7 - The Company Under Thomas George Webb

Company Transformation

Thomas George Webb, who had probably played a role in the company from the late 1840s onwards, was to take the company to new heights in his time in charge of the firm. Under his leadership, the business started to consistently register glass designs, patents were applied for, and the London showroom came under company control. Their most famous glass lines - Greek Key pattern glassware, posy troughs and Sphinx paperweights, were all released during this period.

Thomas George Webb comes across as a talented and canny businessman, perhaps no better illustrated than in death. He left less than £500 in his will, compared to £25,000 for his father and around £70,000 for his son - a sign we think, of a successful attempt to avoid tax on his estate.

Partners - Wilkinson and Mitchell

After taking over the firm in 1860, Thomas George Webb was in joint control with business partner David Wilkinson, who died in 1862. There are no further suggestions of business partners until the mid 1870s, when a Thomas Mitchell appears in Manchester commercial directories described as a "flint glass manufacturer" at Molineaux & Webb. His father, John Mitchell from Scotland, is on the 1841 census as an "overlooker" and later a "manager (under)" at an undisclosed factory in Ancoats. Meanwhile the census shows Thomas Mitchell progressing over the years firstly as a glass worker, then glass trade salesman, cashier, and finally a glass manufacturer by 1881.

The evidence would suggest the Mitchells may have followed a similar path to the Webbs and Percivals with a long period of management experience culminating in a jump to glass manufacturer status. When Thomas George Webb handed over the company to family members in 1887, Thomas Mitchell was still a partner, but was frozen out from any share ownership in the firm as it went public. He moved to Stourbridge to reopen the Coalbourne Hill Glass Works, but this could not have lasted long, as by the 1891 census he was in Widnes, listed as a glass works manager. His career seems closely tied to that of Thomas George Webb, and he was also about the same age, so we suggest he was a friend of Thomas George Webb and a manager, who was elevated to the role of business partner, moving on when Thomas George Webb retired.

Life in 1862

Webb and Mitchell were both interviewed in 1862 for a government report on the state of working conditions for children in British factories. Thomas George Webb had this to say of the firm:

I am one of the firm of Molineaux, Webb. and Co. There are between 50 and 60 flint glass manufacturers in the kingdom. Messrs. Percival and Yates and ourselves are the largest producers of glass of the best quality in this town, or elsewhere, I believe, with the exception of Messrs. Sowerby and Nevill's perhaps at Newcastle.

We employ 311 persons, of whom 20 boys and 11 girls are under 13, the youngest being 10 years and 2 months, and the rest over 11; there are 65 lads and 25 girls between 13 and 18, and 8 women over 18.

Thomas George Webb went on to describe pay and conditions in the factory for all workers, and also described the Victorian version of the "Christmas rush":

In other departments of the business, the frosting, flatting, and cutting, they are liable to overtime through the requirements of trade at certain seasons, chiefly those of Christmas time. For 14 days past we have been working some of them from 6am to 10pm. We are going to get more hands next Monday in order to prevent the continuance of such long hours. We do not like overtime, it is very costly to ourselves.

Thomas Mitchell, who was then the cashier, told a similar story.

About a month or so before Christmas is always our very busiest time; we are dreadfully bothered just now to get our frosted work done rapidly enough for our orders. The flatters too are working long overtime; they are on the pressed glass tumblers chiefly, the bottoms of which are rough and uneven, till they flatten them on that kind of horizontal grindstone which you see; that is called a Jenny Lind machine.

Webbs and Percivals

Thomas George Webb kept in touch with his cousin Thomas Percival of Percival and Vickers. In 1865 they both sat together on a political committee which met weekly. A newspaper article from August 1861 captures them both appearing at a national meeting of flint glass makers in Manchester.

