INDUSTRIES 



lease of twenty-one years to others at i oo 

 rent for the first year and 400 yearly after. 

 They conclude by stating that Erode has 

 secured the supply of calamine and will not 

 supply it to the new lessees. The petition is 

 signed by Sir Julius Caesar, Sir Richard 

 Martin, Thomas Caesar, William Bond, 

 Richard Martin, jnr., and others. The com- 

 pany and Sir Richard Martin were also in 

 controversy in 1596 with Richard Hanbery 

 and Edmund Wheler. 21 How these disputes 

 ended does not appear. Lysons wrote in 

 I 795 2S 'these copper-mills still exist, being 

 situated at Baberbridge ; they belong fb the 

 Duke of Northumberland, and are rented by 

 the incorporated Society of the Mines Royal.' 



Although cutlery as a trade has long since 

 left the metropolis, the making of surgical 

 instruments is a branch which still continues 

 to flourish in this county, and to produce 

 some highly-skilled workmen. Among the 

 principal Middlesex firms are Down Bros., 

 Ltd., St. Thomas's Street, S.E. ; Allen and 

 Hanbury's, Ltd., Wigmore Street ; and John 

 Weiss & Son, Ltd., now of Oxford Street, but 

 originally established in the Strand in 1787. 



In its highest and most costly form gold- 

 smiths' and silversmiths' work is largely carried 

 on in Middlesex by firms of high standing. 



Soap-manufacture is an old established 

 Middlesex industry. From the report of the 

 Excise Commissioners for 1835 23 it appears 

 that whilst the total amount of duty paid for 

 all England was 1,418,832 4*., fifty-five 

 firms in London contributed no less a portion 

 than 378,175 135. 6d. Ten of these firms 

 paid over 10,000 each. One of the oldest 

 firms in Middlesex is that of D. & W. Gibbs, 

 Ltd., whose premises, known as the City Soap 

 Works, are in Wapping. The business was 

 established in 1712, and was subsequently ac- 

 quired by David Gibbs, whose grandsons are 

 now directors of the company. Until 1889 the 

 manufactory was in Milton Street, Cripplegate; 

 but that building being destroyed by fire, the 

 firm purchased the business of Paton and 

 Charles at Wapping together with that of 

 Sharp Brothers. The works cover 2% acres 

 of ground, and employ 2OO hands, excluding 

 the clerical and travelling staff, numbering 

 about fifty. The firm holds patents for many 

 specialities in soap. Other important Mid- 

 dlesex firms are A. F. Pears & Co., who have 

 large works at Isleworth ; Osborne Bauer and 

 Cheseman of Golden Square ; and T. D. 

 Rowe & Co., and Wylie & Co., both of 

 Brentford. 



"Lansd. MS. 8 1, fol. 4-7. 

 28 Environs of Land, iii, 122. 

 " Rep. xvii, 64. 



Although the London streets have much 

 improved in cleanliness, the art of the 

 shoe-black has long been a necessity, and 

 blacking has always been an important Mid- 

 dlesex industry, the firm of Day and Martin 

 being one of its chief representatives. 



In the metropolis, with its concentration of 

 public and private boards and institutions, its 

 ever-increasing population, and the rebuilding 

 and repairs of existing property, there is always 

 so much work for builders that the building 

 trade is one of the most important of its in- 

 dustrial groups. Brick and tile-making is ex- 

 tensively carried on, more especially on the 

 outer fringe of the London districts. It seems 

 probable that bricks and coarse tiles have been 

 made in Middlesex from an early period. 

 Late in the I5th century we hear of John 

 Maier and Agnes his wife making tiles for 

 William Code of Harlesden Green at the rate 

 of lid. per i,ooo. 24 



There are floorcloth and linoleum factories 

 at Staines (Linoleum Manufacturing Co.), Ed- 

 monton (Ridley, Whitley & Co.), and Ponders 

 End (Corticene Floor Covering Co.). 



Ever since Robert Barren of Hoxton took 

 out a patent 25 for a lock ' far more secure than 

 any hitherto made,' the locksmiths and safe- 

 makers of Middlesex have done their best to 

 provide secure keeping for the great wealth of 

 the metropolis. Some of the principal firms 

 in Middlesex are Bramah & Co., New Bond 

 Street ; C. H. Griffiths & Sons, Bethnal 

 Green ; Ratner Safe Co., Ltd., Bromley-by- 

 Bow ; and John Tann, Old Ford. 



London being distant from the coalfields, 

 manufactures in iron are carried on to a small 

 extent only. Copper is worked largely in 

 Middlesex, and so is lead ; both metals being 

 so malleable and ductile that their manufacture 

 can be effected with much less heat than iron 

 requires. The extensive lead-smelting works 

 of the old firm, Locke, Lancaster and John- 

 son & Sons, Ltd., are situated at Poplar, 

 Limehouse, and Millwall. 



Gas-tar works form an important feature of 

 the East London Industries. The works of 

 Messrs. Burt, Boulton, and Haywood for the 

 distillation of gas-tar occupied in 1876 about 

 1 7 acres at Prince Regent's Wharf, Silvertown ; 

 and another 2 acres at Millwall. Gas tar 

 produces by distillation four valuable sub- 

 stances : naphtha, creosote oil, anthracene, and 

 pitch. But still more valuable products are 

 the series of aniline dyes, the discovery of 

 which forms one of the greatest triumphs of 

 modern chemistry. In another department 



I2 9 



14 Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 150, no. 82. 

 " No. 1 200, 31 Oct. 1778. 



'7 



