Chapter XVI: Part 16

~Perry Barr.~--Three miles from Birmingham, on the road to Lichfield, is one of the ancient places that can claim a note in Domesday. Prior to the eighteenth century there had been a wooden bridge over the Tame, the present curiously-built stone erection, with its recesses to protect the wayfarers from contact with crossing vehicles, being put up in 1711-12 by Sir Henry Gough, who received £200 from the county, and contributions from the neighbouring parishes, towards the cost. The date of the early church is unknown, the present one being built and endowed by Squire Gough in 1832. Like other suburbs Perry Barr bids fair to become little more than an offshoot to Birmingham, the road thereto fast filling up with villa and other residences, while churches, chapels, and schools may be seen on all hands. The Literary Institute, built in 1874, at a cost of £2,000, contains reading and class rooms, lecture hall, &c., while not far off is a station on the L. and N.W. line. Ferry Hall, the seat of the Hon. A.C.G. Calthorpe, has been the home of the Lords of the Manor for many generations.

~Pest and Plague.~--The year 1665 is generally given as the date of "the great plague" being here; but the register of St. Martin's Church does not record any extraordinary mortality in that year. In some of the "news sheets" of the 17th century a note has been met with (dated Sept. 28, 1631), in which the Justices of the Peace inform the Sheriff that "the plague had broken out in Deritend, in the parish of Aston, and spread far more dangerously into Birmingham, a great market town." St. Martin's registers of burials are missing from 1631 to 1655, and those of Aston are not get-at-able, and as the latter would record the deaths in Deritend, there does not appear any certain data to go upon, except that the plague was not a casual visitor, having visited Coventry in 1603 and 1625, Tamworth in 1606 and 1625, and Worcester in 1825 and 1645, the date generally given (1665) being that of the year when the most deaths 68,596, occurred in London. The tradition is that the plague contagion was brought here in a box of clothes conveyed by a carrier from London. It is said that so many persons died in this town that the churchyard would not hold the bodies, and the dead were taken to a one-acre piece of waste land at Ladywood Green, hence known for many generations as the "Pest Ground." The site has long been built over, but no traces of any kind of sepulture were found when house foundations were being laid.

~Pewter.~--To have bright pewter plates and dishes ranged on their kitchen shelves was once the delight and the pride of all well-to-do housewives, and even the tables of royalty did not disdain the pewter. At the grand dinner on George IV.'s Coronation-day, though gold and silver plate was there in abundance for the most noble of the noble guests, the majority were served on brightly-burnished pewter, supplied from Thomason's of Birmingham. The metal is seldom seen now except in the shape of cups and measures used by publicans.

~Philanthropic Collections.~--The following are a few not mentioned in previous pages:--A local fund for the relief of sufferers by famine in Asia Minor was opened May 6, 1875, the amount collected being £682.--In 1875, a little over £1,700 was gathered to aid the sufferers from the inundations in France that year.--November 25, 1878, at a meeting held to sympathise with the losers through the failure of the Glasgow Bank more than £1,000 was subscribed; £750 being gathered afterwards.--The Mayor's Relief Fund, in the winter-time of 1878-79, totalled up to £10,242, of which £9,500 was expended in relief, £537 in expenses, and the balance divided between the Hospitals. The number of separate gifts or donations to the poor was 500,187, equivalent to relieving once 108,630 families.

~Philanthropic Societies.~--Are as numerous as they are various, and the amount of money, and money's worth, distributed each year is something surprising. The following are the principal ones:--

_Aged Women_.--A society was commenced here in 1824 for the relief of poor women over 60 years of age, and there are now on the books the names of nearly 200 who receive, during the year, in small amounts, an average of 17s to 18s. each. Miss Southall, 73, Wellington Road, is one of the Hon. Sees., who will be pleased to receive additional subscriptions. Fifty other aged women are yearly benefitted through Fentham's Trust.--See "_Blue Coat School_."

