Paper Remnants: Billinge & Edwards Tool Makers on Snow Hill (c. 1810)

Trade card for Billinge & Edwards on Snow Hill, c. 1810. Engraved by Cottrell.
Held at Yale Center for British Art. B1978.43.956.

Paper Remnants: Thomas Rooker's Trade Card (c. 1760)

Held at Birmingham Archive.
Box 10, No. 637.

A hand bill for Thos Rooker (Thomas Rooker) selling cocks on Lichfield Street. Rooker doesn't appear in any directories, which survive from 1767, and the rococo design of the bill suggests the late 1750s or very early 1760s, so the pencil-written date of c. 1760 seems right.

Tour of Lost Birmingham Nᵒ.45: A Trip to Thomason's Show Rooms (Church Street)

Edward Thomason's trade card, circa 1815.

When Sir Edward Thomason retired in 1835 he had built up a business that was one of the jewels of Birmingham's manufacturing crown. It had been visited by Princes, Dukes and Emperors from all the corners of Europe; and considering this global renown of Thomason in his time, I thought that you might like to take a tour as well.

The manufactory that you see before you (see image above) was composed from a number of dwelling houses that had lined the top end of Church Street, built in the 1700s. But from 1793, after an apprenticeship with Matthew Boulton, Edward Thomason began trading, utilising his father's buckle manufactory that had been left for him on the same site. Thomason's apprenticeship with Boulton had showed him what ambition could achieve and whetted his appetite for science and mechanics. His 'mind became restless to produce some novelty or invention worthy to be patented'.* He began making gilt and plated buttons, but soon branched into jewellery, coins, tokens and medals, continually expanding the business, so that by 1796 sixty to seventy rooms were utilised for his manufactures, as well as having twelve show rooms. The use of show rooms was an excellent tactic as it included Thomason's manufactory as part of the Birmingham tour where the town's articles could be examined and the the ingenuity of their maker wondered at.

Throughout this time Thomason was also working to achieve his ambitions of invention, and after several years of being generally unsuccessful he finally patented a new design for a corkscrew in 1802 that helped to make his name, as well as a good fortune. His ingenuity was aided by unflinching self promotion; he would send examples of new articles to whomever he thought best to promote himself and his wares, whether that be scientific medals to the most eminent scientists if the day, or commemorative medals to the Prince Regent himself. He also made the town and himself known to all Europe by sending religious medals to all of Europe's monarchs, and over the nineteenth century he received many honours and gifts from these; honours that he actively sought, and sometimes asked for.* He included illustrations of many of these gifts in his memoirs, as well as a portrait of himself wearing his honours (see below), and the many letters of praise received from esteemed persons. He was obviously very proud of his achievements, but one commentator (who called Thomason 'pleasant, chatty, spirited, yet egotistical') gave vanity as one of the main drivers in Thomason's memoirs.**

Thomason with his honours, from his Memoirs.

But, less about the man, let us take a look inside, where you can explore within one space a great range of the metallic arts; the 'show-rooms [...] profusely supplied with all that can be conceived of elegance and magnificence',*** and 'considered to be the most complete of the kind in Birmingham, and not to be equalled by many in England. He has a splendid exhibition of costly ornamental productions, in gold, silver, brass, and bronze, with a great variety of medals of the finest workmanship', as well as mechanical items.**** In 1832 Charles Stewart visited Birmingham. During his short stay (he found Birmingham too modern) he visited the ‘ingenious manufactories’ of both Thomason and Jones and found them both ‘rich in specimens of the most beautiful workmanship' and containing several items of special interest, including the Warwick Vase, of which Thomason's establishment was particularly noted for.

Over the next few weeks there will be some more posts about the Warwick Vase and other items that you might have been able to see in Thomason's show rooms. 

By this time (1832) the manufactory Thomason had inherited and built up was a very large affair and Thomason himself had made a name for himself through his ambition, innovation and clever promotion. It was three weeks after Stewart visited that Thomason was knighted, the first Brummie to be so. Shortly afterwards his friend, James Bisset, sent him the following verse:

‘”TO MY VERY OLD AND HIGHLY-ESTEEMED FRIEND, SIR EDWARD THOMASON, KNT.”
“DEAR SIR,
            I congratulate you on the honor
So lately conferr'd by our Monarch (the donor).
Who, judging most wisely where merit is due,
The badge of true Knighthood bestowed upon you;
And feeling as all other amateurs felt,
Rewards you with title, gilt spurs, sword, and belt!
    I remember the time (fifty years since, when boys)
Your name at SOHO 'gan to make a great noise;
And when to the 'toy shop of Europe' you came,
Each season exalted a THOMASON'S fame.
As an Artist whose works o'er the globe have been whirl'd,
Your renown has extended all over the world!
No wonder HIS MAJESTY then thought it right
(High-talented Edward) to make you a KNIGHT!
                       I am Sir, Yours very faithfully,
                                        JAMES BISSET,
                                                 A Septuagenarian."'

