The Brass Industry in Birmingham

Due to the existing skills in metal working in the town and the need for the material in the production of buckles, buttons and toys, Birmingham was a logical location for the development of the brass industry in the early 18th century.

Originally, the alloy was imported from Bristol and Cheadle and goods finished in Birmingham. But this started to change in 1740 when Turner's brass works was set up in Coleshill Street.

Most goods were made by casting brass in sand, but from 1769 production became increasingly stamp and die-based, using sheet brass. Later, demand was for more specialized goods, like fittings for carriages, cabinets, furniture, keys and bolts. In particular, brass fittings were in demand for steam engines, which opened huge new markets throughout the country. But Birmingham was also Europe's largest exporter of brass, mostly to France. By the turn of the century Birmingham was also producing brass fittings for gas lamps.

While in 1770 there were 38 brass founders in Birmingham, by 1788 this figure had risen to 56, and in 1797 there were 71.

In 1780 the price of copper rose dramatically. So the Birmingham industrialists decided to produce their own. The result was the founding in 1780 of the Birmingham Metal Company off Broad Street (now Brasshouse Passage). The need for cheaper copper led to the establishment in 1790 of the Birmingham Mining and Copper Company, which ran mines in Redruth (Cornwall) and Swansea (Wales). In 1781 it was estimated that not less than 1000 tons of brass were used in the Birmingham manufactories but in that year the price rose from £72 to £84 per ton. After the establishment of the BMCC this price dropped to £56 (Dent, RK, Old and New Birmingham, p 341).
 

Birmingham brass employers from the 1822 Pigot Directory for Warwickshire Birmingham brass employers from the 1835 Pigot Directory for Warwickshire Birmingham brass employers from the 1943 Kelly Directory for Birmingham & Suburbs

Two major technological advances took place in the 1830s. Firstly, a new technique of mixing copper and zinc directly in the crucible meant quicker and more efficient production of the alloy. Secondly, new iron moulds began to replace the old sand ones, enabling far more precision in the making of brass goods. In 1831 1,800 were involved in the brass trade, ten years later this number had almost doubled.

The larger brass companies were Messenger (employing 250 in the early 1800s), Ryland (150 in 1812, though essentially an iron and steel company), Jenkins (250 in 1833) and Wingfields (100 in 1835, rising to over 700 in 1860). However, the majority of the companies were smaller factories employing 20–30 workers. By 1870 the brass trade was providing 10,000 jobs.