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Brick Maker on the railways

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  • Brick Maker on the railways

    I have an Arthur Williams b 1852 in Leamington, Warks who was a 'brick maker'. Thought to originate in Gloucs he ends up in Kent. I believe he worked on the railways.

    Anyone know if the railway companies hired brick makers who worked on the actual construction sites?

    Any input will be most gratefully received. Nigel

  • #2
    In those days there were a few Railway companies but I'm not sure when they were formed. Noteably, The Great Western Railway and the Southern Railway would be likely candidates where your relation worked. Perhaps a 'Google' for those companies might help?
    Good luck.

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    • #3
      Sub contractors perhaps?

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      • #4
        Some railways used millions of bricks in their construction. Several railways starting from London have miles and miles of brick arch viaducts, and bricks were used to line many cuttings and tunnels. Depending on where the brickmaking clay was, some railway construction firms had their own temporary brickworks. All railways were built by contractors. The railway company was just the source of the funds.
        Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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        • #5
          Thanks folks. Perhaps after a few years of brick making he saw a better future on the railways and that led him to Kent. Certainly the family in Kent changed a little while after his arrival on to the railways and headed north once again.

          What fun this all is. Enjoy

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          • #6
            The main railway boom was in the 1850s and 60s, however there were several built after this, and of course, many other great Victorian building projects such as sewers, underground railway in London, etc.
            This page may be of interest. It has a photograph of a brick making machine which would have been on the construction site.
            Ingenious
            Phil
            historyhouse.co.uk
            Essex - family and local history.

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            • #7
              You might be interested in a Time team, a couple of weeks back.

              Time Team | Archaeology | Channel 4 | Tony Robinson

              They did a dig on a remote site where navvies, building the railways, lived for several years whilst building a tunnel in the Yorkshire Dales. The number of bricks they must have needed for such tunnels would have been phenomenal.

              They found the navvies on a census and explained how the system worked, with contractors going 'on the tramp' round the country, from one job to the next:

              'A man with a big nose'
              In combination with the excavation of some of the actual dwellings these people occupied, this allowed the Team to recreate a clear impression of life on the site at the time. The census even identified one 'man with a big nose', who was described as being 'on tramp' on the night of the census – in other words, travelling from one construction site to another, as was common among navvies, who moved from one job to another around the country (giving us the word 'tramp' used more generally to describe someone who moves around without a fixed abode).
              I'm not sure how bricks were sourced, but presumably from local to where they were at the time.
              Last edited by Penelope; 02-03-09, 13:57.

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              • #8
                You might be also interested in the March issue of the magazine, out this Wednesday, which is predominantly about the railways.
                Caroline
                Caroline's Family History Pages
                Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

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                • #9
                  Tx one and all. I'll let you know how it ends.

                  Keldon the brickmaking m/c looks a little heath robinson but I suspect it worked! Tx

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                  • #10
                    Before the railways, brickmaking was arduous, with whole familes (including children) working together. It could only be conducted in certain months (not winter) and you would have to do it at a brickfield, near the buildings that required it, so it was definitely an itinerant trade. It would be cheaper for the workers to move than to transport the bricks for vast distances until transport costs started to reduce.

                    I believe that there are brickmaking societies who have done a great deal on the history of the trade.
                    Phoenix - with charred feathers
                    Researching Skillings from Norfolk, Sworn from Salisbury and Adams in Malborough, Devon.

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