Bromsgrove Nailmakers

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 “…. terrible danger at all times overcast his life with the blackest of shadows; the imminent and terrible danger called clamming … clamming is starvation.”[3]

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The typical week started with Monday which was often taken as a rest day, known as St. Monday. (The cause, having to recover from a weekend of drinking and was a common occurrence in many forms of home working or where the jobs were not related to mass production.) Tuesday was also somewhat leisurely but the rest of the week was spent having to work harder in order to complete the quota by Saturday, sometimes having to work throughout the night on Friday.

Nail making did not provide a consistent work stream. There were times when the demand for nails dried up and as the century proceeded high transport coasts, competition from factory produced nails and abroad, reduced the orders the family were given. In good times it was hard to make ends meet but in times of little work it was virtually impossible. In 1842, (the early 1840s were years of great difficulty in the trade) a nailer wrote to the local paper in protest at the low wages of £1.0.6d he and his wife received for his family of 5 children, four of whom were working. This sum did not include expenses for utensils, clothing, work tools or even meat. There was also an expense of 4d per cwt. to take the finished products to the warehouse. Families would not be able to afford to take a holiday so a working holiday of “hopping” or fruit picking would be undertaken, with the added benefit of returning home laden with fruit.

 

Periods of shortages of work frequently led to strikes and marches in protest as masters would reduce wages at their quarterly meetings. In the 1840s these protests led to many joining the Chartists’ protests, the militia with sabres drawn called out at one point. The rioters using their own product, 3 nails welded together, a “tiswas”, shaped so that one was always upward, to cripple the horses.

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As with many industries, payment and organization of the work was problematic. The Industrial Revolution produced in many industries the “butty” system and nail making was no exception. The family obtained the raw materials, iron and bellows from the nail master, they paid for their own tools and fuel, but if the master’s warehouse was full or if he did not have the orders, then he was loathe to supply the iron. In these cases, the family turned to the middle man or “fogger” but he was out to make as much money as he could, both in the supply of the iron and the selling of the product, on the family’s behalf. He would use “doctored” scales, pay in tokens, which could only be redeemed at his shop or pub, meaning much of the family income was drunk away at the weekend. He made his money by every conceivable method.

 

Besides being cheated by the “fogger” renumeration was complex and once again led to disputes. Slit rods were given to the nailer in 60lb bundles, with 8 quarters to a bundle, again subdivided into 6 parts of 11/4lb each. Yield for the bundles depended on the type of nail. Large nails yielded 52lbs with 8lb waste while small nails could be as low as 42lb. The skill of the nailer was also a factor. Large nails paid by the bundle or 1cwt, small nails by the “tale” or price per 1000, however the nailer had to produce 1,200 to be paid for 1000. When selling it was the opposite, as the master only gave between 750 to 960 per 1000, depending on the type.

 

Women and Children

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“The woman’s place is in the home” was the mantra chanted by the majority of the male middle class in the 19th century. Working women were derided as not taking enough care of their families.   Well, the woman was in the home of the nail making family but she was undertaking multiple tasks. She had to bear the children, look after the husband and children, and take on the job of making nails at the same time. When pregnant, she would work virtually up to the time of delivery and resume nearly as soon as she could stand. Many infant deaths were blamed on the mother not attending to the new born babies or leaving them in the care of the youngest child, even as young as 5.

 

In some nail making districts the children received very harsh punishment especially as weapons, the tools of the trade, were handy and dangerous. By the mid-19th century nail makers accounted for a quarter of child labourers. A girl could make over 4 nails per minute or over 250 per hour. Apprenticeships were rare in the trade, however 9-year-old Sarah Hollis, from Northfield was apprenticed along side her 9-year-old brother, nail maker, William. If the mother had a baby and there was a young daughter, even as young as 5, she would be put to looking after the baby as the mother would be more productive in the forge.

 

One inspector commented that “girls poorly fed, dressed in rags and constantly overworked”. Jane Bolton age 10, despite working with her mother and sisters did manage to attend school in the evening. Anna Powell aged 11, worked with her mother from 7 in the morning to 8.30 in the evening. She had 3 hours in breaks and was reported to be healthy, clean and well-clothed in appearance and able to do needlework, although she could not write. The children working with the family had to make a sizable contribution, being expected to produce 1000 nails per day. A Scottish record stated that the child should, “by porridge time (breakfast) during which time they have to complete never less than 250, frequently 300 nails”. The second session was up to “taturs and herring” from 300 to 500 nails. The 3rd session to evening meal to make quota up to 1000 or even 1250. Payment for these long labours was poor, Mary Humphries aged 11 worked from 6.30 am until 8.45 pm for 1/- per week which she gave to her mother. The 1870 Education act did not mean that nail making children had some respite from labouring, as children in some industries did, who had by this time moved to a factory- based system. Nail making although in decline, was still in many cases carried out in the home and so the child just had to fit work in as well.

 

Women had always been part of the family business but the 1840s brought problems to the nail trade with wages in decline and strikes more frequent. By the 1850s women began to become the major contributors to the home-based nail making industry and depended upon to provide the family income to support, feed, clothe and pay the rent. In the West Midlands it was said that it was common for a collier to marry a “nail making wench” who was expected to support the family. In some cases there are records of criminality among the female nail making communities.

 

As in many instances the woman was providing the main support for the family, the husband may be off doing casual work elsewhere. When he died the wife was often still in charge of looking after the family. Elisa Tinsley took over as a nail master when her husband died, age 37 and she built up a considerable business. Never the less women working was still a bone of contention, as not only should they be looking after the home but as they became the majority of adult workers in the industry, they were then accused of taking men’s jobs. Meetings were called with extensive coverage in the newspapers. Campaigns were organized, often by religious organizations siting moral issues of women working. (The nail making community did not have a spotless reputation anyway) Married women should not work. However, there were opposers of this movement, Mr Thomas Parry of Catshill, stated that. “to prevent the employment of women would be to annihilate the trade in the Bromsgrove district”.

 

Nail making struggled on in Bromsgrove until after the Second World War. A Commissioner for Patents in 1883 wrote:

“There is nothing more simple, more generally useful, or more efficient in its universal application than a nail”.

This simple object was made by 1000s of people working in dreadful conditions for little renumeration and as with many items at the end of the 19th century their labours were made redundant with the advent of mechanization. Their legacy can still be found in the multitude of applications which still survive but evidence of their lives only remains in the records. There are no remaining workers’ cottages in situ but one was saved and erected in the Avon Croft Museum. There is a nail maker’s workshop in the Black Country Museum. Below is a list of sources, if not for specific persons to give a context in which women nail makers may be placed.