Industry of the Black Country - NAILMAKING AND SCREW MAKING

[Thibault]

I have found information which suggests that three of my female ancestors, living in Stourbridge in the 1850s, were employed as screw makers. I assume that these screws were like nails, rather than screws which drive engines, but that is only an assumption.

Does anyone know where I can find further information regarding this industry? I have tried a search on the Internet, but the results do not appear to be helpful. Was it a cottage industry at this time?

[Northern Lass]

In Useful links we have

http://www.sedgleymanor.com/trades/nailmakers2.html

and

http://uk-transcriptions.accessgenealog ... 0Riots.htm

and

http://www.qlhs.org.uk/oracle/poverty-l ... -line.html

and
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/stevesgen ... making.htm

and others under Occupations

[Thibault]

Thank you Northern Lass.

[Northern Lass]

NAIL MAKING -The Arthur Willetts collection at Dudley Archives


When I went to Dudley Archives the other day they have in their "vaults" a huge collection by
Arthur Willetts about Chainmaking and Nailmaking.

If anyone is interested if you go to this link....

http://www.blackcountryhistory.org.uk/

Put in DWIL and it brings up the Collection and this preface.....

"Although the records in this collection predominantly relate to nailmaking and nailworkers, there are also numerous items which relate to chainmakers and chainmaking.

The areas most of the material relates to are Cradley, Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Birmingham, Bromsgrove, and Halesowen. However, there is also a lot of generic material relating generally to nailmaking, and nailmakers in the Black Country and the whole of the UK.


The records were deposited as accession 9081, and came with a list of the items. When the collection was fully catalogued in September 2008, it was decided to keep as far as possible to the structure of the original list. This was to ensure the reference numbers of the documents would be almost the same if they had previously been quoted in books or articles. As such, the structure of the catalogue, the headings used for each section, and the reference numbers look slightly different to the Dudley Archives and Local History Service in house cataloguing style.

Some of the documents are in poor condition. Before the records were deposited at Dudley Archives and Local History Service, it seems attempts to repair items with sellotaped etc have occurred. Also numerous items, both originals and copies, have been mounted on display type boards.

There were a number of items in the collection which were general history books, so these have been offered to the local history studies section. A few other items did not relate to the Dudley Borough or West Midlands, so these have been offered back to the depositor with a view to them being transferred to other records offices. "

--------------

To see the items in the Collection go back to the first page and
where it says " this record is Part of a Collection......"
click on that
then click on ref Dwil/8/2 and it brings up the following below.


"Collection Overview


DWIL ARTHUR WILLETTS' COLLECTION RE NAILMAKING
1800-1986

1 MANUSCRIPT ITEMS

1 Nail Masters minute book
1853-1888

2 Petition by the Wrought Nailmakers of South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire for improvements in wages.
30 Oct 1880

