History of JW Evans Silver Factory | English Heritage Visit Menu • Visit Places To Visit Visit • Places To Visit PLACES TO VISIT Stonehenge 1066 Battle of Hastings, Abbey and Battlefield Dover Castle Overseas visitors pass Group visits Find a place to visit What's On Visit • What's On WHAT'S ON Family events Members' events Events near you May Half Term Family Days out Visit • Family Days out FAMILY DAYS OUT Top 10 family days out Family property guides Rainy days out Inspire Me Visit • Inspire Me INSPIRE ME 1066 and the Norman Conquest Podcast Travel guides Dog friendly places Historic Gardens Blue Plaques Visit • Blue Plaques BLUE PLAQUES About the scheme Find a blue plaque Propose a blue plaque Support the scheme Weddings & Venue Hire Visit • Weddings & Venue Hire WEDDINGS & VENUE HIRE Wedding venues Corporate venues Filming locations Holiday Cottages Visit • Holiday Cottages HOLIDAY COTTAGES Find a holiday cottage Cottages by the sea Late availability Menu • About us About us • About Us Our people Our policies and reports Annual reports About us • Contact Us General enquiries Visit FAQs Group visits Information for Suppliers Careers with us About us • Careers with us CAREERS WITH US Search jobs Our benefits Modern slavery statement News About us • News NEWS Press office Support us Menu • Support us Support Us Support us • Support Us SUPPORT US Donate now Guardians Gifts in wills Grants How your support helps Our Appeals Support us • Our Appeals OUR APPEALS Your Places Appeal Blue plaques Volunteer Support us • Volunteer VOLUNTEER Find a volunteer opportunity Meet our volunteers Why volunteer? Volunteer focus magazine Partnership and sponsorship Support us • Partnership and sponsorship PARTNERSHIP AND SPONSORSHIP Corporate partnerships Marketing partnerships Licensing Learn Menu • Learn Learn Learn • Learn LEARN 1066 and the Norman Conquest School visits Teaching resources Histories Learn • Histories HISTORIES History of Stonehenge History of Hadrian's Wall Women in history LGBTQ history Find more... Conservation Learn • Conservation CONSERVATION Caring for our collections Collections advice & guidance Gardens & landscapes Paintings conservation Clothes moth research Story of England Learn • Story of England STORY OF ENGLAND Prehistory Romans Tudors Victorians Find more... Shop Join Members' Area Menu • Members' Area Members' Area LOGIN TO MEMBERS' AREA Please login or register for the Members' area. The new Members' area allows you view details of your membership and your payments as well as requesting amendments. JW Evans Silver Factory History of JW Evans Silver Factory The JW Evans Silver Factory at number 54 Albion Street is in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Jenkin William Evans began trading here in 1881, managing the production of all kinds of silverware from tableware and jewellery to novelty items. Evans bought out his former employers Levi and Salaman entirely by 1908. Today, the workshops of the JW Evans Silver Factory are still crammed with tools and equipment as if the workers might return at any moment, but the skills of the specialist craftsmen who worked there throughout the 20th century are now almost a forgotten memory. Fly press operators at JW Evans photographed around 1910. The presses were used to cut out the metal components produced by drop stamping in readiness for them to be soldered together or dispatched to manufacturers. In 1896 there were 11 women and 4 girls under 18 on the books Centre of Metalworking Birmingham’s rapid expansion into a major centre for the metalworking industry from the mid-18th century earned it the title of ‘the workshop of the world’. Just outside the heart of the city, in close proximity to the canals and Assay Office, the Jewellery Quarter developed into a concentrated, close-knit neighbourhood, working in a great variety of specialist trades related to the production of jewellery, silverware and metal ware. Over 70,000 people were employed in this sector in the early 1900s in Birmingham, with the jewellery trade being considered the most lucrative in the city. Most of the factories were small family businesses, like JW Evans, rather than purpose-built spaces. The years up to the First World War were the heyday of JW Evans with a rapid increase in trade and employees. Account books show 48 employees in 1896 and record the production of over 100 dies annually during the early years of the business. Products were sold to luxury good sellers and high-end manufacturers such as Mappin and Webb, Asprey’s, Garrard’s, Walker and Hall, Elkington’s and numerous smaller manufacturers in Birmingham, London and even abroad in America and Australia. Jenkin William Evans photographed in 1912, at the height of the silverware business A Family Business The JW Evans Silver Factory was always a family business. Jenkin’s oldest son Harold joining as a partner in 1908, followed by younger son, Austen in 1918. His daughter Elfrida also worked in the company as a secretary. The third generation of Peter Coulthard-Laughton (Austen’s nephew) and Antony Charles (Tony) Evans, Austen’s son, both began working at JW Evans during the 1950s and continued to