The Wolverhampton Gunlock Makers

© C. V. Clark 2004

(Revised February 2008)

 

This site was originally published and continues to be updated with the aim of detailing the author's ongoing research into the obscure history of those who carried on the trade of gunlock (or gun lock) making in Wolverhampton. Historically, this trade has to a large extent been overlooked or ambiguously recorded and there is a scarcity of documented evidence specific to the trade. However, from many sources, including church records, civil registration documents, censuses, etcetera, and in collaboration with the descendants of gunlock makers, it has been possible to establish not only the genealogy of many of the Wolverhampton gunlock-making families but also their involvement and associations with the trade.  

Although the author had initially made available online the full version under the sub-heading 'A Sketch History from Within the Trade' (February 2004), now only the abridged two-page version will be accessible. However, the author can be contacted specifically about the following families' involvement with the Wolverhampton gunlock trade and their genealogy:- [St] Aubin, Bassett, Brazier, Brittain, Chilton, Dodd, Daly, Grainger, Homer, Law, Mansfield, Rigby, Stanton, Stilliard. 

The only click-linked page available is an explanation and simple animation of How Gunlocks Work 

The author can accept no responsibility for errors or omissions or for any purpose outside his control for which this work and the information it contains might be used.

Inquiries or points of interest concerning the Wolverhampton gunlock-making families can be emailed to: 
Wolverhampton-glms (at) fsmail.net 

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Gunlock-Making in Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton, now a city within the English West Midlands, has always been involved with metal-working industries. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the town's proximity to the extensive coal, iron ore and limestone underground deposits, Wolverhampton saw a considerable increase in artisan trades working in iron and steel. All kinds of tools, implements and fittings were produced for an ever-increasing diversity of markets. A contemporaneous expansion of nearby Birmingham and its established gun trade led to a need for gun part manufacturers, upon which the skilled metal-workers quickly seized. An integral part of any gun is the mechanism by which it is fired, and is referred to as the lock (as in the old saying 'lock, stock and barrel'). Within a relatively short period and mainly through their growing reputation for quality work, the Wolverhampton gunlock makers ensured that the prestigious London gunmakers became principal patrons of their trade. By the mid-nineteenth century many London-made guns were being furnished with locks from Wolverhampton.

It is not known who the first gunlock maker was to set up in Wolverhampton, and it is unlikely that they would have been engaged solely in gunlock-making; the trade not then being as specialised as it would become. Around 1660 John Perry was known as a gunsmith in nearby Bilston, a chapelry of Wolverhampton. Of some significance are the suggested associations between the Perry family and several Wolverhampton families later involved with gunlock-making. 

Gunlocks were being produced in Wolverhampton before the beginning of the eighteenth century, although there is very little documented history of the town's small businesses prior to the last quarter of that century. The neighbouring villages of Coseley and Ettingshall had various types of lock making industry. In that area  Edward Brassman and Joseph Bullock were recorded around 1760 as carrying on their trade as gunlock filers. The parish records of both All Saints and the later Roman Catholic St George's churches of adjoining Sedgley contain the surnames of many of the families who would become known as gunlock makers of Wolverhampton: Perry, Newton, Homer, Brazier, Stanton, Law, Grainger. Of those, Thomas Newton was shown in the 1780 Birmingham Directory as carrying on his trade of gunlock maker in St John's Square, Wolverhampton.

The gunlocks produced up until the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century were flintlocks for fowling pieces (shotguns), muskets and pistols. A lucrative source of income would have been government contract work for military weapons such as the famous 'Brown Bess' musket. A new best quality London double-barrelled flintlock shotgun would then have been priced in the region of £45, the pair of locks for which costing about £4. Flintlocks continued in production throughout the 1800s, long after the invention and adoption of the percussion cap during the 1820s.

