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Back Sisters of Gold
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

‘Margaret?’ Aunt Hatt said, looking up from her desk in the office. ‘Could you go and deliver this for me, d’you think?’ She held out an envelope addressed to a firm in Frederick Street. ‘And on your way back, go next door and ask Caleb Turner to come in when he’s got a minute, will you? Eb needs to speak to him.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Margaret said, turning to go. She had been to Mr Turner’s a number of times now. Aunt Hatt had at first been hesitant about asking her to run messages.

‘We don’t want you overdoing it,’ she said.

‘Auntie, I’m perfectly well now, thank you,’ Margaret said. ‘I shall enjoy it. It’s interesting.’

Three weeks had passed since she and Annie arrived in Birmingham. Margaret was moved by how kind and welcoming the Watts household had been. She realized, with shame, that she had not expected this in what she considered an ungodly household. She had settled into her tasks in the office and was finding all the work done in the quarter fascinating.

Georgie and Clara had come to the house to share a meal with them a couple of times. Clara was a lively, friendly redhead who both she and Annie liked immediately, and little Jimmy, just a year old, a beaming, freckled carrot top who made them all smile and was very happy to come and sit on her lap. Margaret was truly moved by the warmth of her mother’s family.

They had also taken the cable tram out into Staffordshire, along the Soho Road. On the way Uncle Eb pointed towards the window and said to Margaret, ‘Just over there’s where Matthew Boulton’s manufactory used to be. It would’ve been behind all them buildings – over on the heath – huge place, it was. They knocked it all down a while back – in the sixties. He was the feller really started all this jewellery trade here, yer know. Marvellous, all the things ’e did. He was the one who made sure Birmingham had its own Assay Office.’

‘Its own what, Uncle?’ Margaret asked.

‘Oh – the Assay Office – it’s where they check that everything’s what we say it is – the right quality of gold. Everything we make has to go through there – say we send them a batch of a hundred bracelets, they test one to make sure it’s got the right gold content, and then they mark all of them with the hallmark – that’s an anchor for Birmingham. That feller, Matthew Boulton, got sick of having to send all his goods to Chester which was the nearest – so he got them to set up an Assay Office here.’