• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

brass founders and fitters

celia

celia

master brummie
hi all
i wonder if anybody can help me
while ive been researching my family tree i have found that my gandfarther great grandfarther and great great grandfarther were listed as brass founders or brass fitters
can anybody tell me whats these are and also woud i be right in thinking that once you had passed at being a brass founder you moved up to be a brass fitter or have i got that pete tong lol

would be very greatfull for any ecplanations offered
celia
 
Brass founders were factories that cast Brass Billets for various other industries and brass fitters were people who made used brass for machine purposes ie bearings for engines etc as I understand it someone will put us right :Dand wasnt pete tong a musician?:D
 
hi other half
thankyou for your email
brass founder and brass fitter came up a lot while i was going through the census this morning and i did wonder what they were thought they might have something to do with hinges handels door knockers ect
anyway thankyou for pointing me in the right directin
celia

:Dps not sure if pete tong was a musician :D
 
Tom, didn't pete tong open a take-away in Brum?:D

Celia, the only brass fitters that I knew were involved in gas lighting as in days gone by most people had gas lighting in their homes and most of the parts were in brass. But I'm sure that there are others on the forum that will help you out.

Graham.
 
hi cadeau
the plot thickens lol
so my relatives might have something to do with gas lights
i have ooked on the net for brass founders and fitters and it has come up with many explanations
many thanx for your reply it all helps
celia
:Dps liking the petetong and his takeaway lol:D
 
Hi Celia,

My great and many times great grandparents, going back to the 1700's, were brass founders and brass casters in Barford Street Birmingham. And they made candlesticks, taps, weights and ball and cock.
As brassfounders/casters they would pour molten metal into a mould, let it cool, knock the mould off, and they were then left with an item for cleaning and finishing as required.

Ann
 
hi ann
many thanx for your email
it really sheds some light on brass founders and fitters
it really must have been a dirty job
could you tell me if you had been a brass founder could you then mover up the tree to become a brass fitter
i ask because my great great grand farther was a brass fitter and his son my great grand father was a brass founder
or could it have been a small family bussiness

many thanx to you and everybody who have helped me try and unravel the plot
celia
 
Hi again Celia,

There were lots of brass founders that were small family run outfits in Birmingham and also ones that became very large factories. I should think that a brass fitter is just another branch of the same business, another skill, but not a better one. I don't think that it would be 'moving up' the chain. As a lot of brassfounders were master brass founders and were very skilled in that field, and well respected.
I'm sure others will be able to add more.
Hope this helps
Ann
 
Len,

I found that website, when I was looking for a 'mark' for my great great grandfather, John Fleming, of George & John Fleming, brassfounders of 77 Barford St South. I didn't find them on there, but what a wealth of information. Excellent site.

p.s. John Fleming did die long before his wife, so now I know why!

Ann
 
I come from a long line of Brass makers. The Hands from Small Heath were all in the family business including their wives and children. Joseph Edwin Hands (1861 - 1920) made a wide variety of brass items, candlesticks, plates, furniture decorations and hinges, even a large model of a Birmingham bridge. He made these all in his back garden workshop. His father before William Elwell Hands was a cabinet brass founder and so were many of the extended family.

The Hands did very well enough to buy at least 2 houses on Arthur Street, Birmingham. My grandmother Doris Hands (later Horricks and Ward) remembered as a child in the early 1900's walking with the brass ware in a large pram from Small Heath up to the Bull ring to take the brass to be sold in the market.
We have only one brass plate, which is quite ornate left as a memento.
 
A "Fitter" is a generic term for someone skilled in the installation and adjustment of machinery, so I would regard a "Brass Fitter" as someone who machined and constructed/installed brasswares.

I would say a Brass "Founder" has the double meaning of someone who owns/runs a Brass Foundry (possibly doing brassware fitting/installation too), and a Brass Foundry worker who "founds" brass castings etc.

Useful description of a Brass Founder at this webpage:

https://www.history.org/almanack/life/trades/tradefou.cfm

I've found what looks like a fantastic textual source here:

https://www.search.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?resource=2022

And here, though someone else may have posted this link already:

https://www.oldcopper.org/birmingham_brass.htm

Also here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=FNwj3iu0ersC&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=Brass+industry+Great+Britain&source=web&ots=1cKKWvmGf9&sig=1ce0NYsnMPLG0tdiAcw4pyQ9dTk&hl=en&ei=3a6SScP5D56z-Qaa74SHCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA234,M1

And:

https://www.bham.de/brass.html
 
lencops said:
https://www.rainsford-lynes.co.uk/hot-brass-stamping.html This company is still working, i passed by their factory this morning.
Click to expand...

Hi Len

My wife worked at Rainsford & Lynes (aka the Bullfinch) in the 1960s as a
lathe operator. She was mainly machining/ threading gas fittings from brass castings. She particularly disliked machining the elbows, as spiders
used to hide in them, and if you were unlucky, you got one in the face when you started turning them! She worked at many of the factories down Kings Road, and I think Rainsford & Lynes is the only one left.

Kind regards

Dave
 
Ann B said:
Hi Dave,

Just to let you know that Len hasn't posted since 28th. January. I'm trying to find out from an old neighbour, if he is ill or just having computer problems.

Ann
Click to expand...

Hi Ann

The last post that I have found for him is this morning (see Mystery Apparatus thread, so I guess he is ok!!

Kind regards

Dave
 
Dave thank you.

I know now. Len has contacted me. I forgot that people sometimes went on holiday!

Ann
 
Ann B said:
Dave thank you.

I know now. Len has contacted me. I forgot that people sometimes went on holiday!

Ann
Click to expand...


Just a thought Ann, if you enter a member's name in the Search
facility it will show you their postings with the latest first.

Kind regards

Dave
 
I did Dave. When I posted that yesterday Len hadn't posted since the 28th. But he got back last night. All's well!

Ann
 
It isn't really anything to do with me, but I still feel I'd like to say how nice it is to see Forum members looking out for one another. Good on ya. Who says we can't have 'community' on the internet?!
 
Not quite on topic but Dunnets tin plate/foil works one of the oldest surviving factorys on Kings rd Tyseley has just gone into recievership.
 
Hi Celia,
My father, Charlie Martin,(1904-1970) worked for Rainsford & Lynes all his life as a Brass Finisher,
which involved machining and then hand cleaning up the brass castings, which were the usual metal used for taps, etc. in the old days. He worked first at the Emily Street Works, and then moved with the firm to Tyseley, (where I beleive they still are).
It was quite hard and skilled work, mainly involving the use of a file.

Barney Martin
 
Barney martin said:
Hi Celia,
My father, Charlie Martin,(1904-1970) worked for Rainsford & Lynes all his life as a Brass Finisher,
which involved machining and then hand cleaning up the brass castings, which were the usual metal used for taps, etc. in the old days. He worked first at the Emily Street Works, and then moved with the firm to Tyseley, (where I beleive they still are).
It was quite hard and skilled work, mainly involving the use of a file.

Barney Martin
Click to expand...

Hi Barney,

My wife used to work at Rainsford & Lynes in the early 1960s. She was a lathe and power press operator. I mentioned your post to her and she could remember Charlie Martin.

Kind regards

Dave
 
Thanks for the reply ref; Rainsford & Lynes, Dave.
its nice to think that someone remembers Dad!.
Regards to your wife and self.

barney Martin
 
celia,coffin furniture like handles and hinges and plaques were usualy brass so i assume if you fitted those you could be called a brass fitter.regards chinny
 
I was chatting to a friend recently who told me that there was only one remaining dedicated brass-foundary in the whole of Britain! Can this really be true???
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top