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Chance Brothers: were you there? Can you help with a new book?

L

Last Chance

Guest
I am currently finishing off the first of two books on Chance Brothers. The first volume is called Chance Expressions and details the history of domestic glassware produced by the company and including a concise catalogue of all the glass it produced. Hopefully to be published at the end of this month.

The second volume, Chance Reflections, will cover the history ofthe company and the technologies it was involved with: lighthouses, optics, rolled glass engineering. I also hope to include memories of former workers, so would value any information that can be provided. Most particularly, photographs would be really welcome - not necessarily of the works, but ones demonstrating the social side as well. Also any ephemera or magazines like Pilks Cullet News or the Chance in-house magazine, Chance Comments are of particular interest.

I am already in touch with Smethwick Heritage Centre, and the peope have been most helpful. Their stock of Chance Comments is quite extensive, but there are a few gaps! Hopefully the Chance archives, currently at Pilkingtons at St Helens, will be "coming home" to Sandwell library in February next year, so this will keep me very busy!

I am also in touch with Ray Drury (last Chief Engineer) and Tony Cartwright (general manager of the Fiesta department), Howard Cosnett (transport) to name three. Do these names ring a bell? Do you know anyone who used to work at Chance? Any inforamtion, no matter how irrelevant you may feel it is, could be of great interest to me :)

I am also quite happy to talk to any collectors of Chance glass, and anyone is free to wander around my web site: www.chanceglass.net – feel free to contact me through the site e-mail address.
 
Thought I'd bump this up i ncase anyone missed it. Pity I cannot seem to track down any former employees through this forum, so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.
 
Ive sticky'd the topic for you so it wont drop down the forum yet.
 
Sorry, can't help you with employee details but thought you may like this.
 
Last edited:
Thanks postie. All ephemera of this nature is of interest. If you wanted to send a larger scan this would be appreciated (e-mail via www.chanceglass.net if you prefer.)

Only two weeks ago I actually cleared what I could from the old Chance office building, next to the 7-storey. This is being demolished and the paperwork, some going back to the 1920s, was just left scattered all over the floor. Much of it was work records and of little interest (would have taken a century to disseminate as well!) but there were some gems I managed to retrieve.

Attached are just two photos I took - there was much more - to give people an idea of the task I faced.
 
Did you know Alan Charmon at Chance? If so, and if you'd like to contact him, please PM me.

Big Gee
 
Thanks for that John. Chance was known to have many links with Russia and this even continued after the Revolution - I have seen documents relating to a visit by its engineers in the 1920s. This report dates the relationship a little further back than I imagined, given that Chance had only started producing optical glass around 1850 – quite an advance in just 8 years!

Eventually, though, Chance was producing every part and came to dominate the domestic lighthouse industry and was certainly a big-hitter internationally.
 
Meant to say: I would really like a full page scan if that it possible. I realise the page size is enormous, but I should be able to stitch a multi-part scan together. Many thanks:)
 
Just stumbled across this thread.... I'm fascinated by this place and wouldn't mind a nose round there myself.... is it right that they did the glass for Big Ben and lighthouses and stuff?? When did they finally shut?

I'm going to put a link to your website on my forum as it may be of interest to some of my folks too, is that ok??
 
I don't know if its the same Chance

I transcribed the church records of Christ Church The Quinton and there is a plot of land there that was bought by someone Chance and some of the family are buried there
I have the info if its any help

Jackie
 
Paul,
Sadly it isn't possible to stroll around the old 7-storey building at Spon Lane as it is currently being developed. And the office building where I took those photos has now been demolished!

By all means include a link to my site - always appreciated. Which forum is it that you operate?

Jackie,
I can't be sure about any Chance link to a Quinton Cemetery, but it certainly sounds interesting. I would be most interested in the data, particularly any forenames and dates of the burials.

Funnily enough I had just returned from the Key Hill Cemetery Open Day to find these responses :)
 
David E. did you know that there was a Chance book published some time ago, maybe 20 yrs or more? An "in house" job I seem to recall. I gave my copy to someone keen on Smethwick history but may be able to find details if you wish. John.
 
The last book that I am aware of, which was specific to Chance Bros., is Mirror for Chance, but this was published in 1951, so nearly sixty years ago! However, I do already have a copy and it is most informative. Before that, there is the definitive history by J.F. Chance that covered the first century, 1824-1919, with an additional supplement up to 1924. Called A History of the Firm of Chance Brothers & Co. Glass and Alkali Manufacturers this is one book I would love to own: although I do have access to a copy at Smethwick Heritage Centre.