A national meeting of flint-glass makers took place yesterday week, at Belle Vue. This being the first meeting of the kind, the proceedings excited considerable interest. At three o'clock 500 males and females sat down to an excellent dinner, provided by Mr. Jennison. Mr. W.A. Sivewright, of Tutbury, Burton-on-Trent, presided, and the vice-chair was filled by Mr. C.F. O'Brien; and amongst others present were Mr. Percival, of the firm of Messrs. Percival, Yates, and Vickers, and Mr. T.G. Webb, jun., of the firm Messrs. Molineux, Webb, and Co., Manchester; Mr. Joseph Leicester, London; Mr. G. Scrivin, Stourbridge; Mr. J.W. Woolley, Mr. Bamford, district secretary; Mr. John Bambrough, Mr. James Oxbery, Mr. Jacob Smith, Mr. J. Crosby, Mr. Lawless, etc. Mr. Bamborough, on behalf of the district, presented Mr. William Bamford, the secretary of the society, with a gold watch, valued at £18. The watch bore the following inscription:- "Honesty merits its reward. Presented to Mr. William Bamford, by the members of the Flint-glass Makers' Society, Manchester district, as a token of their gratitude for his faithful, untiring labours to promote its true interests since the year 1845 - August 2nd, 1861." The proceedings, which were of a most interesting nature, closed at an early hour.

Registered Designs

Molineaux & Webb kept a pattern book extensively detailing the company designs, but officially they had only registered one in 1846 prior to Thomas George Webb taking control. Webb started the practice of consistently registering decorative designs in 1864. The period from 1864 to 1871 would see around 25 designs registered, the biggest such surge in the company history. Overall, Thomas George Webb averaged about 2 designs a year up to his retirement in the late 1880s, well above the totals registered by the family members who ran the factory after him.

In the 1860s the Greek Key design appeared on company registered pressed glass items, mirroring some of the cut pieces they were producing at the time. Although not unique to the company, the Greek Key design is perhaps their most recognisable.

Greek Key design on Molineaux & Webb piece

Patents

Molineaux & Webb started to apply for patents soon after Thomas George Webb took control. All were credited to Thomas George Webb, flint glass manufacturer of Manchester. Unfortunately there were two people of this name at the time, the other being a descendant of William Webb, a Thomas George Webb born in 1845, connected to a glass works at Varley Street in North Manchester. The Varley Street works were fully in the hands of William Webb descendants from 1875, so we feel confident allocating the following earlier patents to Molineaux & Webb:

7th August 1861 - improvements in the manufacture of articles of glass

1st August 1862 - improvements in the manufacture of flint glass

4th December 1862 - improvements in the manufacture of articles of pressed glass

6th March 1863 - improvements in the manufacture of articles of pressed glass

March 1865 - improvements in the manufacture of ornamented articles of glass

July 1866 - improvements in the manufacture of articles of pressed glass, and in machinery or apparatus connected therewith

September 1866 - improvements in furnaces for the manufacture of glass commonly called melting furnaces

May 1868 - improvements in the manufacture of tumblers, goblets, wine glasses, and other vessels or articles of glass, and in tools or instruments or apparatus to be used in such manufacture

December 1868 - improvements in the manufacture of tumblers, goblets, wine glasses, and other vessels of glass

September 1869 - improvements in furnaces for the manufacture of glass, commonly called melting furnaces, and in the manufacture of melting pots for the same

November 1870 - improvements in apparatus for the manufacture of articles of pressed glass

April 1871 - improvements in street or other such lamps, and in apparatus connected therewith

December 1871 - improvements in the manufacture of glasses for signal lamps

February 1876 - improvements in apparatus for feeding furnaces

June 1876 - improvements applicable to melting of glazing articles of glass

Of all these patents, only the one for March 1863 can help with identification. The text reads:

"My invention relates to those articles of pressed glass which are provided with handles, such as "custard cups" and a variety of others, and consists in forming such handles, and which are usually hollow, with a midfeather, uniting the outward part of the handle to the body of the article. By this means I am enabled to secure greater strength and to avoid the roughness which exists in such handles made after the ordinary manner and without losing the appearance of lightness existing in hollow handles"

Which basically means there is no hollow space inside the handle. It is a style of manufacture that was not generally adopted by the company. To date it is known only on the piece below and a small uranium creamer, also bearing the word PATENT.

