Brushmakers made all types of brushes and brooms including clothes brushes, paint brushes, carpet brushes, scrubbing brushes, shaving brushes and many more.
CWS brush
A brush is made by drilling small holes through a piece of wood crafted to the right shape. Bundles of hairs (bristles) are then passed through the holes and the ends are bound together with wires and glue. A piece of wood is then placed over the back of the brush to cover the knots and wires and the bristles are cut to the same length. Different bristles such as hairs from wild boar or hogs were used for different brushes and were imported from Russia, Germany, India and China.
In the early days brushmaking took place in a single room called a Pan Shop rather than a factory. The Brushmaker would work alongside his apprentices and journeymen. From the 1880s brush making began to move over to factories.
Tramps and journeymen brushmakers
Brushmaker
Tramps were skilled craftsmen who went from town to town seeking work in their own trade. The Brushmakers' Societies operated a tramping system for unemployed journeymen who were prepared to seek employment in other districts. A route of towns was set up and at each town the travelling journeymen were paid relief including tramping, beer and bed money.
There were several Brushmakers' unions, for more information click here
The Society of Brushmakers' Descendants is a group of family historians with personal family roots in brushmaking. They produce regular newsletters that would be useful to anyone wishing to research brushmaking in more detail. Their Web address is homepage.ntlworld.com/kdoughty.
Sources for family history in our collection
Lists of Journeymen Brushmakers and apprentices (national), 1829, 1851, 1865, 1866, 1869, 1870
Lists of members of the Brushmakers' Benevolent Institute (national), 1852, 1853, 1859, 1862, 1863, 1865, 1866, 1868, 1874
Birmingham reference book of clear members (fines and arrears), 1827-1843
Resources about Brushmakers in the Library collection
William Kiddier, The Brushmaker and the secrets of his craft (1922) - Shelfmark: J16
Tom Girtin, In love and unity: a book about brushmaking (1961) - Shelfmark: M30
