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Ropemaking in Handsworth 1820s

CeliaRenshaw

CeliaRenshaw

New Member
I'm researching a Thomas JACKSON (born 1806 to a ropemaking family in Ilkeston, Derbyshire). In the Birmingham Trade Directories of 1827, 1828, 1829 he is listed as a Ropemaker in Handsworth. This seems to be before the well-known Wright's ropemaking factory started there in the 1830s, which was after Thomas had emigrated to Reading, Pennsylvania in 1829-30. I'm trying to find out where he would have worked in Handsworth in the late 1820s - would the famous Boulton & Watt employ ropemakers? Is it possible he had his own set-up at the early age of 21 to 23? Any historians of Handsworth who could give me some clues please?
 
CeliaRenshaw said:
I'm researching a Thomas JACKSON (born 1806 to a ropemaking family in Ilkeston, Derbyshire). In the Birmingham Trade Directories of 1827, 1828, 1829 he is listed as a Ropemaker in Handsworth. This seems to be before the well-known Wright's ropemaking factory started there in the 1830s, which was after Thomas had emigrated to Reading, Pennsylvania in 1829-30. I'm trying to find out where he would have worked in Handsworth in the late 1820s - would the famous Boulton & Watt employ ropemakers? Is it possible he had his own set-up at the early age of 21 to 23? Any historians of Handsworth who could give me some clues please?
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hi and welcome...it could be difficult to find out much more info as thomas emigrated before our census started...you say he is listed in the directories as living at handsworth...do you have an exact address in handsworth ? also do you have the name of his parents ?

lyn
 
Pedrocut said:
Aris’s Gazette, April 1829.
Looks like his property being sold for non-payment of rent ?

View attachment 221981
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thats great pedro as it does answer celias question of did thomas have his own rope business (which he did ).the newspaper article is dated april 1829 so it does look like thomas owned rent money..sold up and emigrated...the mention of his business near to the red lion pub is interesting ..there is still a red lion pub on the soho road handsworth however it is a rebuild but i would think the original pub would have been very close by..when i have a min i will check the red lion/soho road thread as i think there could be a photo of the original red lion..

lyn
 
Astoness said:
hi and welcome...it could be difficult to find out much more info as thomas emigrated before our census started...you say he is listed in the directories as living at handsworth...do you have an exact address in handsworth ? also do you have the name of his parents ?

lyn
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The 1828 directory just says "Handsworth" - nothing else.
 
For background. This is the former Red Lion Inn - this buildijg existed when Thomas Jackson had his nearby rope-making business. Rope walks were sometimes - I think - marked on maps, but they would be later than the early 1800s. However, Jackson's Handsworth business ceased in 1829, perhaps it continued as a rope works after that. Are there any rope walks marked on later maps near the Soho Road?

(For info. The top line of the sign reads "Red Lion Inn" but can't clearly make out the line beneath it, possibly "John Downes" The existing Red Lion came into being in 1902).

And another view of the old inn posted by the late Oldmohawk

Screenshot_20260426_133133_Samsung Internet.jpg
Screenshot_20260426_133852_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
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Vivienne14 said:
For background. This is the former Red Lion Inn - this buildijg existed when Thomas Jackson had his nearby rope-making business. Rope walk were sometimes - I think - marked on maps, but they would be later than the early 1800s. However, Jackson's Handsworth business ceased in 1829, perhaps it continued as a rope works after that. Are there any rope walks marked on later maps near the Soho Road?

(For info. The top line of the sign reads "Red Lion Inn" but can't clearly make out the line beneath it, possibly "John Downes" The existing Red Lion came into being in 1902).

And another view of the old inn posted by the late Oldmohawk

View attachment 221985
View attachment 221987
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yes viv i believe it to be the original red lion...this from directories..i think soho street became soho road..i wonder if someone can find the rope making works marked on an old map please

lyn

1868 Kelly's lists a John Downes at the Red Lion Soho Street, Handsworth.
 
As a matter of interest, there was still the remains of a rope walk site in Handsworth in the 1980s. All photos and captions below are from the Library of Birmingham Archives

Description:Old Rope Walk Site, Handsworth, as seen from the site of Soho Station. November 1981

Screenshot_20260426_142026_Chrome.jpg
Screenshot_20260426_142957_Chrome.jpg



And below a photo of the site in use in 1898
Description:Rope walk, Handsworth, looking towards Soho Road Station. 1898

Screenshot_20260426_142522_Chrome.jpg


Below: Description:Rope walk, Handsworth, c.1900. The rope making business was owned by Mr Haines but ceased at his death c.1914. This view is seen from the platform of Soho Road railway station.

