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A Gazetteer of Lock and Key MakersJim Evansthis gazetteer is copyright Jim Evans, 2002 |
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A Gazetteer of Lock and Key MakersJim Evansthis gazetteer is copyright Jim Evans, 2002 |
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John Harper & Co Ltd., Walsall Road Works, Willenhall. The original basis of this account was gleaned by Frank Sharman from a slim volume, "The Story of the Old Works", published by the company in 1950 and written by Herbert Field. Apparently he wrote this book, on the insistence of Wilfrid Harper, to mark the final stage of the move to the New Works. Much of the book is occupied by speculation about the early years, for which Herbert Field had no real records. For the later period it seems more reliable though the facts have to be extracted from amongst much flowery language. [We have not been able to find anyone who might claim a continuing interest in this book and its photos and would be very glad to hear from any such person]. There is also some material from Norman Tildesley published work (see West Midlands Studies, Vol.4, 1971, Wolverhampton Polytechnic). But much of this account, and most of the illustrations, come from John D. Harper (whose family firm this originally was) and includes some material from his article "130 Years of Changing Cast Iron Technology: John Harper & Company 1852-1982", Historical Metallurgy, Vol. 35, No.1, 2001, pp.33-47, to which reference should be made for many interesting technical details as well as for an insight into the interplay between technical developments and business history. The Curator is grateful to John for all his help. John D. Harper joined the firm in 1958, many years after it had cased to be a family owned firm, and was the Managing Director in 1974 when the firm was taken over. John maintains a continuing interest in the history of the firm and would be grateful if anyone with any information about the company (especially before the 1950s and 60s when he was personally involved) would get in touch with him. His email address is: johndharper@btinternet.com.
William Harper, the founder of the firm The company was founded in 1790 - at least that is the date which always appeared on the company's letterhead. But Norman Tildesley has clarified the 1790 date which seems to have been that of either the founding of Thomas Brueton's bag lock making business or of William Harper's business. Both firms were brought together in 1852 with Carpenter and Tildesley and other small lock making businesses, including John Fox and James Lockett. William Harper was succeeded, at some point, by John Harper, his son, who was, in turn, succeeded by his son, also John Harper and known as John Harper Junior. The first true record of the company appears in 1836 when John Harper Junior, then aged 15, was apprenticed to his father, John, then described as a spring latch maker. When John Harper Junior completed his indentures he left his father's firm and joined Tildesleys of Willenhall, Ironmasters, as a clerk. Field's account of this period in the firm's life is that John Harper seems to have taken over most of the running of the business' Albion Works, while Tildesley himself did other things. These may have included farming and financial speculation. Tildesley may have made a good deal of money out of the Railway Mania of the 1840s, enough to build the New Albion Works. In 1844 John Harper was installed as the manager of these new works. He clearly did well for, when the Railway bubble burst, Tildesley got into financial difficulty and the works were transferred to John Harper. But the better account of this period is John D. Harper's, based mainly on Norman Tildesley's article. James Tildesley (1814-1876) had at least two businesses:
James employed his nephew, John Harper Junior at the Albion Works. (John Harper Junior was Catherine Tildesley's son). Harper eventually became the manager. James Tildesely bought raw material from Matthew Tildesley, an iron merchant. He "gave" Albion Works jointly to Matthew Tildesley and John Harper Junior in settlement of a debt. But he retained the freehold of the land and buildings. So John Harper Junior and Matthew Tildesely built themselves a new factory on the Walsall Road. How this was financed is unclear but it is known that John Harper Senior criticised his son for taking such a risk.
