Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Throughout the study period Alcester was home to various types of non-ferrous
metalworkers, presumably making products for local customers. As well as glaziers and
plumbers mentioned above, there were whitesmiths, pewterers, tinmen and braziers (all in
small numbers). Alcester’s braziers’ trade in brass, pewter, copper, ‘blackware’,
‘sadware’ and all manner of vessels from kettles to chamber pots could bring substantial
wealth. 173
The gentry ironmonger family called Horniblow had connections with
Cornwall, which may have been an important source of lead or tin. 174
In 1835 two
braziers, tinmen or tin-plateworkers advertised, while at this period we also find a couple
of ‘brightsmiths’ or ‘whitesmiths’. 175
No Alcester watch or clockmakers appear in
probate, but from the 1790s other sources show their presence in the town. 176
Just as non-ferrous metals had to be imported into the study area, so did iron. 177
The town’s handful of blacksmiths and farriers were typically literate and of middling
status amongst the town’s craftsmen. An exception was Thomas Lucas, blacksmith,
ironmonger, maltster and gentleman, who became a substantial townsman and left money
for almshouses. He was able to afford a substantial, stylish brick-faced house on the
173 WoRO, probate of Richard Parshouse, Alcester, brazier, 1684, £735-5-0. His widow and son continued
the business. G. E. Saville, ‘Seventeenth century inventories of Alcester, Warwickshire’, ADLHS, (1979),
p. 15, states that Parshouse was an official examiner of pewter for the county authorities. (QS). Later
braziers and tinmen apparently did not enjoy the high status of the Parshouse family.
174 William Horniblow of Gerrans, Cornwall, owned property in Alcester. (WoRO, 899.749/8782 /59/22).
175 WaRO, Pigot 1835. WaRO, Alcester baptisms 1813-1840 list William Watson as blacksmith and
whitesmith. WaRO, 1841 and 1851 census list William Sorrell as brightsmith and whitesmith. The term
‘brightsmith’ is rare in the town. ‘Whitesmith’ is more commonly used. ‘Tinman’ and ‘brazier’ seem
interchangeable, while ‘tin-plate worker’ seems to be used only after 1800. In local records the term
‘tinker’ implies a travelling mender of pots and pans. WaRO, Alcester 1851 census also records a buttonmaker,
who had previously been a brass-caster.
176 For example, WaRO, Pigot 1835 shows two. The town was served earlier by clockmakers living in
nearby villages. (See Chapters 5 and 6.) Also blacksmiths and gunsmiths may have made and repaired
clocks, as Edward Waldron mentioned below.
177 Iron may have come from The Forest of Dean and, for specific purposes, from overseas, e.g. Sweden or
Russia. (See Chapter 7).
107