Wheelwrights in the Parish
by SLHS on
Sunday 17 July 2016
Before the advent of the motor car, the wheelwright was one of the most important tradesmen. He made and repaired wooden wheels for carts and waggons. Whilst large companies would often employ their own wheelwright there was also a need for such tradesmen in the wider population, to make and repair wheels for farmers and for general usage by cab proprietors and carters.
By the mid-19th century, many wheelwrights worked closely with blacksmiths, as solid iron bands were by then often used round the wooden wheels to increase their life expectancy and durability. The wheelwrights at Somercotes continued to work until the manufacture of rubber wheel parts and pneumatic tyres made the art of wheelmaking virtually obsolete.
PHOTO: The Wheelwright's Workshop (from Brockham History)
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1828: | |
| EVANS, Henry | Somercotes |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1849: | |
| HERROD, John | Somercotes with Birchwood |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1857: | |
| BEECROFT, Henry | Somercotes |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1876: | |
| BURGIN, Benjamin | Somercotes (Benjamin was also listed as a blacksmith, combining the two roles) |
| FRANK, Thomas | Someroctes (Thomas was also listed as a joiner) |
| HERROD, John | Birchwood (John, also listed in 1849, was descibed as a wheelwright and farmer) |
| HERROD, Thmoas | Somercotes (Thomas was also listed as a joiner) |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1895: | |
| EXON, Thomas | Somercotes (Thomas was also listed as a joiner) |
| HERROD, M. & Son | Somercotes (Edmund Herrod, probably the son, was listed as a wheelwright) |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1908: | |
| DAWES, Charles | Somercotes (Charles had a wheelwrights workshop on Victoria Street) |
| EXON, Thomas | Somercotes |
| HERROD, Joseph Radford | Somercotes (joseph is listed on his own, and not as part of Herrod & Sons, a company listed in 1895) |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1916: | |
| DAWES, Charles | Somercotes (Charles had a wheelwrights workshop on Victoria Street) |
| WHEELWRIGHTS LISTED IN 1925: | |
| DAWES, Charles | Somercotes (Charles had a wheelwrights workshop on Victoria Street) |
Charles Dawes seems to have been the last wheelwright to work in Somercotes. Perhaps because he was the only wheelwright from around the beginning of the 20th century, he was able to remain in business into the 1920s. His brother, William Dawes was a blacksmith, who also had premises on Victoria Street, and almost certainly they would have worked closely with each other. William continued to trade as a blacksmith at least until the 1940s.