Hundreds of historic photographs dating back to the Second World War will be the next to be preserved for future generations as part of the Express & Star photo archive project.

The first historic photographs to be saved from the Express & Star photo archive have been digitised and made available to the public via a free website.

The brothers Charles and Jeremiah Chubb were born in Hampshire in the late 1700s, writes Molly Forsyth.

Both brothers became blacksmith apprentices, with Charles starting out as a ships’ ironmonger in Winchester before moving to the dockland area of Portsmouth in 1804, and Jeremiah soon joining him.

In an area rife with crime, Jeremiah Chubb patented a “detector lock” in February 1818. Picking attempts or use of a wrong key would trigger an in-built detector mechanism, rendering it unlockable and requiring a special key to reset it. The locks worked to deter trespassers, especially as a broken lock would alert a property owner of attempted break-ins. In 1824, the lock was improved, removing the need for the second key.

The invention marked the founding of Chubb as a company. Demand for the lock continued to grow, further helped by winning a government-commissioned contest to find the most secure lock in manufacture.

Chubb’s first known connection to the West Midlands can be dated back to an issue of the Wolverhampton Chronicle, on 10 June 1818, when a recruitment advert was placed for local locksmiths wanted by Jeremiah. Although recruits were relocated to Portsmouth, the decision by the brothers to advertise in Wolverhampton was perhaps down to realising that the future of production lay in a location at the heart of iron manufacture and chain-making.

Indeed, by 1820, Chubb had a works in Temple Street, operating until 1836 when they relocated to St. James’ Square. Business in Portsmouth was officially closed, and Chubb opened a London office to connect their operations in Wolverhampton with a larger industry link.

In 1835 Chubb had taken out a patent on a burglar-resistant safe and in 1837 opened their first safe works at Cowcross Street, close to Smithfield Market in London. From this time the manufacture of safes, vaults and safe depots assumed equal importance with that of locks. In 1838, the works relocated again to Horsley Fields and Mill Street, where they remained for over forty years until 1882, when Chubb became a limited company.

They then operated from London until returning to Wolverhampton in 1889, this time at Railway Street, in a building that could accommodate 350 locksmiths and the same number of safe makers. At their peak, they produced around 28,000 locks a year.

Chubb was expanding rapidly throughout the second half of the 19^th century, as well as thriving in the export market. In 1894 they set up a subsidiary company in South Africa; in 1896 one in Australia; and they had representation in many other countries.

Members of the Chubb family remained in control of the company well into the 20th century. Charles Chubb’s youngest son John entered the business and, after Charles’ death on 16 May 1846, was the sole proprietor. On John’s death in 1872 he was succeeded by his three sons, John Charles, George Hayter and Harry Withers.  

In 1909 Chubb closed their London safe works in order to concentrate production in Wolverhampton, extending their existing Wolverhampton works across a site at Wednesfield Road.

During the First World War the company turned nearly all of its works over to war production. By the end of the war, export trade picked up again, and Chubb had opened a factory in Sydney, Australia by the 1920s.

In 1938, the works were expanded further, bringing the total factory to over 6.5 acres.

Developments in lock and security devices continued, in an effort to combat the new technologies being employed by cracksmen and thieves to overcome mechanisms within older locks. In 1947, Chubb formally moved away from making handmade locks, choosing to only manufacture machine-made locks to ensure a high degree of security at affordable retail prices.

In 1956, Chubb acquired London company Hobbs Hart and Co Ltd. Further growth strategies were employed in the 1960s, including a separate site for safe deposit lockers in Park Lane, and new offices on Wednesfield Road.

With increasing overseas competition emerging throughout the 20th century, the Chubb Group also acquired Willenhall company Josiah Parkes and Sons (Holdings) Ltd and Liverpool safe makers Chatwood Milner in the 1960s, as well as Lips in Holland in 1973.

Racal’s dislike of central London offices lead to Chubbs’ head offices being moved from London to Wednesfield Road during 1985. In 1986 Racal acknowledged the strength of the Chubb name by renaming the whole group of companies Racal-Chubb Products Ltd. The steady growth of sales in the range of commercial locks, which had begun in the 1960s, continued over the next 15 to 20 years.

