Two illustrated volumes of trade literature:

Sanitary and Iron Sections, Samuel Gratrix Junr & Bro Ltd Manchester, c1900. This volume contains details of a range of Gratrix products including sinks, bathtubs, weathervanes and many others.

Samuel Gratrix Jun & Bro Limited Manchester Brass Dept., 1892. Catalogue featuring a range of Gratrix products, including light fittings, stoves, showers, taps, and many more. The catalogue also features telephones.

These volumes have a strong Manchester provenance. Samuel Gratrix established a business at Alport Town, Deansgate and Bradford (Manchester) in 1819-1821, initially as a lead merchant. In 1891 the MEN declared Gratrix to be perhaps the oldest business in Manchester and the company boasted of its longevity in the city. As the business became national in scope, with offices and warehouses across Britain, Gratrix traded on its Mancunian origins, later becoming known as ‘Gratrix Manchester.’ Within the ‘Sanitary and Iron Sections’ catalogue there is a product branded as a ‘Manchester Closet.’ Gratrix’s location at the heart of the city centre underscores its story as Mancunian. The National Archives holds material relating to legal proceedings in the 1890s when the construction of GNR’s Great Northern Warehouse forced Gratrix’s relocation to Alport Works, Quay Street. The story of Gratrix therefore connects to the history of the museum’s site, as it became a near neighbour.

As a lead manufacturer, Gratrix became involved in the response to issues of public sanitation, manufacturing sinks, taps, piping and a variety of related equipment and accessories for businesses and private dwellings. These volumes illustrate some of the range of products available in the late 19th and early 20th century to service the needs of industrial urban society.

Many of the Gratrix products illustrated in these volumes were aimed at individual consumers, as well as businesses. They illustrate consumers’ changing experience of bathing, washing and otherwise using water in their homes during the late 19th and turn of the 20th century. The Brass catalogue features gas light fittings and telephones. The Sanitary and Iron Sections catalogue illustrates products such as perforated toilet roll (and decorative toilet roll holders), showers and flush toilets at a point in time when these innovations were entering daily life. The volumes reflect the growing numbers of households with sufficient income to make choices about the fittings in their homes, and how a Mancunian business developed luxury products for wealthier customers.

By nature of many of its products, Gratrix was involved in promoting urban health. Gratrix manufactured and marketed pipes, sinks etc. for the home. At the time that these volumes were produced more houses were fitted with indoor plumbing, helping to prevent infections and contributing to improved public health. Both catalogues includes some products aimed specifically at public facilities too, including train stations, public baths and hospitals.

As a lead manufacturer the firm also undoubtedly had a negative role in urban health. The Sanitary and Iron Sections catalogue also includes asbestos products. The volumes document some of the dangers of the mass production and greater availability of hazardous materials, demonstrating some of the complexities of the story of urban health in the 20th century.