British Tokens

The Illuminated Address presented to Mr W.J. Davis by Birmingham Trades Council, upon his appointment as one of H.M.s Inspectors of Factories, ‘signed on behalf of 3000 Subscribers [by] Allan Granger, President, George Dixon, Treasurer [and] Benjamin Church, Secretary’, Birmingham, 8 September 1883, 3pp, by W.M. Hutchison for Watson & Son, Birmingham. Black morocco, gilt and embossed; very slight internal foxing, otherwise very fine and highly decorative, UNIQUE £150-200

Provenance: Birmingham Ephemera associated with the late W.J. Davis, the property of a Lady, DNW Auction T7, 7 October 2009, lot 340; ex libris David Griffiths.

The full text reads: ‘Sir, Your recent appointment as one of H.M.’s Inspectors of Factories furnishes to your many friends in Birmingham a fitting opportunity for the expression of their appreciation of your personal character, and their sense of the beneficial results of your public work in this town – especially in the promotion of the interests of the industrial classes.

At an early period of your life you were called upon to organize and manage a Society in connection with one of our largest local industries – that of the Brassworkers. So wisely and energetically were those duties performed that your services were sought for by the working man of Birmingham in the more public work of this important town. As a member of the Town Council and of the School Board you were indeed a true “Labour Representative.” Whilst efficiently discharging the duties of these important offices in their bearing towards the whole community you ever kept in remembrance the special needs of the working classes. In this sphere of public usefulness your success was abundant; and the benefits you have been able to confer upon your fellow citizens will be long held in grateful remembrance by the working men and women of Birmingham.