Charles and Sarah Redgate

Charles and Sarah were both a couple of months old at the time of the 1851 census - He 3 months, she 2. Charles was the oldest child of an eventual seven for parents Agnes and Henry (a silk lace-maker and later, a publican). The family lived in Radford – an inner area of the city of Nottingham.

Lace was a hot fashion item for both men and women and lace-making was a big industry in Nottingham in the 1800s. It grew from being a handmade, home-based business to an industrial, factory-based enterprise relying on machines for mass production.

Radford Textile Mill was built by 1883. The site contains the 'Merino Mill', the 'Silk Factory' and the Perseverance Iron Foundry and Midland Works (mouldings). [It’s likely that the foundry produced the machines – and spare parts - for the factories].

Old Radford Mill

Charles worked as a Moulder in an Iron Foundry all his adult life. An Iron moulder created the mould into which molten metal is poured. There was a system of wooden or metal frames or boxes that came apart and contained sand. The workers produced a model (or pattern) of the desired object and then made the mould around it in a precise mix of sand/clay/water. A Moulder is a more skilled job than the Founder (or pourer) of the molten metal.

The Iron Moulders a stained glass window by Stephen Adam, c 1878.

 

Sarah Jane was the 3rd of nine children of Henry Vickery Brown and Sarah Brown, nee Barlow. When she was 20 – she was working as a Lace mender together with seven other members of her family who were also lace industry workers – all except the youngest children.

Charles Henry and Sarah Jane were married in 1872 in Radford, Nottingham. They had five children in seven years and then no more (including Walter, the middle one, who died young). The surviving four became lace workers too. Sarah has no listed occupation after her marriage but probably contributed to the lace work done in the home. Each census shows the family at a different address. [It’s possible they were renters and were squeezed by overcrowding in the town caused by population growth.]

The growth of Nottingham

 Before the 16th century the population of Nottingham probably never exceeded 3000 people. Then it started to increase - by 1750 it was about 10,000, in the first census of 1801 it was almost 29,000 and by 1841 it was over 50,000, packed into almost the same area as that of the medieval town. Nottingham was surrounded by its open fields and could not expand to any extent until the Enclosure Award of 1865. This overcrowding led to the appalling yards and alleys containing 6000 back-to-back houses in the town. The Government in 1844 appointed a Commission to look into the state of great towns. Thomas Hawkesley, Borough Water Engineer, testified to the Commission that he considered Nottingham to be the worst town in England.

In 1911, when they were both aged 60, they were living with their youngest daughter Beatrice and her husband and Sarah’s unmarried sister Annie. Charles was still listed as working as an Iron Founder. Sarah died in 1921 aged 70 and Charles soon after in 1922.