Edward Thomason attributed to Sir William Beechey.
Date unknown but probably late 1700s.

* Thomason's Memoirs
** The Worthies of Warwick
*** A Picture of Birmingham
**** A History of Birmingham

Scientific and Philosophical Medals

Tour of Lost Birmingham Nᵒ.44: Birmingham in Miniature or Richards's Magazine (High Street)

Plate from Bisset's Directory, 1808. An advert for Richards's toy-shop.

Welcome to Richards's toy-shop, run by Theophilus Richards; a toy at the turn of the century being a luxury, adornment item. In 1767 toy-makers were described:

"these Artists are divided into several branches, as the Gold and Silver Toy Makers, who make Trinkets, Seals, Tweezer and Toothpick cases, Smelling Bottles, Snuff Boxes, and Filigree Work, such as Toilets, Tea Chests, Ink Stands &c &c. The Tortoiseshell Toy Maker, makes a beautiful variety of the above and other Articles; as does the Steel; who makes Cork Screws, Buckles, Draw and other Boxes: Snuffers, Watches, Stay Hooks, Sugar knippers &c. and almost all these are likewise made in various metals."

The advert above is tantalising; it is a mixture of graphic depiction, with urns and motifs, and reality, with the shop front and open door captured. Inside, as was prevalent in adverts of this time, can be seen refined middle class customers perusing Richards's wares. Richards sold the jewellery, cutlery and silverware that he most likely made himself, but considering that he termed his shop 'Birmingham in Miniature', it seems likely that he also sold items from many other manufacturers so that the premises became almost like a museum of Birmingham wares. This is asserted by the fact his shop was promoted as part of a tour of Birmingham's manufacturing 'curiosities', and that it was included in Admiral Nelson's tour of Birmingham in 1802, and was also visited in 1805 by HRH Prince William of Gloucester. Richards would have sold luxury consumer goods and novelties made by the innovative Birmingham manufacturers to adorn the home and person of the rising middle classes. A small example can be seen in one of the shop's bills:

From Birmingham Archive: A Bill for Richards's

As well as making items, it can be seen, from the bill below, that shops also made repairs; something we struggle to find today in our throw-away society.
The advert at the top left is for a commemorative coin/medal of George III, these coins were highly popular and widely collected at the time; Richards, as had many others, had obviously tapped into this lucrative market. The patent bronzed corkscrew is likely to be a Thomason corkscrew, made locally by another manufacturer- Edward Thomason.

The Rev. W. Fenwick
                                              To Theo. Richards & Son
1821
April 17th   Repairing Candlestick                                               2. 0.
Oct 13       1 Patent Bronzed Corkscrew                                     7. 0.
Dec 29       taking to pieces old urn & repairing it
                  with new cock mouth & new chimney                         6. 0.
1822
Jan 17        Rep Corkscrew                                                          1. 0.
[....??...] 
                                         For Theo. Richards & Son
                                        Thos. Day [Thomas Day]
Northfield

The Richards family were silversmiths, cutlers and gun makers, and the gun making branch of their business still trades today on Birmingham's Pritchett Street (see their website here). It is also due to Theophilus Richards that we have a copy of the 1731 map of Birmingham, as reprints were made of an original copy that was in his possession in 1789. Theophilus Richards (born 1748) was nephew to William Westley, the man who drew up the map. Theophilus's father, Thomas, had been making guns in Birmingham since at least the 1740s, but Theophilus himself branched into the toy trade.

Tour of Lost Birmingham Nᵒ.18: A Little Piece of Regency New Street

Advert for Charles Hancock's premises (right), a jeweller and silversmith.
Produced by Hollins (probably Thomas Hollins). Circa 1810. 

