George Kynoch (1834-1891): Part 2, (1865-1877)
I cannot find George Kynoch in the 1861 census, but a progression can be seen after this date. In February 1863, on his marriage to Helen, he was put as living in Francis Road, Edgbaston. In 1871 he is down as Cinder Hill Lane with wife Helen, daughter Gertrude, a governess and 3 servants. In 1881 down he is living in Bloomfield House, Wellhead Lane, Handsworth, with wife Helen, and sometime around 1884 he resided in Hamstead Hall. (Probably rented as it was up To Let in July 1884)
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies goes on to say....
"The cartridge made of coiled brass strip and developed by Colonel Boxer, superintendent in the royal laboratory, was giving trouble and the war department wished to replace it. Kynoch, in partnership with his manager, William Whitehill, filed a patent on 1 April 1868 for improvements in cartridge construction, namely, to make the case of solid drawn brass. The Lion Works, as it became known, at Witton by now comprised large workshops and well-spaced loading sheds;
Kynoch's love of speculation led him into cash flow problems and in 1870 he sold his rights to the Witton land for £8000, only to buy them back two years later with 19 acres of freehold land adjoining for £9000. The firm's rapid expansion in such a hazardous trade was not accompanied by the close attention to safe procedures that it deserved and there were four serious accidents in two years, the last in November 1870. The manufacture of ammunition, including copper percussion caps for cartridges, continued and by the late 1870s orders for up to 150 million were being handled. In 1877 Kynoch leased a metal-rolling mill in Water Street and so could control the quality of his cartridge brass."
In December 1867 there were the "Fenian arrests" in London, two prisoners Burke and Casey were charged with treason-felony and the Press commented "Important evidence from Birmingham.."
George Kynoch gave evidence saying he was a percussion cap and ammunition maker, and general firearms dealer of 45, Little Hampton Street. He knew the prisoner Burke, but not by name. He had met Burke who led him to believe he represented a mercantile firm. In the first lot he supplied 250,000 percussion caps and 40 of Lemaitre and Gerard 10-shooter revolvers at around £385....Kynoch had said that he obtained the revolvers from different manufacturers and were examined at his office....in all he may have sold Burke 657 revolvers from 1865 to 1866, at a cost of £1,972 of which all but £18 had been paid, invariably, in cash. There were also rifles and implements....cross examination of Kynoch was deferred.
In May 1868 Burke came up for trial at the Old Bailey and was sentenced to 15 years penal servitude.
In July 1869 George Kynoch arrived back from Russia with contracts, but he runs into financial difficulties which resulted in a file for liquidation; assets are put at around £40,000 and liabilities around £60,000. He received assistance from John Abraham, who entered into partnership, but later the partnership was disolved and Kynoch was back in charge.
To say that the expansion of the firm was not accompanied by the close attention to safe procedures that it deserved seems to be something of an understatement. The four serious accidents in two years, the last in November 1870, are well-documented, but there were numerous other accidents before and after. Looking at the main accidents shows that the work force was mainly women and young girls, a few of whom did not tell their parents they worked there. There were cases of women getting paid two weeks in arrears in order to prevent them leaving.
The Birmingham Post of 10 December 1870 reports that between 12 and 1.00pm on the previous day several thunderous roars were heard one after another. Residents in the vicinity of Witton knew too well the meaning of those reverberating peals...They recollected the dismal record of bloody sacrifices to the Moloch who had fixed his seat of worship amongst them, they pressaged one more melancholy chapter to the already sickening list.."Another explosion at the Catridge Factory." (This refers to the explosion at Ludlow's and it is thought that Kynoch had interests also in that factory, but out of the kindness of his heart he allowed his staff an extension of their dinner time to go to the funeral.)
(In April 1873 George Kynoch was summoned for illegal storage of ammunition without license. And January 1883 for 8 cases of breaching Explosive Act 1875, but penalties were minimal.)
On the 12 December the Post quotes the Pall Mall Gazette...
IS IT CULPABLE HOMICIDE...Even Mr Bruce (Home Secretary) will hardly be able to resist the cogency of the argument which is supplied by the 17 deaths which are reported to have already occurred as a result of this disaster, and will at last recognise the need for Government inspection of these factories. The presence of a stove in the middle of a shed where gunpowder work is carried out indicates that the arrangements were culpably defective. Indeed, the materials for what is the fashion to call an "accident" on a large scale seem to have been provided...a more favourable combination for a disaster could not well be contrived...and we may add, for Mr Bruce's information that the want of proper arrangements for the safety of the workforce is in many of the private cartridge factories of the kingdom, if not in the majority, simply scandalous.