Alderman John Harper, J.P. Up until 1840 lock cases were pressed. Much work was done on perfecting a method of casting lock cases in malleable iron. The first in the field was a Mr. Mason of Bilston, followed by Richard Tildesley (whose relationship may or may not be significant), a Mr. Knowles and John Harper. The Albion Works operated a foundry from 1846, originally for making malleable iron lock components. This excursion into casting was to have a long term effect. In an advertisement of 1856 John Harper & Co advertise a wide range of lock, latches and bolts but also offer "plain and ornamental light castings, to any pattern, either malleable or common iron". Having started out in locks, Harper was moving towards general metalwork, making things not only for their own products but also for outside customers. This was to remain the case throughout the company's life. John Harper Junior and Co was a firm distinct from John Harper and Co, one being the son's business and the other the father's. Field says the firms were probably brought together in the amalgamations of 1852 but John D. Harper is of the opinion that the firms carried on separately. It was certainly John Harper Junior who managed this new firm. It seems that the junior Harper had considerable business acumen and was accumulating businesses. By 1856 John Harper Junior & Co describe themselves as successors to James Tildesley, John Fox, John Harper Senior, J. Locket and Thomas Brueton. The situation is complicated by the fact that there were many marriages between lock making families such as the Tildesleys, the Harpers and the Bruetons. And John Harper Junior outlived three wives and had two families. The firm's first factory was the original Carpenter and Tildesley's works in Somerford. Two years later it moved to Walsall Road, where it stayed thereafter. The main building was on the corner of Albion Street and extended back into a sand and clay (and probably also coal) pit known as the Barcroft, across Stringes Lanes, where Barcroft Street is today. (In later years the main building was owned by H & J Hill). The site on the far side of Gough Street, across to Clarke's Lane, was first built on when the new foundry was built there in 1927. It is now a housing estate. The firm were engaged in mass production, especially for the export market. Their patented padlock was sold retail in the East Indies at the equivalent of 1d each and a visitor reports that "orders varied from 5,000 to 10,000 dozens at a time" and he watched "a consignment of 1 ton which was equal to 40,000 locks" being despatched. This works out at less than one ounce each. The explanation is that these were not locks but malleable iron clog sole nails. At this point we may insert into Field's account these comments on the company which appear in Norman Tildesley's History of Willenhall. That book was written in 1951 but quotes Price's work which was published in 1856. This provides a picture of the company's products in the middle of the 19th century: "One of the earliest firms to use machinery was John Harper & Company of Albion Works who, in 1856, installed a Nasmith steam hammer for forging purposes. They were pioneers in much of the mechanical development in the industry and, besides making locks and keys, were also malleable ironfounders. Price says:
Albion Works as they appeared in an advert in Griffith's Guide to the Iron Trade, 1873 Harper's were expanding rapidly. In 1868 John Harper bought land behind the existing works in Walsall Street and then leased it to the company who built factory extensions on it from time to time, extending Albion Street to provide access.
Advert from a trade directory of
1871.There is little mention of locks, The company, like many others, hit hard times in the 1870s. They were not helped by a quarrel between Matthew Tildesely and John Harper, which lead to a lawsuit about some land and a bankruptcy. In 1874 a trustee was appointed. The company's debts were fully discharged but the upshot was that the partnership was dissolved and John Harper became the sole proprietor.
The company survived and was re-incorporated as a limited company in 1888, under the name of John Harper & Co. Ltd, the directors being John Harper and his son, Fred Harper. The company was, effectively, the property of John Harper who was, by then, a JP, an alderman, a great Methodist and a great temperance campaigner. James Slater, a solicitor from Walsall, joined the board in 1894 and his family maintained an association with the firm until the 1960s.
Legal papers of that time describe Harper's as "Malleable Ironfounders and Hardware Merchants"; and refer to "locks, bolts and other articles of metal" and to their being Coal Masters. Catalogues of 1903 to 1924 show bolts but very few locks. So lock making was probably not a major part of their activities but general metalwork was. (The coal was probably a matter of taking advantage of what coal they happened to find on the site of the works). John D. Harper suggests that the move away from locks to other products went back to the 1870s. Certainly in 1888 the finished product range had widened to include oil lamps, oil and gas stoves and other hardware. In 1899 the company first registered its trade mark - "Beatrice".
