Image: Introduction to Patent and Harcourt’s Specification, Castors for Furniture. Patent AD1839 No 8240. An example the front page of this patent for brass castors for furniture.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

Image: Advertisement for Richard & Edward Peyton, Bordesley Works, Birmingham, Manufacturer of the Patent Dovetail-Jointed Brass and Iron Bedsteads, in the New Illustrated Directory entitled Men & Things of Modern England. (Birmingham, M Billing, 1858) p 62. Trade Directories are useful sources for the history of the brass industry, providing information on the location of businesses and lists of products. This advertisement is rare in that it provides an image of the place of production.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

A search of the National Register of Archives for a specific company/business name should indicate the location of surviving records, but personnel records are few and far between for this trade.  Many local studies libraries also have ephemera and cuttings collections, which may include items relating to local brass works.  Local directories list businesses in the area and often contain full-page advertisements for larger concerns.  The original building may still be standing, but now put to a different commercial (or even residential) use.  If it has been demolished, a local studies library may have photographs or drawings of the buildings.

Many brassworkers served an apprenticeship and surviving indentures and other papers may be held at the local county record office or main library.  As well as being indexed by the names of masters and apprentices, there is often an index by trade to complement this.  It is possible that a parish apprenticeship was effected and in these cases, any surviving records can be found amongst the Overseers of the Poor accounts of the relevant parish at the Diocesan Record Office. It was not unusual for masters to take apprentices from parishes or institutions some distance away. Indentures for James Ford Banner of the Charity School, Bingworth, Worcestershire, dated 29^th May 1800, indicate that he was apprenticed to William Mason, Brass Founder of Birmingham. This can be found in the Archives at Birmingham Central Library (DV 343)

The brass trade was competitive and most companies produced lavish catalogues of their goods.  These can usually be found in main libraries, county record offices, or, if the company is still trading, with the company itself.  Whilst these do not contain genealogical information, it is fascinating to see the types of articles a brass-founding ancestor produced.

Many of the larger foundries and manufactories published regular staff magazines, which may well provide details of individual workers. Many include obituaries, retirements, marriages, engagements and births as well as reports of sporting and social events.  They may also feature a history of the company or reproduce old advertisements.  In its Christmas 1968 issue, Conex-Sanbra of Sandwell published one of a series of company cameos detailing the work of the polishing shop, complete with snippets about the people who worked there.  Such magazines are generally deposited in main libraries, record offices or at the company’s offices.

Image: Brassfounders’ Arms and Motto from the Quarterly Journal of the National Brass and Metal Mechanics.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

The Brass Workers Union was founded in 1872, its first secretary being W J Davis, who remained close to the union until his death, despite breaks when he was a factory inspector in Sheffield and a politician.  There were other unions associated with the brass trade, some of which were short-lived and whilst others became part of the Amalgamated Association of Brassfounders, Turners, Fitters, Finishers and Coppersmiths.  Some 20^th century executive committee and other minutes have been deposited at The Modern Records Centre at Warwick University but these are unlikely to contain any biographical information for individual members.  Annual reports of the Fender and Fire Brasses Manufacturers Association for the late 19^th century contain information about wages, safety and reports from member companies. These can be found in the Local Studies and History Service at Birmingham Central Library, together with biographies of some local brass manufacturers and general histories of the brass trade.

Image: Brass-making at Messrs R W Winfield and Co. in 1887 from “The Homes of our Metal Manufactures. Messrs R W Winfield and Co’s Cambridge Street Works & Rolling Mills, Birmingham”, in Martineau & Smith’s Hardware Trade Journal (Jan 31, 1887, p 9). The image shows molten brass being transported by one worker in a crucible. In the foreground the fluid metal is poured into iron moulds to create ingots which can then be passed onto the next stages of production, such as rolling or slitting. The dangers inherent in this work can be seen in the picture, not only from the heat, but also from the fumes, known as philosopher’s wool, a dense white gas of zinc oxide.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

At a conference in 1872, R H Best, chandelier maker of Birmingham, stated that he knew of two of his men who, after paying their underhands, made the sum of £3.00p. His son reported, in 1905, that “On many a soldering hearth there was the sizzling of bacon and the boiling of tea for half and hour after the morning arrivals, and again as one o’clock approached, but then the aroma changed to one of chops.” As long as it did not interfere with production he turned a blind eye.  Despite manufacturing chandeliers, Best’s factory was not well-lit.  This was because the vibration of the machines caused the fragile mantles to break easily.

The traditional keeping of “Saint Monday” whereby workers did not return to work until Tuesday, and then made up the hours during the rest of the week, was still upheld in the brass trade until the late nineteenth century. Whilst this was not so important in small workshops, in larger foundries or factories the absence of workers in key positions held up output in the production process.

The Birmingham historian, William Hutton, writing in the late 18^th century summed up the “curious art” of brassfounding as being “… less ancient than profitable and less healthful than either”.  In both respects he was accurate, as brassworkers contracted pulmonary and respiratory diseases from the dust and fumes emitted in the various processes. This led one industrial historian to comment in 1866 that “Brass casters are unanimously short-lived”.

