Holmes Foundry
The HOLMES BRASS FOUNDRY WOOLSTON
The following description of foundry work was found in an 18th-century
text: "The founder requires a strong constitution and a robust
body to undergo the heat of the fire and etc." And it is certainly
true that heat, dirt, and hard work have always been realities of
the founder's trade.
A
short while after arriving in Woolston, Horatio Holmes established a foundry
business. In 1901 the foundry was located to the rear of No.5/7 Onslow Road ( now swift rd); by 1907 the foundry was in Wharf road next to the Floating Bridge
and the shipyard, also not far from  Pemberton billing/
Supermarine(could they have produced castings for them?).The foundry is
listed in various business directories from 1907-1940
Horatio retired from the
business sometime after 1920; From 1925 the business is listed as
Holmes H & A. (Harry & Alf )
1907 Listing in Kelly's Trade Directory
Brass Founding and Allied Trades:
Brass Moulder
They produced any metal item needed . Founders made these by pouring
molten metal into moulds. When the
metal had cooled the item was ready.
Pattern maker
Patternmakers made the moulds using wooden patterns. The patterns were precision made and had to
be larger than the desired end product.
Molten metal shrinks when it cools and different metals have different
shrinkage rates. Patternmakers had
special rulers to help them work out the expansion rate of the metal. This allowed them to make the wooden
patterns the right size to allow for this shrinkage.
Holmes Foundrymen
Horatio Thomas Holmes(1842) Brass Founder Proprietor
John Wm " Bill" HOLMES (1865) Brass Finisher / Engineer-Fitter
Thomas "Tom" HOLMES (1869) Brass Founder/ Engineer-Fitter
Henry "Harry" HOLMES (1872) Iron Moulder/ Partner in Foundry
Alfred "Alf" HOLMES (1877) Crucible man/ Partner in Foundry
Edmund "Ned" HOLMES (1881) Engineer's Pattern-maker
Joseph "Joe" HOLMES (1883) Brass Moulder
Thomas "Tom" Horatio HOLMES (1909) Brass Moulder/Foundry Manager(Pirelli)
Jack Bellew Pattern maker's Assistant
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