Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham by Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

T >> Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell >> Showell\'s Dictionary of Birmingham

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50

~Toyshop of Europe.~--It was during the debate in the House of Commons
(March 26, 1777) on the first reading of a Bill to license the Theatre
in Birmingham, that Mr. Burke, who spoke in its favour, described this
town as "the great toyshop of Europe." At that time, and for long
afterwards, hundreds of articles of utility manufactured here were
roughly classed as "light steel toys," and "heavy steel toys;" though we
should hardly now be likely to consider tinder boxes, steelyards,
pokers, fire-shovels and tongs as playthings.

~Trade Notes of the Past.~--Foreigners were not allowed to carry on any
retail trade here before 1663. The Brums never liked them. An official
document of 1695, states that, the trade of the town was "chiefly in
steel, iron, and other _ponderous_ commodities." In 1702 it was enacted
that if brass, copper, latten, bell-metal gun-metal, or shruff-metal be
carried beyond sea, clean or mixed, double the value thereof to be
forfeited, tin and lead only excepted. An Act was passed March 20, 1716,
prohibiting trade with Sweden, much to the inconvenience of our local
manufacturers, who imported Swedish iron for conversion into steel in
large quantities. The Act 1 Geo. I., c. 27 (1720), forbidding the
_exportation_ of artizans to foreign countries was not repealed till
1825 (5 Geo. IV., c. 97). In April, 1729, our manufacturers petitioned
that the colonists in America should be encouraged to send pig iron over
here; ten years previously they bitterly opposed the idea; ten years
later they repented, for their American cousins filled our warehouses
with their manufactured goods. In 1752 it was stated that above 20,000
hands were employed here in "useful manufactures." In 1785 a reward of
fifty guineas was offered here for the conviction of any person
"enticing workmen to go to foreign countries;" the penalty for such
"enticing" being a fine of L100 and three months' imprisonment.

~Trade Societies and Trades' Unions~ are of modern growth, unless we
count the old-style combinations of the masters to prevent their workmen
emigrating, or the still more ancient Guilds and Fraternities existing
in mediaeval times. There are in all, 177 different Trades' Unions in the
country (coming under the notice of the Registrar-General), and most of
them have branches in this town and neighbourhood. The majority have
sick and benefit funds connected with them, and so far should be classed
among Friendly, Benevolent, or Philanthropic Societies, but some few are
plainly and simply trade associations to keep up prices, to prevent
interference with their presumed rights, to repress attacks by the
avoidance of superabundant labour, and to generally protect members when
wrongfully treated, cheated or choused. Prior to 1834, when some 20,000
persons assembled on Newhall Hill, March 31 to protest against the
conviction of Dorset labourers for trades' unionism, few of these
societies were locally in existence; but the advent of Free Trade seems
to have shown all classes of workers the necessity of protecting their
individual interests by means of a system of Protection very similar,
though on smaller scale, to that abolished by Sir Robert Peel and his
friends. That there was a necessity for such trade societies was clearly
shown by the harsh manner in which they were denounced by John Bright at
a Town Hall banquet, held April 28, 1875, that gentleman evidently
demurring to the anomally of working men being Protectionists of any
kind. Foremost among the local unions is the National Society of
