Birmingham's Industrial Heritage E-Book

Ray Shill

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 332

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2003

Beschreibung

Birmingham was a renowned manufacturing centre by the 18th century and the city rapidly grew into the primary industrial centre of the Midlands. An account of Birmingham's heyday of heavy industry is recorded and the story is brought up to date with the story of the decline of heavy industry and its subsequent replacement by design, technology and computing. The proposed redevelopment of Rover's Longbridge site as a science park is symptomatic of this change.

Leseprobe

BIRMINGHAM’S

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

1900–2000

The Dunlop Rubber Co. flourished through manufacturing bicycle and car tyres and this is a typical advertisement for the 1919–20 period. Dunlop produced a range of advertisements, which were published in the local paper and magazines and illustrated different themes. This particular example praises the success of Dunlop tyres at the TT Races in the Isle of Man. (Birmingham Daily Post, 1920)

BIRMINGHAM’S

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

1900–2000

RAY SHILL

First published in 2002

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

© Ray Shill, 2002, 2013

The right of Ray Shill to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978-0-7509-5411-2

Original typesetting by The History Press

CONTENTS

Introduction

O

NE

Guns & Ammunition

T

WO

Jewellery & Allied Trades

T

HREE

Buttons, Medals & Coins

F

OUR

Steel Pens

F

IVE

Glass-making

S

IX

Lamps

S

EVEN

Engineering

E

IGHT

Metal Trades

N

INE

Electrical Trades

T

EN

Bicycles

E

LEVEN

Motor Cycles

T

WELVE

Cars

T

HIRTEEN

Commercial Vehicles

F

OURTEEN

Railway Rolling Stock

F

IFTEEN

Rubber Trade

Conclusion

Acknowledgements & References

The entrance to the main Rover works at Longbridge from Lickey Road with part of the plant under reconstruction, April 2000. (Ray Shill)

Home Guard whistle produced by J. Hudson, 1940. Hudson and Co. were based in Hockley, Birmingham, and manufactured large numbers of whistles. (Private Collection)

INTRODUCTION

Birmingham is a great working city whose lifeblood is the manufacturing and service industries. It lies at the heart of a busy manufacturing region that today is still respected for the quality products made there. The story of Birmingham industry is one that encompasses change and innovation. Vast resources of workers with different skills have all contributed to the continuing industrial metamorphosis that has made Birmingham great. Birmingham industry is built on experience and trial, where no task was too large to undertake and each new challenge was a problem to be solved. Every manufacturing town and city has to face such challenges to survive.

The keenness for experiment and innovation led to a variety of trades being established in Birmingham, hence it being called ‘A City of a Thousand Trades’. If a count was made of all the different firms and the jobs undertaken therein the figure of a thousand might prove to be a conservative estimate. However, the city of Birmingham should not be viewed in isolation. The industry in this region was, and is, a partnership of firms, frequently forming a supply chain, where specific tasks undertaken by one firm would provide a product for another. Whenever Birmingham industry is discussed, therefore, it is important to consider it in association with the surrounding area. This includes the Black Country towns of Dudley, Oldbury, Smethwick, Tipton, Walsall and Wednesbury, the newly created city of Wolverhampton, Redditch, Telford and the cities of Coventry and Lichfield. An evenly distributed industrial conurbation has replaced the former manufacturing concentrations of the nineteenth century. Yet the role of this area in supplying Britain and the rest of the world is just as relevant today as it was in the past.

The aim of this book is to look at Birmingham industry during the twentieth century, and information for this project has been compiled during the year 2000. Methods of production and workers’ roles will be examined, focusing on particular trades such as car-making, motor-cycle manufacture, gun-making, jewellery and rubber.

Despite all the pageant and ceremony that heralded the end of 1999, the true end of the century was 31 December 2000. Here in Birmingham ice and snow lay on the ground. A bitter wind drove freezing rain that gradually melted the ice. On the following morning, 1 January 2001, the sun came out on the city, raising the hopes for a new age. The weather had been just as grim a hundred years before, when floods had caused serious problems in the region. Celebrations for the dawn of the twentieth century were conducted on 1 January 1901. It was a vastly different age from today. Victoria was still Queen of England, and although she died a month later, the last breath of Victorian times and Victorian values were present at the start of the new century. Britain was also a nation at war, engaged in a conflict with the Boers, fighting on the opposite side of the globe in South Africa. It was an age of new invention. Electricity was being put to many more uses, such as lighting and to power traction for street tramways. Municipal and private enterprise were establishing generating stations for this purpose. One of the most important developments at this time was the petrol engine. This powered both the automobile and the motor cycle. An industry in decline was bicycle manufacture, which had flourished a few years before.

