The Austrian connection

Carl Kuhn, originally a citizen of Ulm, settled in Vienna and being an entrepreneur set-up a factory for the production of pen nibs in 1843.  This company was the first of its kind in Austria and became well-known for its products and the quality of its products.

In 1860, Carl Kuhn's son-in-law joined his business as an associate and the company became known as Carl Kuhn & Co.  And guess what?  The name of the son-in-law was Carl H I Brandauer who was a citizen of Wurttemberg.  Unfortunately, Carl Kuhn's son died at an early age and eventually Carl Kuhn & Co became owned by the Brandauer family.

In 1862 Mr C H I Brandauer arrived in Birmingham in order to set-up his own pen factory (now known as C Brandauer & Co Ltd) in partnership with Mr Kohler, initially for 10 years.  Land had been purchased in February 1862 on behalf of the partnership.  Mr Kohler and Mr Brandauer financed the purchase of land and of my great, great grandfather's partnership, Ash Petit, which was the start of the C Brandauer, as follows:

• £2,500 from Mr C H Brandauer and it was acknowledged that he had already made a payment of £1,972.9.0.
• £1,500 from Mr F W Kohler who would pay a further sum of £500 in May 1862, and once his London shop had been sold he would, within 6 months, pay a further £500 and after 12 months another £500

The C Brandauer partnership was further funded with a loan from Mr Brandauer's Father-in-law, Mr Carl Kuhn, of £5,000 repayable with interest.  This loan meant that outside credit was not necessary.  The loan would be terminated when Mr C H I Brandauer left the partnership.

A contract of sale, dated 12 February 1862, purchased a piece of land in Birmingham, with its front on New John Street No 403-410, in total 2,238 square yards, at a purchase price of 9/ per square yard.  (9 shillings is equal to 45p), which would have cost £1,007.10p in decimal money.

It was also agreed that as soon as possible, a place of business should be opened on one of the busiest streets in the City of London, near the Royal Exchange, to sell the company products and the same in Stuttgart.

In 1872, Carl Kuhn & Co was also producing pen holders as well as pen nibs and factory space in Vienna was becoming difficult.  It was therefore decided that the Viennese factory would increase its production of pen holders and supply these to Birmingham and would stop the initial stages of pen nib production.  Instead it would buy semi-finished nibs from C Brandauer in Birmingham which were then finished off in Vienna.  This method of production in Vienna lasted for 40 years until the start of WW1 when full production of pen nibs once again started.  After the war contact was resumed between the companies of Carl Kuhn and C Brandauer (no longer owned by the Brandauers) but each continued to make their own products.  I believe that the firm Carl Kuhn stopped trading in the mid 1930s.  However, I am not sure of this and hopefully will be able to find out further information on this via documents and conversations with the current Brandauers in Vienna.

Sad times

With the start of WW1, in the summer of 1914, the directors of C Brandauer & Co Ltd found themselves in the difficult position of being a Company half-owned by an Austrian family. The Brandauer family had with others founded the Company over 50 years earlier but due to the nature of WW1 they would now be seen as the enemy by the British.

The directors of C Brandauer & Co Ltd met every quarter for a board meeting and the first one after the declaration of war is dated Monday November 1914, at 12 o'clock. Minute 500 is indeed a very sad one and is as follows:

Mr Joseph H Petit [Chairman] reported that the War between England and Germany had necessitated the removal of the names of Mr Frederick C J Brandauer and Mr Hermann Brandauer from the Directorate of Messrs C Brandauer & Co Ltd on account of their nationality until the conclusion of the War as their positions as Directors interfered with the conduct of the business of the Company.

Resolved
That Mr Frederick C J Brandauer and Mr Hermann Brandauer be removed from the Board of Directors until the conclusion of the present War. The Board found it expedient on account of competition to be in a position to declare themselves an entirely British Company.

I know that this decision caused great sadness and anxiety to both families as they had worked together for three generations and corresponded extremely regularly with each other. It took some years after WW1 had ended to sort out the complicated Company affairs between the two families and the War Office but in the mid-1920s C Brandauer & Co Ltd became totally owned by the Petit family as it is to this day.

However, communication between the Petit and Brandauer families did not finish in 1914 as the archive shows and lasted for many years to come. There was a gap in the 1950s, 60s and 70s but in the 1980s my Father, Mr Joseph Adrien Letiere Petit, found the Brandauer family, still in Vienna. Since finding the Brandauers I have met them at the factory and in Vienna and we share archival information, which is marvellous. Finally, we are looking forward to meeting the current generations of the Brandauer family at the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2012.