"This quiet industrial giant rose from a grimy
brassfounder's shop to run the largest weighing company in the world, set against the turbulent industrial world of the 19th and 20th centuries."
Master
brassfounder and coppersmith James Troop created the firm 149 years ago in the docklands estate of Liverpool.
The first Directory of Birmingham was published by Sketchley and Adams in 1770 and it recorded a number of manufacturers: James Wright, a plater; Thomas Friday, a platina (platinum) button maker; Samuel Heeley, a
brassfounder and factor; Thomas Aston, a button maker and factor; Thomas Piddock, a plater, silverer, ironmonger and coffin nail maker; Boyce and Radcliffe,
brassfounders '' is it one that us with century and ironmongers; and William Parkes, a waiter maker.
He began his working life as a
brassfounder in Birmingham, but soon found himself attracted to more intellectual pursuits.
JAMES CARTLAND was a most successful Birmingham
brassfounder. He started up in the trade in 1823 at 2, Weaman Row in the Gun Quarter, along with a partner called Dyer.
But the chances were, if they became a fully-trained buckle maker or
brassfounder or locksmith, they would never be returning to their parish of birth.
John Ward of Birmingham was a
brassfounder and Robert Ward of Ward End was a surgeon.
It was owned by William Hamper, the son of a Birmingham
brassfounder, who became an antiquarian.
He was educated, apprenticed to a
brassfounder in Wolverhampton and, at the age of 21, released from domestic service.
Mr Hipkins began his working life in the family business as a
brassfounder in Birmingham.
But it was the arrival of a Quaker
brassfounder from the Black Country, Abraham Darby I, which heralded the region's first metamorphosis.
In 1874 he founded the firm of Hunt and Mitton,
brassfounders.