The Hands Family

 

Thomas Hands born about 1742 married Mary Parsons on 26 December 1776 in Solihull. Mary Parsons was born about 1746.(Information from Mike Yegwart, researcher)

 

Edward Hands was born 1773 to Thomas and Marey Hands at Wythall, Worcestershire he was christened in Wythall 19 December 1773.  His sister Hannah was born in 1780 and christened in Wythall 13 February 1780.

 

Edward married Sarah Lluellen (Lewellen) at St Martins, Birmingham in 1809. Their two children, Ann (1820) and Thomas (1812) were christened in Solihull although I have no proof they were living there.  Edward died in 1836 aged 62 and was buried at St James Church, Shirley.

 

Thomas married Hannah Beach, I have been unable to find their marriage recorded but they were living in St Georges Birmingham when the first of their ten children was born.

 

William was born in February 1841, he died a month later and was buried at St James, Shirley. The church register entry states that he was of St Georges, Birmingham. Two other children were christened in Shirley, Sarah in 1838 and Edward in 1839. I assume from this that Thomas and Hanna although living in Birmingham still had connections with Shirley and this was probably through his parents although the only information I have been able to find about them is Edward's death in 1836. Four other children were christened together at All Saints, Birmingham: William born 1842, Thomas born 1844, James born 1848, Joseph born 1850. Josiah was born 20-8-1851, Frederick 1854, George 1857, Hannah 1860

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Thomas and Hannah lived in Great Russell Street, St Georges, Birmingham in 1841. On the Census he gave his occupation as Carpenter. By 1851 they had moved to 19 Barr Street West in St Georges; this was part of the Jewelry Quarter. The census gave his age as 39 and Joseph his son as 1 year. His place of birth was given as Solihull. 

 

On the 1861 census they were living at 11 Little King St with eight of their children. Thomas was an Electro Plater, and James and Joseph Pencil Case Makers. On this one Thomas gave his place of birth as Shirley.

 

The 1871 census has the father, Thomas, as Carpenter (paralysed unable to work) his place of birth is Tamworth, Staffordshire. Frederick age 17 was a Gold Locket maker and George a Jeweller.  A visitor to the house was John Gunnell a maltster who married Sarah Hands in 1872 three weeks after her fathers death. 

 

Thomas (born 1812) died on 27 April 1872 after being paralysed for 5 years. The 1881 census has his wife Hannah living at 29 Hunters Vale, Aston. Her occupation is Laundress.  Frederick the Gold Locket maker is still with her as is George in Lapidary and her daughter Hannah who is now a Chain Maker.

 

By 1876 Joseph had met and married Emma Molton. They married on 18 December at St Matthews, Harborne. Joseph's occupation being given as silver pencil case maker and his father as deceased. Emma Molton was 25, her parents were Joseph and Catherine Molton (nee Adkins).  Their marriage was recorded in Coventry in 1838.

 

Joseph and Emma Hands had five children: Joseph Thomas Molton Hands (1877), Walter (1883), Edith Rose (1881), Lizzie (1879), and Harry Charles (1880). In 1891 the census gave Joseph's occupation as optician and Emma's as glacier (glass polisher). They lived and traded at 178 Hockley Street, in the heart of the jewelry trade area.

 

The entries in Kellys Directories for  ‘Joseph Hands and Sons, Optician’s up to 1901 was 178 Hockley Street. 1902 there was no entry but 1903 the address was 146½ Hockley Hill  and the business was described as Optician Wholesaler. The business had moved just round the corner from Hockley Street. By 1923 Kellys also listed ‘George Hands, Stamper’ on the same site, by 1944 he was listed as a Toolmaker. the 1953 Kellys shows a change of address for the Manufacturing Optician to 15 Albion Street and by 1963 they were at 22b Baltimore Road. 

The last entry I found was 1973 when Joseph Hands & Sons Manufacturing Opticians was at 48/50 Newhall Hill.

 

Joseph Thomas Molton Hands (1877), known as Joe, instead of following his father into the Opticians business went into the cycle trade and worked for Melene Ltd in Sydenham Road , Sparkbrook. He developed a delivery bicycle and always maintained that his boss claimed the design was his and patented it under his own name. Joe owned a motorbike and sidecar and frequently used it to visit the Cotswolds, one of his favourite places. I have a lovely photograph of Joe with his wife in the sidecar and daughter aged about 10 on the pillion taken about 1911.

 

Joe married Jessie Davies at St Pauls, Birmingham in 1900, and their only child, Jessie Winifred was born on 7 March 1901 Jessie and Joe lived in a rented house but Jessie would not stay in one place very long so their address changed frequently.

 

Jessie Winifred Hands worked for Cadburys as chocolate enrober before she married William Henry Floyd in 1928. William, known as Bill as an engineer in the motor industry and according to Kellys 1932 Jessie had an Hardware shop at 142 Raddlebarn Road, Selly Oak.

 

They moved to Gloucester in 1939 just before the start of the war. Joseph and Jessie Hands followed them and lived nearby at 44 Springwell Gardens in Churchdown. until their deaths. Joe Died 2 November 1943 of lung cancer - he smoked high tar cigarettes all his life. When Jessie began to go blind after an unsuccessful cateract operation her sister Ada came from Birmingham to live with her. Jessie died 8 November 1950. They were both buried at St Bartholemews Church on the top of Chosen Hill in Churchdown.

 

Bill and Jessie Floyd had three children: Nigel in 1934, died aged 2. John, born 23 June 1936 and myself, Doreen, born 15 December 1938.

 

I have a very few recollections of my Hands relatives as I was born in December 1938  just before the war when travel became very difficult so we didn’t visit Birmingham often.

 

Joseph’s sisters, Edith and Lizzie Hands I met several times and liked very much.  They must have been in their sixties and lived together when I met them.   Lizzie was the quiet one who later in life went profoundly deaf which caused Edith a lot of grief as she had to shout all the time.  Edith I remember as being bright, talkative and full of fun. After Lizzie died she came to stay with us for a while.

 

I remember visiting the Hands Engineering workshop in Birmingham when I was very young.  I  met some of the Hands family but cannot recall any of their names. We drove through a wide gate into a yard behind a house where there were some workshops. It was a cold wet day and the terraced street was dark and dreary.

 

There is much I would still like to know about the family: How did Thomas become paralysed?  What did the Hockley St & Hockley Hill workshops look like?  Where were Thomas Hands and Hannah Beach married? And where was Thomas (1812) born, Shirley, Solihull or Tamworth? He was christened in Solihull

 

 

 

 

20-7-05