1109 



BIRMINGHAM. 



BIRR. 



1110 



boxes, &c., are still manufactured, but not to such an amount as to 

 form a characteristic part of the industry of Birmingham. 



The quantity of silver used in the manufacture of pencil-cases, 

 boxes, chains, thimbles, &c., and in the numerous fittings and mount- 

 ings attached to glass and other wares is considerable, and an assay 

 office is established in the town where articles in this metal weighing 

 more than 5dwt. are examined, and if found to be of the proper 

 standard are marked with the government stamp. The use of gold 

 and silver has greatly increased in Birmingham in recent years. The 

 process of electro-plating has given rise to a wholly new department 

 of manufacture, of which Birmingham is the chief seat. In 1838 the 

 gold assayed and used in the town amounted to 2125 ounces ; the 

 silver amounted to 114,500 ounces. 



Japanning is another extensive branch of manufacture. This 



branch of industry has called forth great talent ; and some of those 



who have taken rank among the painters of their age have commenced 



their career by executing the ornamental designs on the trays and 



> of Birmingham. 



'-making has long been carried on in Birmingham, and the 

 manufacture now includes glass cast into forms of scrolls, foliage, 

 busts, and well-formed complete figures of small size. Window-glass 

 is also made in Urge quantities. 



An apparently trivial article, the steel pen, has grown into such 

 extensive use as to form an important branch of manufacture. The 

 price has been perpetually diminishing, and the article itself at the 

 same time continually improving. This manufacture was first estab- 

 lished in Birmingham about the year 1821, before which time the 

 article was scarcely known in the market. There is one establish- 

 ment in Birmingham (besides others of less extent) where many 

 hundred millions of pens are made annually, and where 300 persons 

 are employed. 



Nuiufgous new manufactures have been introduced during the 

 present century. Among these are wire-drawing, cut-nail, screw, and 

 pin manufacturing. Fine turnery naturally arose from the increasing 

 use of the lathe. Die-sinkers, modellers, and designers were required 

 by those who used stamps and casting-moulds ; and engravers were 

 called for to represent in the books of patterns exhibited by the 

 merchants the forms of the numerous articles prepared by brass and 

 iron-founders and other manufacturers. Artists in these several 

 lines have been thug drawn to the place, and the arts themselves are 

 here cultivated to a degree of perfection before unknown out of the 

 metropolis. The establishment of gas companies gave an impetus to 

 the manufacture of tubes of various descriptions, as well as to the 

 taste of the designer in forming graceful combinations. One of the 

 most splendid and complete establishments in the town, comprising 

 long ranges of premises, is devoted to the making of all kinds of 

 furniture in which brass tubing can be employed. 



Some branches of the cotton manufacture have been localised in 

 Birmingham, such as those of webbing for braces and girths, cords, 

 lines, 4c., probably on account of the facility with which the requi- 

 site machinery can be procured. The umbrella trade arose from the 

 demand for the brass furniture of these useful contrivances, which 

 led to an attempt to execute orders for the article complete. This 

 attempt has been so successful that many thousand operatives are 

 now engaged in the Birmingham umbrella trade. 



In the nail manufacture, as carried on in Birmingham, machinery 

 is used by which well-formed nails are cut out of sheet-iron with 

 almost incredible rapidity. There is one very large establishment, 

 filled with machines for making nails by steam-power, where from 

 one to two thousand millions of nails are made in a year. Screws 

 are also formed with beautiful precision without heat, and by a series 

 of mechanical contrivances which remove the severity of the labour, and 

 render the attention and superintendence of women and children 

 nearly sufficient. 



Steam-engines are now very numerous in Birmingham. In some 

 cases steam-power is hired out. A person who conducts a small 

 manufactory in the vicinity of a principal steam-engine willingly pays 

 a certain sum as rent in order that he may be allowed to bring into 

 his building a revolving shaft to give motion to his range of lathes, as 

 the work executed by each man is much increased if he be relieved 

 from the labour of turning the wheel. Steam-power was first em- 

 ployed in manufactures at Birmingham in 1780. From 1780 to 1815 

 only 42 engine* were set to work; from 1815 to 1830 there were 178; 

 and from 1830 to 1838 there were 120 new ones. In January 1839 

 the number of steam-engines at work was 240, of 3436 horses' power. 

 The total quantity of coal consumed per day was estimated at 240 

 and the number of persons employed in connection with steam- 

 power WM 5200 males and 1762 females. In the metal trades of the 

 town 2155 hones' steam-power was employed ; the remaining steam- 

 was applied to grinding flour, glass-workH, wood-sawing, paper- 

 making, colours and chemical pn i 'lay-grinding, pumping, 

 and sundry other purposes. The steam-engines employed in. 1849 

 were estimated at 5400 horses' power, consuming about 380 tons of 

 coal per day, and equalling the labour of 86,400 men. 



There are few large factories, properly so called, in which an article 

 goea through the entire range of manufacturing processes ; but there 

 ii a vast number of workshops, more or less extensive, in each of 

 which portion! of the work are done. With the exception of the 



metropolis there is perhaps no town in England where there are so 

 many persons combining in themselves the characters of master and 

 workman as Birmingham, and none in which there is more observable 

 a chain of links connecting one with another. 



