1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

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aflook
Posts: 188
Joined: 22 Nov 2011, 3:21pm
Location: Sheffield

1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by aflook »

Some of you super-knowledgeable forum members might be able to help me out....

My grandfather George Evans (whom I never knew) was the manager of a bike factory in the Birmingham area in the 1920's. I would like to find the site for a family history trip with my brother and daughter, but niether of us is sure where the factory was. It might have been the Co-op factory. all our relatives of that and the next generation died years ago and we can't find any written information in our mother's papers.
Our mother used to reminisce about watching the "old lady" paint the gold lines on the frames freehand. She also claimed that her father was the first person to think of putting a footbrake on a pram.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Adrian
thirdcrank
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Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by thirdcrank »

The manufacture of cycles was once part and parcel with car manufacture and other engineering industries. eg I think BSA were originally gunsmiths - Birmingham Small Arms - largely based around Brum. (Obvious exception was Raleigh in Nottingham.) It may need a bit more to identify which firm your forebears were involved with
pete75
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Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by pete75 »

C. W. S. (Cooperative Warehouse Society) Cycles were based at the Federal Works, Tyseley, Birmingham.


https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/i ... ley.48256/

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'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
pete75
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Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by pete75 »

I think this was the CWS bicycle factory.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kings ... d-1.838044
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
colin54
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Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by colin54 »

Top sleuthing Pete; I had ' a ride around the block ' on google maps, and noticed an entrance to Hay Hall Business Park in Redfern Road (on the SW corner of the CWS location). According to Wikipedia this was the location of The Patent Butted Tube Company and forerunner of Reynolds Tube Company. A good place to have next door to a bicycle manufacturer; out of one factory and into the next ?
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4585437 ... 384!8i8192
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_Hall,_Birmingham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_Technology
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Patent_Butted_Tube_Co
Great to see the CWS buildings are still there, and seemingly largely intact.
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aflook
Posts: 188
Joined: 22 Nov 2011, 3:21pm
Location: Sheffield

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by aflook »

Thank you both - really good information and links too. My brother found a newspaper cutting which indeed confirms that George was the first manager of the factory when it opened in 1920, moving from Dawes where he started in 1913. Don't suppose there's much left of the 1920's factory but we'll go and have a look anyway. I remember my grandmother was given a top-of-the-range bike by the factory when George retired. Painted black with gold lines on the tubeset (of course) and with a closed in chain and lugs for fastening on a dress-protector. Granny used to ride it when taking the two of us out for our first bike rides, which in hindsight was a way of giving our parents a break but which probably sowed the seeds of my later enthusiasm.

Thanks again - really getting in the mood for a bit of nostalgia now :D

PS Just seencolin54 's post. Good to know that there's still something to see of CWS, but I'll have to control myself when explaining Reynolds tubing or the other two will never go on another trip with me. :lol:
pete75
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Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by pete75 »

They also made motorcycles. If you look at the google link I posted you'll see that most of the factory is still there.

https://vintagemotorcyclecwsfederal1922 ... g/tyseley/
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
colin54
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Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by colin54 »

aflook wrote: 20 Oct 2021, 9:51pm
PS Just seencolin54 's post. Good to know that there's still something to see of CWS, but I'll have to control myself when explaining Reynolds tubing or the other two will never go on another trip with me. :lol:
:lol: It might be a neat idea to surprise them after looking around the CWS site, by going through the gates to the Hay Hall Business Park and finding Hay Hall itself in the middle of a 1920's industrial estate, there's a detailed article about it here on The Acocks Green Historical Site by KH Sprayson (Ken? The name rings a bell from motorbike days). It's described there as possibly the second oldest inhabited building in Birmingham. I wonder if you can look around it, it looks a fantastic place.
https://aghs.jimdofree.com/hay-hall/
There's an interesting field map from1916 in the above article showing a plan of the area before either the tube factory or the CWS bicycle factory were built, (1918 and 1920 respectively); marked in the top RH corner; 'March 1916 Plan of The Hay Hall Estate at the time of Reynolds purchase'. I see the road shapes are almost exactly the same as the current day ones, being old estate roads apparently. Your Grandfather would likely have known the area 'when it was all fields around there' ; to use a hackneyed phrase. Amazing that all those factories are built on land owned by Hay Hall's owners.
Also one by the same author, on the same Acocks Green website about Reynolds Tubing's history.
https://aghs.jimdofree.com/reynolds-tube-co-intro/
and follow the links.
Both are excellent detailed articles, hats off to Mr Sprayson.
Here's a link from The Birmingham History forum, with some accounts from people whose parents had worked at CWS, there is more as well on the site, about CWS and other bicycle makers in the Birmingham area. https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/i ... ley.48256/
Asking your question on the above site might get you some more accurate, locally informed replies.
I see from the Dawes Wikipedia article, that they opened a factory in 'Wharf Dale' (sic?) Tylseley in 1926; Wharfdale is the Southern most road on the map I mentioned above. I see from the same article they were known as Humphries and Dawes before this, as the two original partners parted company and split the business. Would your Grandfather have worked for Humphries and Dawes or had the business changed names before the split, do you know ?
From the article below, it would appear that your Grandfather would have worked at the factory in Lancaster Street Birmingham going by the dates.
Humphries and Dawes were makers of OK motorcycles, Humphries later going on to found OK-Supreme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Cycles
https://cybermotorcycle.com/marques/ok- ... -dawes.htm
I've not read anything connecting either tubing company to CWS bikes though yet; still, it's all interesting stuff!
Apologies for the drifting nature of the reply, I got carried away with it a bit !
If you want to follow the Humphries and Dawes trail, a Google search comes up with a lot of hits, including their WW1 manufacturing efforts and also a couple of different addresses for them (including one in Hall Green which eventually became Velocette's motor cycle factory ); wheels within wheels....
I never even knew CWS made bicycles until a couple of hours ago, gotta love the internet...
Various edits..over a few hours...
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aflook
Posts: 188
Joined: 22 Nov 2011, 3:21pm
Location: Sheffield