run the business until it ceased trading on 31 March 2008 and was sold to English Heritage. Thanks to the business staying in the family for three generations, all 15,000 dies, cutting tools and minutiae of the business remained on site. The extensive archives include account books, details of dies made for customers, Health & Safety books showing children under 16 and the artwork Jenkins created showing his talent as an artist. We even have the original glass negatives and the camera they were taken with, as Harold Evans was a keen amateur photographer. Die sinkers and apprentices at work in the silverware factory around 1910, from an image taken by Harold Evans The Production Process Two linked manufacturing processes, die-sinking and drop-stamping, underpinned much of the Jewellery Quarter’s industry. Die-sinking involved hand cutting a pattern out of a solid block of steel. Each time a new article was designed, a new set of dies had to be made. This was highly skilled work, which required many years of apprenticeship. The deeply cut, three-dimensional patterns, like those needed for candlestick bodies or pepper pots, were especially challenging. But once made, the die could be used to create thousands of patterned parts in silver or base metals. JW Evans specialised in ‘deep work’ for table silverware – items which had deep bodies such as gravy boats and took more steps to ‘sink’ the metal to the required depth. A huge variety of designs were produced and the stock became a treasured resource. Even after the firm invested in a newly invented die-copying machine in 1911, most of the work was still done by hand. Once a die had been cut, it was placed into a drop-stamp. A heavy hammer head was raised by pulling on a rope, connected to an overhead line-shaft (later assisted by being driven by an engine). When the rope was released, the hammer head struck a thin sheet of metal, pressing it into the pattern of the die. The deep pressings made for silverware at JW Evans demanded great skill to ensure a sharp, consistent product. Barry Abbotts, the last drop-stamper to work there, believes it took him nine years to learn his craft. Die book from 1914 showing die designs during the First World War period including designs for union flag pin badges (top left) Decline of Silverware Silverware for Victorian dining tables was in huge demand until around 1914, with a final resurgence in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee year of 1977. However, fashions moved on and there is now only a very small market for these products. Remaining production has either moved to the Far East or been replaced by modern technology. ‘We made things we were proud to sell’, the factory’s last owner, Tony Evans, has explained, but ‘generations were growing up without silver in the house.’ After a slow decline, the factory finally closed in 2008, and there are now far fewer silverware makers left in Birmingham. The specialist trades of die-sinker and drop-stamper, which drove a major industry, are now nearly extinct. Anthony (Tony) Evans, grandson of Jenkin Evans and last director of JW Evans, photographed during his training at the Birmingham School of Art. Tony joined the business in 1955 and was one of the directors until 2008 when it was sold to English Heritage From Industry to Retail With the decline in the market for silverware, the Jewellery Quarter has diversified, and many companies are less specialised, carrying out a range of processes such as spinning, drop-stamping, soldering, fly-pressing and polishing. Before the 1980s, shops were almost non-existent in the Jewellery Quarter but it is now the largest centre of jewellery retailing in the UK. Its rich architectural heritage has also attracted other uses, including hospitality, offices and housing. But despite economic pressures and its location just outside the centre of England’s second largest city, the area still retains much of its gritty, industrial character. About 40% of UK jewellery is still made there, as well as a huge range of metal-ware. New labour-saving production methods continue to replace old techniques, as the quarter’s businesses innovate to survive. English Heritage took on JW Evans Silver Factory in 2008, and opened the site to the public in 2011 following an intensive conservation project to repair the building fabric. This included replacing all roofs and gutters, windows, reinforcing brickwork and installing new electrical services, all whilst the entire collection remained protected in situ, where it is still viewable today. Explore more JW Evans on Google Arts and Culture Learn more about the history of JW Evans and the objects produced by the factory on Google Arts and Culture. Silverware Production film This film follows each step in the production of a typical JW Evans product – a Chippendale-pattern candlestick, first produced in 1914. Visit JW Evans A treasure trove of industry frozen in time. Shout Out Loud Oral History Project Young Producers interview former employees of the factory and members of the Jewellery Quarter to find out the history of this fascinating site. Read more about the project and watch the video here.