The Nailmakers of Harborne

Harborne is one of the metalworking parishes of the West Midlands which formed the basis for the industrial rise of the Black Country and Birmingham. Nailmaking and (to a far lesser extent) other metalworking trades no doubt established themselves in Harborne because of the proximity of rod iron from Birmingham or other metalworking parishes. The general features of the metalware trades have been well established¹ and this article will therefore mainly consider only the evidence from Harborne. Furthermore, it is confined to the modern parish of Harborne and excludes "North Harborne" or Smethwick, where rapid industrialisation distinguished it from the southern part which developed from rural village to fashionable suburb without becoming the location for major industries.

The agricultural economy of Harborne in the 17th and 18th century was characterised by mixed farming. The Harborne yeomen of the early 18th century typically grew corn (wheat and rye). barley. oats, peas and hay. They all kept kine (milk cows and calves) to the number of anything between two and twenty. Most also kept five or six horses, mainly for pulling the ploughs or wagons and carts. Some kept a small flock of sheep and all had a few pigs. Most of them had a dairy and cheese chamber, the making of cheeses being an important by-product of the farm. Several of them also had brewhouses .

By the 17th century most of the land seems to have been enclosed and deeds generally describe land as being in closes or crofts². However, there are also references to the remnant of a common field system. In 1642. for example. there is mention of "all the common land of .. . Henry Birch lyeinge in the two fields called Greenfield and hinchmore"³ and in 1672 "three Butts or Selions of land" are described lying in a common field called Greenfield.⁴ Passing references to these two common fields continue right up to the end of the 18th century but they seen to have been finally enclosed by l822.⁵

Agricultural interest was not entirely confined to the yeomen. In Harborne between 1660 and 1740. two blacksmiths, a whitesmith , bricklayer, carpenter and a wheeler all kept two, three or four cows, and five of them had crops, though of very small value. Similarly the nailmakers usually kept anything up to five kine and their Inventories often include references to corn and other crops. Table 3 shows that if judged by the value of their inventory goods, their farming interests were of more value to them than their craft tools, but this is a distortion because the Inventories do not indicate the value of their stock. They usually kept a horse, but this was for trade purposes. as confirmed by the existence of pack saddles among their possessions. Generally speaking, therefore, the farming wealth of the parish lay largely in the hands of the yeomen farmers.

The starting point for any study of the nailmaking trade in Harborne has to be Tom Presterne's description, though it is a late one: "The row of cottages at Camomile Green were occupied by nailmakers. Nearly every cottage had its workshop. Nailmaking was the chief occupation during the winter. In summer the work people turned to the fields.. . The houses in Harborne Terrace all had nail shops, also Murphy Row. . . These nailmakers, the men and the women, worked very hard during the first five days of the week, from early morning till bedtime. On Saturday morning each man would trudge off to town with the stock of nails he had made during the week. He would then carry them - a very heavy weight sometimes - In a coarse sack over his shoulder to his employer. On his return he would carry the bundle of iron on his shoulder for the next week's work. This was in my day. Before this time they were employed chiefly by the nail masters of the village, who had factors or middle men (nail-foggers they were called) to transact their business with the work-people".⁷

Nail or iron masters have been recorded at Harborne since the 17th century. In 1655 John Sanders, an ironmonger, published a tract entitled An Iron Rod for the Naylors and Tradesmen Near Birmingham which, among other things, urged the nailers to strike for better prices for their nails.⁸ In about 1763 a stir was caused in Ross-on-Wye (Herefordshire) "by John Partridge, the ironmaster, bringing from Harborne, near Birmingham, upwards of a hundred skilled workmen and establishing them in New Street. in a long row of nail shop:, where the incessant tink-tank of little hammers became a prominent though not unattractive feature of the place.