One of the many facets of Birmingham industry was its resilience and ability to adapt. When trade fell off in one sector, another developed. The skills of the gun-makers were readily put to use in bicycle manufacture. When trade in bicycles reduced, those skills were put to use making automobiles. Lamp-making was an important business. In the pre-electric age lamps burnt acetylene gas, town gas or oil and were sold all over the world. The universal use of electric lighting diminished the market, but lamp manufacturers turned their skills to new areas. Joseph Lucas, who had a busy lamp-making firm, incorporated the new order to make not just electric lamps but other forms of electrical equipment for the rapidly developing automotive industry.

By 1901 the city of Birmingham encompassed the old town of Birmingham, Edgbaston, parts of old Aston (Deritend, Bordesley, Duddeston, Nechells, Saltley, Washwood Heath and Little Bromwich) and Balsall Heath, which had formerly belonged to the parish of Kings Norton. The suburbs extended outside the city into the counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Industry was dispersed throughout and intermixed with residential properties. The greatest concentration of firms formed a ring around the city centre, which was a densely populated area crammed with back-to-back houses, foundries, rolling mills and a myriad of factory premises.

Birmingham Bull Ring, early twentieth century. (Heartland Press Collection)

Kelly’s Trade Directory, 1902

The following extract from Kelly’s Trade Directory describes industrial development in Birmingham in 1901.

Many of the large factories constitute establishments of almost public character. The works at Soho were founded in 1757, but came into the possession of Matthew Boulton in 1762, and formed one of the great schools of mechanical engineering and the arts of design, under Matthew Boulton, James Watt, William Murdoch and Francis Eggington. The Soho Foundry was erected at Smethwick some years later, and the manufacture of steam engines, coin presses and the minting of coin were carried on by the firm of James Watt and Co. up to the year 1895. In 1896 the business was acquired from the trustees by W. & T. Avery Ltd, by whom it is now carried on. In the year 1850 the old Soho Mint was dismantled and the machinery sold; and not a vestige of the building remains. Messrs Tangyes Ltd, hydraulic and general engineers, and manufacturers of several specialities, are proprietors of the Cornwall Works, Soho. Messenger & Son’s manufactory in Broad Street is for ornamental work in bronze and ormolu. In Cheapside is the brass foundry and gas, steam and water-fitting establishment of Messrs Samuel Booth and Co. and the screw works of Mr Joseph Fitter. Messrs Perry and Co. Ltd are manufacturers of steel pens and cycle chains and accessories; their works are in Lancaster Street, and cover nearly 2 acres. The extensive steel pen and penholder manufactory of Messrs Gillott is in Graham Street. The bolt and rivet works of Barwells Ltd are in Brookfields Road. Brass and copper wire is extensively manufactured here; and amongst others, by the Birmingham Battery Co. Ltd of Selly Oak; Heaton and Dugard, of Shadwell Street Mills; and Samuel Walker Ltd of Fazeley Street. The Mint, Birmingham, Ltd, Icknield Street, produce brass and copper strips, sheets, wire and tubes. Screwing tackle is the speciality of the Victoria Works of Mr Thomas Chatwin, Great Tindal Street, Ladywood. Messrs F. and C. Osler’s works, in Broad Street, are well known for the excellence of their productions in crystal glass. Messrs Chance’s glass works, at Smethwick, are very extensive; they have also an important lighthouse works, established in 1850, and the only works of the kind in the kingdom. The old electroplate works of Elkington and Co. Ltd are in Newhall Street. S.A. Daniell Ltd of the Lion Works, Edward Street, Parade, are manufacturers of copying presses, screw stocks, dies, taps, ratchets, braces &c.; H. Hope and Sons Ltd of Lionel Street, of horticultural buildings and hot water apparatus, wind and waterproof casements &c.; Messrs J. and J. Hughes’ brass and gun-metal works are in Woodcock Street; Harrison and Smith Ltd, of Alma Street, are button manufacturers and Messrs J. Nicklin and Co., of Great Charles Street, are pin manufacturers, and Hindes Ltd, of Bromsgrove Street, are manufacturers of brushes.

