Contributor Leaderboard

Part 3 To recap: After her husband’s death in 1846 Ann inherited the business, and her three sons Philip, James and Henry took on a managerial role in its running. Philip and James appear to have been involved in all aspects of the business, grocer, ironmonger and blacksmith, as well as chain and nail manufacture while Henry seems to concentrate only on the latter. It’s worth mentioning here that the Victorian ironmonger wasn’t necessarily the keeper of a shop serving the needs of housewives and every type of tradesman. The Industrial Revolution required mass production of goods and, according to Wikipedia, ”in the areas where ironware and nails were manufactured, particularly in the Black Country, an ironmonger was a manufacturer operating under the domestic system” (cottage industry) ”who put out iron to smiths, nailers, or other metal workers, and then organised the distribution of the finished products to retailers.” I haven’t been able to find any records of an ironmonger’s shop so the above type of ironmongery could be a possibility with Henry managing any forge/workshop and his two brothers running the cottage industry. However, that’s just speculation on my part. However, by 1861 Ann is employing 16 men in the business. Son, Philip, who had become an engineer and moved to Cumberland, died in 1858, leaving James and Henry to shoulder the management of Ann’s business. Ann herself dies just a few years later in 1868 and it is then we can start to see a move away from the iron industry. Looking at the two brothers individually, James in 1871 is still a manager of the family business of nail & chain manufacture and ironmongery, and is employing 17 men. However, he is no longer a Bedlington resident. Having married in 1863 he exchanges the parental home on Front Street East for a house on Malvin’s Close in Cowpen where he lives with his wife, Sarah, and six children. Besides the family business James has also acquired another string to his fiddle – ”comission agent, life and fire agent” which sounds like he’s possibly working for some sort of insurance company. James dies in 1878 aged 48 years leaving his wife with 7 children, 4 girls and three boys, aged between 1 and 14. He doesn’t seem to have done too badly for himself and is able to leave Sarah and the family with a regular income in the form of an annuity enabling them live in the fashionable Spring Garden House in Bullers Green, Morpeth after his death. It may well also have been James’ home prior to his death as his son Philip Edmund Gibson attended Morpeth Grammar School before going on to London University. Sarah and the family later moved to Elswick, Newcastle from where Sarah originated. At the time of James’ death his boys were between a few months and seven years old and couldn’t take over any part of his business and neither of them entered the business later in life. The oldest, Philip Edmund, became a bank clerk. His younger brother Stanley became an electrical engineer and moved to Warwickshire while the youngest of the brothers, Oswald, became a farmer and moved to Canada. So, it was now left to James’ brother Henry to carry on the family business. Henry, 44 years old at the time of his mother’s death, had married Mary Hedley in or around 1837 and left the parental home on Front Street East, living first at the top end of Bedlington, almost opposite the police station on the south side of the street and later on Front Street East, still on the south side and six doors down from the Black Bull public house. His occupation in 1871 is described not as manager but as ”foreman” in a ”nail manufactory” – presumably the family’s business. Shortly before, or shortly after, his mother’s death Henry and his family return to live in his former childhood home on the north side of Front Street east, the house known today as 34 and 36 Front Street East. Henry now gives his occupation as i”ronmonger” though, as I said earlier, I’m uncertain just what he means by this. Henry and Mary have six children, that I know of: Ann, born about 1937 Jane, born about 1842 Philip Hedley, born about 1847 Hannah, born about 1850 Mary, born about 1852 William James, born about 1855 The long gaps between some births suggest that there may have been others who may have died in childhood. However, Henry does have sons who can follow him into the business, Philip Hedley and William James, but will they do so or will they go in other directions? To be continued …

I spent a good hour with that Eggy - a literal trip down memory lane! Although... Memory Lane seems to be missing a few buildings! Thanks for posting it.