In about 1780 Thomas Green, a Birmingham ironmonger, became lord of the manor of Harborne and rebuilt Harborne House in order to make it his residence. In the 1760s Harborne had been described as 'one of the meanest villages in the neighbourhood . . the road to it was scarcely passable '. Apparently. thanks to his influence, the place was one of good appearance twenty years later. "Mr Green was a native of this place. and one of those useful men in society whose abilities and virtuous industry leads on to fortune. His attachment to his native plot induced him to fix his residence again there: and the lively interest he takes in promoting virtue and happiness around him and or ornamenting a place once only marked by vice, by dirt and wretchedness, speak highly both of the benevolence of his hearth and the liberality of his hand."¹² There were certainly members of the Green family active in nailmaking in the early 18th century. but Thomas Green's precise origins have not been traced. He is said to have had a warehouse at the top of Fellowes Lane¹¹ but little else is known about his business.

In 1818 Theodore Price (l758-l852) is listed in a directory as "nail master" and Daniel Ledsam as a "factor".¹² Price lived at Harborne Park from where, it is said, he used to drive to his "nail factory" in Birmingham for 6 a.m. every morning and was a stickler for punctuality among his workmen. This "nail factory" was said to be in The Crescent, Birmingham.¹³ Between 1803 and 1808 Theodore and Philemon Price (died 1822) erected a nail and iron warehouse at Kingston Buildings (70-80 Cambridge Streel, Birmingham). moving there from their original premises at 94 Snow Hill. This building survives as a reminder of Theodore's importance as a leading merchant in early 19th century Birmingham.¹⁴ Between 1792 and 1832 he wrote a series of pamphlets, mostly directed at the Jacobin Party. under the pseudonym of "Job Nott, buckle maker.¹⁵ 15 He was apparently a leading nail master in the Midlands, speaking, for example, to fellow masters In 1833 on the evils of the "truck" system.¹⁶

The Rutters were also nailmasters. John Rutter of Camomile Green. is listed as a farmer in the 1841 census, but by 1815 he appears in a directory as "farmer and nail manufacturer".¹⁷ Presterne claimed that Rutter ran a "truck shop" where the nailmakers received their wages mostly in provisions.¹⁸ His son, Thomas Rutter, continued this joint business, living at Camomile House in 1851 and described as a "nail manufacturer" in 1858.¹⁹

Even less is known about several others. Job Dugmore, nail manufacturer in 1845 and 1861 and William Parker, nail manufacturer in 1858 and 1861 appear in directories.²² The census returns record other iron masters resident in Harborne; Edward Cresswell (Harborne House, 1841), Charles Browning (The Grove. 1851), Edward Wilmot (Harborne Hall, 1851) and David Jones (Harborne House, 1851).

Presterne draws a distinction between the practice in the later part of the 19th century and in earlier times. Latterly the nailers carried their nails into Birmingham once a week. This was presumably because the village no longer had any active nail masters. When it did, then business was transacted locally.²¹ The nailmaster usually had a warehouse where "on certain days in the week, nail-rod iron is delivered to the nailmaster sufficient for him and his family to work up in a week, and at the expiration of that time he is expected to return the iron made into nails, when he receives a further supply ."²² The only warehouse recorded in Harborne was that of Thomas Green, at the top of Fellowes Lane.²³

The importance of nailmaking as a "cottage industry" in Harborne has never been doubted. Even as late as 1835. Harborne is described as "a delightful village" where "the cottagers are principally employed in making nails".²⁴ Ten years later a directory states that "The labouring population are chiefly nailers, working in their own cottages".²⁵ It is, however, difficult to make any quantitative analysis of the importance of nailmaking in Harborne before the 1841 and 1851 census returns because there are few suitable sources to draw upon. And, as the late Victorian suburb develops it is equally difficult to assess the importance of the "local" industries within a community, where an increasing proportion of its people commute outside its boundaries to earn a living.

