Rides on Railways Part 9

Warneford to the extent of many thousand pounds, and placed in a position to afford the courses in law, physic, and divinity, required for taking a degree at the University of London. Also a Blue Coat School, and School for the Blind.

In a picturesque point of view there are few towns more uninviting than Birmingham; for the houses are built of brick toned down to a grimy red by smoke, in long streets crossing each other at right angles,--and the few modern stone buildings and blocks of houses seem as pert and as much out of place as the few idle dandies who are occasionally met among the crowds of busy mechanics and anxious manufacturers. What neatness--cleanliness--can do for the streets, bell-pulls, and door-knockers, has been done; the foot- pavements are, for the most part flagged, although some of the round pebble corn-creating footways still remain in the back streets. One suburb, Edgbaston, is the property of Lord Calthorpe, and has been let out on building leases which entirely exclude all manufactories and inferior cla.s.ses of houses. The result has been a crop of snug villas, either stucco or polished red brick; many of them surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, and a few of considerable pretension. Of this suburb the Birmingham people think a great deal; but, as it is built upon a dead flat in long straight lines, its effect is more pleasing to the citizen after a hard day's work, than to the artist, architect, landscape gardener, or lover of the picturesque.

Birmingham is, in fact, notable for its utility more than its beauty,--for what is done in its workshops, rather than for what is to be seen in its streets and suburbs. Nowhere are there to be found so numerous a body of intelligent, ingenious, well educated workmen. The changes of fashion and the discoveries of science always find Birmingham prepared to march in the van, and skilfully execute the work needed in iron, in bra.s.s, in gold and silver, in all the mixed metals and in gla.s.s. When guns are no longer required at the rate of a gun a minute, Birmingham steel pens become famous all over the world. When steel buckles and gilt b.u.t.tons have had their day, Britannia teapots and bra.s.s bedsteads still hold their own. No sooner is electrotype invented, than the princ.i.p.al seat of the manufacture is established at Birmingham. No sooner are the gla.s.s duties repealed than the same industrious town becomes renowned for plate gla.s.s, cut gla.s.s, and stained gla.s.s; and, when England demands a Palace to hold the united contributions of "The Industry of the World," a Birmingham banker finds the contractor and the credit, and Birmingham manufacturers find the iron, the gla.s.s, and the skill needful for the most rapid and gigantic piece of building ever executed in one year.

In order to appreciate the independent character and quick inventive intelligence of the Birmingham mechanic, he should be visited at his own home. A system of small independent houses, instead of lodgings, prevails in this town, to the great advantage of the workmen.

It is only within a very few years that the working cla.s.ses have had, in a local School of Design, means of instruction in the principles of taste, and arts of drawing and modelling; while, until the patent laws are put upon a just foundation, their inventive faculties can never be fully developed. When the artizans of Birmingham have legislative recognition of their rights as inventors, and free access to a first-rate school of design, their "cunning"

hands will excel in beauty as well as ingenuity all previous triumphs.

The wealthier cla.s.ses have, from various causes, deteriorated within the last sixty years, while the workmen have improved within that time. Men who have realized fortunes no longer settle down in the neighbourhood of their labours. They depart as far as possible from the smoke of manufactures and the bickerings of middle cla.s.s cliques, purchase estates, send their sons to the universities, and in a few years subside into country squires.

Professional men, as soon as they have displayed eminent talent, emigrate to London; and the habit, now so prevalent in all manufacturing towns, of living in the suburbs, has sapped the prosperity of those literary and philosophical inst.i.tutions and private reunions, which so much contributed to raise the tone of society during the latter half of the last century. The meetings of an old Literary and Philosophical Society have been discontinued, and the News Room was lately on the brink of dissolution. Instead of meeting to discuss points of art, science, and literature, the middle cla.s.ses read the Times and Punch, and consult the Penny Cyclopaedia. The literary and scientific character which Birmingham acquired in the days when Boulton, Watt, Priestly, Darwin, Murdoch, and their friends, met at the Birmingham Lunarian Society, to discuss, to experiment, and to announce important discoveries, have pa.s.sed away never to return; and we are not likely to see again any provincial town occupying so distinguished a position in the scientific world. The only sign of Birmingham's ancient literary pre- eminence is to be found in several weekly newspapers, conducted with talent and spirit far beyond average. It is an amusing fact, that the sect to which Priestly belonged still trade on his reputation, and claim an intellectual superiority over the members of other persuasions, which they may once have possessed, but which has long been levelled up by the universal march of education. The richer members publish little dull books in bad English on abstruse subjects, and, like Consuelo's prebendary, have quartos in preparation which never reach the press.

