messrs. Goff's smart-looking barrel-carts
may be seen daily on their rounds supplying the real _aqua pura_ to
counters and bars frequented by those who like their "cold without," and
like it good.--Messrs. Barrett & Co. and Messrs. Kilby are also
extensive manufacturers of these refreshing beverages.
_Nails_.--No definite date can possibly be given as to the introduction
of nailmaking here as a separate trade, most smiths, doubtless, doing
more or less at it when every nail had to be beaten out on the anvil.
That the town was dependent on outsiders for its main supplies 150 years
back, is evidenced by the Worcestershire nailors marching from Cradley
and the Lye, in 1737 to force the ironmongers to raise the prices.
Machinery for cutting nails was tried as early as 1811, but it was a
long while after that (1856) before a machine was introduced
successfully. Now there are but a few special sorts made otherwise, as
the poor people of Cradley and the Lye Waste know to their cost,
hand-made nails now being seldom seen.
_Nettlefold's (Limited)_.--This, one of the most gigantic of our local
companies, was registered in March, 1880, the capital being £750,000 in
shares of £10 each, with power to issue debentures to the vendors of the
works purchased to the extent of £420,000. The various firms
incorporated are those of Messrs. Nettlefold's, at Heath Street, and
Princip-street, Birmingham, at King's Norton, at Smethwick, &c., for the
manufacture of screws, wire, &c., the Castle Ironworks at Hadley,
Shropshire, and the Collieries at Ketley, in the same county; the
Birmingham Screw Co., at Smethwick; the Manchester Steel Screw Co., at
Bradford, Manchester; Mr. John Cornforth, at Berkeley Street Wire and
Wire Nail Works; and Messrs. Lloyd and Harrison, at Stourport Screw
Works. The purchase money for the various works amounted to £1,024.000,
Messrs. Nettlefold's share thereof being £786,000, the Birmingham Screw
Co.'s £143,000, the Manchester Co.'s £50,000, Messrs. Cornforth, Lloyd
and Harrison taking the remainder. The firm's works in Heath Street are
the most extensive of the kind in existence, the turnout being more than
200,000 gross of screws per week, nearly 250 tons of wire being used up
in the same period.--See "_Screws_."
_Nickel_ owes its introduction here to Mr. Askin, who, in 1832,
succeeded in refining the crude ore by precipitation, previously it
having been very difficult to bring it into use. Electro-plating has
caused a great demand for it.
_Nuts and Bolts_.--In addition to a score or two of private firms
engaged in the modern industry of nut and bolt making, there are several
limited liability Co.'s, the chief being the Patent Nut and Bolt Co.
(London Works, Smethwick), which started in 1863 with a capital of
£400,000 in shares of £20 each. The last dividend (on £14 paid up) was
at the rate of 10 per cent., the reserve fund standing at £120,000.
Messrs. Watkins and Keen, and Weston and Grice incorporated with the
Patent in 1865. Other Co.'s are the Midland Bolt and Nut Co. (Fawdry
Street, Smethwick), the Phoenix Bolt and Nut Co. (Handsworth), the
Patent Rivet Co. (Rolfe Street, Smethwick), the Birmingham Bolt and Nut
Co., &c.
_Optical and Mathematical Instruments_ of all kinds were manufactured
here in large numbers eighty years ago, and many, such as the solar
microscope, the kaleidoscope, &c. may be said to have had their origin
in the workshops of Mr. Philip Carpenter and other makers in the first
decade of the present century. The manufacture of these articles as a
trade here is almost extinct.
_Papier Maché_.--This manufacture was introduced here by Henry Clay in
1772, and being politic enough to present Queen Caroline with a Sedan
chair made of this material, he was patronised by the wealthy and titled
of the day, the demand for his ware being so extensive that at one time
he employed over 300 hands, his profit being something like £3 out of
every £5. It has been stated that many articles of furniture, &c., made
by him are still in use. Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge commenced in
1816, and improvements in the manufacture have been many and continuous.
George Souter introduced pearl inlaying in 1825; electro-deposit was
applied in 1844; "gem inlaying" in 1847, by Benj. Giles; aluminium and
its bronze in 1864; the transfer process in 1856 by Tearne and Richmond.
Paper pulp has been treated in a variety of ways for making button
blanks, tray blanks, imitiation jet, &c., the very dust caused by
cutting it up being again utilised by mixture with certain cements to
form brooches, &c.
_Paraffin_.--The manufacture of lamps for the burning of this material
dates only from 1861.