The vicinity of the mining district and the consequent necessity of 

 finding a mode of transit for great masses of heavy material, as well 

 as the bulk and weight of many of the articles of manufacture, early 

 led to the construction of navigable canals in different directions from 

 the town, as from a centre, towards the principal points of commercial 

 distribution. The original canal, commenced in 1767, which commu- 

 nicated with the collieries, was inconveniently narrow and very 

 winding in its course. These defects were remedied by opening a 

 new line of canal executed under the direction of Mr. Telford, which 

 by wide and deep cuttings avoids the necessity of the ascending and 

 descending chain of locks which impeded the former communication. 

 This canal is also remarkable for the grand proportions of the bridges 

 of masonry and of iron which cross the deep excavations. 



Birmingham may be regarded as having been the centre of the railway 

 development of this country. The London and Birmingham railway, 

 commenced in 1833, was opened throughout in 1838. The Grand 

 Junction railway, from Birmingham to the middle point of the Liver- 

 pool and Manchester line, was opened in 1837. For the connection of 

 Birmingham with the north-east of England the Birmingham and Derby 

 railway was opened in 1840 ; and the Birmingham and Gloucester 

 railway about the same period extended the chain of communication 

 to the south-west. When the Birmingham and Derby and the 

 Birmingham and Gloucester railways passed into the hands of the 

 Midland Company, a junction line was made from the one to the other 

 beneath the London line. The Grand Junction and the London and 

 Birmingham companies became amalgamated in 1846 under the title 

 of the London and North-Western Railway Company. On account 

 of a contest respecting the broad and narrow gauges, this company 

 and the Great Western company both planned new lines from 

 Birmingham towards the north-east and towards the north-west. 

 These lines, which are now open, are the Birmingham and Oxford 

 (broad gauge) ; the Birmingham, Dudley, and Wolverhamptou (broad 

 gauge) ; and the narrow gauge line from Birmingham to Wolver- 

 hampton and Shrewsbury. The railway stations in Birmingham, 

 some of which are occupied jointly by several of the companies, are 

 on a very extensive scale. 



The parish and manor of Aston skirt the parish of Birmingham on 

 the east and north. The manufacturing buildings and streets of 

 Birmingham extend every year farther into Aston. Aston and 

 Handsworth are two villages southward of Birmingham intimately 

 connected with the name of James Watt. Near Handsworth have 

 stood ever since 1764 the celebrated Soho Works. These works were 

 built by a native of Birmingham, Matthew Boultou, and ten years 

 afterwards, in 1774, Watt entered into partnership with him. 

 During the remainder of the century the Soho Works produced 

 numerous steam-engines and other large pieces of machinery ; other 

 manufacturing processes were also carried on. Buttons, buckles, 

 watch-chains, and trinkets then plated ware, or-molu vases, candela- 

 bra, clock cases and watch stands, and pure silver plate of the highest 

 order of excellence were manufactured. The power of steam was 

 also applied to coining ; the engine for this purpose was erected by 

 Boulton in 1783, but subsequently received great improvements. In 

 1799 Mr. Boulton contracted for the copper coinage ; silver money 

 was also coined for various colonies, and many medals of great beauty 

 and value were struck. Soon after the introduction of Watt to the 

 concern the increased magnitude of their operations rendered it 

 necessary to erect au iron-foundry at Smethwick, a short distance 

 westward from Soho ; this is still the scene of active employment, 

 but the miscellaneous department (plated wares, coins, and medals) 

 has been abandoned, and Soho proper is disused. 



Aston Hall was erected by Sir Thomas Holte in 1618-36, and is a 

 good example of the country mansions erected at that period. 

 Charles I. found shelter at Aston Hall for two nights previous to the 

 battle of Edge Hill ; for which act of loyalty the Parliamentarians 

 soon afterwards levied contributions on the then Sir Thomas Holte 

 and cannonaded the mansion; the impress of some of the bullets is 

 still visible on the staircase. A fine view of the Hall is obtained from 

 the noble avenue, which, until it was intersected by the northern 

 division of the London and North-Western railway, which here 

 crosses the Fazeley Canal by a viaduct of ten arches, formed an 

 unbroken line of nearly half a mile. Not far from Aston Hall is the 

 picturesque old church of Aston. Handsworth church, near the road 

 to Wolverhampton, is very ancient, and contains some curious monu- 

 ments. It also contains one of Chantrey'n finest works, a seated 

 statue of James Watt, a reproduction of the national monument in 

 Westminster Abbey. It was erected by his son, who has built a 

 beautiful gothic chapel for its reception. Watt, Boulton, and Mur- 

 dock (the first successful introducer of gas lighting) are buried in 

 Handsworth church. On the left of the altar in tiiis church is the 

 bust of Matthew Bpulton by Flaxman. 



(Dugdale's Warwickshire ; Button's History of Birmingham; 

 Hawke Smith's Birmingham and its Vicinity; Communications from 

 Birmingham.) 



BIEK. [PARSOS'S TOWN.] 