3 A series of short questions and answers
c1889

2 PRINTED ITEMS RELATING TO WAGES ETC IN THE NAILTRADE

1 LISTS OF WORKMEN'S PRICES

1 Prices to take place 11 Nov 1846
1846

2 Agreed upon at a general meeting of the trade. Prices to take place 19 Aug 1848
1848

3 Agreed upon at a general meeting of nail masters. Prices to take place 17 Dec 1853
1853

4 Agreed at a quarterly meeting of nail makers. Prices to take place 14 July 1855
1855

5 Prices to take place on the 31 July 1868
1868

6 Net workmen's prices.
1879

7 Net workmen's prices.
1892

2 ITEMS RELATING TO WAGES ETC IN THE NAILTRADE

1 Photocopies of circulars, letters and appeals
1878-1891

2 Booklet
1882

3 Notice re the struggle to improve conditions and wages.
1 Dec 1882

4 Letters to the editor, reprinted from the Advertiser.
7 Feb 1889

5 Photocopy of a notice of a meeting at Old Hill
c1891

6 Newspaper article
Mar 1891

7 Long newspaper article in the Sunday Chronicle
8 Nov 1891

3 CHARLES HOMES, NAILMAKER, HALESOWEN

1 Handwritten description and list of nails.
20th Cent

2 Photocopy of a price list from Charles Homes, Halesowen.
Nail, chain and odd work manufacturer
1929

3 Handwritten notes on the circumstances, conditions and work in the hand-made nail trade.
Post 1947

4 PRINTED BOOKS

1 Mushroom Green Chainshop, by Ron Moss
[1977]

2 Nailmaking, by Hugh Bodey
1983

3 Swindell & Co., A history 1780-1980, (for more than 50 years with Eliza Tinsley & co Ltd).
[1980]

4 Iron and Steel Industry, working conditions. By Dudley Teachers' Centre
c1970s

5 Chains and Chainmaking, by Charles Fogg
1981

6 Journey of Sorrow, Mr Samuel Salt's lecture, 1852 'Third, Grand, Never-to-be-forgotten and most clever.
1983

7 Thesis on the hand made nail trade of Dudley and district, 1928
nd

8 Photocopy excerpts from the Cutlery Trade, comparisons: the iron trade, the chain and nail trades.
1913

9 Nails and Chains. Article by Reverend Harold Rylett
1889

10 The Nailmakers [a play]
20th cent

5 NEWSPAPERS

1 Pall Mall Gazette
18 April 1891

6 PHOTOGRAPHS, PRINTS ETC

1 Photocopy of an engraving of Leasowes [Halesowen]
1800

2 Illustration of 'The Oliver'

3 Photo of a charabanc seating men and boy outside the Holly Bush Inn, Cradley Heath
[c1920s]

4 Depositor thinks this shows a steam crane transporting chain made by Eliza Tinsley & Co., Cradley Heath
[1924]

5 Leaflet and a sample of nails

6 Photo of Wellington Street, Old Hill, and one possibly of Ash Street, Old Hill
[c1970s]

7 Photo's of a building during restoration
[c1970-1980s]

8 Packet of photos of Ken Leas's nailshop, Mount Street, Halesowen
Sep 1973

9 Drawings
1986

7 RECORDS COLLECTED IN CONNECTION WITH MR WILLETT'S RESEARCH

1 Photocopies of material
1803-[1978]

2 Bundle of typed up parts of text from newspaper articles, reports etc.
19th-20th cent

8 ARTICLES WRITTEN BY ARTHUR WILLETTS
nd

1 The Black Country Nail Trade

2 A Brief History of Social and Political Events leading to riots of Birmingham and the Black Country, during the 1830s-1840s

3 Folder re the Women's chainmakers strike, Cradley Heath

4 The Foley Family, A Short History

5 Article: 'Old Tommy Two Sticks, a story of an eccentric Black Country vicar'

6 The River Stour and its industrial uses

9 DISPLAY MATERIAL

1 Photocopies of, and extracts from various sources
1878-1966

2 Items used for exhibitions re the nailtrade
20th cent

3 Items mounted on a board re the Slitting Mills of the River Stour
20th cent

4 Examples of types of nails
20th Cent"

Courtesy of Dudley Archives

[peterd]

screwmaking could be the screws that were made for the blacksmith vices

http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/vises.htm

also had screw makers in the gun trade

[sparkstopper]

FROM NAILS TO CHAIN....

The Midlands, and especially the Black Country had been making nails for hundreds
of years. Early records tell us that the Royal Courts of King John (1199 -1216) and
King Edward 111 (1327-1377) purchased nails from Staffordshire. The area had thousands
of smiths producing hundreds of types and sizes of nails used in many industries from
large nails in shipbuilding to the tiniest of tacks used in upholstery. With the introduction
of the machine made nails (Introduced in Birmingham) from around 1830, the hand-
nailers could neither compete with the production or the price of the mass produced article.
From Census occupation figures for the nail trade in the Black Country the peak number
of 18,690 nailmakers (equal men & women) in 1851 plummeted to 6,879 (mainly women)
in 1891. During the same period in 1891, the number of Chain Smiths increased from
814 to 5,164 (3,567 male & 1,597 female)

[Neville Bastable]

Thibault, have a look at today’s Black Country Bugle if you are able, issue no 893 page 22 where you will see a quite comprehensive description of a screw works and the work in which the employees were involved. The screw manufactory described was Isaiah Baker’s in Hollywell Sreet, Coseley but I imagine any situated in the Stourbridge area would be somewhat similar.
Neville Bastable

[Thibault]

Thank you, Neville.