The company was now becoming very large indeed. An account of the works in the 1890s comments that they are so self contained that they even make, on the site, the bricks needed for new extensions; and that the works are lit by gas from the company's own gasometer. "There are in all, seven foundries, eleven fitting shops, two polishing rooms, three plating shops, three lacquering rooms, no less than fifteen japanning shops and six warehouses." There was also said to be a Chemical Laboratory. (Further listings of equipment appear in Field's book). There were 500 people on the payroll. Women were employed from at least the 1870s.
This land appears to have been brought primarily for possible future expansion but in the meantime it was mined for sand and gravel and, when that was all got out, the resulting hole was used for tipping rubbish. In 1907 about 1 acre, fronting Albion Road, was sold for the purposes of a school; and in 1918 the company added to their land bank by purchasing adjoining land from the Earl of Lichfield. The Stringes Lane - Clarke's Lane land was sold to the local council son after 1918 and bought back again in 1926/27. It was on this accumulated land that the new works were built, the first cast being made on 3rd December 1927. After the death of John Harper in 1903 the company was owned by his descendants and those of other early directors, Slaters, Retallacks and Lewises. In 1930 capital was raised on the Stock Exchange to expand the 1927 foundry on the Clarke's Lane site, which had won a lot of new business supply the electrical and business machine industries in particular. The new capital diluted the family holdings and progressively terminated family control but it benefited all shareholders by establishing an uncontested price for the shares. Trade unions do not seem to have been of great importance, at least until the 1930s. Working hours and wage rates had to follow local trends and employers' associations. Verbal tradition in the company had it that Harper employees refused, despite pressure, to join a general strike (either in 1913 or 1926). Later on most employees (except pattern makers who had a craft union) were members of the General and Municipal Workers Union, with whom relations were generally quite good. In the 1920s Harper's set up facilities, unique at the time, to measure the electromagnetic properties of iron castings, opening new markets for parts such as resistance grids and telephone exchange components.
During the war and thereafter the new works continued to expand. The foundry in the old works had been closed before the war and later the finishing shops for hardware (and, at the time, munitions) were closed too. In 1949, a new office block was built on the new works site. That enabled the company to transfer everything to the new works and to sell off most of the site of the old works. A garage, carpenter's shop, social club and dining room were retained until the 1970s.
After 1949 the firm continued to thrive, especially on the foundry side of the business. In 1952 the company bought a foundry in Poole, largely to make high phosphorus content grey iron castings. The foundry became very efficient, making 600-700 tons of castings a year, mostly for Harper's own finished goods but also for outside sale, including the complex water-cooled cylinder bodies for British Seagull outboard motors.
The "finished goods" domestic hardware and heater activity was closed in 1970 after a few bad years, despite a diversification into electric heaters. But the foundry continued and grew, especially in the production of high strength special "S.G." iron engineering castings. Typical castings produced in the 1960s and 1970s In 1974 the firm was taken over by Duport, a diversified group. In 1982 Duport decided to combine the factories of the several foundries they then owned in to a single site at Tipton. At this point John Harper and Co. left Willenhall and effectively ceased to trade as a separate business. However, even after Duport failed a few years later, the business survived as Duport-Harper in Tipton continued in business and is still operating, under a new name (Grede) and American ownership, with several ex-John Harper people still involved.
An advert, undated, for Harper's Panelite gas heater. John D Harper concludes his article in "Historical Metallurgy" thus: "It is impossible to sumarize this history in a few words. This firm did not follow consistent policies or goals throughout its 130 years, and its long term development was no more directed or logical than that of most other businesses, reacting to opportunities and to problems in changing circumstances and adapting technology accordingly". In this it was probably typical of many Black Country firms.
A Beatrice No. 33 stove, now in the Black Country Living Museum |
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