Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

whether for career or family reasons. These included a millwright and a turner. 165
The
sawyer, Christopher Johnsons, rented premises in Bleachfield Street on the edge of town,
with enough space for his saw-pit and timber-yard. 166
Millwrights performed a vital service in keeping the machinery of local industry
moving (literally and figuratively), for example Walter Moore’s family, who serviced
local malt-mills and corn-mills for many years. 167
In 1792 John and Edward Scambler
were listed as turners; Edward was also a clockmaker and the parish-clerk. 168
In Periods
C and D the Spooner family were described as basketmakers and sieve-makers. 169
The
1841 census also lists a handful of chairmakers, a hoop-maker and an upholsterer. 170
Metal
Table 4.2 suggests that the blacksmiths’ share of the workforce changed little over
time, while by 1841 blacksmiths/farriers comprised some 2.4% of the adult male
workforce. 171
Needlemakers show an increase after 1750 in Table 4.2 which is even
more dramatic in Table 4.4. Needlemakers comprised some 14% of fathers in baptisms
1813-1840 with a rise to 20% in the 1830s. 172 The story for other metalworkers is
contradictory over time, but Table 4.8 gives a figure of 2.6% in 1841.
165 WaRO, DR360/80, Alcester settlements 1718, 1721, 1722 and 1730,
166 WaRO, CR1886/BL/1827, lease of cottage in Bleachfield Street, lately built on the waste, 1681.
WoRO, probate of Martha Coles, Alcester, widow, 1709, witnessed by Christopher Johnsons, Alcester,
sawyer.
167 Millwrights no doubt had to make adjustments to stone and metal items as well as wooden ones, but are
always discussed in the Wood and Charcoal section. WoRO, probate of Walter Moore, Alcester,
millwright, 1670/1, £38-2-10. He set up the new malt mill at Coughton Court in the 1660s. (WaRO,
CR1998/LCB/40).
168 UBD 1792. John Scambler, turner, appears in the jurors’ lists, WaRO, QS76/3).
169 UBD 1792 and Pigot’s Warwickshire Directory 1828-9.
170 WaRO, 1841 census, lists 2.2% of men over 20 as carpenters or joiners and 4.6% as other woodworkers.
The 1851 census for Alcester also records a male match-maker.
171 Table 4.8 (1841 census) compares closely with the 2.3% of fathers in baptisms 1813-1840 (Table 4.6).
172 Table 4.6. Figures from the 1841 census are discussed below.
106