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Trades, Industries & Manufacturing
- Brass Trade
- Button Trade
- Carpet Making
- Ceramics and Pottery Industry
- Charcoal
- Chemical Industry
- Coins and Minting
- Engineering
- Glass Trade
- Gun, Sword and Weapons Trade
- Iron and Metal Trades
- Jewellery, Decorative and Toy Trades
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- Textile Industry
- Tools, Machinery and Equipment
![4276-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4276-0-150x150.jpg)
Joseph Priestley and his Influence on Education in Birmingham
Image: Penny featuring a bust of Joseph Priestley on one side, and on the other side an apparatus… read more »
![2932-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2932-0-150x150.jpg)
Joseph Taylor, Engineer and Machinist, Birmingham
The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858
![573-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/573-0-150x150.jpg)
Letter from Erasmus Darwin to James Watt, 1789/11/20
Darwin writes to Watt to request some details of the Boulton and Watt steam engine for his… read more »
![794-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/794-0-150x150.jpg)
Letter from Erasmus Darwin to Matthew Boulton, 1783/03/04
Darwin tells Boulton he has become involved with founding a philosophical society at Derby and encourages Boulton… read more »
![797-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/797-0-150x150.jpg)
Letter from Erasmus Darwin to Matthew Boulton, 1785/01/26
Darwin writes to Boulton about Richard Arkwright’s difficulties over patents for his machinery. —————————————- Derby Jan 26-85… read more »
![807-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/807-0-150x150.jpg)
Letter from Erasmus Darwin to Matthew Boulton, 1791/05/09
Darwin writes to assure Boulton of the care being taken of a servant of Boulton’s, Mr Laws.… read more »
![829-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/829-0-150x150.jpg)
Letter from Samuel Galton, jnr to The Friends of the Monthly Meeting in Birmingham
To the Friends of the Monthly Meeting at Birmingham:— RESPECTED FRIENDS, I have been visited on the… read more »
![2898-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2898-0-150x150.jpg)
Lloyd and Summerfield, Park Glass Works, Birmingham
Image from: The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858 Glass made in furnaces,… read more »
![279-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/279-0-150x150.jpg)
Lowe’s Rope and Twine Manufactory
Image: A display at Bewdley Museum of items from Lowe’s Rope and Twine Manufactory. The firm was founded… read more »
![301-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/301-0-150x150.jpg)
Lowe’s Rope and Twine Manufactory
Image: An exterior view of buildings at Lowe’s rope manufactory. Much of the firm’s production took place in… read more »
![4429-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4429-0-150x150.jpg)
Made in Kidderminster: the History of the Carpet Industry
Image: Brinton’s Carpet factory, 1870 Brinton’s Carpet Factory, Vicar Street, Kidderminster, 1870. Print taken from a watercolour. By… read more »
![2950-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2950-0-150x150.jpg)
Mander Brothers, Varnish Manufacturer, Wolverhampton
The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858
![4685-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4685-0-150x150.jpg)
Map of the Mining and Manufacturing District of South Staffordshire, Warwickshire, etc.
