Recently, I was given a six page illustrated booklet of this well known engineering firm, of Pattern Makers, in west Yorkshire. The city of Huddersfield was mainly known for its cloth trade, textiles etc. In the early 1800s, it was in the forefront of the Victorian Industrial Revolution, with huge mills and engineering works to service the machinery used therein. 

Ernst M. Brown and Co., successors to David Brown and Sons) (Pic 1), had traded in this town since 1860. This booklet, I would suggest, dates from about 1907 making it approximately one hundred and ten years old! During this time, I am sure that the apprentices who were employed by this firm would have served at the minimum of five years but, more likely, seven years apprenticeship. Many would have made their own tools for special jobs and would have become highly skilled in this trade which, no doubt, would have given them lifetime employment.