Holbrook Bell Foundry
The History
Major George Holbrook was born in 1767 in Wrentham, MA. In his teens he was apprenticed to Paul Revere as a machinist and clockmaker.
In 1797 George Holbrook built a factory to make bells and clocks in Brookfield, MA. There are a few bells that exist, cast by Holbrook from this time period but it Is reasonable to assume that he was doing more clock work than bell work at this time.
In 1812 Holbrook experienced some financial difficulty and left Brookfield, eventually relocating to East Medway, MA. In 1816 he established another bell foundry after getting a contract to cast a bell for a new meeting house that was planned. The bells cast by George during the time frame were embossed GEORGE HOLBROOK. He cast a number a bells over the next 4 years and in 1820 he retired.
Colonel Holbrook’s son, Major George Handel Holbrook took over the business in 1820. Based on the published list of Holbrook bells, it appears that Major Holbrook had interest in growing the foundry because the output increased dramatically. The foundry was casting medium mostly medium size bells from about 500 Lbs. up to 1,500 Lbs. They were selling single bells, many times for Meeting Houses and Churches. Major Holbrook embossed his bells as GEORGE H. HOLBROOK; MEDWAY, MA.
In about 1828 Major Holbrook started to use “East Medway” on some of the bells he was casting. It is unknow why that on some bells he would use Medway and other bells he would use East Medway. He did this over the next years and in 1834 began to use “East Medway” on all his bells. It was at this time that he also began using G. H. Holbrook instead of his whole name.
In 1865 the inscriptions on the bells change again, this time being the name either G.H. HOLBROOK & SON or a simplified HOLBROOK & SON.
In 1868 Major Holbrook’s grandson became involved in the business. His name was Edwin Handel Holbrook. Major Holbrook died in 1875 and his Edwin took over operation of the foundry. Based on surviving bells, Edwin must not have had the passion for the foundry that his grandfather had as the volume of bells slowed down dramatically. It survived until 1880 when Edwin ended up selling it and getting out of the foundry business altogether.
The Holbrook Bell Foundry is remembered for the fine bells they cast. The bells looked very nice and they sounded good. The foundry cast only crown top bells and they were mostly mounted in wooden yokes.