The Chubb & Sons Lock & Safe Co. Ltd. was taken over by Racal Electronics in 1984. Prior to the takeover Chubb had already decided to create separate Lock and Safe Divisions and these came into being in 1984 under the names Chubb Safe Equipment Co (to manufacture safes, strong rooms and fire resistant cabinets) and Chubb Lock Co. (to manufacture locks for residential and commercial markets).

By the mid 1980s, production of the specialised safe and contract locks for prisons, letter boxes and other high-security purposes was severely restricted. April 1989 saw the launch of Chubb High Security Locks Division.

In the mid 1990s, Chubb Security plc was one of the world’s largest security companies. In October 1992, the shareholders of the Racal Electronic Group approved the £650million hiving off of Chubb Security plc, a firm that employed more than 1000 people. The reasons behind this decision to float Chubb were complex but a hostile bid for Racal-Chubb in 1991 by Williams Holdings was a major factor. In April 1997, Williams Holdings finally acquired Chubb Security plc.

Williams’s policy became to import cheap safes from Indonesia, which resulted in major job losses over the next two years. In August 1999 Chubb Safe and Security Equipment Division at Wednesfield Road, Wolverhampton, employed 350 people and were reported to be looking to reduce this by 10%.

In August 2000 Williams Holdings sold Chubb Safe and the High Security Equipment Divisions, with the rest of their lock making interests, including Yale and Parkes (Union), to Assa-Abloy of Sweden. The deal was finally signed in August 2000. Assa-Abloy, having no interest in the production of safes, immediately sold the Chubb safe making division to Gunnebo, another Swedish Company, while retaining the High Security Locks side. At the time it was reported that the Safe division employed 200 and the Security locks side 120.

On the 15 December 2000 Gunnebo announced they had carried out a worldwide review of business and decided to cut about 40% of their European safe manufacturing operations. That meant they were closing the Chubb Safe works at Wolverhampton and that 170 jobs would go.

In April 2002 Custodial Services moved to a new, purpose built, factory and offices in Well Lane, Wednesfield. The commercial products continued to be manufactured, along with Union and Yale locks, at Wood Street, Willenhall.

In 2004 Chubb Yale Union opened a new distribution centre on the old Henry Meadows site in Cannock Road, Wolverhampton. When Meadows had closed, Chubbs used part of the site for distribution.

The old Josiah Parkes, Union, and Yale factories in Willenhall are long gone. Assa Abloy is now based in School Street, Willenhall, where high security products including door handles, door locks, access control systems, wireless locking systems, and door closers are produced to this day.

To see more photos from the Chubb collection, click here

Thank you for visiting the Express & Star photo archive website, home to historic photographs from the number one newspaper for the Black Country and surrounding areas.

Express & Star publisher the Midland News Association, Wolverhampton City Archives and the University of Wolverhampton came together in a partnership in 2008 to preserve this collection and make it freely accessible to the public.

We have garnered support from local residents, community and heritage groups and businesses through our outreach activity and we were successful in gaining support from Heritage Lottery Fund in 2014 to digitise a number of photographs and produce this website.

1990: Malcolm Woolley putting a copy of the Express & Star into a time capsule at the Hulbert Group, Dudley

The collection is a substantial historical primary source; it is a mass of local personal stories.

The newspaper has been an institution in the region for generations and has had immeasurable access to the daily lives of local people.

Its journalists have documented all aspects of life in the region, sharing the stories of the communities it serves.

The partners shared the aim of ensuring the photographs held by the newspaper at its offices in Wolverhampton could be digitised for free access.

First collection

To launch the website, photographs from the industry section of the collection were prioritised as they matched the 3,000 photograph limit set for the initial digitisation project.

The photographs are primarily from the 1970s through to the mid-1990s, which was when digital photography began to be more widely used by Express & Star photographers.

Not all of the photographs have been retained.

The archive was a working facility, where photographs were placed and removed on an hourly basis in the pre-digital age.

The photos that are left today total around 1m but they are only a fraction of those featured in the newspaper for more than a century.

The selection you can view today are the fruits of the efforts of a group of volunteers, who sifted through the shelves of the collection to prepare the images for preservation.

The digital Express & Star Photo Archive will see historical pictures of the public, architecture and events in the Black Country and beyond preserved safely online.

The project, which involves sifting through shelf after shelf of files to organise images for digitisation, has been transformed through the help of the volunteers.