In fact, the suburban system of residence and the excessive pretension of superiority by the "pots over the kettles" have almost destroyed society in Birmingham, although people meet occasionally at formal expensive parties, and are drawn together by sympathy in religion and politics.

Nothing would induce an educated gentleman to live in Birmingham except to make a living, yet there are residing there, seldom seen out of their factories, men of the highest scientific and no mean literary attainments.

There are a number of manufactories, which, in addition to their commercial importance, present either in finished articles, or in the process of manufacture, much that will interest an intelligent traveller.

GLa.s.s.--Messrs. F. & C. Oslers, of Broad Street, have attained a very high reputation for their cut and ornamental, as well as the ordinary, articles of flint gla.s.s. The have been especially successful in producing fine effects from prismatic arrangements. Their gigantic chandeliers of great size, made for Ibrahim Pacha, and the Nepalese Prince, were the steps by which they achieved the lofty crystal fountain, of an entirely original design, which forms one of the most novel and effective ornaments of the Crystal Palace.

The manufactory as well as the show-room is open to the inspection of respectable strangers.

Messrs. Rice and Harris are also extensive manufacturers of cut and coloured gla.s.s; and Messrs. Bacchus and Sons have been very successful in their imitations of Bohemian gla.s.s, both in form and colour. Messrs. Chance have acquired a world-wide reputation by supplying the largest quant.i.ty of crown gla.s.s in the shortest s.p.a.ce of time for Paxton's Palace. These works, in which plate and every kind of crown gla.s.s is made, are situated at West Bromwich. The proprietors have benevolently and wisely made arrangements for the education of their workmen and their families, which are worthy of imitation in all those great factories where the plan, which originated in Lancashire, has not been already adopted. A letter of introduction will be required in order to view Messrs. Chance's establishment, of which we shall say more when noting the social state of the Birmingham operatives.

PAPIER MACHE.--Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge's works are so well known that it is only necessary to refer to them for the purpose of saying that in their show-rooms some new application of the art which they have carried to such perfection is constantly to be found. Pianos, cradles, arm-chairs, indeed complete drawing-room suites, cornices, door-plates, and a variety of ornaments are displayed, in addition to the tea-trays and tea-chests in which the art of j.a.panning first became known to us.

Although Messrs. Jennens and Co. have the largest establishment in Birmingham, there are several others who produce capital work; among them may be named Mr. Thomas Lane and Messrs. M'Callum and Hodgson, who both exhibited specimens of great merit at the last Birmingham Exhibition of manufactures.

But metals afford the great staple of employment in Birmingham, and we shall avail ourselves, in describing the leading trades, and touching on the social position of the workmen, of the admirable letters on Labour and the Poor in Birmingham which appeared in the Morning Chronicle in the course of 1850.

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BIRMINGHAM b.u.t.tONS.--"A Brummagem b.u.t.ton" is the old-fashioned nickname for a Birmingham workman. The changes of fashion, and the advances of other manufactures, have deprived that trade of its ancient pre-eminence over all other local pursuits; but the "b.u.t.ton trade," although not the same trade which made great fortunes in a previous generation, still employs five or six thousand hands, of which one-half are women and children.

In the middle of the eighteenth century a plain white metal b.u.t.ton was made, which may occasionally be seen in remote rural districts, on the green coats of old yeomen, wearing hereditary leather breeches. At that period the poorer cla.s.ses wore coa.r.s.e horn or wooden b.u.t.tons, chiefly home made, and the tailor made, as well as the clothes, b.u.t.tons covered with cloth. By degrees very handsome gilt b.u.t.tons came into wear, and continued to employ many hands, while the blue coat which figures in the portraits of our grandfathers remained in fashion.

In 1826, the Florentine, or covered b.u.t.ton, now in almost universal use, which is manufactured by machinery with the aid of women and children, was introduced, and by 1829 the gilt b.u.t.ton trade had been almost destroyed.

The change produced great distress, vast numbers of persons were thrown out of work, who could not at once turn to any other employment. In 1830 a deputation from the gilt b.u.t.ton trade waited upon George IV. and the princ.i.p.al n.o.bility, to solicit their patronage. The application succeeded, coloured coats with metal b.u.t.tons came into fashion, and dandies of the first water appeared in bright snuff-coloured, pale green, and blue coats, such as are now only worn by Paul Bedford or Keeley, in broad farce. In 1836 a cheap mode of gilding, smart for a day, dull and shabby in a week, completely destroyed the character of gilt b.u.t.tons, and brought up the Florentine again.

This change was, no doubt, materially a.s.sisted and maintained by Bulwer's novel of "Pelham," which set all young men dressing themselves up like crows with white shirts.