Amalgamated Brassworkers, originated April 18, 1872 with over 5,000
members now on its books, having in its first eight years subscribed and
paid to members out of employ no less than L29,000.--The Builders'
Labourers combined in 1861, and pay out yearly over L200 for sick and
funeral benefits.--The National Association of Master Builders was
organised here on Dec, 18, 1877.--The Butcher's Trade and Benevolent
Association, organised in 1877, helps its members in case of need, keeps
a sharp look out when new Cattle Markets, &c., are proposed, and
provides a jury to help the magistrates in any doubtful case of
"scrag-mag," wherein horse-flesh, donkey meat, and other niceties have
been tendered to the public as human food.--The "gentlemen" belonging to
the fraternity of accountants met on April 20, 1882, to form a local
Institute of Chartered Accountants, and their clients know the result by
the extra charges of the chartered ones.--The Clerks' Provident
Association provides a register for good clerks out of employ for the
use of employers who may want them, and, of course, there can be no good
clerks out of employ except those who belong to the Association. It was
commenced in 1883, from a philanthropic feeling, but must rank among
trade societies as much as many others.--The Coal Merchants and
Consumers' Association, for regulating the traffic charges, and
otherwise protecting the trade (especially the sellers) was organised in
1869.--The Dairymen and Milksellers' Protection Society came into
existence April 2, 1884, and is intended to protect the dealers against
the encroachments of the Birmingham Dairy Company, and all customers
from the cows with wooden udders or iron teats.--The dentists in May,
1883, held the first meeting of the Midland Odentological Society, but
it is not expected that the people at large will be entirely protected
from toothache earlier than the first centenary of the Society.--The
Institution of Mechanical Engineers was formed early in 1847.--The
Amalgamated Society of Engineers dates half-a-century back, its 430
branches having collectively about 50,000 members, with a reserve fund
of L178,000, though the expenditure in 1883 was L124,000 out of an
income of L134,000. Locally, there are three branches, with 765 members,
having balances in hand of L2,075; the expenditure in 1883 being L680 to
men out of work, L585 to sick members, L390 to the superannuated, L171
for funerals, and L70 in benevolent gifts.--The Birmingham and Midland
Counties Grocers' Protection and Benevolent Association, started in
1871, has a long name and covers a considerable area. It was designed to
make provision for the wives and families of unfortunate members of the
trade when in distress; to defend actions brought against them under the
Adulteration Acts; and most especially to protect themselves from the
encroachments of the merchants, importers, and manufacturers, who do not
always deliver 112 lbs. to the cwt, or keep to sample.--The Licensed
Victuallers first clubbed together for protection in 1824, and the
Retail Brewers and Dealers in Wine followed suit in 1845, both societies
spending considerable sums yearly in relief for decayed members of the
trade, the Licensed Victuallers having also a residential Asylum for a
number of their aged members or their widows in Bristol Road.--The
journeymen printers opened a branch of the Provincial Typographical
Association Oct. 12, 1861, though there was a society here previously.--
The first local union we find record of was among the knights of the
thimble, the tailors striking for an increase in wages in 1833; a branch
of the Amalgamated Society of Tailors has lately been organised.--In
1866 a general Trades' Council was formed, which utilises by combined
action the powers of the whole in aid of any single society which may
stand in need of help.