Betty McCann, Kathy Hughes, Patricia Hughes, Christine West, Brian Lester, Ann Eales and Jackie Harrison, were among those who gave up a combined total of 260 days of goodwill time to help organise our physical archive ready for its transition to digital.

Back in 2014, little detailed information was known about our archive, which had become disorganised and in need of restructuring for transfer online.

So far, 65,000 photos have been sorted, mainly around the categories of war, changing landscape and industry thanks to the volunteers. See also: Archive future bright thanks to volunteers

The initiative aims to continue this vital archiving work to digitise the collection and make the photographs available through this website, allowing free online public access to the unrivalled images of local events, momentous and everyday, for the first time.

Woodfield Junior School pupils Cameron McGregor, 9, and Eleanor Dosanjh, 10, during a 2013 visit to the Express & Star photo archive, Wolverhampton

Quality journalism

Chris Leggett, MNA Media director of marketing and communications, said: “On behalf of the MNA and its partners at the City Archives and the University of Wolverhampton, we are delighted to welcome you to view the photos from the historic past of the Express & Star region.

“It has taken a huge amount of time and effort by so many people in so many different organisations that it is impossible to thank them all.

“We are especially grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their support in getting us to this stage, which we hope will be the first of many opportunities for photos which have been hidden for years to be made available to the public.”

The quality of the photographs is testimony to the talents of the photographers of previous generations, he added.

“When these photographs were taken they were meant for one purpose only, sharing the latest news with the readers in the next edition of the paper,” he said.

“The images come from a pre-digital age, which makes the technique and composition of each photo all the more impressive for modern audiences.

“The Express & Star continues to hold a high reputation for quality journalism, building upon the work of the photographers featured on this site.

“Finally, we have a lot of reasons to thank our volunteers. The project is based upon their incredible efforts which have kept the project going forward.”

Go next: https://photo-archive.expressandstar.co.uk//explore-the-collections/

From 1986: Hiatt’s Geoffrey Cross shows off police handcuffs

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the Express & Star photo archive website:

Is every photo from the Express & Star archive on the website?
Answer: No. There are an estimated 1m printed photographs in the Express & Star store, an estimated 500,000 of which are covered by the newspaper’s copyright. An initial 3,000 photographs have been digitised in order to get the project up and running?

What sort of photos are available on the website?
Answer: To launch the website, photographs from the industry section of the collection were prioritised as they matched the 3,000 photograph limit set for the initial digitisation project. The photographs are primarily from the 1970s through to the mid-1990s, which was when digital photography began to be more widely used by Express & Star photographers.

Have all the photographs from the history of the Express & Star been preserved?
Answer: Not all of the photographs have been retained. The archive was a working facility, where photographs were placed and removed on an hourly basis in the pre-digital age. The photos that are left today total around 1m but they are only a fraction of those featured in the newspaper for more than a century.

How do I find an old photo from a story from the Express & Star, published since 2006?
Answer: The newspaper’s website Expressandstar.com publishes a selection of the hundreds of news stories published in the Express & Star every day.
Visit the website to see if it has the story you require.
If you are looking for a recent story on a particular subject, type in the key words (ie golden wedding Walsall) into the search box in the corner of the page.
If this is unsuccessful, you may want to scour an old edition to find the printed story.

How do I find an old photo from a story from the Express & Star which predates 2006? Or: I cannot find an old story on Expressandstar.com?
Answer: We do not have the facility for readers to view old editions online and the Express & Star does not run an archive library service.
Anyone looking to read an old edition of the newspaper should visit Wolverhampton City Archives, which holds all back issues of the Express & Star on microfilm.
These can be viewed and photocopied. Visit the City Archives website for more information: http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/visit/wolverhampton-archives/

I have a concern about a photograph which appears on the website. What should I do?
Answer: Complete the comment form at the bottom of the page. This will send a message to the site administrators who will review your issue and respond.
The website is not manned 24/7 as it is supported by a multi-organisation partnership. But they will aim to come back to you within three working days.