William Hawkes Smith, Birmingham and its Vicinity as a Manufacturing and Commercial District (London and Birmingham, 1836).… read more »
![3333-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/3333-0-150x150.jpg)
Mapplebeck and Lowe, Manufacturers of Agricultural Implements, Birmingham
Advertisement, Men and Things of Modern England… The New Illustrated Directory… (Birmingham, M Billing, 1856)
![4605-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4605-0-150x150.jpg)
Matthew Boulton and Silver Making
Image: Sweetmeat Basket, Boulton & Fothergill, 1774 This basket was possibly designed by Robert Adam. The body is… read more »
![4249-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4249-01-150x150.jpg)
Matthew Boulton’s Medals and Coins on Russian Subjects
Image: Medallion of the Hudson’s Bay Company. 1820. Designed by Conrad Heinrich Kuchler. An example of the high… read more »
![3733-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/3733-0-150x150.jpg)
Matthew Boulton’s Soho Works, Iron Foundry and House at Soho near Birmingham, 1801
Stebbing Shaw’s The History and Antiquities of Staffordshire (1798 and 1801) is a major source not only for the… read more »
![3053-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/3053-0-150x150.jpg)
Matthew Harvey, Malleable Iron Founder, Walsall
The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858
![4258-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4258-0-150x150.jpg)
Medals and Coins of Alexander I
Image: Medallion of Alexander I, Emperor of all the Russias. 1812. Image from: Birmingham Assay Office (256) The coronation… read more »
![2912-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2912-0-150x150.jpg)
Messenger and Sons, Corrugated Ship & Railway Lamps, Birmingham
Image from: The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858
![3080-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/3080-0-150x150.jpg)
Metal Rolling
Image: Charles Clifford, Rolling Mills, Birmingham Image from: The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England,… read more »
![2928-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2928-0-150x150.jpg)
Metallic Bedsteads
Image: Richard and Edward Peyton, Brass and Iron Bedsteads, Birmingham Image from: The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and… read more »
![2894-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2894-0-150x150.jpg)
Needle Making
Image: Milward’s Needle and Fish-Hook Manufactory, Redditch Image from: The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern… read more »
![4630-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4630-0-150x150.jpg)
Needle-Making Illustrated and Explained: A Guide through Washford Mills, Redditch
Front cover of Needle-Making Illustrated and Explained: A Guide through Washford Mills, Redditch Title page of Needle-Making… read more »
![4007-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4007-0-150x150.jpg)
Optical Department: Open Pots after Cooling
Image: Photo taken about 1940. The photo shows two full open pots after cooling and just prior to… read more »
![4006-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4006-0-150x150.jpg)
Optical Department: Pot being set into a Furnace
Image: Photo taken about 1940. The same furnace as on photo 2. This shows an empty pot… read more »
![4005-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4005-0-150x150.jpg)
Optical Department: Two Pot Furnace
Image: Photo taken about 1940. This two pot furnace accommodated 38” diameter covered pots. The furnace number is… read more »
![2961-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2961-0-150x150.jpg)
P. Aitchison and Co, Brass Founders, Sheffield
The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858
![3962-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/3962-0-150x150.jpg)
Pair of shoe buckles
These silver buckles have an embossed design and are fitted with steel latchets or fasteners.
![4222-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4222-0-150x150.jpg)
Pastoral Group, c.1770
The group with a shepherd playing his pipe to a sleeping shepherdess is a good example of… read more »
![4877-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4877-0-150x150.jpg)
Pearl and blue glass button
Luckock Collection, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery A mother-of-pearl button, produced around 1795, and engraved with concentric… read more »
![4497-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4497-0-150x150.jpg)
Photograph of scientific instruments
Image from: Joseph Priestley Collection by Samuel Timmins, Birmingham City Archives.
![2039-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2039-0-150x150.jpg)
Plate or Sheet Glass
Image: Manufacture of Rolled Plate Glass. Chance Brothers & Co., Limited, 100 Years of British Glass Making… read more »
![1051-1](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/1051-11-150x150.jpg)
Poetic Survey Around Birmingham
POETIC SURVEY ROUND Birmingham, &c. ————————- Poetic Survey Around Birmingham Suppose some TRAV’LLERS, at an Inn set… read more »
![3055-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/3055-0-150x150.jpg)
R. F. Sturges, Manufacturer of Electro Silver Plated Wares, Birmingham
Image from: The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858 Electro-Plating The origin of… read more »
![2627-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2627-0-150x150.jpg)
Ralph Wedgwood: Pioneer of Office Copying
Image: Wedgwood’s factory at Etruria in Staffordshire. The Useful Arts and Manufacturers of Great Britain of Great Britain Vol.… read more »
![4021-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4021-0-150x150.jpg)
Rectangular Chimney built for Glory Hole
Image: Photo taken during 1945-1946 during the demolition of Number 3, 8 and 12 glasshouses. It shows the… read more »
![4010-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/4010-0-150x150.jpg)
Rectangular Chimney for Glory Hole and Circular Chimney
Image: Photo taken during 1945-1946 during the demolition of Number 3, 8 and 12 glasshouses. The rectangular chimney… read more »
![2931-0](https://www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2931-0-150x150.jpg)
Richard Bach and Co, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineers, Birmingham
The New Illustrated Directory Entitled Men and Things of Modern England, 1858