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| Held at Birmingham Archive, MS 3506. |
This catalogue for Ford, Whitmore and Brunton (c. 1775) provides amazing insight into the tools of the eighteenth-century Birmingham jeweller and watchmaker, including the range of precision instruments which were being used.
Ford, Whitmore and Brunton appear in Pearson and Rollason's 1777 Directory at 27 Charles Street as 'Makers of Weighing Machines, Patent Scales, Clock, Watch and Jewellers Tools, Files &c.'. By 1780 the company was Ford & Co. at 27 Little Charles Street, the same premises but Charles Street was renamed Little Charles Street to distinguish it better from Great Charles Street.
The Ford and Whitmore were probably Richard Ford and William Whitmore. The latter had married Ann Ford in 1772 and the couple had a son, Richard Ford Whitmore, in 1774. The Whitomre's continued as engineers, and a William Whitmore can be found in Bisset's 1800 Directory on Newhall Street, not far from Little Charles Street.
Richard Ford was almost certainly the same who patented a new method of rolling and drawing metal in 1769, especially with the mention of 'Rollers or Flatting Mills' on the cover of the catalogue. Read a little about this here.
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