_Architects_.--There is a Benevolent Society in connection with the Royal Institute of British Architects, for relieving poor members of the profession, their widows, or orphans. The local representative is Mr. F. Cross, 14A, Temple Row.

_Aunt Judy's Work Society_.--On the plan of one started in London a few years back; the object being to provide clothes for poor children in the Hospitals. The secretary is Mrs. W. Lord, Brakendale, Farquhar Road, Edgbaston.

_Bibles, etc_.--The Birmingham Depository of the British and Foreign Bible Society is at 40, Paradise Street; and that of the Christian Knowledge Society is at 92, New Street.

_Boarding-out Poor Children_.--A Ladies' Society for Befriending Pauper Children by taking them from the Workhouse and boarding them out among cottagers and others in the country, had been quietly at work for some dozen years before the Marston Green Homes were built, but whether the latter rule-of-thumb experiment will prove more successful than that of the ladies, though far more costly, the coming generation must decide.

_Boatmen's Friend Society_.--A branch of the British Seamen's and Boatmen's Friend Society, principally for the supply of religious education to the boatmen and their families on the canals, the distribution among them of healthy literature, and the support of the work carried on at the Boatmen's Hall, Worcester Wharf, where the Superintendent (Rev. R.W. Cusworth) may be found. The subscriptions in 1882 amounted to £416.

_Church Pastoral Aid Society_.--The name tells what subscriptions are required for, and the Rev. J.G. Dixon, Rector of St. George's, will be glad to receive them. The grants of the Parent Society to Birmingham in 1882 amounted to £3,560, while the local subscriptions were only £1,520.

_Clergymen's Widows_.--The Society for Necessitous Clergy within the Archdeaconry of Coventry, whose office is at 10, Cherry Street, has an income from subscriptions, &c., of about £320 per year, which is mainly devoted to grants to widows and orphans of clergymen, with occasional donations to disabled wearers of the cloth.

_Deritend Visiting and Parochial Society_, established in 1856. Meeting at the Mission Hall, Heathmill Lane, where Sunday Schools, Bible classes, Mothers' Meetings, &c., are conducted. The income for 1883 was £185 7s. 4d., and the expenditure £216 16s. 7d., leaving a balance to be raised.

_District Nursing Society_, 56, Newhall Street, has for its object the nursing of sick poor at their own homes in cases of necessity. In 1883 the number of cases attended by the Society's nurses was 312, requiring 8,344 visits.

_Domestic Missions_, of one kind and another, are connected with all the principal places of worship, and it would be a difficult task to enumerate them. One of the earliest is the Hurst Street Unitarian, dating from 1839.

_Flower Mission_.--At No. 3, Great Charles Street, ladies attend every Friday to receive donation of flowers, &c., for distribution in the wards of the Hospitals, suitable texts and passages of Scripture accompanying the gifts to the patients.

_Girls' Friendly Society_.--The local Branch, of which there are several sub (or parochial) branches, has on its books near upon 1,400 names of young women in service, &c., whose welfare and interests are looked after by a number of clergymen and ladies in connection with the Church of England.

_Humane Society_.--A Branch on the plan of the London Society was established here in 1790, but it was found best to incorporate it with the General Hospital in 1803.

_India_.--A Branch of the Christian Vernacular Education Society for India was formed here in 1874. There are several branches in this town and neighbourhood of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society for making known the Gospel to the women of India, and about £600 per year is gathered here.

_Iron, Hardware, and Metal Trades' Pension Society_ was commenced in this town in 1842. Its head offices are now in London; the local collector being Mr. A. Forrest, 32, Union Street.

_Jews and Gentiles_.--There are local Auxiliary Branches here of the Anglo-Jewish Association, the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, and the British Society for Propagating the Gospel among Jews, the amounts subscribed to each in 1882 being £72, £223, and £29 respectively.

