History of Sheffield steel industry and people

[dandyman]

Hi dandyman,

i knew your grandfather very well,he was the son in law of Edgar Dawtry who was manager of both the Electric melting and the Siemen,s melting depts.Ernest Darley was a smallish man who always looked smartly dressed,i remember people saying that if he wore an old sack he would look smart.His job was to make the melting programme for the furnaces which was not as easy as it would seem.Edgar had the unenviable job of keeping the furnaces going all through the war. I was his office boy in the early 1940,s I worked in the Melting Dept from 1938 until its closure in 1984

Amazing Kingfisher. I have childhood memories of my Grandfather as an old man, working late into his retirement, crafting furniture from wood, smoking his evil smelling pipe, pouring coke onto a fire in the parlour and tending his perfectly ordered garden. But I know next to nothing of his past, apart from that he worked at Firth Browns, and that he may have met his wife Edgar's daughter Beatrice (Bee or May) through working with Edgar.

 

The kinds of job Edgar and Ernest did, would they have started from the bottom, as apprentices? Or would they have needed some kind of qualification? Edgar was one of ten children, born to teachers. What path would have lead from there to Manager in a Steelworks?

 

My Mum sent me off on a quest into our family tree with fantasies of finding 'gentry' somewhere. But mostly I've found folk who got where they did from hard work. Working class or lower middle class if you will - teachers, shopkeepers, cheesemongers, sadlers, steel workers. For myself I find it far more interesting.

 

Steelmaking must have been a huge business in Sheffield at the time. I have childhood memories before it was all torn down of mile after mile of old smelting sheds, a canyon of corrugated iron. There is so little left to connect to the kind of past they lived through. Ernest fought Germany at the end of the first world war. He lived through the general strike, the great depression, the second world war. These are events in a history book. Tracing my ancestors makes me want to know more than the books tell you.

 

Anything you can tell me would be fascinating.

 

Andy

[jules97]

I worked in Firth Browns Melting Department from 1938 until 1984 when they closed down 20 years ago (May 1984) after they merged with E.S.C. and became Sheffield Forgemasters

 

hello kingfisher,

i was wondering whether you could help me with some research into my family history. I am trying to find out information about my grandfather Alfred Thornton, who i believe worked at Firth Steel around the same time as yourself. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Yours Jules

[soft ayperth]

When I graduated from university back in the late 60s, I couldn't find a job that fitted my qualifications in the UK. So, for a few months, to keep body and soul together, I worked in a machine shop just off the bottom of the Moor. The layout was that of a yard, surrounded by walls in which the various processes took place. My job was to dip the threaded ends of bolts one by one into a bucket of liquid plastic then set them out to dry. I wish I could remember the name of that firm. Opposite it was a shop that sold dripping cakes and egg and bacon sandwiches. Anyone any idea what firm it may have been? I'd probably recognize the name.

[whissiewoo]

Hi plain talker - your grandpa arthur monks was a security guard for over 20 years at edgar allens before he retired, before that he was an electrician for english electric, never remember him working for firth browns. your uncle frank was a metallurgist (FIM) at firth vickers, your great grandpa Frank was an electrician at English Steel Corp. and your great uncle Tom a crane driver for English Steel, you had an aunt who worked for firth browns

[skippy]

I worked in a buffing shop for a few years, those women had hearts of gold, but they had bloody rough hands, I found that out on my 17th birthday.

Many women worked in the steel industry too, because a lot of blokes were fighting in the war, many also carried on working after the war, I remember our neighbour [Female] working as a crane driver in 1955.

A lot of people in industry came home on the bus in all their muck, it wasn't uncommon, but to think we went out in our suits on a weekend and sat on them mucky seats ?

It was only the people that didn't want to work in the 50's & 60's that were out of work, because there were plenty of jobs around at that time, I worked in a rolling mill and went on strike, as I was saving to emigrate, I packed my job in and got another one the same day at Firth Brown's.

Most of the rolling mills in Oz were built in Sheffield [Davy United] and the rolls came from other companies like F/Brown's etc.

Sheffield is still well known around the world for it's cutlery and steel, unfortunately, although the cutlery we get is stamped with sheffield names on it, it comes from China, Taiwan etc.

[CathS]

My Dad, Alan Barker, worked all his life in the steel industry. Can't remember where he started but he worked most of his years at Osborns at Ecclesfield before it relocated and eventually closed. He then worked many years at William Oxleys in Parkgate.

[Plain Talker]

Hi plain talker - your grandpa arthur monks was a security guard for over 20 years at edgar allens before he retired, before that he was an electrician for english electric, never remember him working for firth browns. your uncle frank was a metallurgist (FIM) at firth vickers, your great grandpa Frank was an electrician at English Steel Corp. and your great uncle Tom a crane driver for English Steel, you had an aunt who worked for firth browns

 

Thanks for that clearer information, whissie. That's a big help. (You know what it's like when information comes down piecemeal, from family members, and it ends up coming through like Chinese Whispers!!)

[gosling]

Hi Texas, my dad worked at William Jessops at this time, he was an electrician

[willybite]

hiya

my father worked in the steel works in sheffield from the early 40s to the early 70s the earliest i remember was when i was under five,the boss was jim ellshaw sadly he died in the early 40s, it was a three man shop at the back of the little sisters of the poor building at the end of olive grove rd,dad worked at edgar allens, osborns,sanderson newbould, wheens,firth vickers, the last one was thos andrews roydes works, he started work for a while at brown bailys when i said a while i think it was for twenty minutes, his brother worked in another department as a pickler when he was asked if dad was a relative, my uncle asked what was the new starters name," bill" he was told., uncle said dad wouldn't stay in the workshop (he was a swing grinder) when dad arrived for his 2to10 shift,he asked where he could hang his coat " just put it anywhere in that corner",he was told, that was the first minus, the second was when he walked in the grinding shop he said "where is the sweeper up" as he was ankle deep in grinding dust ,"we havn't got one" he was told,then dad said " heres another grinder you havn't got,i'm off bye-bye" i remember in 1950 as a swing grinder he was offered a job in a partnership with another grinder, he said "i cant afford to buy into something like that"no trouble said his intended partner i have two machines rented and a shop, and plenty of orders, we will split all two ways, so he started and was earning £120 per month, £9 per week was about average wage in 1950(footballers were on £20 per week max ) i always knew when he was grinding stainless steel, was the distinctive smell that would cling to him when he got home.one thing i do remember the times dad came home with a steel spark in his eye he always asked mum to try and remove the dust particle with a sharpened matchstick.,later she was to use a small horseshoe magnet.

i left school in 1953 and started work at robsons on mary st, near shorham st, it was an old sheffield firm making,stock and dies,tap wrenches,taps,wrenches and die nuts, all made with nineteen century machinery, believe me believe me not, the only electic powered machine was a small pillar drill all the others were driven from a gas turbine engine there were belts everywhere and when the main belt broke the whole machines stopped (if it was working today they could be set up as a museum)i looked it up in a 1895 directory it was there then .it was a 7.30am start finish at 5.15pm my wage was £2.7s 4d . ps sorry, another m/c was a small bench grinder.

Edited October 12, 2009 by willybite

[Harpo4]

Hi,

 

I am carrying out a project about the past steel industry of Sheffield and the regeneration of the city. I would love to hear from people who worked in the steel works or was somehow related to them. If you want to contribute please send me an email.

 

harpo4@gmail.com

 

Thanks!