The advert above is for the shop on the right, which belongs to Charles Hancock, a jeweller and silversmith, but the image also includes Sarah Bedford's cut glass manufactory (centre) and Thomas Hensman's furniture and upholstery shop (left). All the shops are quite typical small late Georgian shops; Sarah's has bayed shop fronts with squared glass panes that would often act as individual frames for each item for sale, and her central door, as well as Hancock's, is topped with a modish fanlight (another advert for Sarah's shop is here). Mr. Hensman's, to the left, has his funiture items displayed in windows draped with curtains to set them off in a domestic setting. Utilising his genteel neighbours and other visual imagery Hancock depicts the area around his shop as very refined and elegant. A smart carriage has just pulled up outside his shop, and while the servants look after the horses, we must presume that its owners are perusing Hancock's wares inside, cheerfully greeted by Hancock himself or an assistant. Another smart couple are walking in front of Sarah Bedford's shop, possibly with the pedigree dog that stands waiting. This all asserts the idea that this is a place, if not the place for the wealthier middle classes to be seen.

Above all three of the shops are allusions to each of the trades; above Hensman's shop is written the phrase Le Miroir de la Mode, which was a fashionable magazine published for a short time between 1803 and 1804 and included a selection of colour fashion plates. What connection this had with cabinets and soft furnishings is uncertain, but we can assume that Hensman was promoting how fashionable his establishment was. The sign above the door of Sarah Bedford's shop states that it is 'The Original Cut Glass Manufactory', delining Sarah's family roots in the trade; her father, Isaac Hawker, was possibly the first person to produce finished glass products in Birmingham, and Sarah had inherited the business in New Street from her brother John in 1805.

The Hawker's were a Quaker family and Sarah had married the (also Quaker) Isaac Bedford in 1792 when she was 23; Isaac Bedford was a glass cutter, perhaps working with the Hawker's. Isaac Hawker, Sarah's father, had produced glassware in Spiceal Street from before 1772,** and by 1785 had built a glasshouse behind his shop on Edgbaston Street.* The business had passed on Isaac's death in 1791 to his son John who ran Park Glass House on Birmingham Heath (near the Birmingham canal on Springhill) and presumably ran the shop in New Street as a salesroom.* On John's early death in 1805 he bequeathed the shop in New Street to his widowed sister Sarah (Isaac Bedford had died in 1798), and the Park Glass House was run by Biddle and Lloyd.*
During the 1820s the scene above changed, as can be seen in the circa 1825 image below. Hensman's was knocked down and replaced with a new, larger premises, the shops fronted with a colonnade of ionic columns (just visible). Bedford's, next door, was either rebuit or altered; it can be seen below on the right with the large portico with corinthian columns protruding onto the pavement. Hancock's, nearly far right, remained with only the addition of a decorative metal balcony for a few more years, but had been demolished by 1850 (probably in the late 1830s/early 1840s). Other buildings in the scene are, far left, Spooner and Attwood's Bank, and then the Hen and Chicken's hotel with the large portico; in the distance the church is Christ Church, and the elegant shop a bit further up on the right with the statues balanced on pillars is the Pantechnetheca built in 1823.


New Street, circa 1825. Drawn on stone by Henry Harris and printed by
C. Hullmandel. 

Sarah Bedford's would have been a pretty spectacular shop to enter. From the ground floor shop rose a geometrical staircase that led to the upstairs showroom, but the balusters were made from cut glass, so would have twinkled and shone in the light; one commentator stated that it might 'serve as the access to Aladdin's Hall of Diamonds'.* The upstairs showroom was long, and supported by rows of ionic columns, and filled with all the cut glass made by Sarah as well as china and earthenware.* Sarah would have spent a great deal of money turning her relatively modest Georgian shop into a Regency temple to her trade, so she must have felt that it was worth it to promote her business.

See all of the 'Friday Ephemera' posts, here.

* References on request.
** www.british-history.ac.uk

Tour of Lost Birmingham Nᵒ.17: Sarah Bedford & Co. (New Street)

Advert for Sarah Bedford & Co cut glass manufacturers, engraved by W & T Radcliffe, circa 1805. The shop is at 14 New Street, but later, after number changes, becomes 16 New Street. The advert depicts the Georgian shop front with the fanlights above the door and windows, decorated capitals to the columns and frontages and the windows filled with the wares. To find out more about this shop, and it's neighbours, click here.

See all of the 'Friday Ephemera' posts, here.

Lost Trades: The Engraved Work of Charles Pye (c. 1749-1830)

Trade card of Charles Pye. British Museum.

Charles Pye (c. 1749-c. 1830) originally worked as a watch maker. He worked as a wine merchant in the early 1780s, and then restyled himself as an engraver.* Pye had married Ann Radclyffe in 1774 and several Radclyffe's were engravers in Birmingham so he may have found assistance from his in-laws.** Between 1785 and 1797 he published six trade directories, the illustrations of which he engraved himself, and produced a plan of Birmingham in 1792, again with alterations in 1795. He also wrote A Description of Modern Birmingham in 1819 which was a printed tour of the town.