Industry also spilled out of the city centre along the main communication routes – the canals, railways and main roads. The canal network was begun during the eighteenth century and completed during the nineteenth century. It brought the much-needed raw materials for Birmingham industry and took away many of its finished products. The railway system that developed provided access to new markets for Birmingham goods, while road improvements created the vital link between the factory and the goods station.

By 1911 Birmingham had grown in size, absorbing the suburbs within ‘Greater Birmingham’. The enlarged city now included the parishes of Aston Manor, Castle Bromwich, Erdington, Handsworth, Kings Norton, Northfield, Selly Oak, Witton and Yardley. Industry followed the boundary changes by taking advantage of the open spaces. Bigger and greater factories became possible, and both established and new manufacturers took the opportunity to establish works in these suburban areas. Expansion was particularly noticeable around Castle Bromwich, Erdington, Hall Green and Tyseley.

War is often a stimulus for industrial growth and several industries were to benefit from the new factory building programme that was required to supply munitions and equipment to the armed forces during the First World War. The Austin car plant at Longbridge was trebled in size, while new works were also provided for BSA at Small Heath.

Various town-planning schemes were proposed between 1910 and 1919, and a number of these proposals were adopted. Birmingham City Council began to formulate policies for regulating industrial growth to specific areas and developed the remainder for residential purposes. New businesses and homes were, in future, to be segregated and it is this view that shaped the development of industry between 1920 and 1940. Twenty years is a long time and many changes in manufacturing practice took place. The dependence on coal was reduced as gas and electricity gained important ground. The need for canal or railway based locations, which delivered the coal, was lessened and new sites were constructed with primarily road access in mind.

Political unrest in Europe led to a re-armament programme during the late 1930s. Again new factories were planned and constructed as part of the Government ‘Shadow Scheme’ that was to provide new aircraft factories in the Midlands. The car-makers Austin and Rover benefited from this directly, and the management of these companies took over on the eve of the war. Morris was also instrumental in getting a new factory built at Castle Bromwich on land that had previously been purchased for housing.

The ravages of the Second World War left their mark on Birmingham industry. Bombing destroyed valuable property, but also resulted in industries being dispersed to safer locations. Those firms whose activities were crucial to the war effort particularly benefited from the acquisition of these temporary premises. Despite enemy action, manufacturing continued as best it could and by the end of the war prospects looked hopeful. Many firms flourished, but these were changing times. The British Empire, which had been a constant customer for the many and varied Birmingham trades, was rapidly becoming the Commonwealth, whose component countries were either supplying their own needs or seeking out cheaper foreign manufacturers.

Other factors contrived to check the continued development of Birmingham industry. Red tape in the form of the Industrial Development Certificate became a force after 1945. Firms seeking to enlarge their premises had their applications denied. As a consequence, several firms found it necessary to set up factories in other parts of Britain and subsequently closed down their local operations. Others moved elsewhere in the West Midlands, transferring work to the Black Country, South Staffordshire, Warwickshire or Worcestershire. Countering this effect were the slum clearance schemes which created inner city spaces after 1945. Small factory units sprouted up in many locations, maintaining the busy ring of industry around Birmingham’s city centre.

Birmingham boundaries, 1911. (Private Collection)

In the postwar period planners did their most good and most damage. With the power of hindsight opinions about the schemes are very different from what they were then. Those involved at the time believed that they were planning a better Birmingham. An encircling ring road and brand new shopping centre and market complex were all part of a vision that was to create a modern image for the 1960s. Yet the new concrete structures soon tarnished and the subways and walkways became the target for the graffiti artist. The established industries that stood in the way of progress were swept aside. Few now recognise the gun quarter, which was established around Weamen Street and Steelhouse Lane. Its heart was ripped out by the planners creating the new ring road. Today a faded sign on a subway wall beside St Chad’s Cathedral points the way to the remnants of a once important Birmingham industry.