In 1840 a deputation to Prince Albert attempted another revival of the gilt b.u.t.ton trade, and at the same time the silk stocking weavers waited on the Prince to endeavour to drive out the patent leather boots, and bring in the low shoe. Both attempts failed. At present there are symptoms of a turn of fashion toward coloured coats and bright b.u.t.tons, which may be successful, because the fashionable world abhors monotony. The flame coloured coats, long curls, and pink under waistcoats of George IV., were succeeded by the solemn sables of an undertaker; the high tight stock made way for a sailor's neckcloth. For a time shawl waistcoats, of gay colours, had their hour. Then correct tight black yielded to the loosest and s.h.a.ggiest garments that could be invented. Perhaps the year 1852 may see our youth arrayed in blue, purple and pale brown.

But a very little consideration will prove that these artificial changes, although they may benefit a cla.s.s, are of little advantage to the community.

If a man gives 10s. more for a coat with gilt b.u.t.tons than for one with plain b.u.t.tons, he has 10s. less to expend with some other tradesman.

The Florentine b.u.t.ton, first invented in 1820, and since much improved, is a very curious manufacture. It is made--as any one may see by cutting up a b.u.t.ton--of five pieces; first, the covering of Florentine, or silk; second, a cover of metal, which gives the shape to the b.u.t.ton; third, a smaller circle of mill-board; fourth, a circle of coa.r.s.e cloth, or calico; fifth, a circle of metal, with a hole punched in the centre, through which the calico or cloth is made to protrude, to form the shank, to be sewed on to the garment.

"Ranged in rows on either side of a long room of the b.u.t.ton factory, (says the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle) are from 50 to 100 girls and young women, from the age of fourteen to four or five and twenty, all busily engaged, either at hand or steam presses, in punching out metal circles slightly larger than the size of the b.u.t.ton which is to be produced. Before each press the forewoman is seated, holding in her hand a sheet of zinc or iron, about two feet long, and four inches broad. This she pa.s.ses rapidly under the press if worked by hand, and still more rapidly if worked by steam, punching and cutting at the rate of from fifty to sixty disks in a minute. As they are cut they fall into a receptacle prepared to receive them. The perforated sheets are sold to the founder to be melted up, and made into other sheets. In other rooms younger women are engaged in cutting up Florentine cloth, or other outside covering material, paste board and calico.

Of these a young woman can punch 57,000 a-day, and of metal, 28,000 a-day.

The upper discs are submitted by another set of girls to presses from which each receives a blow that turns up an edge all round, and reduces it to the exact size of the b.u.t.ton. The lower disk is punched for the shank to come through, stamped with the maker's name, or the name of the tailor for whom the b.u.t.tons are made, and coated with varnish, either light or black.

"The five pieces then pa.s.s into a department where a woman superintends the labours of a number of children from seven to ten years of age.

"These little creatures place all five pieces, one after another, in regular order, in a small machine like a dice-box, constructed to hold them, which is placed under a press, when a firm touch compresses the whole together in the neat form, which any one may examine on a black dress coat, without st.i.tch or adhesive matter."

This patent was the subject of long litigation between rival inventors, to the great benefit of the lawyers, and loss of the industrious and ingenious.

Within the last twelve months Messrs. Chadbourne, b.u.t.ton-makers, of Great Charles Street, have adapted this Florentine b.u.t.ton to nails for furniture and carriages.

The Patent Linen sewn-through b.u.t.ton is another recent invention, which has superseded the old wire b.u.t.ton for under garments, than which it is cheaper, neater, and more durable. It is composed of linen and circles of zinc.

Horn b.u.t.tons, with shanks, which are extensively used for cloth boots and sporting jackets, are made from the hoofs of horned cattle, which are boiled, cut, punched, dyed, stamped when soft, and polished by brushes moved by steam power; the chief part of the work being done by women and children.

Pearl b.u.t.tons have become an important part of the Birmingham manufactures, partly on the decline of metal b.u.t.tons. They are extensively used on coats and waistcoats, where gilt b.u.t.tons were formerly employed.