A frosted creamer, pattern number 427 in the catalogue

Inscribed with the word "patent", this relates to the patent dated 6th March 1863

The "other" Thomas George Webb was definitely named as the patent owner for an 1882 submission on the optical properties of ship and pavement lights. In 1898 he had to defend a patent on sulphuric acid which became the subject of a court case in Dublin. The Irish glass firm of Kynoch was alleged to have breached a patent.

Peter Locke and Thomas George Webb

Image courtesy of R. Dodsworth

London Showrooms

By the 1880s, Molineaux & Webb had a London showroom at Hatton Garden (view Google Map), and later Ely Place, in central London, a connection that lasted through to the end of the firm's history. Thomas George Webb was listed on some London directories at this time and must have kept closely involved. However the history of Molineaux & Webb in London began somewhat earlier than this.

The first hint of a London connection dates from 1849, when Thomas Molineaux, Thomas Webb and David Wilkinson launched a petition for bankruptcy against Samuel Seal, a long established china, glass and earthenware dealer who was based around the area of Great Queen Street, Holborn, London (view Google Map), just a few hundred yards west of Molineaux & Webb's eventual London base. This suggests he may have been the company London agent.

By 1855, the company were being represented in London by glass agent Peter Locke, at 9 Brooke Street, Holborn. The 1861 commercial directory sees the address change to 109 Hatton Garden. Later in the 1860s, Molineaux & Webb moved to 105 Hatton Garden, possibly representing themselves, whilst Peter Locke became the agent for Percival & Vickers shortly before his death in 1868. Molineaux & Webb eventually shifted to 11 Hatton Garden, sharing the address with jewellers and other businesses, before moving to Ely Place in the 1880s.

The link between Locke and Molineaux & Webb was discovered from this family photograph, a very early colour tinted daguerreotype which we think dates to the late 1850s / early 1860s period. The photograph was in the collection of Pamela Webb back in the 1970s and is now in the possession of the Manchester Art Gallery.

The Locke family are worth a few additional comments. Peter was from Edinburgh. He had two brothers who were in business as woollen drapers in some of the more upmarket parts of central London. His elder brother, James Locke, ran a clan and tartan clothing warehouse specialising in Scottish items, and is credited as the man who popularised tweed. Some of the items he sold were of a material called "tweel", but apparently as a marketing ploy inspired by Walter Scott's tales of the River Tweed area, he renamed the material and sales took off. James Locke left an estate approaching £100,000 whereas brother Peter with his glass warehouse left £1,500.

For the latter part of the 19th century, Molineaux & Webb employed William Henry Woods (b1845 Manchester) as their glass agent representative in London.

Expanding Works Buildings

The Manchester Rate Books, compiled every 10 years from 1781, give a snapshot of the changes at the Molineaux & Webb site and the buildings the Webb family owned. Back in 1831, the Webbs owned a couple of domestic buildings around the works site. The Rate Books from 1871 show that both the main works buildings and the properties owned by the Webbs had become more substantial, after a series of land purchases between the 1830s and 1850s.

1871 Manchester Rate Books - Relevant Entries

A large number of buildings were owned by Thomas George Webb's father, Thomas Webb, providing him with a retirement income. This Rate Book captures the position just two years before Thomas Webb died, after which most of the properties were slowly dispersed and sold off. A couple of the properties were occupied at various times by Webb family relatives, but generally the occupants had no obvious ties to the glass factory.

The value of £650 given to the main works building is the highest we have seen recorded. In 1861 it was at £530 and had declined to £450 in 1901. Furthermore the 1871 Rate Books show a second works building property at 83 Mill Street. On the 1861 books, this address was listed as a personal dwelling, rateable at £30, but was now additionally a works building rated at £140. This too was to disappear by 1901. The 1871 Rate Books therefore show the firm, and the ownership of land by the Webbs, at a highpoint.

Later Glass Designs

Most of the 1860s domestic output that we are aware of was pressed glass tableware. As Thomas George Webb's reign progressed, more decorative items began to appear such as one of their most famous pieces, a glass paperweight in the shape of a Sphinx, issued in 1875.