I would like to licence an image from the collection. What should I do?
Answer: The city archivist will be able to help you with an image request. They can be contacted at: Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies, Molineux Hotel Building, Whitmore Hill, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SF. Telephone: (01902) 552480. Or email here: Click

I would like to order a printed copy of an image from the collection. What should I do?
Answer: Again, the city archivist will be able to help you with an image request. They can be contacted at: Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies, Molineux Hotel Building, Whitmore Hill, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SF. Telephone: (01902) 552480. Or email here: Click

See also: https://photo-archive.expressandstar.co.uk//flag-up-an-issue-about-the-express-star-photo-archive/

Use these general search terms to find key topics: Steel industry photos

Motor industry photos

Industrial relations

Building and construction photos

Wolverhampton City Archives houses a wealth of materials relating to the history of all areas now within the city of Wolverhampton including Bilston, Bushbury, Penn, Tettenhall and Wednesfield.

Constantly growing, the Archives’ vast collections include maps, books, census returns, newspapers, records from local schools, churches, clubs, societies and businesses, electoral registers, and indexes to births, deaths and marriages. There are also over 30,000 photographs, plus films, sound recordings, memorabilia and much more.

A city landmark, this Grade II* listed building was built in the mid-18th century as a home for the wealthy Molineux family, before becoming a hotel in the 1870s. Having fallen into disrepair after closing in 1979, the building has since been fully restored, with the impressive wood panelled Oak Room and ornate Rococo Room giving a glimpse into the former life of the building.

Opening times and visitor information

Volunteer for the City Archives

Hazel Jones

The Express & Star Photo Archive project was fortunate to gain the support of Hazel Jones, who worked for the newspaper during the 1940s. Before her death in 2017, we were grateful that she gave the time to be interviewed about her memories. This article appeared in the newspaper in 2016.

A former Express & Star librarian who was responsible for cataloguing thousands of historic photographs celebrated her 90th birthday recently. (more…)

The Express & Star photo archive website is the culmination of the work of a partnership with three main organisations:

Express & Star

The Express & Star was founded in Wolverhampton in the 1880s by the Scottish-American millionaire Andrew Carnegie and a group of radical Liberal Party members, including Thomas Graham.

Carnegie’s aim was to campaign, through a string of regional daily newspapers, for the creation of a British Republic. His dream was to sack the monarchy, scrap the House of Lords and destroy every vestige of privilege in the land. By 1902 Carnegie had abandoned his mission and the newspaper has been owned by the Graham family ever since.

In the 1980s it paved the way for the computer revolution in the British newspaper industry and has remained in the forefront of publishing technology. The Express & Star has steadily overtaken its rivals to become the biggest-selling regional evening newspaper in Britain.

A survey respondent gives their views on the Express & Star photo project as part of public consultation

University of Wolverhampton, Faculty of Arts

In 1992, Wolverhampton Polytechnic was granted university status and became the University of Wolverhampton. Today our four Faculties offer courses in over 70 different subjects and over 4,000 students graduate from Wolverhampton each year. The Wolverhampton School of Art within the larger Faculty of Arts worked with the partners to deliver this project.

The Wolverhampton School of Art was established in 1851. Our Founder, George Wallis, was born in Wolverhampton and went on to become Deputy Commissioner of the Great Exhibition when an evolving arts school movement was influencing both the emerging tastes of the public and innovation in industry.

From this promising start, the Wolverhampton School of Art developed a pioneering vision and in 1970 moved into it’s current home, the iconic art school on Molineux Street; the first custom built post war art school in England.

Following in the footsteps of George Wallis, our School’s distinguished and talented alumni have achieved recognition worldwide

Wolverhampton City Archives

Wolverhampton City Archives houses a wealth of materials relating to the history of all areas now within the city of Wolverhampton including Bilston, Bushbury, Penn, Tettenhall and Wednesfield.

Constantly growing, the Archives’ vast collections include maps, books, census returns, newspapers, records from local schools, churches, clubs, societies and businesses, electoral registers, and indexes to births, deaths and marriages. There are also over 30,000 photographs, plus films, sound recordings, memorabilia and much more.

A city landmark, this Grade II* listed building was built in the mid-18th century as a home for the wealthy Molineux family, before becoming a hotel in the 1870s. Having fallen into disrepair after closing in 1979, the building has since been fully restored.

Find out more: About the project

Hazel Jones visits the Express & Star in 2014

See also: Video interview with 1940s Express & Star photo librarian

Students from the University of Wolverhampton had the chance to handle historic photos from the archive of the Express & Star as part of the annual freshers fair. (more…)