Tudor Crystal, one of the last of the historic Stourbridge glass firms

The Audnam company was still making art glass long after many of its rivals had ceased trading

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Dial glassworks in 2003, much reduced in height from its earlier days

THE story of the Stourbridge glass industry is one of ups and downs, with prosperity and poverty in equal measure.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the history of Tudor Crystal. The photograph on this week's front page shows the glassworkers at the Stourbridge Glass Co Ltd., better known as Tudor Crystal, in Audnam, complete with traditional aprons and flat caps. It was taken at the Junction Road site in 1922, soon after the company was founded.

The photograph was put our way many years ago by Clive Bentley, whose mother Dorothy was an intaglio worker at Tudor for much of her working life.

Only two of the glassworkers in the photograph are identified: Harry Jackson (third row from front, far left) and Horace Bridgens (fourth row, far right).

At the time the photograph was taken, the Stourbridge glass industry was thriving. In 1922 there were no fewer than 18 crystal glass manufacturers listed in the Pottery Gazette Reference Book and Directory: five each in the postal area of Stourbridge, Amblecote and Wordsley, two at Audnam, and one at Wollaston, with an additional four in Brierley Hill.

However, when the company was founded the glass industry in Stourbridge was recovering from a recession. The years following the Great War had seen a drop in demand for crystal glass and the industry was very slow, with short-time working on the increase.