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| The Quaker Meeting House (centre building) on Bull Street. Conjectural image of what it would have looked like after opening, c. 1702. Held by Birmingham Archive. |
John Wilkes was a lockmaker living in Birmingham from about 1674 (aged about 23) till his death in 1709. Many of his locks survive and can be seen in a gallery here. In his will was an inventory of the contents of the family home and John's workshop, which gives some insight into life in the early 1700s for an artisan. The Wilkes' owned maps, pictures and books, as well as a 'Clock & Case' and a looking glass. There was also a good range of furniture, so this was a comfortable home.
John Wilkes was listed in the Hearth Tax Returns of 1682* on Bull Street, which was where lockmakers were predominantly situated in the late 1600s. The property had one hearth. Although it is uncertain whether he stayed there till his death, it is likely, especially as the family one of his daughters married into, the Dolphin's, also had a long history being resident on Bull Street. John's son-in-law, Richard Dolphin, was a baker whose shop was adjoining the Quaker Meeting House built in 1702 (see above-a post about the Meeting House can be found on the Iron Room blog here).
The contents of Wilkes' home were:
In the Hall
One Table
One Little Table & Three Leather Chairs
One Screen Joyn’d [Forme] & Stool
One Clock & Case
One Little Cubbard
One Fire Grate
Mapps & Pictures
One old Gun
In the Parler
One oval Table & a Little Table
Eight Leather Chaires & Some Iron Barrs
Several Pictures & a Chimney Peice
In the Kitchen
One Dresser [torn] a Table
One Screen & four Chaires
Sixteen plates & a chees plate
Pewter Dishes
One Copper & Brass Potts
Three Brass Kettles
One pair of Scales
One Little Table
A sett of Curtaines
One fire Grate Ash Grate Racks & Cranes, Fenders fire shovel & toungs, Dripping-pan & Clever
One Jack & two Spits
One Rim a little gun & a [Holbard]
One pair of Bellows & some [sadd] Irons
One Bacon Crank
One Hanger [?]
Five Brass Candlesticks & Snuffers
Silver-plate
Knives & Forks
In the Brewhouse
One Copper 30 Browning [vessels] & Pailes
Sive & [Boles] & a Joyn’d stool
In the Scullery
One Grind Stone
One [?] a Pail Boles & [Shovels?]
In the Pantry
One Dresser – one Warming pan & candlestick
[Boxes ? herb] & other things
In the Celler
Six Barrels two Tressells a Bole [Cover] & some Glass Bottles
In the Little Room
One Hanging Press, One Chest, Boxes & Basketts
In the Chamber over the Parler
One [foild] Bedstead 2 feather Bedds One Quilt [Carlaines] 2 [occance] 2 Blankets 6 Bolsters & Pillows
A chest of Drawers, a Table, Glass Boxes
Six Chaires
In the Chamber over the Kitchen
A Set of Curtaines Vallances & Counter [pain]
Two magnifying Glasses [and] Books
Seven Cane Chairs One Chest of Drawers
One Grate fire shovel and Toungs
A Bedstead [and] Hangings
In the Little Garrat
One Bedstead feather Bed Bolstor a Rug Blankets
One Coffer
In the Middle Garrat
One [?] Bedstead feather Bedd Bolsters
1 Rug 1 Blanket & 2 Pillows
One Desk 2 Trunks one Chest
Twelve pair of sheets & other Linen
In the Drying Room
A [Mactin ill] a Screen a Strike & other [?]
One Dough Tubb
One Table [?] Reels & 1 Roole
A Mael Bagg & Shelves, 2 Bedsteads [Mals] & Cords
Seales Wax Borax Putty & [Gravers]
One feather Bedd & Bolster
Five Blankets, Six Napkins, a Barrell
One Looking Glass
NOTES
*Mistake previously made with the date 1674.