Industrial development around Birmingham in 1950. (From Birmingham and its Regional Setting [Birmingham, 1950])

In the 1970s Birmingham industry faced its strongest test. The car industry had become the largest single employer in the region and through it extensive work in the electrical, metal and plastics industries was generated. One car-making giant, British Leyland, came into existence during this period and became the source of many jobs. Yet foreign competition and industrial strife contrived to bring this giant to its knees. A constant factor for British and foreign industries was the amalgamation process whereby firms absorbed other companies with like purpose. Country boundaries did not limit this expansion and businesses could be established worldwide; such firms became the big names of industry. A number of these firms had premises in Birmingham, including BSA, Dunlop, GEC, GKN, IMI and Lucas. Each operated a range of concerns under one corporate umbrella.

Competition and a general falling off of business led to firms pursuing specific trades. The core business concept was to become an important influence on Birmingham industry during the 1980s. Familiar brand names disappeared as parts of the operation were sold off for private development. Sometimes the firm survived, sometimes the business was moved elsewhere, but frequently it was closed down and the skills were lost forever. Casualties of these times were the British motor-cycle industry and the British cycle-making trade.

Many big names have disappeared from the Birmingham scene and service industry companies have taken their place. Manufacturing is still big business but operations are on a smaller scale. Metal-working is carried out at a number of sites and there is still an active jewellery-making quarter. Paint-making firms are prominent and automotive component manufacture remains an important force in the area. More importantly there are still firms in Birmingham today that are willing to undertake work on any scale – no job is too small for them or too great.

The extensive gun, rifle and cartridge works of W.W. Greener in St Mary’s Row, mid-1880s. The centre of Victorian Birmingham was a crowded place – industrial premises were to be found side by side with residential properties. Many trades saw considerable success in the town and the profits of local industry were reflected in the factories erected. Greener’s was established in 1830 and grew in size as the business prospered. This view shows a skyline full of chimney-stacks. The steam engine was the principal means of powering the machinery, while coal fuelled many a furnace. This everyday smoky scene changed little in Birmingham for over half a century. (From Birmingham – An Alphabetical Area Guide [British Industry Publishing Co., 1888])

Guns & Ammunition

GUN-MAKING IN BIRMINGHAM

The Birmingham gun trade began to emerge during the seventeenth century. As the firearm was perfected production ranged from the flintlock to muskets and pistols. Many new developments were made during the nineteenth century and these led to the creation of the breech-loading rifle and gun. Metal-working techniques had improved to such an extent that the technology was now available to produce the necessary component parts. Birmingham gunsmiths made rifles, shotguns and hand guns for warfare and sport. Ammunition was also provided by a number of firms. The Birmingham gun trade was principally located on the east side of the town in workshops situated around Weaman Street, Slaney Street, Steelhouse Lane, Princip Street and Price Street, and this area became known as the gun quarter. However, such is the nature of gun-making that many gun components were worked on by a number of outworkers whose home-based workshops were distributed around the town. While most gun-making workshops were often cluttered and small they were quite capable of producing a limited quantity of weapons, but could not meet the demands of the modern army. The conflicts, and colonial expansion, of the nineteenth century were to spawn the gun- and ammunition-making factory, where mass-production techniques were used to make weapons in far greater numbers.

Between 1860 and 1870 the Birmingham gun trade enjoyed a period of marked prosperity. In 1861 the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd came into existence. It was made up of twenty firms who from 1854 had been selected by the Government to supply arms. In 1861 these companies decided to amalgamate to form the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd, and from 1862 were based at a new site in Small Heath. This new factory was built on land beside the Warwick and Birmingham Canal and was established to make up to 600 muzzle-loading rifles per week. Among the up-to-date machinery installed were automatic machines that enabled larger quantities to be produced. In 1871 the Government adopted the Martini Henry rifle, which went into production during 1874, and BSA were fortunate in securing contracts for the manufacture of these rifles. In 1873 the Adderley Park Rolling Mills were acquired by BSA for the manufacture of ammunition shells. Following this development BSA changed their name to the Birmingham Small Arms & Metal Co. Ltd. The name reverted to the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd in 1897 when the Adderley Park Mills were incorporated as a separate concern called the Birmingham Metals & Munitions Company Ltd.

