In it’s early history, No.35 Warstone Lane was a home and then had mixed uses as a home and business. The first business uses were not connected with the Jewellery trade, with the building occupied by a Draper and then a Painter and Grainer, but since 1873 it has been occupied by a succession of jewellery- related businesses. For much of it’s time it has been typical of many properties in the area with a shop frontage and offices\workshops on the upper floors in multiple occupancy.

William Arthur Tongue, who was born in Birmingham in 1857, was a long term tenant at No. 35; trade directories and rate books place him there from at least 1888 to 1921. He had a workshop on the 1st floor from where he traded as a gem setter.

Tongue married a woman called Alice and had 5 children. They lived in a rented house in Erdington (Doris House, 174 Reservoir Road). His only son, Horace Charles, was also a gem setter and was living at home in Erdington aged 29 in 1911, along with four daughters, (manager, teacher, typist and clerk) aged 26,24,18 and 15.

Horace was still living at home in Erdington in 1920, aged 38, but has gone by 1925. William continued to live there until his death in 1926, leaving an estate worth £125 12s to his son Horace.

Tongue was a common name in the area, with 81 burials recorded in Warstone Lane and Key Hill, including William and his wife Alice , in Warstone Lane Cemetery, plot A445.

Building Timeline

1862

Building occupied by Aleck Mackie, a draper

1872-3

Building occupied William Simkin, a painter & grainer

1873-81

Building occupied by Samuel Dudley, a chaser & embosser, and also served as a family home

1882

Building occupied by Thomas Hilton, a spectacles maker

1884

Building occupied by Alfred Peel, a silver locket manufacturer

1888-1921

First floor office occupied by William Arthur Tongue, a gem setter

1901

Ground floor occupied by Martin Cunningham, who ran a retail shop

1901-20

First floor office occupied by Leonard Joseph Taylor, a silversmith

1903-12

Building occupied by Patrick Quinn, who used it as refreshment rooms

1903

Building occupied by Harry Candelent, who was an engraver

1906

Ground floor occupied by Patrick Zuinn, who ran a shop

1906

Richard Ward had an office on the second floor

1906

Harold C Hutchinson had an office on the second floor

1911

William Arthur Wolley had an office on the second floor

1912

Building occupied by William Gross, who was a silversmith

1912

Building occupied by Thomas Newby, who was an engraver

1920/1

Building occupied by an electroplating business owned by Earnest Edward Whiston

1920

Building occupied by Joseph Whitlock

1921

Building occupied by Myer Jays, a silversmith

pre-1941

First floor occupied by Earnest George Ford

pre-1941

First floor occupied by Charles Uling Sorby

1941

Ground floor occupied by Sutherland Metal Co Ltd

1955

Building occupied by Joseph I Hazeldine

1960

Ground floor occupied by Henry Radcliffe & Co Ltd

1960

First and second floor occupied by S H Shipway & Doble

1990

Building occupied by Warstone Mint

2019

Building occupied by Aspire Diamonds, diamond ring specialists

Birmingham Evening Mail advert, December 1990