The gunlock trade was comprised mainly of businesses having just one or two tradesmen. Eventually the larger gunlock businesses had an owner/master gunlock maker, skilled in all aspects of his trade. The employees were generally divided into specific sub-trades: forgers, filers, pin makers and spring makers, some engaged as outworkers using their own smaller workshops. The work was labour-intensive, with the smiths working at forging hearths, benches, vices and foot-treadle lathes. The hammer, chisel and file were his principal hand-tools, with simple dies, jigs and implements made in-house specifically for particular operations. The assembling, spring making, hardening and tempering and regulating/finishing required the considerable skill acquired through an apprenticeship which would last seven or more years. The trade continued on the common practice of employing family members; usually a father apprenticing his son either to himself or a relative, with the accepted presumption that the family business would be passed down through successive generations. Occasionally, the widow of the head of the family would continue to run the business, either using the deceased's name or their own. Whether or not these widows were involved with the actual practicalities of gunlock-making is not known.

With motive power in the form of steam engines driving overhead take-off shafts and the increasing availability of machine tools, the preliminary 'roughing' procedures became more mechanised, particularly the forging of bar steel into rough components. Progress in the steel-making industry led to improved quality control of materials. Better and more closely controlled grades of steel led to greater reliability in gunlocks through the components being more durable and the tools with which they were made being more efficient. The transition from muzzle-loading to breech-loading guns after 1860 saw the gunlock industry of Wolverhampton take on the production of breech-loading actions and expand accordingly. Then the trade had become as large and specialised as it would ever be, with the companies of Joseph Brazier & Sons, John Stanton & Co and Edwin Chilton & Son recognised as the finest gunlock makers in the world.

The last decade of the nineteenth century saw the development of new metal-working and engineering industries catering for mass-markets. Bicycle manufacturing and then the automotive trade became the town's large employers. Because the wages were better with such companies as Sunbeam and Clyno, many skilled men left the gunlock trade in search of a higher standard of living. From around 1900 until WWI it became increasingly difficult to attract young men into gunlock-making apprenticeships, particularly when the trade began to be regarded as not only underpaid but declining. Although both WWI and WWII saw the remaining gunlock companies involved once again in government contract work, there was to be no long-lasting renaissance for the trade.

The quality of the best gunlocks made throughout the second half of the nineteenth century has been equalled but never surpassed. Sub-contracted production drop-forging and electric motor-driven precision machines running high-speed-steel and tungsten-carbide tooling progressively reduced the time taken for roughing out, but the hand fitting and finishing were always essential operations.  

By the late 1950s, although the three most famous gunlock-making companies in Wolverhampton were still in existence, the families whose names they bore played no part in them. Within twenty years the trade was reduced to two companies. Another twenty years saw just one company remaining in the Wolverhampton area which could offer a production facility for gunlocks. In 2006 that last company moved elsewhere. The long, distinguished era of gunlock-making in Wolverhampton may well be at an end.

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  A List of Names Involved with the Wolverhampton Gun Trade

© C.V. Clark 2004 

(Revised February 2008)

Please Note:

The following alphabetical list is only a general guide. The approximate period date only refers to that time where there is some evidence to support it. It does not imply that the individual was only working during that period. Likewise, the addresses given may not be the only ones where that person worked/lived during their working lifetime. Where a person founded a company, that company may have continued after the founder’s death, either as an ongoing family business or not. For reasons of privacy etc., the list only covers those who are deceased.

There is a source of confusion that the reader should be aware of: Some gunlock-making families had more than one relative with the same forename. In the absence of descriptive genealogies (intentionally omitted), misunderstandings and incorrect conclusions may arise where there are multiple same-named individuals in the same working period or not. A most pertinent example of this occurs several times in the Brazier family; just two illustrations of which are the three individual Benjamins being father, son and great-nephew, and the four individual James', being uncle, nephew and two great-nephews.   

The person may have had more than one trade during their lifetime; where that is known the other trade (or trades) is given. Some trades were carried on in conjunction with others, often of completely dissimilar nature.

Much of Wolverhampton has changed over the years. Therefore places that went under a particular name may now have another name or even not exist, eg: what was the location of St Paul’s church is now a car park off the St John’s ring road.

The author cannot accept any responsibility for errors or omissions.

Surname/Forename

Trade*

Approximate Period

Locations

Adey Solomon

GLM

1871

71 Zoar St

Allcock Charles

GLM

1877 - 1939

Employed by 
Edwin Chilton & Son Ltd
(Res 8 Lloyd St)

Allmark Thomas

GLM

1851

Ablow St

Aston Noah

GLS

1802

37-38 Bilston Rd

[St] Aubin Charles

GLM & LS

1838 - 1869

Pountney St & 
Guardian Wks, Gt Hampton St

[St] Aubin William Henry

GLM & GAM

1865

Wolverhampton

Barnett James

App GLF

1861

Bradmore

Barrett James

GLS

1901

Owen Rd

Basset James

GLF

1880

Compton St

Bassett Henry F.