In 1870 another group of people formed an arms manufacturing firm – the Arms & Ammunitions Co., but changed its name to the National Arms & Ammunition Co. Ltd in 1872. They possessed four works that specialised in different areas of arms manufacture. Arms were made at the Small Arms Works, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, which had plant capable of producing up to 1,800 finished breech-loading rifles per week. Ammunition was made at the Holdford Mills and Belmont Row. A fourth site, the Peel Works in Macdonald Street, was involved with general work. However, requirements for arms and ammunitions are often variable and munitions-making firms frequently found it difficult to maintain production. The lack of demand for arms also affected the Birmingham Ammunition works, which had a factory at Ward End. These works closed before 1900. BSA were more fortunate and adapted their machinery to produce cycle parts. The National Arms & Ammunition Co. was forced to close its factories in the 1890s.

The gun quarter in Birmingham occupied an area that was bounded by Slaney Street, Princip Street, Lancaster Street and Steelhouse Lane. The lack of munitions orders, foreign competition and the falling off of the colonial gun trade led to the surviving gun-makers seeking new markets. They began to diversify and produce sporting guns and air rifles. The manufacture of sporting guns was a specialist trade where the hand-working expertise of accomplished gun-makers was prized, and the cost of the weapon was of secondary importance. Thus the skills of the manufacturers of hand-made guns were preserved and the gun quarter trade, methods and operation remained essentially untouched and unaffected by progress. Son and grandson followed father and grandfather in learning the trade of gun-making.

The BSA Factory

The company was described in the Birmingham Engineering & Mining Journal, Vol. 9, 1910–11:

The Lee Enfield magazine rifle consists of 97 component parts, many of which are shaped under the stamping hammer, the principal piece being the barrel; a particular point of interest is that it is made from a solid forging, and when set in the drilling machine, the round forging is drilled through its entire length. Other forgings are made for cycle parts, there being 16 steam hammers, 24 steam drop hammers, 13 Ryder forging machines, and 5 Oliver hammers, together with 60 smith’s hearths used in the smithy. The most intricate of the gun components are the sights, and in their production a number of specially trained and expert hands are employed. When all the 97 components have undergone each of the numerous processes and have passed the viewers, and the barrels have been proved and marked, they are passed into the assembling department, where every part is put together, and produces a complete military rifle. It is then sent into the view room for final inspection. The Government Inspectors are on the ground to view every part, and so accurately are the gauges worked to, that the toleration in dimensions allowed is practically nil. Thus the guns made are interchangeable; any one part will fit any other gun without alteration. Besides military guns, a great number of miniature rifles, air rifles, and special sights are made by the company. The Company make their own gas for gas engines, which produce the current for electrically driving the factory.

Some firms, such as Webley & Scott, handled most of the production in house, but gun factories such as this were in the minority. The process of gun-making was essentially a cooperative effort where one person carried out a specific task before the gun was passed to another for further work. The origins of Webley & Scott can be traced back to 1790, in Weaman Street, where William Davis, father-in-law to Philip Webley, made bullet shot. The modern firm incorporated the established gun-making firms of P. Webley & Son and W. & C. Scott & Son.

Other important gun manufacturers included Westley Richards whose factory was located at Grange Road, Bournbrook, and Bentley & Playfair who had a gun workshop in Summer Lane. The firm of Bentley & Playfair was a partnership of Thomas Bentley and Charles Playfair. Bentley was Birmingham born and was believed to be the son of John Bentley, a gun finisher. Charles Playfair, a Scotsman, who was some seven years younger, joined forces with Bentley in about 1845. They eventually established gun works at 56 Summer Lane, and transferred to larger premises at 315/16 Summer Lane in about 1860. The marriage of Charles Playfair to Bentley’s eldest daughter Louisa cemented the business partnership at a time when the local gun trade was prospering. They employed a number of gun-makers and both amassed a considerable fortune through the trade. As Playfair’s finances improved he found that he was able to afford more substantial accommodation. His moves from Cecil Street to Ryland Street, then Soho Hill and finally to Yardley reflected his changing fortunes.