_Pins_.--What becomes of all the pins? Forty years ago it was stated
that 20,000,000 pins were made every day, either for home or export use,
but the total is now put at 50,000,000, notwithstanding which one can
hardly be in the company of man, woman, or child, for a day without
being asked "Have you such a thing as a pin about you?" Pins were first
manufactured here in quantities about 1750, the Ryland family having the
honour of introducing the trade. It formerly took fourteen different
persons to manufacture a single pin, cutters, headers, pointers,
polishers, &c., but now the whole process is performed by machinery. The
proportion of pins made in Birmingham is put at 37,000,000 per day, the
weight of brass wire annually required being 1,850,000 lbs., value
£84,791; iron wire to the value of £5,016 is used for mourning and hair
pins. The census reports say there are but 729 persons employed (of whom
495 are females) in the manufacture of the 11,500,000,000 pins sent from
our factories every year.
_Planes_.--Carpenters' planes were supplied to our factors in 1760 by
William Moss, and his descendants were in the business as late as 1844.
Messrs. Atkins and Sons have long been celebrated makers, their hundreds
of patterns including all kinds that could possibly he desired by the
workman. Woodwork is so cut, carved, and moulded by machinery now, that
these articles are not so much in demand, and the local firms who make
them number only a dozen.
_Plated Wares_.--Soho was celebrated for its plated wares as early as
1766; Mr. Thomason (afterwards Sir Edward) commenced the plating in
1796; and Messrs. Waterhouse and Ryland, another well-known firm in the
same line, about 1808, the material used being silver rolled on copper,
the mountings silver, in good work, often solid silver. The directory of
1780 enumerates 46 platers, that of 1799 96 ditto; their names might now
be counted on one's finger ends, the modern electro-plating having
revolutionised the business, vastly to the prosperity of the town.
_Puzzles_.--The Yankee puzzle game of "Fifteen," took so well when
introduced into this country (summer of 1880), that one of our local
manufacturers received an order to supply 10,000 gross, and he was
clever enough to construct a machine that made 20 sets per minute.
_Railway Waggon Works_.--With the exception of the carriage building
works belonging to the several great railway companies, Saltley may be
said to be the headquarters of this modern branch of industry, in which
thousands of hands are employed. The Midland Railway Carriage and Waggon
Co. was formed in 1853, and has works of a smaller scale at Shrewsbury.
The Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Waggon Co. was originated in
London, in 1845, but removed to Saltley in 1862, which year also saw the
formation of the Union Rolling Stock Co. The capital invested in the
several companies is very large, and the yearly value sent out is in
proportion, more rolling stock being manufactured here than in all the
other towns in the kingdom put together, not including the works of the
railway companies themselves. Many magnificent palaces on wheels have
been made here for foreign potentates, Emperors, Kings, and Queens,
Sultans, and Kaisers, from every clime that the iron horse has travelled
in, as well as all sorts of passenger cars, from the little narrow-gauge
vehicles of the Festiniog line, on which the travellers must sit back to
back, to the 60ft. long sleeping-cars used on the Pacific and Buenos
Ayers Railway, in each compartment of which eight individuals can find
sleeping accommodation equal to that provided at many of the best
hotels, or the curious-looking cars used on Indian railways, wherein the
natives squat in tiers, or, as the sailor would say, with an upper and
lower deck.
_Ropemaking_ is a trade carried on in many places, but there are few
establishments that can equal the Universe Works in Garrison Lane,
where, in addition to hundreds of tons of twine and cord, there are
manufactured all sorts of wire and hemp ropes for colliery and other
purposes, ocean telegraph cables included. Messrs. Wright introduced
strain machinery early in 1853, and in the following year they patented
a rope made of best hemp and galvanised wire spun together by machinery.
On a test one of these novelties, 4-1/4in. circumference, attached to
two engines, drew a train of 300 tons weight. To supply the demand for
galvanised signalling and fencing cords, the machines must turn out
15,000 yards of strand per day.
_Rulemaking_, though formerly carried on in several places, is now
almost confined to this town and the metropolis, and as with jewellery
so with rules, very much of what is called "London work" is, in reality,
the produce of Birmingham. Messrs. Rabone Brothers are the principal
makers, and the boxwood used is mostly obtained from Turkey and the
Levant, but the firm does not confine itself solely to the manufacture
of wood rules, their steel tapes, made up to 200ft in one length,
without join of any sort, being a specialty highly appreciated by
surveyors and others.
_Saddlery_.--One of the oldest local trades, as Lelaud, in 1538, speaks
of "lorimers" as being numerous then. That there was an important
leather market is certain (Hutton thought it had existed for 700 years),
and we read of "leather sealers" among the local officers as well as of
a "Leather Hall," at the east end of New Street. The trade has more than
quadrupled during the last 25 years, about 3,000 hands being now engaged
therein, in addition to hundreds of machines.