_Kindness to Animals_.--Mainly by the influence and efforts of Miss Julia Goddard, in 1875, a plan was started of giving prizes among the scholars and pupil teachers of the Board Schools for the best written papers tending to promote kindness to animals. As many as 3,000 pupils and 60 teachers send papers in every year, and the distribution of 500 prizes is annually looked forward to with interest. Among the prizes are several silver medals--one (the champion) being given in memory of Mr. Charles Darwin, another in memory of Mr. E.F. Flower, a third (given by Mr. J.H. Chamberlain) in memory of Mr. George Dawson, and a fourth given by the Mayor.

_Ladies' Useful Work Association_.--Established in 1877 for the inculcating habits of thrift and the improvement of domestic life among mothers of families and young people commencing married life. A start was made (Oct. 4) in the shape of a series of "Cookery Lessons," which were exceedingly well attended. Series of useful lectures and lessons have followed since, all bearing on home life, and as it has been shown that nearly one-half of the annual number of deaths in Birmingham are those of children under 5 years of age, it is to be hoped that the "useful work" the ladies of the Association have undertaken may be resultive in at least decreasing such infantile mortality. Office, No. 1, Broad Street Corner. In March, 1883, the ladies had a balance in hand of £88.

_Needlework Guild_,--Another Ladies' Association of a similar character to the above was established April 30, 1883.

_Negroes' Friends_.--When slavery was as much a British as American institution it was not surprising that a number of lady residents should form themselves, in 1825, into a Negroes' Friend Society. The funds now collected, nearly £170 a year, are given in grants to schools on the West Coast of Africa and the West Indies, and in donations to the Freedmen's Aid Society, the Anti-Slavery Society, &c.

_Old Folks' Tea Party_.--In 1857, a few old people were given a treat just prior to Christmas, and the good folks who got it up determined to repeat it. The next gatherings were assembled at the Priory Rooms, but in a few years it became needful to engage the Town Hall, and there these treats, which are given biennially, are periodically held. At the last gathering there attended over 700, not one of whom was under sixty years of age, while some were long past their three-score and ten, and a few bordered on ninety. The funds are raised by the sale of tickets (to be given by the purchasers to such old people they think deserve it), and by subscriptions, the recipients of the treat not only having that enjoyment, but also take home with them warm clothing and other usefuls suited to their time of life.

_Prevention of Cruelty to Animals_.--Birmingham Society for this purpose was established in 1852, and its officers have frequently been the means of punishing inhuman brutes who cruelly treated the animals entrusted to their care. Cases of this kind should be reported to Mr. B. Scott, the Society's Secretary, 31, Bennett's Hill. In 1882, 125 persons were summoned, and 107 of them convicted, the year's expenditure being £344.

_Religious Tract Society_.--A local auxiliary was established here in 1853 in which year £409 were realised, by the sale of books, tracts, and religious periodicals; in 1863 that amount was quadrupled; in 1873 the receipts were nearly £2,000. Last year (1883) the value of the sales reached £2,597, and, in addition, there had been free grants made of more than 13,000 tracts and magazines--the Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, Workhouses, Police Stations, Cabmen's Rests, &c., being supplied gratuitously.

_St. John Ambulance Association_.--The Birmingham Branch of this Association was organised in 1881, and some hundreds of both sexes have since then passed the examination, and obtained certificates of their proficiency in ambulance work, and in the treatment of ordinary cases of accident or sudden illness. It would be a good thing if every man and woman in the town had similar knowledge, and would make use of it when occasions require quick thought and ready hand. The secretary is Mr. J.K. Patten, 105, Colmore Row.

_St. Thomas's Day Charity_.--A very old custom in Edgbaston has been the collection of donations for a Christmas distribution to the poor and old of the parish. Regular accounts have been booked for over fifty years, but how much longer the custom has existed is uncertain. At first, money only was given, afterwards part was given in bread and packets of tea, while of later years a stock of about 500 blankets has been provided for lending out. The receipts per year are about £200.