WEBLEY & SCOTT LTD

The company was described by the Birmingham Engineering & Mining Journal, Vol. 9, 1910–11:

The firm of Webley and Scott limited, which was incorporated in 1896 for the purpose of amalgamating the two old established businesses of P. Webley and Son, of Weaman Street, and W & C Scott and Son of the Premier Gun Works, Lancaster Street is the leading wholesale house for high-class sporting guns and rifles in the country. The Premier Gun Works, the old factory of the Scott branch, has been rebuilt and extended, and is devoted solely to the manufacture of sporting guns and rifles. The Weaman Street and Slaney Street factories are reserved for the production of revolvers and automatic pistols, the latter being now made in five sizes: – .25, .32, 9mm, .38, and .455. The .25 is a waistcoat pocket 6 shot pistol, weighing only 10 ozs., and the .455 is a large military pistol.

Many of the Webley and Scott inventions are now copied by the other makers, notably the ejector, which is one of the simplest of its kind, consisting of only two limbs, viz., the springs and the hammer, which is situated in the forepart. Other inventions much in request, and largely copied, are the Scott square crossbolt and the Scott improved block safety hammerless lock.

The interior of one of the Webley & Scott gun factories in Birmingham, c. 1910. In contrast to many gun-quarter buildings this establishment has large windows and is well lit. (Birmingham Engineering & Mining Journal)

By 1887 the British gun trade was in a depression caused by competition and declining demand. The industry was also affected by other factors, such as street improvement in the area around St Mary’s Square which led to several outworkers’ houses being demolished. Labour in the gun trade was frequently scarce, especially during the period leading up to 1914. At this time just a few aged workers represented the old type of gun-maker who could produce a gun throughout. The flourishing state of the cycle and then the motor industry attracted men away from the gun trade where their specialist skills were put to good use.

An advertisement for part of the range of guns, rifles and pistols produced by Webley & Scott, c. 1910. (Birmingham Engineering & Mining Journal)

Bentley & Playfair’s factory in Summer Lane, nineteenth century. (Birmingham Magazine)

PRINCIPAL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN THE GUN TRADE

Barrel Welders – weld steel and iron into blanks or rough tubes.

Barrel Turners – turn the barrel from the rough forging.

Barrel Grinders – grind the outside of tubes or barrels.

Barrel Filers – file, fit, braze, solder and build the tubes into finished barrels.

Stampers and Forgers – stamp or forge the actions and limbs.

Action Filers – fit the action and lock mechanisms to the barrel.

Machinists – work on all the machine operations apart from barrel turning, grinding, boring and rifling.

Tool-makers – make all the tools and cutters for use in the machine shop.

Lock Filers – produce the complete lock and lock work. This occupation was generally confined to the Black Country towns.

Ejector Fitters – fit ejectors to hammerless guns.

Furniture Filers – file and fit the triggers and guards into complete sets of furniture.

Stockers – fit the rough wooden stock to the action.

Screwers – fit the furniture into the stocks and screw the metal parts into the wood.

Finishers – finish the stocks or wooden portions of the gun.

Chequerers – cut the chequer (a cross saw cut to prevent slipping) on the stock and fore end. Sometimes women were employed in this role.

Polishers – polish the action and lock work ready for engraving. It was usual for the polisher to also do the hardening and ‘blueing’.

Engravers – engrave the pattern on the action and locks of sporting guns.

Freers – adjust the free work.

Viewers – examine and pass the work at various stages of manufacture.

Automatic machines at the BSA factory, Armoury Road, Small Heath, c. 1912. (Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery)

Pressing Lewis gun magazines at the BSA factory, Armoury Road, Small Heath, c. 1912. (Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery)

Making Lewis guns at the BSA factory, Armoury Road, Small Heath, c. 1912. (Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery)

There were various branches of the sporting and military gun industry including stock, lock, barrel, furniture and odd makers. By 1908 there were still many firms making one or a few gun parts. Several trades have since disappeared including jiggers and barrel welders. Many of the gun parts were hand-made, but some bits involved machine work, for example, the barrels that required rolling, boring and grinding and the gunlocks that were forged. The making of stocks involved carpentry skill to fashion the walnut wood normally used.

During the twentieth century Birmingham’s gun trade experienced gradual but sustained decline. Firms like BSA continued to diversify into other trades, particularly the automotive industry. In 1907 BSA absorbed the Eadie Manufacturing Co. (of Redditch, bicycle-makers) and in 1910 Daimler (car-makers).

