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Silversmiths/jewellers

E

Eric Gibson

master brummie
My grandfather Thomas William Gibson of Barton's Bank, Aston has his occupation listed as silversmith, other members of his family are also listed as silversmiths or jewellers, is there any way of finding who they were employed by?
 
A number worked for themselves. In that case they might be listed in directories. What years are we talking about?. Otherwise there is no specific way to determine the firm without personal memories or papers
 
Hi Eric,

Good to see you about again! I agree with Mike. and the trouble was that, like pen makers & gunmakers, there were lots of them. Whilst a few companies have archived their papers in record offices, these papers rarely include personnel records, just Minutes of Directors Meetings and such like.

Maurice
 
Thanks Mike, I doubt if he was self employed I can't find him in any directories and there was never any mention of it in the family, I wondered if there might be some employee list information on companies such as Elkingtons and the like.
 
Sorry I missed answering the 'what years' question, his dates were born 1866 died 1951, I recall him from my childhood back in the war years.
 
Eric,

The 1911 Census shows your grandfather as a Jeweller, Gold Brooches and employed, so he wasn't working for himself. Thomas F. Gibson, his son, is listed as a toolmaker (jewellers) if that is any help. Maybe they both worked for the same business?

Maurice
 
Yes Maurice I had the census stuff some time ago, I found his father in law Alfred Hodgetts too who iirc was also listed as a silversmith
 
Of course, actually proving where they worked is a different kettle of fish! On one of the censuses my father was also listed as a jeweller, yet he never mentioned it to the family and on all the other censuses, and to us, he was either working for the railway out of Curzon Street or working as a packer at Perry Pens. Strange!

Maurice
 
Probably your only other chance is if one of then had a accident at work and they were mentioned in the newspapers, but it's a long shot. One of my great aunts was struck by lightning in the yards of where she worked, but they failed to mention the name of the employer! But sometimes they do. Check your private messages in a minute.

Maurice
 
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1939 register he has written his occupation as Jeweller's Foreman - retired. His dob is 10 May 1865 and his address is 5/15 Barton Bank.
gibson 1939.png
 
Thanks for that bewdley, I knew the address, I've been there many times as a child but the names below at number 17 I didn't know ever lived there, the Biddles, Ada Biddle was my dad's sister, James her first husband, Victor and Vera her children (Victor later the Potter's Hill and Villa Cross chemist).

I only knew that the Biddles lived in Victoria Road (204 or 206, not sure) when we used to visit during the war.

On that form someone has written McDivitt, that was Ada's second husband who she didn't marry until the 1950s so it must have been added much later.

The name Mills written alongside Vera, she married Mills also in the 1950s.

It would interest me to find out who made those notations.

I think James Biddle died suddenly at work at Fort Dunlop, not sure of the cause.
 
Eric,

The added surnames are made by the authorities prior to the release of the 1939 Register. By default, the details of anyone younger than 100 and still alive in 1991 are closed. The added surnames are part of the officials' efforts to trace what happened to people.

Maurice
 
Saw this silver pencil at a local antiques fair. It was made in Birmingham by Villers and Jackson and the hallmark suggests it was made in 1966 (if my interpretation of the hallmark is correct). Unusually, it is engraved with the words "Awarded by Hovis Ltd". I don't know whether these were handed out for good work, long-service or what. Villers and Jackson seem to be quite a well-established firm. They were at 3, Hockley Hill, Great Hampton Street in 1876.
P1000287 (2).JPGP1000285 (2).JPGP1000288 (2).JPG
 
Eric Gibson said:
My grandfather Thomas William Gibson of Barton's Bank, Aston has his occupation listed as silversmith, other members of his family are also listed as silversmiths or jewellers, is there any way of finding who they were employed by?
Click to expand...
My Great Great Grandmother was Mary Gibson b1816, son Thomas Gibson Faux b1844 a Head Watchmakers in Handsworth in 1881 and trying to find info on where he worked, any ideas please!
 
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