Many thanks anyway – all contributions welcome! :)
 
definitive history by J.F. Chance that covered the first century, 1824-1919, with an additional supplement up to 1924. Called A History of the Firm of Chance Brothers & Co.
That sounds like the one I once had. NB. There is a copy of "Mirror" on ebay at the moment. John.
 
Hopefully I'll get a copy of J F Chance's history, one day. I also noticed the copy on eBay and did let a member of the Chance family know, who also has an interest in such things.
 
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Chance Bros - Smethwick[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Chance Brothers was founded in 1822. There were four large companies in the 19th century that developed a new method of glassmaking. One of these was Chances of Smethwick. Based in Spon Lane in Smethwick they became the main producer of window glass in Britain. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The company also made lenses for lighthouses and optical glasses. Unlike its main rival Pilkington, which is still going strong, Chance Bros closed its doors for the last time in 1981 having seen demand for its products dwindle. This may have been posted before, apologies if it has. Len.
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Thanks for this input, although the date of founding was 1824 (the blue plaque is wrong). The owner of British Crown Glass Co., Thomas Shutt, may have died in 1822, but Robert Lucas Chance did not purchase the works until 1824. This is well documented.

The three main producers of flat glass that I know of were Chance, Pilkington and Hartley, and Chance was probably the main producer until about the 1880s. Certainly by the 20th century, Pilkington were then the largest. But Chance was, without doubt, the most diverse - if it could be made in glass, then Chance would produce it.

There was also a lot more to the closure of Chance, rather than due diminishing sales - much of it was due to the owners: Pilkington since 1952/3.

If you take a look at my web site, this shows just the history of domestic glassware it produced: www.chanceglass.net
 
I collect Chance glass...but find it very difficult to find any ephemera to do with Chance...any help/hints/offers.? Is there such a thing as a Chance Glass swop shop???...to sell /buy or swap pieces?? I would give anything to have the in house Chance book...
from a chance collector who doesn't know of another collector!!
Hanna
 
The first thing you ought to do is visit my web site: www.chanceglass.net and another forum you could join, where there are dozens of Chance collectors, is www.glassmessages.com

I do collect as much ephemera as possible regarding Chance, as I have been researching the company for about five years. My next book will cover the company in depth, to explore the history and technologies it employed. A vast subject considering the company ran from 1824 to 1981 and made anything in glass that could be made in glass!
 
thank you for that...Ihave your first book already...and have glanced at glass messages...but will look at it in more depth....where do you find your ephemera?...Iscout many places but not manyhve even heard of the company!!!
 
Just Looked on the glass messages site...thank you..lots of "chat"and info about chance which is helpful...it's so exciting foinding new snippets....storage of glass is my problem...I like to look at it...not have it in boxes...any suggestions ??
 
A problem that all collectors have, unfortunately, is storage! Never mind, one day there may be a cure...
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With regard to ephemera, I sometimes find it on eBay, but patience is often the only way to obtain the rarer books. Remember you will also have competition from me!
 
How interesting I am sure someone will know. I wonder if he was a sort of security man? What sort of dates were they there?
 
Ethan, if you can provide me with any more details I would be interested to know. I wasn't aware that Chance had a police force, but naturally security would have been an important factor.

Also, if you have any photographs of the works, please let me know.
 
Last Chance said:
Ethan, if you can provide me with any more details I would be interested to know. I wasn't aware that Chance had a police force, but naturally security would have been an important factor.

Also, if you have any photographs of the works, please let me know.
Click to expand...

They sure did have Security,
and here's a photo of some of the 'elite' squad!

dad001.jpg


My father is Albert Law, and he is in the centre.

They manned what I think were the 3 gates,
Spon Lane(Main Entrance)
The Lighthouse Gate, Spon Lane, adjacent to the canal,
and later dwarfed by the motorway,
and the gate in Oldbury Road?.!

The time scale must be mid 60's!
 
Most interesting, but how fortunate that it was taken against that background! This actually dates it to after 1970 (the 'new' geometric logo was designed in 1970), but the patterns on the Chance Fiesta plates indicate it may be late-1970s, perhaps after 1979 if the floral one (middle shelf), under the Panda tray is from the Bouquet range. Was this taken at his retirement, but any 'chance'?

[apologies for the awful, and oft-repeated pun!]
 
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