GSM,
GL Forger & GLM

1861 - 1921

82 Ash St & 248 Gt Brickkiln St

Bassett Sidney

GLM

1901

39 Oak St

Bassett Stanley H.

GLS

1901

39 Merridale St West

Bassett Thomas

LS & GLM

1871 - 1901

Oak Road & 39 Oak St

Bassett William John

GLS

1873

Pool St

Beddows William

GLM

1851 - 1861

Merridale St & Gt Brickkiln St

Bellingham Richard

GLS

1871

29 Zoar St

Bennett James

GLF & GLM

1871 - 1875

3, Zoar St & Gt Brickkiln St

Blanton Charles S.

Lic Vic & GS

1881

‘Wheatsheaf Inn’, Gt Brickklin St

Blanton Henry Edward

GS, GLS & Lic Vic

1871 - 1880

37 Russell St & Lewis St & 
‘Wheatsheaf Inn’, Gt Brickkiln St

Booth John

GLM

1727

Bilston

Bradney James

GS

1861 - 1871

Bradmore

Bradney John

GLS

1854

Lewis St

Brasier James

GLM

1815 - 1845

St John’s Square
(12 Bond St)

Brassman Edward

GLF

c1760

Bilston (Ettingshall)

Brazier Benjamin

GLM & GM

1787 - 1832

Ettingshall & 9 Gt Brickkiln St

Brazier Benjamin

Lic Vic & GS

1864 - 1881

Noakes Buildings & 
‘Nag’s Head,’  Mary Ann St

Brazier Benjamin

GM

1833 - 1839

Cock St & (latterly) London

Brazier Charles

GLM

1865 - 1893

Merridale St & Victoria Rd & Bradmore

Brazier Donald B.

GLM & Cycle Maker

1861 - 1931

22 Temple St & Raglan St &
(latterly) Birmingham

Brazier Edwin

GLM

1841

Tanhouse Lane

Brazier Edwin

GLM

1861

(Lodging at) Townwell Fold

Brazier Frederick

GLM

1858 - 1871

Pountney St & Pool St & 
Russell St & Drayton St & Merridale St 

Brazier George

GLS & GLM

1861 - 1921

Townwell Fold & Oak St & 
Strode Rd & Mander St & 
28 Brevitt Rd & 40 Cobden St

Brazier James

GLM & Maltster

1826 - 1864

‘King’s Head’, Bell St & 
21 Stafford St

Brazier James

GLM

1845 - 1862

Market St & Graisley Hill & 
17 Pool St & 22 Temple St

Brazier John

GLM, GAF & Lic Vic

1865 - 1884

Pool St & Paul St & Drayton St & Wellington (Shrop) & 
Aston, Birmingham

Brazier Joseph Sidney

GLM

1887 - 1908

Strode Rd

Brazier Joseph

GLM, GIM, GAM & GM

1811 – 1864

Gt Brickkiln St (later at ‘Ashes’)

Brazier Joseph
 

GLM

1858 - 1879

North Rd & Ash St

Brazier Joseph
 

GLM

1861 - 1901

Townwell Fold & Oak St & 
Ablow St [ Mander St] & 
Shepherd St

Brazier Mrs Eleanor
(widow of James)

GLM

1862 - 1880

22 Temple St

Brazier Mrs Elizabeth
(widow of Thomas)

Lic Vic & GLM

1857 -1872

‘Yew Tree’, Pool St

Brazier Mrs Helena
(widow of Richard)

Owner of 
'Joseph Brazier & Sons'

1866 -187?

‘Ashes’, Gt Brickkiln St

Brazier Richard

GLM, GAM
Watchmaker & (latterly)
Owner of 'Joseph Brazier & Sons'

1841 - 1864
1864-1866

‘Ivy House’, Tettenhall &
'Ashes', Gt Brickkiln St

Brazier Sarah?
 

