Home of the HD Key

The origins of Davenport-Burgess can be traced back to early generations of the Davenport family, who lived in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton in the mid-19th Century. The main industries in Wednesfield at that time were key making and trap making. Key making was generally a “cottage” industry and was often a secondary occupation for the “keysmith”. Wednesfield Parish records of the time list a Davenport as a “Publican and Key Maker”. The keys were produced, by hand, in a small workshop behind the pub. Many archives and items from the era can be seen in the Black Country Living Museum, including Sidebotham’s trap making workshop which has been entirely re-located there. The traditional occupation of key making continued throughout the Davenport family - brothers, cousins, uncles, each with his own small workshop, and each tending to specialize in making a particular type of key.

But it was not until after the 2nd World War that the firm of H. Davenport & Sons began to develop into the type of organization we know today. The firm was located in a small workshop behind a terraced house in Victoria Road, Wednesfield. During the post war years, production of malleable iron keys and key blanks was expanded to include exports to Australia and South Africa. However, with the increasing demand for locks & keys, mass production was becoming a necessity, and during the 1950's the fabricated welded steel blank was developed. This is now the main method of production in the UK of mortice keys and key blanks.