Birmingham pen trade same time Osmiroid International had a large production plant in the city. Birmingham pen trade The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century; for many years, the city was the centre of the world's pen trade. In Newhall Street, John Mitchell manufactured pens; he pioneered mass production of steel pens (prior to this, the quill pen was the most common form of writing instrument). Mitchells are credited as being the first manufacturers to use machines to cut pen nibs, greatly speeding up the process. John's brother William later set up
Classical music of Birmingham returned as organist of St Martin in the Bull Ring, and is thought to be the composer of the one act pastoral "Menalcas", in addition to two books of songs and six keyboard quartets that are notable for giving melodic parts to the strings, and for having slow movements of an unusually ornamental style. The first half of the 19th century saw the profile of Birmingham's musical culture, and particularly that of the Birmingham Music Festival, gradually establish first a national and then an international importance. For all its success, during the 18th century the Birmingham Festival had been primarily