BSA was at the heart of the Birmingham gun-making industry for 125 years. For most of this time they were at the forefront of the trade, producing the most up-to-date weapons of the time. During the First World War they produced Lewis guns at Armoury Road and during the Second World War Browning machine-guns were made. Bombing in 1940 and 1941 did a considerable amount of damage to the works, but the making of gun parts had already been distributed to a number of other factories. A new gun-making plant was opened for BSA at Shirley during the war. After 1945 the Shirley plant became the headquarters for BSA Guns Ltd. This factory made high-class air rifles, sporting guns and target rifles. Here the tradition of making the complete article from raw materials was continued.

An important part of the gun-making process was a barrel mill where solid bars of steel were machined into finished gun barrels. BSA mainly used Sheffield steel made by a works in the BSA Group. A special machine was used to drill the hole through the centre of the bar. Several further machine operations then followed to produce the perfect gun barrel. Spill-boring was followed by rifling, where tiny spiral grooves were cut along the bore of the barrel to impart spin to the bullet. One end of the barrel was prepared to take the cartridge. This was a process called ‘chambering’, involving the use of special recessing tools to cut out the chamber. The ‘lapping’ process removed any remaining rough edges. Here molten lead was poured down the barrel and allowed to cool into a cast. A high-speed machine then moved the cast up and down inside the barrel with a mixture of emery powder and oil. The barrel was checked several times during the operation for straightness. This was done by the barrel-setter. Each barrel was placed on a forked rest and pointed towards a window, which had a straight edge board at the top. This board cast a shadow in the barrel and by turning the barrel round the skilled setter could detect any deviation from the straight. He then corrected any irregularities by blows from a hammer. The skill was to know where to apply the hammer.

The Gunmaker’s Arm’s public house in Bath Street, 1982.The remnants of the gunmakers’ quarter were restricted to the area around Price Street and Bath Street, and some of the buildings seen here still advertise the gun trade. The Abingdon Works Ltd once used this row of factories when they made guns and cycle parts. (Ray Shill)

All gun barrels had to be ‘proved’ and from 1813 local barrel proofs were done at the Birmingham Proof House in Banbury Street. Barrels were taken here and test fired in the long room. A trail of powder was scattered along a line of barrels, which were fired by the means of percussion caps and exploded from outside the firing room. The operation produced a reverberating, rolling explosion that could be heard outside the premises. The percentage of tubes that failed was quite small, yet when they did it was in a spectacular fashion. Tubes would be twisted and torn into weird shapes. After firing, a definite time interval was allowed before anyone re-entered the room in case of misfire. Proofs of guns complete with their action were tested individually in smaller rooms. The weapon charged with its appropriate cartridge was fixed by a mechanical grip and fired from outside by a cord. After testing, the guns were viewed by experts who checked for flaws. Guns could be sent back to the manufacturer for this reason. Once the gun had passed the test it was marked with the distinctive ‘proof mark’ and once labelled the gun went out with the guarantee of the Birmingham Proof House and as a sound example of the gun-maker’s art.

Birmingham Proof House, Banbury Street, 2000. (Ray Shill)

Gun-making was still carried out in Birmingham’s gun quarter where long-established firms continued to fashion guns by traditional methods. Workshops were then still engaged in the sporting gun trade. One worker would make the action and another fashion the barrel. A third would engrave the action or barrel, while a fourth made the stock. Sometimes repair work would be done and after the war some firms converted Government rifles to sporting guns.

In 1953 Watson & Co. celebrated 230 years of gun-making in Whittall Street. Five years later, in 1958, the heart of the gun quarter was uprooted. Demolition began in Weamen Street, tearing out the heart of one of Birmingham’s oldest trades to make way for improvements to the ring road. The remaining firms were dispersed around the town. Webley & Scott transferred their business to a new factory in Park Lane, Handsworth, while Phillips & Nephew moved to the flatted factory on the corner of Dartmouth Street and Richard Street. The upheaval was too much for some workers, who chose to leave the trade forever. It is remarkable that they had survived strong competition and wartime bombing only to be fazed by the intransigent force of bureaucracy. All appeared blind and deaf to concerns about the future of this industry once the dispersal was completed. These fears became a reality as the gun-making industry continued to decline.

