Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham Part 47

~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 doc.u.ment 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 bra.s.s, 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 pa.s.sed 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 quant.i.ties. 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 I., c. 27 (1720), forbidding the _exportation_ of artizans to foreign countries was not repealed till 1825 (5 Geo.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 pet.i.tioned 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 100 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 cla.s.sed among Friendly, Benevolent, or Philanthropic Societies, but some few are plainly and simply trade a.s.sociations 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 a.s.sembled 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 cla.s.ses 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 Bra.s.sworkers, 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 29,000.--The Builders'

Labourers combined in 1861, and pay out yearly over 200 for sick and funeral benefits.--The National a.s.sociation of Master Builders was organised here on Dec, 18, 1877.--The Butcher's Trade and Benevolent a.s.sociation, 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 Inst.i.tute of Chartered Accountants, and their clients know the result by the extra charges of the chartered ones.--The Clerks' Provident a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation. 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' a.s.sociation, 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 Inst.i.tution 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 178,000, though the expenditure in 1883 was 124,000 out of an income of 134,000. Locally, there are three branches, with 765 members, having balances in hand of 2,075; the expenditure in 1883 being 680 to men out of work, 585 to sick members, 390 to the superannuated, 171 for funerals, and 70 in benevolent gifts.--The Birmingham and Midland Counties Grocers' Protection and Benevolent a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.sociation 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, 10,142,936, as against 10,564,255 in the previous year--a falling off of 421,312, or 4 percent. With regard to bills of exchange held by the banks, the amount was 3,311,744, against 3,605,067 in the previous year--a falling off of 293,323, or 8 per cent. The amount of the advances, however, was 6,041,075, as against 5,570,920 in the previous year--an increase of 470,155, 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 pa.s.sengers.

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 pa.s.sengers 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 3,989,000; and of the preceeding year 4,292,000--a falling off of 323,000, 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 quant.i.ty of goods sent out, though it is questionable whether the profits of trade now reach 3,000,000 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 s.h.i.+p'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, b.u.t.tons, bedsteads, or buckles; cocoa, candlesticks, corkscrews, or coffee-pots; door bolts, dessert forks, dog collars, or dish covers; edge tools, earrings, engines, or eyegla.s.ses; fire irons, fiddle-bows, frying pans, or fishhooks; gold chains, gas fittings, gla.s.s toys, or gun barrels; hairpins, harness, handcuffs, or hurdles; ironwork, isingla.s.s, 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 b.u.t.tons, 1,000 saddles, 5,000,000 copper or bronze coins, 20,000 pairs of spectacles, 6 tons of papier-mache wares, over 20,000 worth of gold and silver jewellery, nearly an equal value of gilt and cheap ornaments, 12,000 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 bra.s.s 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 bra.s.s, 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 _h.o.m.o_, 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 gla.s.s 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 quant.i.ties. 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 bra.s.s 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 200,000.

_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.

_Bra.s.s_.--The making of goods in bra.s.s was commenced here about 1668, but the manufacturer of bra.s.s itself was not carried on before 1740, when Mr. Turner built his works in Coles.h.i.+ll Street. The Bra.s.s and Spelter Co. was started in February 1781, with a capital of 20,000 in 100 shares. Bra.s.shouse Pa.s.sage, 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 bra.s.s 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 bra.s.s 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 bra.s.s, were made here in 1825, by a modeller named Maurice Garvey. In 1865 it was estimated that the quant.i.ties of metal used here in the manufacture of bra.s.s 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 quant.i.ty is now used every year. The number of hands employed in the bra.s.s trade is about 18,000.

_Buckles_ were first worn as shoe fastenings in the reign of Charles II.

When in fas.h.i.+on they were made of all sizes and all prices, from the tiny half-inch on the hatband to the huge s...o...b..ckle 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 pet.i.tions were made to the royal princes to stem the change then taking place in the "fas.h.i.+ons." 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.