An advert dating from 1878 described the company as: "Manufacturers of Flint, Venetian and Pressed Glass, and of Cut, Engraved, or Etched Glass of every description." A further advert from 1882 added: "Manufacturers of all kinds of flint and coloured glass, cut and pressed, engraved and etched. Also of Ornamental Flower Vases, Mirrors, etc, and of Dioptric Barrels and Ships' Lights."

By the 1880s, a range of posy troughs had been issued. The example shown here is an opalescent piece, which formed part of a multi-section castle walls and ramparts design.

Opalescent Castle Flower Holder

Registered design 29780 - 14th July 1885

Silver and Electroplate Items

From the 1880s onwards, the Manchester glass trade supplied typically smaller glass items for metal producers of Sheffield, Birmingham etc. Catalogues of Walker & Hall, Silber & Fleming, and John Round, all show Manchester glass being used in items such as cruet sets, lidded butters, biscuit barrels, etc. The majority uncovered so far are from Percival Vickers, who produced an electroplate catalogue in 1893, and may have specialised in this area, relative to other local firms.

State of the Industry in Manchester

From the late 1870s the pressed glass industry in Manchester began to decline.

In 1880 the Pottery Gazette had this to say:

To fully understand the severity of the depression in our trade during the past four years, let us notice the number of furnaces in work now and the number say four years ago. At present there are ten furnaces working, divided amongst six firms; four years ago there were eighteen furnaces amongst eight firms, being a decrease of 44 per cent, in the time. Further, estimating the production per week of manufactured glass at six tons per furnace (a moderate estimate), we find a decreased production from 108 tons to 60 tons per week. These are startling facts, but it must not be thought that Manchester has suffered worse than other districts; on the contrary, I believe if the production in the North of England was compared in the same way, that the difference there would be still greater; and it speaks well for the stability of the manufacturers here that there should be only one failure during that time.

The following year the Manchester and Salford furnace count was:

Molineaux Webb 3

Percival Vickers 2

Burtles & Tate 2

James Derbyshire & Sons 2

Aker & Co 1

T Webb & Sons 1

The Body in the Furnace!

A disturbing newspaper report...

August 1882

Shocking death in a Manchester glass furnace

The Manchester coroner held an inquest yesterday as to the death of John Bateman, a bricklayer, married, and of 60 years of age, whose death occurred under the following circumstances. It seems that the deceased had been engaged on Friday last to build a low in the mixing room of the glassworks of Messrs. Molineaux, Webb, and Co., Kirby Street, to prevent an undue escape of heat, and about five minutes after five o'clock one of the hands, named Robert Houghton, having occasion to pass through the above room, experienced a peculiar smell, and on looking into the furnace saw what he believed to be a human body in the fire. The assistance of Samuel Potts and other workmen being obtained, the body was drawn out by hooks, when it was identified as that of the deceased. He had been seen only about ten minutes previously by Thomas George Webb, one of the partners of the firm, and others, and was then attending to his duties. Deceased's wife said he had been subject to occasional fits of dizziness, but had never shown any symptoms of a suicidal tendency. It was surmised that deceased might have have fallen into the furnace through one of the openings, as, from the position in which the body was found, it was evident that he must have passed several of them before reaching the one in which his charred remains were discovered. The heat was very great. The jury returned a verdict of "accidental death from burns."

Retirement

When in control of the firm, Thomas George Webb was listed on the electoral roll at the works address of 6 Kirby Street. His last appearance was in 1886-1887 by which time he had already changed his long time home address from Abbey Hey, East Manchester, to the area of Crumpsall in North Manchester where he would eventually end his days. It seems he retired just short of his 60th birthday in 1887.

The company became public listed in late 1887, Molineaux, Webb & Co. being officially dissolved to be replaced by Molineaux, Webb & Co. Limited.

The two eldest sons of Thomas George Webb, took control of the firm. Duncan Webb became company chairman, holding by far the largest portion of the share capital, and Baden Webb became company secretary.

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