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Birmingham Pin Makers

Cheriton

proper brummie kid
I am researching my family and I it has come to light that many were pin makers. They lived in Ladywood in the first quarter of the 20th century and I take it that they made badges. Could anyone tell me if this is correct and would this be a part of the jewellery quarter trades? I would be grateful for any information on this (working conditions etc.) of if anyone could let me know where I could go to research.
 
Welcone to the forum.
The big badge company is still going today - Fattorini's. If you Google it their website will give you info on their history..
Also if you search on this site (magnifying glass top right) quite a few threads refer to the company.
Other companies probably made badges. Pins would also be needed for brooches made in the jewellery quarter.
 
My mother did out work for a pin maker somewhere in Hockley, I should know the name but it escapes me at the moment.

I've talked about it before on here, she used to put the springy curls on the end of badge and tie pins, pay was 3d a thousand.
 
Welcone to the forum.
The big badge company is still going today - Fattorini's. If you Google it their website will give you info on their history..
Also if you search on this site (magnifying glass top right) quite a few threads refer to the company.
Other companies probably made badges. Pins would also be needed for brooches made in the jewellery quarter.
Thank you so much for the information and the warm welcome! I will certainly check out all the other info on the website as well as Fattorini's.
 
My mother did out work for a pin maker somewhere in Hockley, I should know the name but it escapes me at the moment.

I've talked about it before on here, she used to put the springy curls on the end of badge and tie pins, pay was 3d a thousand.
Oh my, I wonder how long it would take to make 1000...all for 3d! Thank you for the info.
 
Fattorini's are still going strong in their original [Birmingham] factory in Regent Street which I guess counts as in the Jewellery Quarter. But remember "pins" doesn't equate just to badge making. Birmingham was also the centre for machine pin making eg for dressmaking. I have a particular interest in Charles Iles of thimble making fame, but they also made pins usually mounted on card. Here's a rather splendid example:

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Hello there

Before starting I need to apologise to the fraternity of Pin experts (yes they do exist) for a short and inexact story.

Pin Making was an important industry in Birmingham, dress making, clothes pins, fastening pins, hair pins, hat pins. etc.

Pin making wa held up as a model of how the industrial revolution took hold. Early on one person drew the wire, forged the head (attached a decoration if reqired), sharpened the point and then polished the pin. The important step was breaking this down so a specialist undertook each stage passing the pin on. This gave the insight for automation.

Birminghham had alway made pins but the epicenter was around Stroud in Gloucestershire. One of first automated pin making machine was rather unuccessful, but made in Birmingham by Daniel Foot-Taylor 1838, from an even more unsuccessful London patent. Meanwhile the Watkins family in Gloucestershire were being equaly inventive, Peter Watkins visited Birmingham to learn about machinery, then automated parts of his process and keep their slice of a world market.
(Peter Watkins was an outstanding engineering inovator).

The Americans entered the fray with superior tooling and made a machine that could almost make the whole of a simple pin. There followed a period of industrial espionage between Gloucestershire Birmingham and the USA with craftsmen beavering back and forth.. The Gloucester firms amalgamated,split and reformed in a confusing turbulent fashion with apprentice engineers starting up, or joining different firms.

In 1842 Edelsten Williams and Moore, by now big players, had moved the larger part of their machinery and production to the Newhall Works in Birmingham. Where did this huge trade go? Hair and Hat pins went out of fashion, in the early 20th century German & Czech pins undercut uk prices, and the old empire started making their own. Several of Watkins family had moved to Birmingham, one of them bing my great auntx2 Keturah Atwood Watkins who looked after the family interests, one of which involved the 'Kirby Grip' company.

Who remembers Kirby Grips?
 
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