~Trades and Manufactures.~--There are no published returns of any kind
that have ever been issued by which more than a guess can be made at the
real value of the trade of Birmingham, which varies considerably at
times. At the present moment (March, 1885) trade is in a _very_
depressed state, and it would hardly be correct to give the exact
figures, were it even possible to obtain them, and any statistics that
may appear in the following lines must be taken as showing an average
based upon several years. Speaking at a council meeting, February 19,
1878, Mr. Alderman Joseph Chamberlain said the best way to ascertain the
trade of the town was to take the local bank returns and the railway
traffic "in" and "out," so far as the same could be ascertained. The
deposits in all the banks that published returns were, at the end of
1877, L10,142,936, as against L10,564,255 in the previous year--a
falling off of L421,312, or 4 percent. With regard to bills of exchange
held by the banks, the amount was L3,311,744, against L3,605,067 in the
previous year--a falling off of L293,323, or 8 per cent. The amount of
the advances, however, was L6,041,075, as against L5,570,920 in the
previous year--an increase of L470,155, or 8-1/2 percent. With regard to
the trade of the town, by the courtesy of the managers of the respective
companies, he was able to give the numbers of tons of goods, of coals,
and other minerals, the loads of cattle, and the number of passengers.
The tons of goods were 973,611, as against 950,042 in 1876--an increase
of 23,569 tons, or about 2-1/2 per cent. The tons of coal were 566,535,
against 575,904--a falling off of 9,372 tons, or 1-1/2 percent. The
other minerals were 119,583 tons, against 100,187--an increase of
19,369, or 19 per cent. The loads of cattle were 22,462 last year,
against 19,157 in the previous year--an increase of 3,305 loads, 17 per
cent. These were the returns of the "in" and "out" traffic. The number
of passengers was 5,787,616 in 1877, against 5,606,331--an increase of
181,285, or about 3-1/4 per cent. So far as the traffic went, as they
had been led to expect from the Board of Trade returns, there had been
an increase of business, but a decrease of profits; and as to the
decrease of profits he had some figures which showed that the profits of
trade for the parish of Birmingham fur the year ending April 1, 1877,
were L3,989,000; and of the preceeding year L4,292,000--a falling off of
L323,000, or a trifle over 8 per cent. These figures of Mr.
Chamberlain's may be accepted as representing the present state, the
increase in numbers and consequent addition to the traffic "in" being
balanced by the lesser quantity of goods sent out, though it is
questionable whether the profits of trade now reach L3,000,000 per year.
Notwithstanding the adverse times the failures have rather decreased
than otherwise, there being 13 bankruptcies and 313 arrangements by
composition in 1883 against 14 and 324 respectively in 1882. To get at
the number of tradesmen, &c., is almost as difficult as to find out the
value of their trade, but a comparison at dates fifty years apart will
be interesting as showing the increase that has taken place in that
period. A Directory of 1824 gave a list of 141 different trades and the
names of 4,980 tradesmen; a similar work published in 1874 made 745
trades, with 33,462 tradesmen. To furnish a list of all the branches of
trade now carried on and the numbers engaged therein would fill many
pages, but a summary will be found under "_Population_," and for fuller
particulars the reader must go to the Census Tables for 1881, which may
be seen at the Reference Library. The variety of articles made in this
town is simply incalculable, for the old saying that anything, from a
needle to a ship's anchor, could be obtained in Edgbaston Street is
really not far from the truth, our manufacturers including the makers of
almost everything that human beings require, be it artificial eyes and
limbs, ammunition, or armour; beads, buttons, bedsteads, or buckles;
cocoa, candlesticks, corkscrews, or coffee-pots; door bolts, dessert
forks, dog collars, or dish covers; edge tools, earrings, engines, or
eyeglasses; fire irons, fiddle-bows, frying pans, or fishhooks; gold
chains, gas fittings, glass toys, or gun barrels; hairpins, harness,
handcuffs, or hurdles; ironwork, isinglass, inkstands, or inculators;
jewellery, javelins, jews' harps, or baby jumpers; kettles, kitchen
ranges, knife boards, or knuckle dusters; lifting-jacks, leg irons,
latches, or lanterns; magnets, mangles, medals, or matches; nails,
needles, nickel, or nutcrackers; organ pipes, optics, oilcans, or
ornaments; pins, pens, pickle forks, pistols, or boarding-pikes; quart
cups, quoits, quadrats, or queerosities; rings, rasps, rifles, or
railway cars; spades, spectacles, saddlery, or sealing wax;
thermometers, thimbles, toothpicks, or treacle taps; umbrellas or
upholstery; ventilators, vices, varnish, or vinegar; watches,
wheelbarrows, weighing machines or water closets. A Londoner who took
stock of our manufactories a little while back, received information
that led him to say, a week's work in Birmingham comprises, among its
various results, the fabrication of 14,000,000 pens, 6,000 bedsteads,
7,000 guns, 300,000,000 cut nails, 100,000,000 buttons, 1,000 saddles,
5,000,000 copper or bronze coins, 20,000 pairs of spectacles, 6 tons of
papier-mache wares, over L20,000 worth of gold and silver jewellery,
nearly an equal value of gilt and cheap ornaments, L12,000 worth of
electro-plated wares, 4,000 miles of iron and steel wire, 10 tons of
pins, 5 tons of hairpins and hooks and eyes, 130,000 gross of wood
screws, 500 tons of nuts and screw-bolts and spikes, 50 tons of wrought
iron hinges, 350 miles' length of wax for vestas, 40 tons of refined
metal, 40 tons of German silver, 1,000 dozen of fenders, 3,500 bellows,
800 tons of brass and copper wares. Several of these items are rather
over the mark, but the aggregate only shows about one half a real week's
work, as turned out when trade is good.