_True Blues_.--In 1805 a number of young men who had been brought up at the Blue Coat School and who called themselves the "Grateful Society," united their contributions and presented that charity with £52 10s. 3d. in gratitude for the benefits they had received, a worthy plan which was followed for several years. These same young men originated the "United Society of True Blues" (composed of members who had been reared in the School) for the purpose of forming a fund for the relief of such of their number as might be in distress, and further to raise periodical subscriptions for their old school, part of which is yearly expended in prizes among the children.

~Philanthropic and Benevolent Institutions~--Birmingham cannot be said ever to have wanted for charitable citizens, as the following list of philanthropic institutions, societies, and trusts will show:--

_Blind Institution_, Carpenter Road, Edgbaston.--The first establishment in this town for teaching the blind was opened at 113, Broad Street, in March, 1847, with five boarders and twelve day pupils. At Midsummer, in the following year, Islington House was taken, with accommodation for thirteen resident and twelve day scholars, but so well did the public meet the wishes of the patrons and committee of the Institution, that the latter were soon in a position to take upon lease a site for a permanent building (two acres, at £40 a year for 99 years), and on the 23rd of April, 1851, the corner-stone was laid of the present handsome establishment near to Church Road, the total cost of completion being about £7,000. Nearly another £7,000 has since been expended in the erection of workrooms, master's residence, in furniture, musical instruments, tools, &c., and the Institution may be considered in as flourishing a condition as any in the town. The 37th annual report (to Lady-day, 1884), stated that the number of in-door pupils during the past year had been 86--viz., 51 males and 35 females. In the same period 4 paid teachers, 15 out-door blind teachers and workmen, and 4 females had been employed. The number of adult blind residing at their own homes, and visited by the blind teachers engaged in this department of the work was 253. The total number of persons benefited by the institution was therefore 362. The financial statement showed that the expenditure had been £6,067 2s. 7d., of which £1,800 had been invested in Birmingham Corporation Stock. The receipts amounted to £6,403 7s. 9d., leaving a balance of £336 5s. 2d. in the treasurer's hands. The statement of receipts and payments on behalf of the adult blind home-teaching branch, which are kept separately, showed a balance due to the treasurer of £71 5s. 9d.

_Bloomsbury Institution_.--Commencing in 1860 with a small school, Mr. David Smith has gradually founded at Bloomsbury an institution which combines educational, evangelistic, and missionary agencies of great value to the locality. The premises include a mission hall, lecture room, class rooms, &c., in addition to Cottage Homes for orphan and destitute children, who are taught and trained in a manner suited to the future intended for them in Canada. The expenditure of the Institution is now about £1,500 a year, but an amount equal to that is wanted for enlargement of buildings, and other philanthropists will do well to call upon their brother Smith.

_Children's Day Nursery_, The Terrace, Bishopgate Street, was first opened in 1870, to take care of the children in cases where the mothers, or other guardians, have to go to work.

About 6,000 of the little ones are yearly looked after, at a cost of somewhat under £200. Parties wishing to thus shelter their children must prove the latter's legitimacy, and bring a recommendation from employer or some one known to the manager.

_Children's Emigration Homes_, St. Luke's Road.--Though ranking among our public institutions, the philanthropic movement of picking up the human waifs and strays of our dirty back streets may be said to have hitherto been almost solely the private work of our benevolent townsman, Mr. Middlemore. The first inmate received at the Homes (in 1872) was a boy who had already been in prison three times, and the fact that that boy is now a prosperous man and the owner of a large farm in Canada, should be the best of all claims to the sympathy and co operation of the public in the beneficent work of placing out "Street Arabs" in new homes where they will have equal chances of getting on in the world. The batch of children leaving this town (June 11, 1884), comprised 110 boys and 50 girls, making the total number of 912 sent out by Mr. Middlemore in the twelve years.--In connection with the Bloomsbury Institution there is also a Children's Home, from which 23 children have been sent to Canada, and at which some 30 others are at present being trained ready to go.