The sh.e.l.l used in the manufacture of b.u.t.tons, studs, card counters, etc., is the mother of pearl, the Concha margaritifera of naturalists. Five kinds of sh.e.l.l are employed:--First. The Buffalo Sh.e.l.l, so named because it arrived packed in buffalo skins; it comes chiefly from Panama, is the smallest and commonest, and sells to the trade at about 15 pounds a ton.--Second. The Black Scotch, from the Sandwich Islands, whence it is sent to Valparaiso and to Sydney, New South Wales, worth from 15 to 30 pounds a ton. The large outer rim is of a blackish, or rather greenish, tint, the centre only being white. The outer rim was formerly considered worthless, and large quant.i.ties were thrown away as rubbish. Change of fashion has brought the prismatic hues of the dark pearl into fashion for shooting-coats, waistcoats, and even studs. It used to be a standing story with a Bristol barber that a square in that city had been built on thousands of pounds worth of tobacco stalks, thrown away as useless, until it was discovered that that part of the plant was capable of making a most saleable snuff. And so in Birmingham; the Irvingite Church, on New Hall Hill, is said to be built on hundreds of tons of refuse sh.e.l.l, which would now be worth from 15 to 20 pounds per ton. The third sh.e.l.l is the Bombay, or White Scotch, worth from 20 to 50 pounds per ton. The fourth comes from Singapore, and is brought there to exchange for British manufactures by the native craft which frequent that free port. It is a first-rate article, white to the edge, worth from 80 to 90 pounds per ton. The fifth is the Mother of Pearl Sh.e.l.l, from Manilla, of equal value and size, but with a slight yellow tinge round the edge.

Pearl b.u.t.tons are cut out and shaped by men with the lathe, polished by women with a grinding-stone, and sorted and arranged on cards by girls.

Gla.s.s b.u.t.tons were formerly in use among ca.n.a.l boatmen, miners, and agricultural labourers, in certain districts. They are now chiefly made for the African market. The process of making them and studs is well worth seeing.

Beside the b.u.t.tons already enumerated, they make in Birmingham the flat iron and bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, for trowsers; steel b.u.t.tons, for ladies' dresses; wooden b.u.t.tons, for overcoats; agate b.u.t.tons, for which material is imported from Bohemia; and, in fact, every kind of b.u.t.ton and stud, including papier mache.

The manufacture of bra.s.s shanks is a separate trade, and the writer of the letters already quoted, states the annual production at, or upwards of, three millions per working day. Of these, part are made by hand, but the greater number by a shank-making machine, wrought by steam power, and only requiring the attendance of one tool-maker.

"The machine feeds itself from a coil of bra.s.s or iron wire suspended from the roof, and cuts and twists into shanks, by one process, at the rate of 360 per minute, or nearly 75,000,000 per annum. Some b.u.t.ton manufacturers employ one of these machines; the majority buy the shanks."

GUNS AND SWORDS.--According to Hutton, the historian of Birmingham, the town was indebted for its occupation in supplying our army with fire-arms, to an ancestor of a gentleman who now represents a division of Warwickshire, a Sir Roger Newdigate, in the time of William III.

The story, however, seems only half-true. Hutton would imply that the first muskets manufactured in England were made in Birmingham. It seems more likely, that the connexion with William III. arose from the desire of that monarch to have the flint-lock, which was superseding the match-lock on the Continent, made in his own dominions.

At any rate, the revolution of 1688, which the romantic anti-commercial party of Young England so deeply regret, gave Birmingham its gun trade, as well as Hampton Court its asparagus beds.

When Walpole gave us peace, the attention of the manufacturers was directed to fowling-pieces, and from that time forward Birmingham has contained the greatest fire-arm factory in the world, although, of course, subject to many fluctuations. Twenty years ago, "A long war soon," was as regular a toast at convivial meetings of Birmingham manufacturers, as at any mess-room or in any c.o.c.k-pit in her majesty's service.

The government has made several attempts, by establishing manufactories with public money and under official control, to become independent of Birmingham, but the end has invariably been great loss and pitiful results in the number of arms produced.

We hope to live to see the time when our navy will be built as economically as our guns are made--by private contract--and our public ship-yards confined to the repairing department.

During the war which ended at the battle of Waterloo, the importance and prosperity of the gun-makers were great. It was calculated that a gun a minute was made in Birmingham on the average of a year, but the Peace threw numbers out of work and reduced wages very considerably.

Time has brought the trade to a level; indeed, it is one of the great advantages of Birmingham, that the prosperity of the town does not rest on any one trade; so that if some are blighted others are flourishing, and when one fails the workmen are absorbed into other parallel employments.

The gun trade now depends for support on the demand for--first, cheap muskets for African and other aboriginal tribes; secondly, on cheap fowling-pieces, rifles, pistols, blunderbusses, etc., for exportation to America, Australia, and other countries where something effective is required at a moderate price; thirdly, on the home demand for fowling-pieces of all qualities, from the commonest to those sold at the West End of London, at fancy prices; fourthly, on that for fire-arms required by our army and navy; and, lastly, on occasional uncertain orders created by wars and revolutions on the Continent.