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Piano Worker

  • Thread starter Thread starter dmoseley
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dmoseley

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Census records from that late 19th Century list a number of my relatives (separate families) from the Duddeston and Nechells area as having the occupation 'Piano worker'. It may be a silly question, but what did the census officer mean by this, was Birmingham a piano making area in those days?
 
:?
Fascinating query. Many low income row houses of unskilled and semiskilled artisans had upright pianos.
I met a fellow (not in a tavern) in Nechells c. 1980 who was employed by a man who had operated a business which had exported (crammed containfreight by water) one million such. Not suggesting he salvaged them all from Birmingham. Though there is one million miles of roadway (alleys and so on and so forth - then 1960, now likely more; mayhap less on account of doltish sprawl [it begs the question as to who surveyed them, how many, how long did it take, what did they earn and what were they named, "Corporation Surveyor Deputies?"]).
He likely scoured the Black Country as well. Birmingham was the epicentre with the preposterous excesses of the slum clearance job(s).

A piano worker-maker? Likely tuning and repairs.
:?:
 
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