Hi

My grandfather in 1911 at Sparrow Hill is listed as a Tinplate worker (Pickler).

What's the Pickler bit?

Thanks

Simone x

Hi

I think this is right

Operate or tend machines to wash or clean products, such as barrels or kegs, glass items, tin plate, food, pulp, coal, plastic, or rubber, to remove impurities.

Pete

.... the plates are covered in scale and therefore must be pickled. This involves dipping the plates in sulphuric acid for five minutes. The pickling turns the scales into a greenish-black slime which is removed via annealing.

Tin plate is sheet iron or steel coated with tin. The plates of sheet iron are first well cleaned by washing,
then dipped in melted tin, and afterwards in a solution of diluted sulphuric acid, this last process being
known as pickling. The sheets are then scoured with fine sand and water and afterwards dried.
To obtain the proper softness, they are next annealed, sorted, and passed between rollers
which impart to them an even thickness. This rolling hardens the plates, after which they are again annealed,
sorted, pickled, and trimmed.

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

Thanks Pete & Slowhands :)

Sounds a yukky job!

Simone x

Was tin mined locally or did they bring it from Cornwall? I have some tin workers in my family too but they were living in Wales.

I'm not aware of any local tin ore mining - Cornwall and parts of Dartmoor Devon were the main ( global) source of tin ore / Cassiterite for a while.

Tin and other minerals had been mined from early man's time. The decline came from the mid 1870's approx when other Tin deposits were found in Australia , South Africa , the Americas etc.

Some FoD folk had gone to Cornwall to mine Tin and Copper etc, likewise there is a flow of Cornish miners to the FoD and South Wales.

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

Yeah,Clive here,- I've only just logged on to this site but saw your message and will enclose this probably useless information.I actually live at Port Victoria in South Australia and only about 58 kilometres away is a town called Moonta(I was there today) and it is an old copper mining town that was settled by people from Cornwall. They have a Festival there every two years (I think), called the Kernewick Lowender.I have memories of The Forest of Dean as a young lad.

Hi Clive
It would be interesting what memories you had while living in the Forest of Dean
you never know it may turn up other links for other members in their research
Terry

yeah,ok Terry 2424,my memories of the forest are fleeting and very few.I actually lived in a town called Nelson and was born in Pontypridd.I made a few trips to see my grandparents with my dad. I do recall walking thru the bracken with my cousins and there was a wishing well in there somewhere too. I think the cottage is my strongest memory and in particular being lined on the outside with small pebbles(probably pressed into mortar).I daresay the cottage would still be there and as aforementioned, I hope to take my wife over to
wales to check this out probably next year and most definitely during your summer. We are beach and water people over here and even tho I'd like to see the snow, I'd find it hard to handle..Cheers..Clive.