Chapter 11: CROFTS, BAKERS AND GUNMAKERS

The family name was invariably spelt as Croft until about the middle of the nineteenth century when Crofts replaced it. The names is derived from one or more of the Croft localities e.g. a village in Herefordshire by that name - one who comes from Croft, or from the description of a type of place i.e. a croft, or small farm - one who has a croft.

In the first half of the nineteenth century William Croft was a baker and grocer carrying out his trade from Park Street, Birmingham. It is possible that his father was William Croft(s), a butcher who was living in Birmingham at the turn of the nineteenth century.

William the baker married West Bromwich born Mary Fisher in St Martin's on 25 January 1798.They are known to have only three children. Following her husband’s death it is likely that with only a small family to support her Mary will have found life difficult. In 1851 it appears that at the age of 74 Mary was working as a laundress from her small courtyard dwelling off Upper Tower Street. At that time the slum area of Birmingham consisted largely of back-to-back terraced housing, with several two or three storey houses being built around a common yard, wash house ("brew 'us") and amenities, such as a water pump, which many people may have had to share, and a privy, usually uncovered, which was often shared by several families. The situation offered little opportunity for privacy. Little light was available, as the courts were constructed as small as possible to accommodate the increasing population. Rent could be as low as 3d per week, all that many families could afford. Even with this low sum, some found it necessary to up and move in the middle of the night, "moonlight flit" to avoid paying the rent.

Details of only one of William and Mary's children have been traced, those of their son William, who was born during the summer of 1799 and baptised at the Protestant Meeting House in Paradise Street. By 1842 William had fathered Henry by Martha Short. He apparently married Martha soon afterwards! Martha died not long after her marriage. It appears that her son died before 1851.

In 1842 widower William married Sarah Sadler, the Chelsea born daughter of cordwainer (shoemaker), in St Martin's in Birmingham. By that time he was gunmaker living in Lawley Street, a main thoroughfare to the east of the town centre. Gunmaking in Birmingham has a long history. In the 1700's it came to supply the slave traders with guns used in exchange for slaves in Africa. In 1729 the price of a slave in Africa was often reckoned at one Birmingham gun. In the nineteenth century the town supplied two-thirds of the arms used by the British during the Napoleonic wars. So many guns were manufactured in Birmingham that in 1813 the city was given approval to set up a Gun Barrel Proof House in Banbury Street. In times of peace it proved less successful, guns being required mainly for field sports however between 1855 and 1864 six million were tested and proofed. In 1865 nearly ten thousand workers were employed in Birmingham's gun industry. Kelly's directory for 1874 lists 329 names connected with the gun trade in Birmingham, 210 of which had premises in the Gun Quarter around Steelhouse Lane.

The Birmingham Small Arms Company (later BSA of motorbike fame) had an influential factory in Small Heath from 1862, which spanned twenty-six acres between the Great Western Railway line and Warwick Canal. This thrived in the First World War. The factory was supported by independent gunsmiths, like William Crofts, who supplied the parts for the finished weapons, and who were concentrated in the Gun Quarter to the north of the city centre. Only two manufacturers of sporting guns (William Powell and Son and Westley Richards and Co.) from this area are still in evidence. Both have moved from the city centre.

In the early 1840's William and his family moved to Sheep Street, nearer to the Gunmaking Quarter. Before the end of the same decade they moved to Beak Street in the centre of the city. Around 1850, and for at least the following ten years, William took up brewing and selling beer as a his primary occupation. By 1871 however he had become a pawnbroker, running his business from 109 William Street to the west of the city centre. He was still pawnbroking at the time of his death in 1877. In his will he left all of his modest estate, valued at less than £450, to his widow. Sarah continued to run the business with the assistance of her daughter Rosetta.

William and Sarah had six children. Their first child died young. Their second child, Elizabeth, married a Derby born provision dealer who ran his business from 105 William Street, two doors down from her parents. Third child Frances may have marred James Cook and looking glass maker living in Beak Street. Julia, the forth child, married John Hancocks (Chapter 13) and went on to pursue her fathers final trade after working as a young assistant in his pawnbrokers shop. Fifth child Rosetta assisted her mother in the pawnbroker’s shop after her father’s death. As the youngest daughter it probably fell on Rosetta to stay at home, unmarried, to look after her aging mother. Final child William Thomas was known in adulthood by his second name, to avoid confusion with his father no doubt. He became a house decorator. In 1881 he was lodging with his brother-in-law Richard Rowlands and family. One could speculate that William Thomas was working for his other brother-in-law John Hancocks, who was living in nearby Lea Bank Street at the time.

William CROFT(S) b.- d.<1851 m. Mary FISHER

…..William CROFT(S) b.1799 d.1877 m #1 Martha SHORT, # 2 Sarah SADLER

……….#1 Henry CROFTS b.1833 d.<1851

……….#2 George CROFTS b.1843 d.<1861

……….#2 Elizabeth CROFTS b.1845 d.>1881 m.Richard ROWLANDS

……………Sarah E. ROWLANDS b.1871 d.>1881

……………Minnie ROWLANDS b.1877 d.>1881

……………Florence ROWLANDS b.1879 d.>1881

……….#2 Frances CROFTS b.1848 d.?>1881 (m.?James COOK)

……….#2 Julia CROFTS b.1852 d.1940 m John HANCOCKS (Chapter 13)

……….#2 Rosetta CROFTS b.1855 d.>1881

……….#2 William Thomas CROFTS b.1859 d.>1881

…..Mary CROFT b.1801 d.-

…..Thomas CROFT b.1806 d.-