"Assayer" "Sweep and bullion"

[jane k]

On the 1911 census my grandfather (William Henry Lyles Hayden) is described as an assayer working in the "Sweep and Bullion" industry.
I have previously been told that he was involved in extracting precious metals from waste and my mother remembered him working in a foundry. Have I got that right?

They lived in Ruckley Avenue Lozells. He doesn`t appear to have enlisted during the First War - possibly because he was working in a reserved industry? Although he was also a Quaker

 

[mikejee]

In would doubt if it was a reserved occupation, more likely the Quaker reason. Jewellers in the Jewellery quarter always did their best to save any precious metal dust or scrapings that resulted from their work. In a recent . In a recent Repair shop episode a jeweller who had been brought ibn to repair an item told how he always used a special apron to save it fron falling to the floor (and showed it on the show). Every so often the site would be cleaned to save the dust, more recently using a Hoover-type device. Larger companies recovered the metal themselves in a furnace (the jewelry museum has one ). Most either collected the sweepings themselves and sent it off to a recovery firm, or employed a separate firm to come round with their Hoover. It certainly seems that your grandfather worked in assaying the resultant recovered metal for its precious metal content.

 

[MWS]

A lack of records for WWI doesn't necessarily mean someone didn't serve. Many were destroyed.

Probably a coincidence but interesting to note the gap between the birth years of his 2 eldest children (if I have the right people) - 1913 & 1921.

 

[jane k]

Yes, their first daughter died from meningitis when she was only 2 and I think that devastated them both for a long time. Maybe that is another reason why he didn`t want to be away from home

 

[carolina]

An assayer determines the proportions of metal in ore

 

[Pedrocut]

Sweep smelter.