In the St Laurence Parish of Birmingham in the early twentieth century, the phenomenon of green snow was reported. This parish was home to a number of brass foundries, and illnesses of the respiratory system were rife amongst both workers and the residents who shared their streets with a large number of such establishments.

Image: The Works of Messrs R W Winfield and Co. in 1887 from “The Homes of our Metal Manufactures. Messrs R W Winfield and Co’s Cambridge Street Works & Rolling Mills, Birmingham”, Martineau & Smith’s Hardware Trade Journal (Jan 31, 1887, p 9). The works were founded in 1829 and were described in the article as “a model manufactory and for completeness, extent, and good order it would perhaps be difficult, if not impossible to find any large industrial establishment to surpass it.”

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

By the mid 19^th century, the typical workshop employed 20 or 30 men, whilst the Birmingham Brass Houses had just over 100 men each with the exception of R W Winfield with 100 in 1835 and 700 by 1860. The late 19^th century brass industry comprised some nine divisions, although there was some overlap, with some manufacturers producing a wide range of goods. The divisions can be broken down as casting, cabinet, bell and general brass foundry, cock-making and plumbers brass foundry, stamped work, rolled brass, wire and sheathing, tube manufacture, lamp-making, gas and electrical fittings and naval brass foundry. Ironically, the infinite numbers of brass items required for any ocean-going vessel were made in Birmingham – probably the farthest town away from the English coast!

Generally speaking, in the foundries the workforce was divided into gangs and chargehands sub-contracted their own group. A head brass-caster would usually have between eight and ten people working for him and they would produce castings at an agreed price per hundredweight (cwt) with deductions for the use of the sandmill. As power lathes and other machines replaced the foot-treddle lathes and hand-tools, the contractor could, and usually did, make deductions to cover the cost of the power used. He then paid the chargehand who, in turn, paid his workers – often in the form of day wages. Occasionally, the chargehand was forced into ‘blind piecework’. This occurred when the contractor/master fixed the total price for the work and not just the parts being carried out by a particular group of workers. This could result in the chargehand being in debt to his contractor on completion of the job. Although the system of blind piecework was abolished by an Act of Parliament in 1901 it did not come into force in the brass trade until 1907.

During the 19^th century, stamping and piercing, such as in the manufacture of buttons, medals and ornamental work became increasingly mechanised, which resulted in a larger female workforce. These unskilled jobs generally paid significantly less than others in the trade. The Registrar General’s Report to the 1851 census showed that there were 1,781 women employed in the trade, with the 1861 census indicating an increase to 2,119. At the turn of the 20^th century Edward Cadbury, of the Bournville chocolate manufacturing family, examined women’s work and wages and published his findings. Apart from the bedstead trade some 31 different types of brass work is listed with wages varying from 30s (£1.50p) per week down to 3s 6d (17p) for the female employees.

Some Brassworkers’ weekly wages in shillings c.1855

Cockfounders 42 to 45
Stampers 20 to 25
Labourers 15 to 18
Lads” 7/6 to 10/6
Dippers 20 to 30
Lacquerers 8 to 10  (women) 3/6 to 5 (girls)
Metal Rollers 40 to 50
Finishers 24 to 26
Tubemakers 30
Solderers 10 to 12 (women)

Image: First page of Copy of the Deeds of the Birmingham Mining and Copper Company. 1791.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History (See Birmingham Institutions volume, D9)]

William Hutton summed up the feelings against the brass manufacturers “Brass is an object of some magnitude … the manufacture of this useful article has long been in few and opulent hands, who … acted with despotic sovereignty, established their own laws, chose their customers, directed the price of and govern the market”

The establishment of the Birmingham Metal Company was not the end of the problems for Birmingham’s brass trade. In 1783, the brass companies lobbied Parliament for the repeal of certain old statutes which prohibited the export of brass. In response, brassfounders from Birmingham and other Midland towns petitioned that the export of brass would be detrimental to their trades, and, although the Bill, known as the “Brass Masters Bill” passed through the House of Commons, it was defeated in the House of Lords.

The combination of copper suppliers in 1785 further threatened the Birmingham brass trade, as this effectively provided a monopoly for the whole copper output of the country. It would not only affect the brass trade, but also all those requiring copper. Due to conflicting business interests various schemes to provide Birmingham with its own smelting works were scrapped, and, in August 1790, The Birmingham Mining and Copper Company was formed with a capital of £50,000, divided into 500 shares.  At this time it was estimated that consumption was between 1,500 and 2,000 tons annually.

Image: The Brass House, Broad Street, Birmingham from Bisset’s Magnificent Guide, or Grand Copperplate Directory….(Birmingham, 1808). The Brass House was built in 1781 to manufacture the metal alloy in Birmingham and avoid the need to transport raw brass from elsewhere.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

For most of the 18^th century, brass was brought from Cheadle and Bristol to Birmingham. It was deemed more economical to bring in the alloy itself from far afield than bringing in the raw materials. However, matters came to a head in 1780 when the price of brass was increased by £12.00 per ton.