_b.u.t.tons_.--The earliest record of b.u.t.ton-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 b.u.t.tons being in fas.h.i.+on. By an Act pa.s.sed in the 4th of William and Mary foreign b.u.t.tons 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 b.u.t.tons covered with cloth, or other stuff of which garments are made, shall forfeit five pounds for every dozen of such b.u.t.tons, or in proportion for any lesser quant.i.ty;" by an Act of the seventh of George the First, "any wearer of such unlawful b.u.t.tons is liable to the penalty of forty s.h.i.+llings per dozen, and in proportion for any lesser quant.i.ty." 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 b.u.t.tons, 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 b.u.t.toned contrary to law.

These Acts were originally enforced to protect the many thousands who at the time were employed in making b.u.t.tons of silk, thread, &c., by hand, and _not_, as is generally supposed, in favour of the metal b.u.t.ton manufacturers, though on April 4, 1791, Thomas Gem, the solicitor to the committee for the protection of the b.u.t.ton trade, advertised a reward for any information against the wearers of the unlawful covered b.u.t.tons.

The "gilt b.u.t.ton days" of Birmingham was a time of rare prosperity, and dire was the distress when, like the old buckles, the fas.h.i.+on 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 b.u.t.ton makers solicited Prince Albert to patronise the metallic b.u.t.tons for gentlemen's coats, but Fas.h.i.+on's fiat was not to be gainsayed. John Taylor, High Sheriff of Warwicks.h.i.+re in 1756, is said to have sent out about 800 worth of b.u.t.tons per week. Papier mache b.u.t.tons came in with Henry Clay's patent in 1778. He also made b.u.t.tons of slate. Boulton, of Soho, was the first to bring out steel b.u.t.tons with facets, and it is said that for some of superior design he received as much as 140 guineas per gross. Horn b.u.t.tons, though more correctly speaking they should have been called "hoof" b.u.t.tons, were a great trade at one time, selling in 1801 as low as 5-1/2d. per gross. "Maltese b.u.t.tons" (gla.s.s beads mounted in metal) were, in 1812, made here in large quant.i.ties, as were also the "Bath metal drilled shank b.u.t.ton" of which 20,000 gross per week were sent out, and a fancy cut white metal b.u.t.ton, 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 establis.h.i.+ng a rival manufacture.

Flexible shanks were patented in 1825 by B. Sanders. Fancy silk b.u.t.tons, with worked figured tops, were patented by Wm. Elliott, in 1837.

Porcelain b.u.t.tons, though not made here, were designed and patented by a Birmingham man, R. Prosser, in 1841. The three-fold linen b.u.t.ton 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" b.u.t.ton 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 b.u.t.ton trade about 1857. The sh.e.l.ls used in the manufacture of pearl b.u.t.tons are brought from many parts of the world, the princ.i.p.al 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 "sh.e.l.l"

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 Maca.s.sar, a seaport in India. The average import of sh.e.l.l is about 1,000 tons per year, and the value about 30,000.--There are 265 b.u.t.ton manufacturers in Birmingham, of whom 152 make pearl b.u.t.tons, 26 gla.s.s, 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, bra.s.s, 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.

_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 k.n.o.bs, &c., was introduced into the bra.s.s 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts (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 bra.s.s 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 s.h.i.+llings 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 s.p.a.ce, but we may say that he brought the art of coining to a perfection very little surpa.s.sed 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 Princ.i.p.alities 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 cla.s.sed 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 (pa.s.sed 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. a.s.suming 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 Ca.n.a.l Company, and situated by the ca.n.a.l, 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 pa.s.s 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 cla.s.s 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. s.h.i.+lton, 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 bra.s.sy mixtures that German silver must always be understood as of that cla.s.s only.

_Gla.s.s_--The art of painting, &c. on gla.s.s was brought to great 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 gla.s.s-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 gla.s.s is almost as old as the introduction of gla.s.s itself. There is a beautiful specimen in the Art Gallery. Gla.s.s flowers, fruit, &c., as ornamental adjuncts to bra.s.sfoundry, must be accredited to W. C. Aitken, who first used them in 1846. American writers claim that the first pressed gla.s.s 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 ent.i.tled to the credit of it. It is very remarkable that none of the samples of Venetian gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s. 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 gla.s.s 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 princ.i.p.al 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 cla.s.sed 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, bra.s.s, 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.