Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham MenEdwards, Eliezer
History
Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham Men
Edwards, Eliezer
Birmingham (England)
Mr. Winfield was one of the first, if not the very earliest, to apply
the stamping process to the production of cornices, cornice-pole ends,
curtain bands, and other similar goods. The singular purity of colour
which, by skilful "dipping" and lacquering, he was able to produce,
at a period when such matters were little attended to, secured for his
goods a good deal of admiration and a ready sale. At the time of the
great Exhibition of 1851, the goods he exhibited obtained for him the
highest mark of approval--the Council Gold Medal. The Jury of Experts
reported, in reference to his brasswork, that, "for brilliancy of
polish, and flatness and equality of the 'dead' or 'frosted' portions,
he stood very high; and that in addition to very perfect workmanship,
there frequently appeared considerable evidence of a feeling for
harmony and for a just proportion and arrangement of parts." It is
also mentioned that "in the manufacture of metallic bedsteads he has
earned a deservedly high reputation."
In addition to his brassfoundry trade, he gradually added the
manufacture of brass, copper, and tin tubing, gas-fittings and
chandeliers, iron and brass bedsteads, ship's fittings, brass fittings
for shop fronts, and general architectural ornamental metal work of
all kinds. He afterwards purchased the large establishment near his
own works, called the Union Rolling Mill, where he carried on a very
extensive wholesale trade in rolled metals of every kind, and brass
and copper wire of all descriptions; and he was, for forty years,
largely engaged in the coal business.
For a very long period Mr. Winfield was the sole proprietor of the
extensive business he had created. He was assisted by his only son,
Mr. John Fawkener Winfield, whose promising career was cut short by
untimely death. This was a blow from which Mr. Winfield never entirely
recovered. He soon afterwards took into partnership his relative, Mr.
C. Weston, and his old confidential clerk, Mr. J. Atkins. His health
began to fail about this time, and he retired from the active control
of the concern, retaining, however, his position as head of the firm
until his death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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