Between 1771 and 1780, production of copper, the chief component needed for the production of brass fell from 3,347 tons to 2,932 tons. Consequently, the price of brass supplied to the brassfounders rose from £72 per ton to £84 per ton. This vastly increased the potential profits of the brass manufacturers (by up to 25%) whilst drastically reducing those of the brassfounders. A meeting of the chief brassfounders of Birmingham was held at the Swan on Bull Street on the 29^th August 1780, at which it was decided to increase the price of brassfoundry goods by 7½%. Birmingham’s brassfounders wanted to become independent of the manufactories of Bristol and Cheadle, and, on the 9^th October 1780, a “serious address to Birmingham merchants and manufacturers of hardware” was published in Aris’s Gazette. It opened in a congratulatory tone to Birmingham’s past industrial achievements “… you have surprised all Europe in Invention and Executions. You have sought honour and profit, and it has been found in every Quarter of the Globe … your competitors … watch every opportunity to share with you a trade they cannot equal”.

The writer of the address, whom Aitken suggests was Matthew Boulton, urged the brassfounders to build their own smelting and brass houses to gain independence from the existing brass makers, asking “… shall so Respectable a Body of Merchants and Manufacturers become the Dupes of a set of Capricious Monopolists in the articles of brass and spelter on which their trade depends? … be no longer governed by Strangers when you have the power to help yourselves at home.”

A few weeks later, on the 21^st November 1780, the same writer placed an advertisement in Aris’ Gazette inviting Birmingham’s brassfounders and merchants to “… deliberate upon a plan … to relieve yourselves from the Imposition of a set of mercenary men whose machinations manifestly tend to the Injury of the Trade of your Town and Neighbourhood.” The decision was made to raise a fund, divided into shares to which every founder and merchant should subscribe. With subscriptions of £20,000 the Birmingham Metal Company was formed on the 2^nd February 1781.

The network of canals around Birmingham was established by this time making the transportation of raw materials both quicker and cheaper. The headquarters of the new company, The Brass House, was erected in 1781 “by ye canal” in Broad Street with “… corpulent tunnels or tapering chimneys which reared behind, under each of which were two furnaces”. Soon the price of brass fell from £84.00p per ton to £56.00p per ton, thus further increasing the presence of the trade in Birmingham. The last of the six tapering chimneys was demolished on 27^th January 1866 and all that remains of the building is the name of the thoroughfare “Brass House Passage”.

Image: The showroom of Messrs R W Winfield and Co. in 1887 from “The Homes of our Metal Manufactures. Messrs R W Winfield and Co’s Cambridge Street Works & Rolling Mills, Birmingham”, Martineau & Smith’s Hardware Trade Journal (Jan 31, 1887, p 10). By the late 19^th century an extraordinary range of brass items were created by Birmingham Brassfounders to meet home and overseas demand. The writer of the article noted that that “the extensive show-room contained noteworthy examples of some of the finest brasswork, on which the eye is tempted to linger….” He listed some of them. The ante-room to the show-room alone contained bedsteads, gas fittings, bronzes, fenders, fire screens, stair rods and electric light fittings.

[Image from: Birmingham Central Library, Local Studies and History]

Brass was in demand for the manufacture of buckles, buttons, horse and carriage fittings, household goods and, as improvement and sanitation schemes were effected, plumbing and sanitary products were needed in large numbers. In 1770, there were just five cock-founders in Birmingham supplying items for steam engines in the form of whistles, cocks, taps and gauges. A century later similar items were being produced for locomotive and ship engines as well as for industrial machines. Writing in 1865, Aitken suggested:

What Manchester is to cotton, Bradford to wool and Sheffield in steel, Birmingham is in brass: its articles of cabinet and general brassfoundary are to be found in every part of the world; its gas fittings in every city and town into which gas had been introduced, from Indus to the Poles … on the railways of every country and on every sea its locomotive and marine engines of solid brass generate the vapour which impels the locomotive over the iron road, and propels the steam boat over the ocean wave … its rings and ornament of brass are the chief decorations of the ‘belles’ on the banks of the distant Zambesi.

Aitkens’ statement was backed up by David Livingstone who described a Makalolo woman he met in Africa as wearing “Eighteen solid brass rings, as thick as ones fingers on each leg and three under each knee, nineteen on her left arm and eight on her right”.

The demand for brass for the production of goods in all shapes and forms rose as the 19^th century progressed. The Victorian pre-occupation with death led to a rise in the manufacture of coffin furniture. Aitken reported a request from two African palm oil potentates called “King I Am” and “Egbo Jack” for two coffins, each made of brass, 6ft 10in in length, 3feet in depth and 2ft 3in wide – each weighed 600lbs. The receptacles had a dual purpose, they were to be used as repositories for their treasures during their lifetimes before being called into service for the purpose for which they were designed.

As demand in one area declined there was usually another to take its place. An Exhibition of Electric Lighting was held at the Crystal Palace in 1882, and leaders of the brass industry foresaw electricity as the successor to gas for means of lighting. Fearing a loss of trade they argued that “Brass stands in the first rank” as the material for making electrical fittings. Their fears did not come to fruition as the turbine engine, motor industry came to the fore, and the Penny Post created new markets – from scales for weighing letters to brass letterboxes.