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by aflook »

Well I liked your ambling reply thank you Colin. I have browsed some of the links and have parked the Humphries and Dawes route for the moment as having only indirect links to my mother, the focus of this trip. All the stuff about CWS is pure gold and I shall investigate the possibility of getting to see inside the CWS factory - a letter or two might do the trick - who knows? Hay Hall sounds fascinating too. As an aside, my mother's half brother Eric Evans drew the posters for the "lead the way with BSA" campaign in the 20's. Mother used to have one of the original posters - I ewonder what happened to that?

Thanks again to all of you!
9494arnold
Posts: 1208
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 3:13pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by 9494arnold »

Technical name for the gold line painting on a frame is 'Box Lining' .
Up until the 30's (I think) the best tubing you could get was Accles and Pollocks Chromo Tubing.
Is this the neighbouring tube company?
Then Reynolds developed 531 which became the bespoke tube of choice. I think Reynolds came from Tube Investments, which I believe was at some stage linked to Raleigh ( Hence TI Raleigh branding) They may also have merged with Accles and Pollocks or taken them over ?
I don't know where Accles and Pollocks were based , or Tube Investments originally , I know they had some factory premises around Oldbury , now long gone and flattened. I think there were other links with Oldbury and Smethwick which are very close to Birmingham. ( In fact the area if Smethwuck I have in mind used to be in Birmingham I believe , area known as 'Black Patch'
Lots of other bike related producers in the area, Brooks Saddles in Smethwick (yards from the Birmingham border , they are still there but owned by Selle Italia ) and Williams who made quality chainsets were about 1/2 a mile from Brooks.
colin54
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Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by colin54 »

Hi Arnold, information about the various other tubing manufacturers, are detailed in the Reynolds history I linked to up-thread, just follow the links to different eras within it, if it's of interest to you.
Here it is :-https://aghs.jimdofree.com/reynolds-tube-co-intro/
Nu-Fogey
9494arnold
Posts: 1208
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 3:13pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by 9494arnold »

Fascinating stuff. I should have guessed there would have been more than one manufacturer of tube in Birmingham and surrounding area.

Thanks for posting the link .
colin54
Posts: 2517
Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by colin54 »

Thank you Arnold.
I regret to say that KH (Ken) Sprayson the author of most of the articles I linked to above passed away very recently at the age of 94, at the start of this month or thereabouts.
I looked up his name to see if he was the same person who's name rang a bell with me from my motorcycling youth, he was.
There are various tributes if you search Google, but the description of his Autobiography on Amazon gives you an idea of the breadth of his activities, at Reynolds and within the motorcycle racing community.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ken-Sprayson-F ... 095649756X
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RJS
Posts: 280
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Location: Torbay

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by RJS »

I found this book a fascinating read, I had to buy it because I knew it wasn't just the famous he helped. Many years ago my freind and I took a kneeler chassis we had bought, that was in a really bad way, to him; it was a different looking frame when we collected it, he had done an awful lot of work on it, and showed us how to deal with cracks, all at no charge. What a Gent.
colin54
Posts: 2517
Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: 1920's bicycle factory Birmingham?

Post by colin54 »

RJS wrote: 28 Oct 2021, 10:45pm What a Gent.
:) Nice one.
Were you passenger or pilot ?
A different breed sidecar racers, like goalies, slightly nuts (no offence), would that be fair to say ?
Nu-Fogey
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