Local Trades

Wolverhampton's wealth was founded on the wool trade but by the eighteenth century was firmly rooted in the metal industry. The local metal trades were diverse and often specific to different towns. Locks and keys were made all over the area but centred on Willenhall, Wolverhampton and Wednesfield. Bilston was noted for enamels and Wednesfield for traps. Wolverhampton was an important centre for the manufacture of Japanned ware, steel toys and rules.

A page from the earliest Wolverhampton trade directory.

Coal and ironstone mining was also important on the eastern side of Wolverhampton and in Wednesfield and Bilston until the first half of the twentieth century. The metal trades, including the production of bicycles, all types of motor vehicles, locomotives and aeroplanes, continued to dominate until the Second World War.

Bradeley Mine, Bilston, a typical underground scene.

Apprenticeships

It was common for young people to learn a trade by being apprenticed to a master and from the early eighteenth century indentures were drawn up as evidence of the apprenticeship agreement. For more information on the apprenticeship system and the information given on indentures please look at the page on the Poor Law.

The Public Record Office has national Apprenticeship Books dating from 1710-1811 that record the names, addresses, and trades of the masters, the names of the apprentices and the dates of their indentures, although not all trades were obliged to register.

Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies has a personal name index to voluntary apprenticeship indentures and a register of parish apprentices 1830 -1842.