Screenshot_20260426_143120_Chrome.jpg
 
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It was Haynes. Harry Walter Haynes based at 46 Edgbaston Street. Est 1866
Works at Old Mint Ropery, Factory Road, Handsworth
 
This may be of interest, but not sure if the Soho Road address is just that rather than a rope works. (Source: BHF "see Birmingham by postcard" thread).

Screenshot_20260426_154059_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
There is more information on Haynes in thread " Haynes rope walk" am on mobilecso cannotcseem to post link, but search for this which should give thread
 
Is this it?

mikejee

Thread 'Haynes Rope Walk'

Below are photos of a rope walk named the Old Mint Ropery, near Soho Station in Handsworth, which belonged to Harry Walter Haynes together with an 1880s map showing the position.

Haynes rope Walk 1898.jpgHaynes Rope walk1.jpgThe Rope Walk Handsworth 1898.1.jpgThe Rope Walk Handsworth 1898.2.jpg

map1880s showing Haynes rope Walk, Handsworth.jpg


Access was via Factory Road, and the firm was founded by Richard & Henry Haynes in 1866. By 1876 they also had an office at 16 Livery Street. By 1878 they appear to have formed two separate parts, both with an association with the ropery, but Richard Haynes also at Livery street, while Harry Walter Haynes had an office at 54 Soho Road. Possibly the...
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as we know thomas jacksons rope works was near to the red lion pub (original one) as far as we know the new red lion was built on the same ground..here is a street view of the rebuilt red lion and also below a street view of the railway line next to the haynes rope works..as we can see the red lion is quite a distance from the haynes rope works..thomas jacksons was a lot further up the soho road..the images of the haynes rope works at least may give celia an idea of what thomas jacksons rope works may have looked like

lyn

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Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
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Hi to everyone who replied with so much wonderful information to my query in April and I'm so sorry I didn't realise a full and complete debate had happened, which I could have engaged in! More than anything I want to say THANK YOU for seeing the reference to "near the Red Lion Inn" in the 1829 advert - a breakthrough advert which I also discovered for the first time after posting here. It is one of those times, after 25 years of research, I still have to admit missing the obvious! DUH... I now feel pretty sure I can identify the location on Soho Road or Street, or 'nearby' at least. For my friends involved in the Thomas Jackson project, this will be a glorious find. :grinning:
To answer some of the points made... please see a one-page explainer here: Thomas Jackson Explainer, Celia Renshaw (Aug 2026).docx, which includes a link to the Thomas Jackson Letters website and to an article I wrote about Thomas' rebellious father John Jackson. The 1821 advert by John Jackson from his ropery in Handsworth (presumably the same one as Thomas's) was another breakthrough find in newspapers.
In early September, I will be at Staffordshire History Centre trying to find more info about the family's ropemaking years there, and when they began. You are also right that in 1813 John Jackson, then of Ilkeston, advertised his new Flat Ropes in a Birmingham newspaper indicating an existing interest there, though he went through near-bankruptcy in Ilkeston in 1816, rescued by a local, wealthier non-conformist who bought him out. John Jackson's father was Charles Jackson, a chandler by trade. Chandlers often carried out ropemaking. Yesterday, I found a Charles Jackson in the 1798 Land Tax Redemption records for Handsworth., occupying premises held by a 'Mr HAY'. The sum assessed was £6 3s, which is pretty substantial.
Jackson is a very common name of course - so is this total coincidence? Maybe, just maybe, Thomas' grandfather Charles began the shared ropemaking interest in Ilkeston and Handsworth (linked by canal?)
They also had another family ropemaking interest there, in Smethwick on Foundry Lane - the TURTONs held premises now occupied by Avery Weigh-Tronix - Thomas Jackson's first cousin Eli TURTON held that ropery in 1836 when he died (buried at Union Row Independent Chapel). Turtons are plentiful in the Staffs/Birmingham area.
Thank you to everyone once again for all the info and photos, which I will now, belatedly, add to my brain and my files. I'll report back when I've put all the pieces together.
 
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