Thursday, February 26, 200922 - THE BUGLE
Wedding gift reminder of an old
Wolverhampton iron firm
THIS wooden case
for a canteen of cut-
lery, 94 years old,
was brought to our
offices by Sheila
W a r d o f R o c k ,
W o r c e s t e r s h i r e .
Sheila picked up the
case a couple of
years ago at a flea
market in Malvern
and she uses it to
keep her necklaces
in. The case has a
brass plaque in the
shape of a shield and
Sheila thought that
the inscription would
be of interest in
Bugle readers.
The inscription reads:
"Presented to Nurse
Cracknell by the
employees of the Wol-
verhampton Corru-
gated Iron Co. Ltd. on
the occasion of her
marriage August 22nd
1915."
Corrugated galvanised
iron was developed in
Britain in the 1820s. It
found favour as a
cheap and easily trans-
portable building mate-
rial, ideal for prefabri-
cated structures, such
as sheds, industrial
buildings and sports
pavilions, but it is per-
haps best known for its
use in churches, or `tin
tabernacles' as they
were popularly known,
several of which sur-
vive to this day.
The Wolverhampton
Corrugated Iron Com-
pany was founded in
1857 and in the 1870s it
took over part of the
Shubbery Iron Works
in Lower Walsall
Street, Horseley Fields.
The business moved
again in 1905, this time
travelling much further.
To reduce its transpor-
tation costs the whole
company relocated to
Ellesmere Port in
Cheshire, taking over
Nicholas Burnell's gal-
vanising works there.
2,000 staff left Wolver-
hampton behind and
went to live and work
at Ellesmere Port.
Despite the move the
company kept its name
but in 1919 it was taken
over by John Summers
and Sons. The British
O x y g e n C o m p a n y
moved into the Lower
Walsall Street site
vacated by the Wolver-
hampton Corrugated
Iron Company.
Sheila Ward wonders
if readers know any-
thing about Nurse
Cracknell. She would
have been working in
Ellesmere Port when
the corrugated iron
workers gave her their
wedding present. Was
she one of the 2,000
that moved from the
Black Country to
Cheshire? She proba-
bly gave up nursing
when she married, so
maybe she returned to
Wolverhampton then.
When Sheila bought
the wooden case it was
empty, or so she
thought. However, on
the day that she
brought it to the Bugle
a tiny piece of metal
fell out. It must have
been stuck in a corner
or between the joints,
and it was an 8th Army
bar from the Africa
Star, a Second World
War campaign medal.
The bar was awarded
to personnel who had
served in North Africa
with the 8th Army
between 23rd October
1942 and 12th May
1943. Is this another
clue to the life of Nurse
Cracknell? Did the
medal belong to a
member of her family
and she kept it in the
case?Wedding gift to Nurse Cracknell.
By this time the Wolverhampton Corrugated Iron
Co. were based in Ellesmere Port.
Proud father and child
from Edwardian days
FOLLOWING on from last week, we have further
pictures from the old family photograph album kindly
loaned to us by Ian Abbotts of Ledbury. Ian's mother
recently uncovered the album, which had lain forgot-
ten in a cupboard for many years. Sadly, there is no
one left in the family that remembers who the people
in the photographs are, but Ian hopes that by printing
a selection we can jog the memories of Bugle readers
who may recognise someone.
Ian suggests that the pictures are most likely to show
members of the Stocker or Norton family, Ian's ancestors,
who lived in Smethwick and Birmingham in the early 1900s.
As well as the family interest, the fifty pictures in the old
album also give a fascinating insight into Edwardian times;
they are sure to interest readers with their depiction of
Edwardian tastes and fashions. The pictures have all been
taken by professional photographers from either Smeth-
wick or Birmingham, and are mostly studio portraits, but a
few have been taken out of doors. We have chosen two
such pictures, charming portraits of a proud father and his
infant child.
Smart
A moustached young man sits on a chair in a garden. He is
dressed in his best clothes; a smart bowler hat upon his
head, a stiff white collar around his neck, and in a fine
three-piece suit. On his knee sits a baby, twelve months old
at the most. In Edwardian times babies tended to be
dressed the same regardless of sex, so it is difficult from the
photographs to tell which the child is.
We have a better view of the child's outfit in the second
picture. He or she wears a fine, fur-lined coat with a match-
ing fur bonnet. On its feet the child has a dainty pair of
shoes, possibly its first ever pair. The baby sits on a cushion
on the chair and stays very still for the camera.
These photographs are around a hundred years old, so it
may be a vain hope that readers recognise either of those
pictured -- nevertheless, we can all appreciate these
delightful images of father and child.A serious-faced father with his baby child. The child sits very still as they watch the birdie.

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