Nevertheless, such indicators as exist do suggest that nailmaking was an important industry in Harborne since at least the end of the 16th century. Nailmakers frequently appear in a variety of records. In 1600, for example, Lawrence White, John Smyth, William Bloomer and John Gove, each described as a nailer. were presented at the Staffordshire Quarter Sessions for breaking into a tenement at Harborne.²⁶ Harborne nailmakers are mentioned from time to time in the 17th and 18th century Simcox deeds, as are their cottages and nailshops.²⁷ They are mostly involved in acquiring or disposing of small pieces of land and their cottages. An assessment of the Simcox Deeds in the 17th century reveals¹⁸ named Harborne people whose occupations are specified: gentlemen (5). yeomen (6), husbandmen (1) and nailers (6).²⁸ Finally, two more Harborne nailers are mentioned in the Northfield Parish Registers: Thomas Webster in 1713 and William Duenoore in 1741.²⁹

The Harborne apprenticeship indentures (1687-1807) similarly furnish several names of individual nailers. especially between 1698 and 1727.³⁰ In that period the occupations of 12 Harborne men are recorded. and 8 of them are nailers. An even more important source for assessing the relevant significance of nailmaking is the parish registers; Between 1732 and 1766 the burial registers give the occupations of a number of the parishioners buried during this period,³¹ and these are listed in Table I.

TABLE 1

It is clear from these figures that nailmaking was the single most important craft or industrial occupation in the parish.

The other major source for information about nailmaking in the 17th and 18th centuries are the probate inventories. Forty-five have been identified for the period 1645-1751 which give occupational information. The value of these have been analysed In Table 2³²

TABLE 2

Once again, nailmaking emerges as a prominent element in the economy of Harborne. Indeed, considering that the nailers were supposedly found mainly among the poorest members of the community (who often leave no inventories). this evidence both emphasises the numerical importance of the trade and suggests that some nailers could actually do quite well out of their trade.

It would be unwise to draw too many conclusions on the basis of a handful of inventories. but some interesting information can be drawn out from Table 3. Most of the nailers' inventories refer to the shop or shop tools. The position of these entries in the inventory is significant. In all cases the nailer's shop is clearly not part of the main house, being usually listed between the main rooms and the 'out of doors" items. This confirms the common view of the shop being either a single storey outshot at the rear of the house or a separate building in the yard.

Where the shop tools are listed they are usually of a value of £1 or less. The amount of information varies considerably. William Westwood (1667) had "one paire of shop-Bellows and Naylers Tooles in the Shop". Thomas Wightman (1721), Thomas Partridge (1723) and Willam Bullas (1724) simply had "shoppe tooles" and no further detail: are given. In five other inventories a fuller list given. In all case: the nailer had one pair of bellows, which was used to keep the coal or coke fire hot in which rods of iron were heated before being cut into the required lengths. Most of them also had nail stocks (or blocks), "steadies" and one or more hammers. Two of them had a pair of scales and a bench and two had "coles" in the shop.³³ The whole point about the nailmaking trade is that it was a simple to learn and required few tools and those were relatively inexpensive to acquire.

TABLE 3

There is no indication in any of the surviving inventories of stocks of nails or of any debts owing to the nailer: from their customers. The apparent trade value of the nailer:' inventories (see Table 3) is therefore really only the capital value of the shop tools. Thus it is that although the trade goods usually represent only about 1-3% of the total inventory value, this may in fact be an understatement.

It has already been mentioned that most nailers kept between one and five kine, one or two horses, and perhaps a pig and some sheep. Several also had corn and barley and oats. and certainly some hay. Although this does not represent a substantial investment In farming it is still difficult to reach a conclusion about which was the more important for many nailer:: their smallholding or nailmaking. It may indeed simply be that 'his is a genuine example of 'dual occupation". In this category could be included the husbandmen who supplemented 'heir income by nailmaking. "A few years ago, a nail shop was frequently attached to small farmhouses, in which the farmer and his family made nails when they could not work on the farm".³⁴

