Norwich at Work: Photographs from the collection

The Museum of Norwich holds an extensive archive of photographs linked to the working life of the city during the C19th and C20th.

Norwich was once well known for producing textiles, shoes, chocolate, mustard and beer, as well leading the field in insurance, banking, engineering and printing.

Behind the success of many countless firms, both big and small, was an army of workers, skilled in their own particular craft and trade.

This mini exhibition highlights and celebrates just a small sample of this workforce, from the better known weavers and clickers, to the now often forgotten wire weavers, mattress makers, propeller varnishers and cracker makers.  Photo opposite: Norwich Glass Company, leaded light shop, c.1950s

Norwich was an important centre of textile manufacture from medieval times, with its golden age in the mid-18th century. During the 1840s, there were at least 28 manufacturers, producing shawls in Norwich. In 1849, one firm, E. & F. Hinde, made 26 different types of shawl, representing a total of 39,000 shawls for one year. During the 1850s, shawl production was at its peak. Norwich was represented at the Great Exhibition of 1851, when a number of businesses entered their finest shawls and won top prizes. Photo opposite: James Churchyard, the oldest Norwich handloom silk weaver, 1913

In the 19th and 20th centuries, engineering was one of the major industries in Norwich. Products included steam engines, electrical motors, agricultural equipment, street furniture and domestic ironwork. Norwich firms were pioneers in the manufacture of wire netting and aircraft design.  They specialised in the manufacture of pre-fabricated buildings in iron, steel and wood as well as producing some of the very best examples of decorative art metalwork.  Their products regularly won prize medals and many reached world-wide markets. In 1910 Boulton and Paul built the sled used on the ill fated Antartic expedition of Captain Scott.  Colman's, another local firm, also supplied flour and mustard for the trip.  Photo opposite : Barnard, Bishop and Barnard, wire weavers, c.1910  

For over a hundred years, the city was well known for producing chocolate. Albert Jarman Caley first opened a chemists at London Street, Norwich in 1857. The firm firstly produced mineral water and in 1886 they began manufacturing chocolate. During the First World War, Caley's 'Marching Chocolate' became popularly known amongst the British troops as "Marcho." In 1932, John Mackintosh and Son bought the firm and in 1969, the firm went on to merge with Rowntree's. In 1937, 'Rolo', the city's most well known chocolate, rolled off the production line. In 1988, Nestle took over the site and in 1994 the business was closed with a loss 900 jobs.   Photo opposite : A.J Caley Ltd, chocolate factory, c.1920s

As well as the better known industries, Norwich, like all cities, hosted a wide variety of crafts and trades, that kept the city ticking on.  Picture opposite : Big Peter Chiesa, reputedly the first ice-cream seller in Norwich, early 1900s