Eliza Tinsley
Eliza Tinsley was an English businesswoman. She was the founder of the Eliza Tinsley Furniture and Eliza Tinsley & Company Ltd.
Born Eliza Butler in Wolverhampton in 1813, she was the daughter of Benjamin Butler (d. 1827) and Ann Shaw (d. 1829).
Benjamin, a file maker and later a maltster and publican at the Golden Fleece, Dudley Street, Wolverhampton. The Golden
Fleece site is now occupied by McDonald’s. Eliza came from a long line of clergymen and lock makers from the Willenhall area.
Eliza's father died when she was only 14 and her mother when she was 16.
She married Thomas Tinsley on 1st January 1839. Thomas was an established nail maker with his own business which he ran
with his brother Theophilus Junior.
Their father Theophilus Tinsley the Elder, also a nailmaker, purchased a plot of land on
Dudley Road where he built a large nail warehouse, three houses (13, 14 and 15) and The Leopard pub, No. 16.
He also bought a plot of land known as Quarry Piece where limestone was quarried for use in iron smelting, construction and agriculture where
the Gornal area was a major part of the overall Black Country heavy industries of the Industrial Revolution started by Dud Dudley and Abraham
Darby.
Theophilus gave this plot to his eldest son Thomas.
When Theophilus the Elder died in 1849 Theophilus Junior took over the running of the Leopard.
In 1851 Thomas & Eliza were living at 70 Woodsetton and about to move in to the new house they had constructed on the
Quarry Site when Thomas died on the 25th June at the age of 43 just over a month after the eldest of their six children,
Elizabeth had died aged only eleven.
Eliza named the house 'The Limes' and took over the running of not only
her husband's company but also her father-in-law's business as well. The
two companies later became one. She ran the company successfully and it
became the largest chain and nail making company in Staffordshire with
warehouses in Bromsgrove, Catshill, Dudley, Old Hill, Sedgley, Stourbridge
and Wolverhampton.
By 1861 the company was employing 3,000 people and by 1871 the company had 4,000 employees producing nails, chains,
rivets and anchors and became contractors to the Admiralty by 1872.
Eliza was known locally as “The Widow” and for over 20 years built her reputation as a fair and knowledgeable business woman visiting customers in the UK and even sending a
representative out to Melbourne, Australia to set up a Company in her name.
Many of her employees were outworkers, living in chain-maker’s cottages in Sedgley and Gornal which probably accounted for why there were over 60 pubs in Gornal alone in the
late 1800's as chain making was incredibly labour intensive, hot and dirty and drinking beer was safer than drinking the local water.
Eliza retired in 1872 at 58 and died 10 years later at home. She is buried in All Saints Churchyard in Sedgley.
The business was taken over by four partners including G Harry Green a former sales representative of the Company and continued to trade
under the name of Eliza Tinsley & Co. He eventually bought out the other partners and acquired J T Parkes in 1966, Wiggin Chains in 1984 and
J H Carter in 1994.
The company closed down in 2006 and was acquired by the Jain family, an Indian based Group. Eliza Tinsley continue to sell hardware goods
from a base in Wednesbury.
When Eliza died in 1882, The Limes was sold to the Fowler family. Henry Fowler of Bilston a self-made millionaire colliery proprietor and iron
master who moved here from Tettenhall. The house then passed on to the Foster family until solicitor Arthur Foster died in 1919 and the house
was bought by Eliza Gray Gibbons. Eliza had married the Widowed John Lloyd Gibbons, owner of Ellowes Hall and descendent of Sir William
Gibbons (1571 - 1643) linking him to the Gibbons side of the family that became world renowned gas retort and firebrick makers of Gornal.
The Limes is now used as private apartments.
Eliza Tinsley
Eliza Tinsley was an English businesswoman. She was the founder of the
Eliza Tinsley Furniture and Eliza Tinsley & Company Ltd.
Born Eliza Butler in
Wolverhampton in
1813, she was the
daughter of
Benjamin Butler (d.
1827) and Ann
Shaw (d. 1829).
Benjamin, a file
maker and later a
maltster and publican at the Golden Fleece, Dudley Street,
Wolverhampton. The Golden Fleece site is now occupied by McDonald’s.
Eliza came from a long line of clergymen and lock makers from the
Willenhall area.
Eliza's father died when she was only 14 and her mother when she was
16.
She married Thomas Tinsley on 1st January 1839. Thomas was an
established nail maker with his own business which he ran with his
brother Theophilus Junior.
Their father Theophilus Tinsley the
Elder, also a nailmaker, purchased a
plot of land on Dudley Road where
he built a large nail warehouse,
three houses (13, 14 and 15) and
The Leopard pub, No. 16.
He also bought a plot of land known
as Quarry Piece where limestone
was quarried for use in iron
smelting, construction and agriculture where the Gornal area was a
major part of the overall Black Country heavy industries of the Industrial
Revolution started by Dud Dudley and Abraham Darby.
Theophilus gave this plot to his eldest son Thomas.
When Theophilus the Elder died in 1849 Theophilus Junior took over the
running of the Leopard.
In 1851 Thomas &
Eliza were living at
70 Woodsetton and
about to move in to
the new house they
had constructed on
the Quarry Site
when Thomas died
on the 25th June at
the age of 43 just over a month after the eldest of their six children,
Elizabeth had died aged only eleven.
Eliza named the
house 'The Limes'
and took over the
running of not only
her husband's
company but also
her father-in-law's
business as well.
The two companies later became one. She ran the company successfully
and it became the largest chain and nail making company in
Staffordshire with warehouses in Bromsgrove, Catshill, Dudley, Old Hill,
Sedgley, Stourbridge and Wolverhampton.
By 1861 the company was employing 3,000 people and by 1871 the
company had 4,000 employees producing nails, chains, rivets and
anchors and became contractors to the Admiralty by 1872.
Eliza was known locally as “The Widow” and for over 20 years built her
reputation as a fair and knowledgeable business woman visiting
customers in the UK and even sending a representative out to
Melbourne, Australia to set up a Company in her name.
Many of her employees were outworkers, living in chain-maker’s
cottages in Sedgley and Gornal which probably accounted for why there
were over 60 pubs in Gornal alone in the late 1800's as chain making
was incredibly labour intensive, hot and dirty and drinking beer was
safer than drinking the local water.
Eliza retired in 1872 at 58 and died
10 years later at home. She is
buried in All Saints Churchyard in
Sedgley.
The business was taken over by four
partners including G Harry Green a
former sales representative of the
Company and continued to trade
under the name of Eliza Tinsley &
Co. He eventually bought out the
other partners and acquired J T
Parkes in 1966, Wiggin Chains in
1984 and J H Carter in 1994.
The company closed down in 2006 and was acquired by the Jain family,
an Indian based Group. Eliza Tinsley continue to sell hardware goods
from a base in Wednesbury.
When Eliza died in 1882, The Limes was sold to the Fowler family. Henry
Fowler of Bilston a self-made millionaire colliery proprietor and iron
master who moved here from Tettenhall. The house then passed on to
the Foster family until solicitor Arthur Foster died in 1919 and the house
was bought by Eliza Gray Gibbons. Eliza had married the Widowed John
Lloyd Gibbons, owner of Ellowes Hall and descendent of Sir William
Gibbons (1571 - 1643) linking him to the Gibbons side of the family that
became world renowned gas retort and firebrick makers of Gornal.
The Limes is now used as private apartments.