GLS

1841

‘Ashes’, Gt Brickkiln St

Brazier Thomas

Lic Vic GLM & GM

1805 - 1857

‘Seven Houses’, Dudley Rd & Pountney St & Bloomsbury St.... 
Also (earlier) Birmingham

Brazier Thomas

GLM & GS

1838 - 1881

Gt Brickkiln St &
Baker St & Cock St & 
26 Bennett’s Fold & 
34 Stafford Rd

Brazier Thomas

GLM

1838 - 1871

Tanhouse Lane & 
Pountney Pool &
Cleveland St &
Townwell Fold

Brazier William

GLM &
Lic Vic

1851 - 1874

Graisley Hill & Pountney Pool & 
100 Gt Hampton St & 
24 Upper Vauxhall & 
'Swan Tavern', Pool St

Brewster William

GSM

1861

Oak St

Bristow Joseph

GLS

1871

72 Zoar St

Brittain Bernard

GLF

1861

Oak St

Brittain James

GLM & GLF

1859 - 1861

Graisley Row & Oak St

Brittain Samuel

GLS, GLF & GLM

1841 - 1851

‘Ashes’, Gt Brickkiln St & 
Brickkiln Lane

Bullock John Thomas

GLM

? - 1925

Employed by 
J. Stanton & Co Ltd

Bullock Joseph

GLF

c1760

Bilston (Ettingshall)

Bullock Leonard

GLM

1901

166 Merridale St West

Butler George

GL Forger & GLM

1853 – 1865

Philip St? & Dale St

Cartwright Isaac

GLF

1869 - 1879

Pearson St & Hallett’s Row

Challinor Thomas

GLF

1861

Townwell Fold

Chilton Edwin
(also as proprietor of Joseph Brazier & Son)

GLM
 

1872 - 1924
(1921 - 1924)

Lowe St &
41 Newhampton Rd West

Chilton William Bradshaw
(also as proprietor of Joseph Brazier & Son)

GLM
 

1901 - 1964
(1924 - 1864)

41 Newhampton Rd West &
189-190 Sweetman St

Churm John

GLS

1901

5 King Edward's Row
(off Little Pountney Street) 

Cliff Henry

GLF

1870 - 1879

Graisley St & Yew St

Collins Thomas

GSM

1861

Oak St

Cotterhill Joseph

GLM

1839

?

Cotterhill William

GS

1861

‘Prince of Wales’, Russell St?

Cresswell Benjamin

GLM

1793 - 1802

Wolverhampton

Daly William  
(Also as a founding partner of Law & Daly Co.)

GLF & GLM

1861 - c1900

c1900 - 1913

  68 Pountney St & 
197 Dudley Road & 2 Perry St &
244/248 Great Brickkiln St &
20 Paget St

Daly William Bernard
(Also involved with
Law & Daly Co.)

GLF & GLM

1891 - c1935

2 Perry St &
244/248 Great Brickkiln St &
20 Paget St & 
Mancroft Road, Tettenhall

Daly Frederick Raymond
(Also involved with
Law & Daly Co.)

GLF & GLM

1891 - c1935

  2 Perry St &
244/248 Great Brickkiln St &
52 Kimberly St & 20 Paget St

Daly Arthur Valentine
(Also involved with
Law & Daly Co.)

GLF & GLM

1901 - c1935

  20 Paget St &
244/248 Great Brickkiln St

Dangerfield Edward

GLM

1856

Bradmore

Dodd George

GLF

1901 - 1915

30 Zoar St & 12 Bond St

Dodd Henry

GLF & GLS

1861 - 1881

Oak St & Gt Brickkiln St & 
8 Zoar St

Dodd William Henry

GLS

1884 - 1886

Zoar St

Dudley Thomas

GLF & GLM

1841 - 1864

‘Ashes’, Gt Brickkiln St & 
Merridale St

Dudwell Edward

GLS & GLM

1871 - 1882

'Fox Inn' & 28 Zoar St

Dudwell William Henry

GLM

1916 - 1962

Employed by J. Stanton & Co Ltd

Duncombe George

GL Forger

1901

86 Gt Brickkiln St

Edge Thomas

GLS

1871

Compton St

Evans William

GLM

1855