homesy135
15th May 2013, 01:30 AM
I bought this matched pair of tongue and groove (or match) planes recently from a seller in the UK. I was attracted to them because the owner had hand written his name, town and a date on the planes. As you are all aware, it is very common to find the owner’s name stamped into wooden planes and other tools. Often a plane will have several names impressed into the wood. This pair just had the maker, “Bailey” of “Sunderland” neatly stamped into the toe of each plane followed by the number “2” and the owner’s details, “George Naisby Hylton 1854.
A quick Google search showed Sunderland to be a town in Northeast England on the Wear River. Hylton is a mile or so up river from Sunderland. This area was the site of much shipbuilding. In fact one reference claimed a third of all ships built in the UK in the period 1846 - 1854 were built upon the Wear River.
My wife is really keen on family history so I asked her to see if there were any records of George Naisby of Hylton in the online genealogy resources. Sure enough, she found George Naisby as a 14 year old in the 1841, living with his parents. His father, John, was a shipwright. In the 1851 census, George lists his occupation as shipwright and had a family of his own. George died in 1877.
I’d exchanged a few emails with the seller and told him I was going to try to find out a little about George Naisby. When I told him that George Naisby was a shipwright he volunteered that he had bought the planes 60 years ago when he was starting out in his trade from a shipwright. Perhaps one of George Naisby’s descendants?
The planes were made by Henry Bailey of Sunderland. Bailey is listed as a plane maker at Cornmarket, Chapple Yard, 199 High Street in 1851 and at 52 High Street, Bishopswearmouth from 1853 – 1859. He was 28 years old in 1851 and gives his occupation as plane maker in the census of that year.
Shipbuilding on the Wear (http://www.sunderlandmaritimeheritage.org.uk/Bitsandpieces/shipbuilding_at_hylton_1.html)
BBC - Wear - History - History of shipbuilding on Wearside (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/articles/2008/01/16/shipbuilding_has_been_20_years_feature.shtml)
http://www.shlhs.com/1851census-6.pdf
Planemakers Database (http://www.planemakers-database.com/page/21/)
A quick Google search showed Sunderland to be a town in Northeast England on the Wear River. Hylton is a mile or so up river from Sunderland. This area was the site of much shipbuilding. In fact one reference claimed a third of all ships built in the UK in the period 1846 - 1854 were built upon the Wear River.
My wife is really keen on family history so I asked her to see if there were any records of George Naisby of Hylton in the online genealogy resources. Sure enough, she found George Naisby as a 14 year old in the 1841, living with his parents. His father, John, was a shipwright. In the 1851 census, George lists his occupation as shipwright and had a family of his own. George died in 1877.
I’d exchanged a few emails with the seller and told him I was going to try to find out a little about George Naisby. When I told him that George Naisby was a shipwright he volunteered that he had bought the planes 60 years ago when he was starting out in his trade from a shipwright. Perhaps one of George Naisby’s descendants?
The planes were made by Henry Bailey of Sunderland. Bailey is listed as a plane maker at Cornmarket, Chapple Yard, 199 High Street in 1851 and at 52 High Street, Bishopswearmouth from 1853 – 1859. He was 28 years old in 1851 and gives his occupation as plane maker in the census of that year.
Shipbuilding on the Wear (http://www.sunderlandmaritimeheritage.org.uk/Bitsandpieces/shipbuilding_at_hylton_1.html)
BBC - Wear - History - History of shipbuilding on Wearside (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/articles/2008/01/16/shipbuilding_has_been_20_years_feature.shtml)
http://www.shlhs.com/1851census-6.pdf
Planemakers Database (http://www.planemakers-database.com/page/21/)