GEM FROM THE ARCHIVE

Archivist Chris Pickford of the bell foundry John Taylor & Co explains what the company’s inscription books reveal about our ancestors’ lives By Rosemary Collins

Bell inscription books, 1888–2005

Located in Loughborough in Leicestershire, John Taylor & Co is one of the oldest bell foundries in the world and has been run by the Taylor family since 1784. The company’s archive includes a set of inscription books recording the messages cast on the countless bells that its workers have made. As archivist Chris Pickford reveals, the stories contained in these inscriptions feature commemoration as well as celebration.

Can You Tell Me More About The Books?

Bells have had inscriptions cast on them since the 13th century. In medieval times the text was very often religious, but from the 16th century onwards people started to get a lot more adventurous, so there are some quite humorous inscriptions on old bells, as well as the names of parish officials and religious verses. Towards modern times there’s been a lot more use of inscriptions for commemorating things, such as families and people.

The bell founders thought it useful to keep a record of the inscriptions they cast on bells. From 1888 onwards Taylors started putting them in separate books, so from that date we’ve got a record of the wording that they put on all their bells, and from about the 1920s it includes all of the decorative marks and so on, so you know exactly what’s on each bell.

That’s a factual description of the inscription books, but it doesn’t explain why I find them particularly interesting. The main archive at John Taylor & Co focuses on the technical information about the bells that the company has made – the process of casting. The difference with the inscription books is that you’re suddenly taken into a different world of the customers’ concerns. Very often they’re fascinating glimpses of social history. The inscription books run to 21 volumes in all.

What Sort Of Customers Does The Company Have?

Church bells are the main market, for various denominations although less so for the nonconformists. However, there’s quite a surprising range of other clients as well. Bells have also been made for clocktowers for town halls, country houses and private customers. There are some factory bells with quite interesting inscriptions on – for example, the 660lb firealarm bell at Cadbury’s chocolate factory in Bournville, manufactured in 1916, which is now on show at Cadbury World.

I should also mention that Taylors has cast bells worldwide since way back in the 19th century. Our big export markets are the USA, Australia and South Africa.

Do The Books Have Any Particularly Interesting Inscriptions?

In the 1930s Taylors made bells for Ebbw Vale in the Welsh Valleys, which were purchased in thanksgiving for the preservation of the steelworks, which was saved from closure. The community clubbed together and bought some fabulous new bells for the church in 1937. There’s some real insight there as to the fear of the impact of the closure of the big steelworks on the town, and just what a joy it was to them that it had been saved.

In addition, lots of places had bells cast or improved after the First World War. For example, churches that had six bells had a couple of extra ones added to make a ring of eight or maybe replaced their old bells and completed the new set, and all with war memorial inscriptions on.

One of the big examples in

the UK is the Loughborough War Memorial right on the doorstep of the foundry. The town’s war memorial is a carillon tower that opened in a public park in 1923. It has 47 bells, and all of them commemorate different sections of the community. Edmund Denison Taylor, the head of the firm at the time, gave the largest four-ton bell in memory of his three nephews who died in the war. Other bells were given by local employers, individuals and schools. For example, one bell reads “The gift of the Workpeople of the

Nottingham Manufacturing Co., Limited, in memory of their Fellow Workers who made the Great Sacrifice”, and lists 19 men who died during the conflict.

What Other Records Are In Your Archive?

The records we’ve got begin around 1750, but they’re a bit patchy and a bit scratchy. From about 1790 onwards they’re very good indeed.

When the foundry settled in Loughborough in 1839 the record-keeping got really good and the archive includes all of the working records of the foundry, so

‘The books provide fascinating glimpses of social history’

there are details of all of the bells that were cast, there’s a series of correspondence books from about 1840 onwards with all of the letters that the Taylor family wrote to their customers, and general correspondence too. We’ve also got complete business accounts back to the 1840s/1850s, and a lot of technical drawings of the bell frames that were installed – bells need to be supported by a framework when they’re hung. So we’ve got detailed, attractive drawings of the frames that the company made, on top of records of castings and financial records. It’s actually a really nice archive in terms of the evidence that it provides for the company’s business activities.