306 



BIRMINGHAM. 



sides of the coin at once, and milling the edges. 

 The improvement in the coin itself may be seen by 

 a comparison of the copper coins before and since 

 in which year Mr Boulton contracted for the 

 copper coinage on his improved principle; since 

 which time no alteration has taken place, except 

 perhaps a little improvement in the finish. Of the 

 produce of his mint the copper coins now in circula- 

 tion are specimens ; besides which copper has been 

 coined by contract for the different European states, 

 for the East India Company, and for the Ameri- 

 can. Mr Boulton's improvements in the coining 

 mill, originally brought into operation at Soho, 

 have also been adopted at the Tower Mint, and by 

 various European governments. This has tended 

 greatly to the improvement of the modern coinage, 

 not only in copper, but in silver and gold, the same 

 process being of course applicable to other metals. 

 Indeed both gold and silver have on different occa- 

 sions been coined at Soho, not to speak of the vari- 

 ous exquisite medals which have from time to time 

 been struck there. In short, Soho, although a 

 nominally private concern, has, in point of fact, 

 been an establishment of the very highest national 

 importance ; and this not only in its large opera- 

 tion upon the commercial interests of the nation, 

 in extending the power of man, and in enlarging 

 the comforts and conveniences of life, but also in 

 improving the public mind by the encouragement 

 it has given to artists of all descriptions, and by 

 the healthy rivalry and competition in skill which 

 is kept continually in exercise. 



The prosperity of Birmingham has arisen from 

 the extensive manufactures carried on in it, the 

 abundance of coal and iron ore in the neighbouring 

 districts, and the extent of its connections by inland 

 navigation with every part of the kingdom. It has 

 been celebrated for workers in iron since the time 

 of Henry VIII. , when Leland described it as in- 

 habited by " smiths that use to make knives and 

 all manner of cutting tools, and lorimers that make 

 bittes, and a great many nailours." In former days, 

 one of the most flourishing manufactures of Bir- 

 mingham was that of the shoe-buckle. When this 

 ornament was in fashion, about 2,500,000 pairs 

 were annually made here, giving employment to 

 about 5000 artisans. The buckle was worn for 

 about a century in England. It was made in all 

 shapes and sizes. The large square buckle, plated 

 with silver, was the fashion of 1781, and was even 

 adopted by the ladies. Early in the present cen- j 

 tury, the buckle became unfashionable, and it is , 

 now only to be occasionally seen on the shoes of 

 very old men. 



The button manufacture is an important branch 

 of Birmingham manufacture. The manufacture 

 comprises about sixty separate branches of handi- 

 craft, many of which are assigned to females and 

 boys. The sweepings of the manufactory of the 

 late Mr Taylor, where the costly metals were used, 

 receiving the filings and minute particles which fly 

 off during the various operations, are said to have 

 been sold annually to the sweep-washer for 1000. 

 In the manufactory of Messrs Heaton forty tons of 

 button-shanks have been made annually ; and the 

 whole number of shanks made annually in Birming- 

 ham is estimated at 600,000,000. 



" Birmingham (says the late Mr William Hutton, 

 in his history of the town) began with the produc- 

 tions of the anvil, and probably will end with them. 

 The sons of the hammer were once her chief in- 

 habitants ; but that great crowd of artists is now 



lost in a greater. Genius seems to increase with 

 multitude. Part ol the riches, extension, and im- 

 provement of Birmingham, are owing to the late 

 John Taylor, Esq., who possessed the singular 

 power of perceiving things as they really were. 

 The spring and consequence of action were open 

 to his view. He rose from minute beginnings to 

 shine in the commercial, as Shakspeare did in the 

 poetical, and Newton in the philosophical hemis- 

 phere. To this uncommon genius we owe the gilt 

 button, the japanned and gilt snuff-boxes, with the 

 numerous race of enamels. From the same foun- 

 tain issued the painted snuff-box, at which oncxr- 

 vant earned three pounds ten shillings per wrrk, 

 by painting them at, a farthing each. In his shops 

 were weekly manufactured, buttons to the amount 

 of 800, exclusive of other valuable productions. 

 One of the present nobility, of distinguished taste, 

 examining the works with the master, purchased 

 some of the articles ; among others, a toy of eighty 

 guineas value ; and while paying for them, observed 

 with a smile, ' he plainly saw he could not reside 

 in Birmingham for less than two hundred pounds 

 a-day.' Mr Taylor died in 1775, at the age of 

 sixty-four, after acquiring a fortune of 200,000. 



" The art of nail-making is one of the most an- 

 cient in Birmingham. It is not, however, so much 

 a trade in as of Birmingham, for there are but few 

 nail-makers left in the town ; the nailers are 

 chiefly masters, and rather opulent. The manu- 

 facturers are so scattered round the country, that 

 we cannot travel far in any direction out of the 

 sound of the nail-hammer. Birmingham, like a 

 powerful magnet, draws the produce of the anvil 

 to herself. When I first approached Birmingham 

 (says Mr Hutton) from Walsall in 1741, 1 was sur- 

 prised at the prodigious number of blacksmiths 

 shops upon the road, and could not conceive how a 

 country, though populous, could support so many 

 people of the same occupation. In some of these 

 shops I observed one or more females script of 

 their upper garment, and not overcharged with 

 their lower, wielding the hammer with all the grace 

 of the sex. The beauties of their face were rather 

 eclipsed by the smut of the anvil. Struck with 

 the novelty, I inquired ' Whether the ladies of 

 this country shod horses?' but was answered with 

 a smile, ' They are nailers.'" 



Swords are supposed to have been made in Bir- 

 mingham in the time of the Britons ; but fire-arms 

 are a comparatively modern invention, and the 

 manufacture of them appears to have been almost, 

 if not entirely, confined to London down to the 

 revolution in 1688. The society of gun-makers 

 was incorporated in the 13th Charles I. (1638) 

 under the name of the Master, Wardens, and So- 

 ciety of Gun-makers of the city of London, from 

 whose manufactories the parliamentary forces in the 

 civil wars were supplied with fire-arms. But soon 

 after the restoration, this branch of manufacture 

 naturally found its way to Birmingham. From 

 1805 to 1815, 3,079,120 gun-barrels and 2,935,787 

 locks, for the use of government, were manufac- 

 tured in Birmingham alone; of which, 1,820,889 

 were completed as muskets, carbines, &c. The 

 supply was in general 30,000 stand of arms per 

 month, or two in a minute ! This number is ex- 

 clusive of tire-arms manufactured there for the 

 East India Company's service during the same 

 period, to the number, as it has been calculated, of 

 about 1,000,000: and exclusive, also, of trading 

 guns, fowling-pieces, &c. The ordnance depart- 