Returning to those described as 'nailer:", from the available evidence it is still clear that the value of the farming stock of nailer: was generally more substantial than that of their trade goods, usually about 30-60x of the total inventory value. This indicates how important smallholdings may have been to individual nailer:. Nevertheless, 'he real value of 'heir farming activities was actually quite small when compared with the yeomen and other major farmers In the parish and the nailers' main contribution to the farming economy was probably in supplying seasonal labour. Although there is little direct evidence from Harborne (other than Presterne': account). it is likely that the nailmakers here forsook their simple trade in the summer to assist with 'he harvest in much the same way that they did in Sheffield.³⁵

From 1841 onwards the census returns give some basic statistical information about the people of Harborne. including their occupations. By counting the number of employed people whose occupations are given, we can make some assessment of the relative importance of nailmaking within the local economy. After the 1850s, this becomes more difficult to do because many will definitely be commuting into Birmingham, but the general pattern is still discernible from Table 4.

TABLE 4

The pattern of decline is quite clear, with a marked drop in the 1850's. Most of the nailer: simply disappear from view between one census and the next, though between 1841 and 1851 some "new" nailer: appear. This in part probably reflects an inherent mobility among "nailmakers" because it was considered to be an occupation which the poor were forced to adopt. As the trade faded away the nailmakers must either have retired or perhaps changed to other followings. One such was Arthur Crompton, recorded as a nailer in 1851.1861 and 1871, but was a "hawker" by 1881.

The reason for this decline in the 19th century was the introduction of the machine-made nail in about 1830. This not only reduced the market for the handmade nail but it also depressed the nailmakers' wages. These two factors made the decline of the handmade nail inevitable. though the trade did linger on into the present century in isolated cases.³⁶

The census returns provide a great deal of information about the geographical distribution of the nailmakers. They are entirely absent from the "village" around the church and Harborne House. They are also almost totally absent from the Harborne Heath area which was developed for housing in the 1850': and they are generally not found in subsequent suburban developments on Mr York's land and the Parish Lands in the Greenfleld Road area.

The most notable concentrations of nailmakers in 1841 and 1851 are In Metchley Lane (near Harborne Mill). Gravel Bank (near Harts Green). Camomile Green and in "Harborne Town", the present High Street area of Harborne. Here there were many nailer: in "Harborne Terrace" and "Murphy Row". Others were found scattered all over the parish. Dv 1881 it was left to three nailmakers living near to each other in the High Street to preserve any sense of the "nailmaking community" which certainly existed at the places mentioned above in the 1840's.

The reasons for this distribution pattern are not clear. All the district nailmaking "communities' are located away from the manorial heart of the parish. which may suggest an association with settlements created out of the manorial wastes. The Camomile Green settlement had its own resident iron merchant and nail master (Thomas Rutter of Camomile House) in the 1850's. but it is almost certain that the Rutters were attracted to the nailmakers rather than the other way round. The nailmakers in the vicinity of Harborne Mill may have been influenced by the fact that the mill was an 'iron mill" for a short period in the early 19th century.³⁷ Interestingly enough, the "Harborne Town" area did not develop until after 1791. when a map of the parish shows very few houses there. By the 1830s, however, a substantial settlement had grown up, which was to form the heart of the new suburb.

Nailmaking seems to have been organised in family units. Typically both the husband and wife are listed in the census returns as nailer:. Occasionally their sons or daughters might also be nailers, but this was certainly not usual. Indeed, it was more common to have other nailer: living with the family as lodgers, Another feature of these communities is that sometimes the husband is listed as an agricultural labourer, but the wife as a nailer. This is probably an aspect of the dual occupational nature of the economy. which has often been commented upon. Finally, women were as important in the nail trade as men. Thirty to forty percent of all nailer: In the census returns were women and it is probable that many more worked in the nail shop: from time to time.

There is no direct unambiguous evidence from Harborne regarding what these workshops were like, though equally. there is no reason to suppose that they were any different from those for which either contemporary illustrations or actual building: survive. Although many terraces of house: in Harborne are probably described as "nailmakers cottages", none actually can really be called so. The cottages themselves were, of course, no different from any other. It is the workshops which make them distinctive. However. many of the documented nailer:' cottages and workshops seem to have been demolished in the 1930's, and this writer cannot identify a single example surviving today.³⁹ Nevertheless. it is still possible that an unregarded outhouse may conceal its origins as a nailshop. Only informed and meticulous fieldwork will lead to finding such buildings in Harborne. Hopefully such a building may survive to provide a tangible reminder of an important element in the pre-suburban history of Harborne.