_Agricultural Implements_, such as draining tools, digging and manure
forks, hay knives, scythes, shovels, spades, &c., as well as mowing
machines, garden and farm rollers, ploughs, harrows, &c., are the
specialities of some half-dozen firms, the oldest-established being
Messrs. Mapplebeck and Lowe, opposite Smithfield Market.

_American Traders_.--It has been stated that there is not a _bona fide_
American trader residing amongst us, though at one time they were almost
as numerous as the Germans now are. Be that as it may, the following
statistics, giving the declared value of exports from Birmingham to
America during the ten years ending Sept. 30, 1882, (taken from a report
made by the American Consul-General in London), show that a vast trade
is still being carried on with our friends on the other side of the
Atlantic:--Year ending September 30 1873, 7,463,185 dols.; 1874,
5,778,957 dols.; 1875, 4,791,231 dols.; 1876, 3,135,234 dols.; 1877,
2,842,871 dols.; 1878 2,309,513 dols.; 1879, 2,435,271 dols.; 1880,
4,920,433 dols.; 1881, 4,376,611 dols.; 1882, 5,178,118 dols. Total,
43,231,429 dols.

_Ammunition_.--To manufacture ammunition for guns and pistols so long
made here by the scores of thousands would seem but the natural
sequence, but though percussion caps were yearly sent from here in
millions of grosses, the manufacture of the complete cartridge is a
business of later growth. For the invention of gunpowder the world had
to thank a monk, and it is no less curious that we owe percussion caps
to the scientific genius of another Churchman, the first patent for
their construction being taken out by the Rev. Mr. Forsyth in 1807. They
were very little thought of for long after Waterloo, and not introduced
into "the service" until 1839, several foreign armies being supplied
with them before the War Office allowed them to be used by "Tommy
Atkins" with his "Brown Bess." A machine for making percussion caps was
patented by John Abraham in 1864. The manufacture of such articles at
all times involves several dangerous processes, and Birmingham has had
to mourn the loss of many of her children through accidents arising
therefrom. (See "_Explosions_.") The ammunition works of Messrs. Kynoch
and Co., at Witton, cover over twenty acres, and gives employment to
several hundred persons, the contrariness of human nature being
exemplified in the fact that the death-dealing articles are mainly
manufactured by females, the future mothers or wives perchance of men to
be laid low by the use of such things. The plant is capable of turning
out 500,000 cartridges per day, as was done during the Turkish war, and
it takes 50 tons of rolled brass, 100 tons of lead, and 20 tons of
gunpowder weekly to keep the factory fully going, all kinds of
ammunition for rifles and machine guns being made on the premises. Other
extensive works are those of the Birmingham Small Arms and Metal Co., at
Adderley Park Mills, and the National Arms and Ammunition Co., at Small
Heath, and Perry Barr.

_Artificial Eyes and Limbs_ are necessary articles to some members of
the genus _homo_, but the demand, fortunately, is not of such an
extensive character as to require many manufacturers; indeed, the only
firm in Birmingham that devotes itself entirely to supplying artificial
limbs is that of Messrs. Best and Son, Summer Lane, whose specialities
in the way of arms and legs are famed in all English and Continental
medical circles as wonderful examples of the peculiar mechanism
requisite to successfully imitate the motions and powers of natural
limbs. There are half-a-dozen makers of "eyes," human and otherwise, the
chief being Messrs. Pache and Son, Bristol Street, and Mr. Edward
Hooper, Suffolk Street, who hold the almost unique position of being the
sole known makers of artificial human eyes anywhere. Few people would
imagine it, but it is said that there are at least 1,500 persons in
Birmingham who carry glass eyes in their head; while the demand from
foreign countries is something enormous, the United States taking the
lead as they fain would do in everything. But there is no part of the
civilised world, from Spitzbergen to Timbuctoo, where Birmingham made
eyes are not to be seen, even the callous "heathen Chinee" buying them
in large quantities. Naturalists and taxidermists find here eyes to
match those of any creature that has lived and breathed, and "doll's
eyes" are made by the ton.

_Bedsteads, Metallic_.--The making of iron and brass bedsteads, as a
staple trade, dates only from the accession of Her Majesty; but, unlike
that august personage, they were a long time before they were
appreciated as they deserved to be, for, in 1850, there were only four
or five manufacturers in the town, and their output did not reach 500 a
week. Now, about 1,800 hands are employed in the trade, and the annual
value of the work sent out cannot be less than L200,000.

_Boilermaking_.--The making of iron boilers, gasholders, sugar-boilers,
&c., may be dated as a special trade from about 1831, when 30 men and
boys were employed thereat, turning out about 150 tons yearly; in 1860,
about 200 hands turned out 1,000 tons; in 1880 the workers were roughly
estimated at 750 to 800 and the output at 4,500 tons.

_Booksellers_.--In 1750, there were but three, Aris, Warren, and
Wollaston: now the booksellers, publishers, and wholesale stationers are
over a hundred, while small shops may be counted to treble the number.

_Boots and Shoes_ are manufactured by about 40 wholesale houses, several
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 L20,000 in
L100 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 L2,371,658. 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 L1,000.
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 L800 worth of buttons per week. Papier mache 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 L20 per ton, while as
high as L160 to L170 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 L30,000.--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 mache, 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.