Chapter 4: William BENTLEY (1805->1848)

In 1851 William was a button castor(sic) living in Summer Lane, Birmingham, with his Plymouth born wife Mary, and six children. In addition his mother Sarah was also living in. The state of the family can be judged when Sarah was described as a pauper.

Taking up the profession of his uncles Thomas and James, William’s son Samuel’s first occupation was that of brass founder. By 1881 he was however a gas fitter, having left Birmingham before marrying, and moving round the country. His first child was born in Abergavenny, then other children were born in East Looe then Yeovil in Somerset, Dartford then Heard Bay in Kent before finally he moved back to the Birmingham area; so that in 1881 he was at 1 Portland Street in Aston with his family. In all probability he moved around the country installing the recently introduced gas lighting in to homes and streets.

All of Samuel’s sons followed their father in to the gas fitting trade. One of these sons, Ernest James, had a son, William, who became a missionary in Africa along with his wife Charlotte. Their son was born in what is now Zaire.

Birmingham was well known for the manufacture of steel pens. The trade was dominated by Joseph Gillott who begun making them in his home around 1830 at a time which corresponded with an increase in literacy and in letter writing. He later moved to a factory in Graham Street where the machinery used allowed a reduction in prices and therefore the exploitation of a wider market. Another eleven firms were in operation in Birmingham by the 1860s. 2410 workers were employed in the trade by the mid-1860s, 2050 of whom were female. Two of William and Mary’s daughters worked in the trade as steel pen slitters. The other daughter was a watch guard maker. By the end of the eighteenth century, the jewellery trade was thriving in Birmingham. Much of this took place in the homes of the workers, or in workshops nearby, and what is now the jewellery quarter sprang up in north Birmingham, just north of Great Charles Street. Women had a role to play in the jewellery trade, as out-workers and in workshops. By 1911 35% of those employed in this field were female.

William BENTLEY b.c1805 d.>1861 m.Mary -
….Emma BENTLEY b.c1826
….Caroline BENTLEY b.c1830
….Mary Ann BENTLEY b.c1833
….Samuel BENTLEY b.1834 d.>1881 m.Mary -
……..Emma BENTLEY b.c1866 d.>1881
……..Fred BENTLEY b.c1866 d.>1881
……..Harry BENTLEY b.c1869 d.>1881
……..Ernest James BENTLEY b.1875 d.>1881 m.- -
……..….William BENTLEY m.Charlotte Sim
….……..….Brian BENTLEY m.- OVERTON
….……..….….male BENTLEY
….……..….….male BENTLEY
….……..….female BENTLEY
……..Frank BENTLEY b.c1876 d.>1881
……..Pamela BENTLEY b.c1845 d.>1861