STUART DAVIES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Most of the research for this article was carried out when the author was a member of the Local History Department of the City Museum arid Art Gallery and special thanks are due to Stephen Price for his support. encouragement and advice throughout the project.

Thanks also to Patrick Baird and John Davies of Birmingham Reference Library for their assistance and unfailing patience. Studying the probate inventories was made considerably easier by reference to the pioneering work of the late Phyllis Nicklin who explored the history of Harborne through extramural classes in the early 1960's and whose notes are still a useful guide to the available source material.

Notes and References

1. Marie B Rowlands, Masters and Men in the West Midland Metalware trades before the Industrial Revolution (1975).
2. Birmingham Public Library, Simcox Deeds, passim.
3. BPL 391005.
4. BPL 391083
5. BPL 393662
6. The same is true of wealth in general. The average values of the probate inventories of yeomen, craftsmen and nailers during this period were £109, £59 and £30 respectively (LJRO Diocesan Wills and Inventories).
7. T Presterne,Harborne Once Upon a Time (1913). 45-6.
8. W H B Court. The Rise of the Midland Industries 1600-1838 (1938), 62-3
9. Anon., Handbook to Ross and Archemfield (1963), 10.
10. BPL 39499, R W Mould, "Peeps into the Past", Harborne Herald, (1884).
11. Presterne, op cit. 23
12. Staffordshire General and Commercial Directory (1818)
13. Presterne, op cit, 23.
14. Information from S J Price; Birmingham Museum's Department of Local History Information Files..
15. D Wright. An Account of Harborne, from earliest times to 1891 (1981). 17-18.
16. Ephraim Ball, "The Hand-Made Nail Trade" in Samuel Timmins (ed.) Birmingham and the Midland Hardware district (1866), 114.
17. Post Office directory of Birmingham, Warwickshire and part of Staffordshire (1845), 92.
18. Presterne,ep cit. 45-6.
19. Dix & Co's Birmingham Directory. (1858). 664.
20. Directories, op cit,.
21. Presterne, op cit. 45-6
22. Ephraim Ball, op cit. 111
23. Presterne, op cit, 146.
24. BPL 470253.
25. Post Office directory of Birmingham, Warwickshire and part of Staffordshire (1845), 92.
26. S A H Burne, (ed.), The Stafordshire Quarter Session Rolls, iv, 1598-1602 (1935). 264-5, 304, 324, 343, 409. William Bloomer is also described as a "labourer".
27. BPL 391002, 391008, 321016, 391020, 391021, 391022, 3291089, 391439, 391854, 391855, 391889, 392416, 392057, 393232.
28. BPL Simcox Deeds, passim.
29. A Williams & L G Day. The Nailmakers of Northfield. (Northfield Conservation Group, Occasional Papers, No.7, n.d. 10).
30. BPL DRO 61, 7/8
31. BPL DRO 61
32. LJRO, Diocesan Wills and Inventories.
33. John Partridge (1711) had "4 nail stoks" and "4 steedyes"; Francis Allen (1726) had "ffor stocks steddy & other shop tooles"; John Hanson (1729) had "Three stocks Two steedys and other Tooles: John Hanson (1730) had "three Steddyes, one hammer"; John Hidgcocks (1761) had "2 nail blocks 2 steadies 2 hammers"; (URO, Diocesan Wills and Inventories).
34. Ephraim Ball, op cit, 110.
35. D. Hey, The Rural Metalworkers of the Sheffield Region (1972), 34.
36. Ephraim Ball, op cit, 111.
37. VCH Warwickahire, vii, (1964), 265.
38. BPL. J Sherriffs map of the Manor of Harborne (1791).
39. BPL 470253; W E Hardwick papers.