Webley & Scott, who remained one of the few firms to make guns from start to finish, completed their move to Park Lane during the summer of 1959. Although they remained there for a number of years thereafter, they were forced to scale down their operations because of declining orders. Ultimately they moved their business to a factory at Frankley, where air rifles continued to be produced. The gun-making firm of W. & C. Scott was recreated in 1979 by a number of former Webley & Scott workers and commenced shotgun-making at Witton. This plant, in Brookvale Road, made high-quality sporting guns at a rate of about 150 per year. They were taken over by Holland & Holland, who closed the plant in 1991 and moved the work to London.

Further closures affected BSA and the group collapsed in 1973. The industrial conglomerate Manganese Bronze bought up parts of the organisation including BSA Guns. Production was concentrated at Armoury Road, where the factory included a 100-m rifle range. Gun enthusiast James Edminston purchased BSA Guns in 1985 and the bulk of the rifle and air-rifle production was sold abroad. Trade suffered badly during the 1980s and production of guns ceased after 1986.

Traces of the Birmingham gun trade can still be found in odd places around the town. They include Webley and Westley Richards. In Birmingham town centre a few gun-makers carry on traditional methods in Price Street, one of the few surviving parts of the old gun quarter. W. Palmer’s factory and shop also still exist in Carrs Lane, the impressive frontage proudly declaring that it is part of the gun trade and also the date of the firm’s inception, 1802.

THE AMMUNITION TRADE

The making of ammunition underwent various transformations during the nineteenth century. Gunpowder and ball were replaced by the percussion cap and cartridge. The percussion cap, which was principally invented by Alexander Forsythe, had been perfected by 1815 but was not generally adopted until 1839. In that year the British Government saw fit to replace the flintlock service gun with the type that was fired by percussion caps. The Birmingham ammunition trade increased considerably after the introduction of breech-loaded cartridges. Several firms became engaged in the production of solid drawn cartridge cases. The development and manufacture of the breech-loading rifle between 1870 and 1875 ensured that the fabrication of cartridges was to become an important local trade.

The name of Kynoch ranks highly among the firms that made ammunition. G. Kynoch began making caps in Birmingham in the 1860s, but transferred to Witton in the 1870s where the Lion Works were established.

KYNOCH’S WITTON WORKS

As described in the Kynoch Journal:

The cordite once located in the case, a wad is inserted and the case necked, which seals the contents safely. The shop in which the necking takes place is one of the handsomest and most commodious at Witton, and a model of what such construction should be. Plenty of light, plenty of air, and plenty of room ensure comfort and happiness to the female workers, and this is well reflected in their neat, cheerful, and industrious appearance. The foreman of the cordite loading, Mr David Mackie, who has been 30 years with the Company, is very proud of the bright and well-ordered appearance of his shops, and justly so, as it would be impossible anywhere to see female labour under better condition or better organisation.

The erection and arrangement of buildings in which the various operations of cartridge loading are carried out are governed by the theory of isolation, and it is, of course, this, which gives the somewhat picturesque appearance to this part of the factory. The whole of the sheds are connected by a network of raised wooden platforms, and as these are swept and cleaned constantly, and all stepping on and off them strictly forbidden, it is next to impossible for gritty substances to accumulate. In order that the workpeople may be kept fully alive to the necessity of care in their work, a long screed of rules drawn up by the Company and sanctioned by the Home Office is suspended in each shed, and the direst of penalties threatened for any infringement thereof. The entire staff working in actual danger buildings are provided by the Company with a bright red uniform of special uninflammable material, which gives the range of buildings the appearance of a female barracks; the clothes are definitely becoming, and are doubtless a great economy to the workpeople. The most admirable are made by the Company as regards dressing accommodation for the comfort and convenience of the workers.

The Lion Works at Kynoch’s ammunition factory, 1890s. The platform of Witton railway station overlooked the site. (Archives Department, Birmingham Library)

Workers leaving the Lion Works at what was probably their lunchtime break, 1900s. Behind them new extensions to the works can be seen. (Archives Department, Birmingham Library)

A staff line-up at the pay office at Kynoch’s Lion Works, 1900. (Archives Department, Birmingham Library)