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Tinplate

A brief outline of the local tinplate industry in the 19th century

The tinplate trade during the 20th century

Iron, Steel & Tinworks

1892 Local businessmen decided to form The Welsh Tinplate and Stamping Company which operated from premises in Ann Street in the Wern district of Llanelli.

1893 Joseph Holmes, originally from Stourport in the West Midlands, joined The Welsh Tinplate and Stamping Company and before long became the managing director.

1898 The Llanelly Tinstamping Company, as it was known, outgrew the premises in Ann Street and moved to the site of the Cambrian Copperworks built by the Glascott family in 1830 and later converted by Richard Janion Nevill in 1849 to the lead and silver works at Cambrian Street. Note: Pots produced at The Welsh Metal Tinplate & Stamping Works are on display at Parc Howard Museum.

1910-1911 The Tinstamping Company decided to construct its own tinplate plant on adjoining land and its subsidiary company was called the ‘Pemberton Tinplate’ Company which became operational in 1911.

1945-1958 Following the Second World War and the decline in local industries the Pemberton management decided to close theworks in 1958 and subsequently the plant was dismantled.

1969-1978 The share capital of the Metal Tinplate and Stamping Company was acquired by George Salter & Company of West Bromwich, an established weighing-scales manufacturer. The new company retained the name but the writing was on the wall, as it was with so many other local industries and during 1978 the decision was taken to close the company. The closure ended an industrial history, which had started in 1830 with a copperworks, followed by lead and silver production, following by tinplate stamping, enamelling and finally ‘Salter Houseware’.

In its heyday the labour force of the site had been in excess of 1,200 but that had been reduced to about 100 when the site finally closed. Now the site of a modern housing estate, there is no trace of the Copper Works, the Lead and Silver Works or the Tinplate Stamping Works that once gave employment to so many Llanelli workers.