_Deaf and Dumb Institution_, Church Road, Edgbaston.--This is the only institution of its kind within a radius of a hundred miles, and was the second established in England. Its founder was Dr. De Lys, an eminent physician, resident here in 1810, in which year a society was established for its formation. The first house occupied was in Calthorpe Road (1812), Lord Calthorpe giving the use of the premises until the erection of the institution in Church Road, in 1814. The school, at first, would accommodate only a score of pupils, but from time to time additions were made, and in 1858 the whole establishment was remodelled and enlarged, at a cost of £3,000, so that now there is room for 120. The number on the books at Midsummer, 1883, was 109--64 boys and 45 girls. The year's receipt's amounted to £3,152 12s. 4d., and the expenditure to £2,932 12s. 8d. The children, who are elected at the annual meeting of subscribers in September, are received from all parts of the kingdom, but must not be under eight or over thirteen years of age. Subscribers of a guinea have the right of voting at the elections, and the committee have also power to admit children, on an annual payment of £25. The parents or guardians of the elected candidates, must pay £6 per year towards clothing, &c. The office of the Secretary is at City Chambers, 82 New Street.

_Friendless Girls_.--The Ladies' Association (established 1878) for the recovery of girls who have given way to temptation for a short time, or who have been convicted of a first offence, has been the means of rescuing many from the streets and from a life of crime. The Home is in Spring Road, and Mrs. Pike, Sir Harry's Road, is the treasurer, to whom contributions can be sent; and that they will be welcome is shown by the fact that there is a balance at present against the Institution's funds.

_Girls' Home_, Bath Row, established in 1851, to provide shelter for young women of good character, when out of situations. A free registry is kept, and over 300 girls avail themselves of the Home every year.

_Girls' Training Institution_, George Road, Edgbaston, was opened in 1862, to prepare young girls from twelve to fifteen, for domestic service.

_Industrial and Reformatory Schools_.--Gem Street Industrial School, for the recovery of boys who had began a life of crime, was opened in 1850, and at the close of 1883 it contained 149 boys, under the charge of nine officers.

According to the report of Her Majesty's Inspector, the boys cost 7s. 8d. per head per week, but there was an industrial profit of £601 11s. 4d., £309 0s. 11d. having been received for hire of boys' labour. The Treasury paid £1,350 14s., the rates no less than £1,007 18s. 11d., and subscriptions brought in £83 13s. Of 125 discharges, only 40 per cent, were reported to be doing well, 4 per cent, convicted, 16 per cent, doubtful, and as many as 40 per cent, unknown.--_Penn Street_ School, an establishment of a similar character, was certified in Jan., 1863. There were 60 boys and 5 officers. The boys cost only 5s. 6d. per head per week. The school received £67 16s. 11d. from the Treasury, £275 0s. 10d. from the rates, £93 2s. from subscriptions, and £100 9s. 3d. from the hire of boy labour. There is an industrial profit of £136 19s, 11d. Of 37 discharges 70 per cent, are said to be doing well, 6 per cent, to be re-convicted, 3 per cent, dead, and 21 per cent, unknown.--At _Shustoke_ School, certified in February, 1868, there were 130 boys, under 11 officers. The boys cost 6s. 8d. per head per week. £1,580 17s. 11d. had been received from the Treasury; £1,741 16s. from the rates, of which, however, £1,100 had been spent in building, &c.; industrial profit, £109 3s. 7d. Of 27 discharges 74 per cent, were reported to be doing well, 18 per cent, to be convicted, 4 per cent, to be doubtful, and 4 per cent, to be unknown.--_Saltley_ Reformatory was established in 1852. There were 91 boys under detention and 16 on license at the time of the inspector's visit; 9 officers. This school received £1,371 14s. 3d. from the Treasury, £254 19s. 1d. from the rates, and £99 16s. 6d. from subscriptions. The boys cost 6s 8d. per head per week, and there was £117 9s. 10d. industrial profit, representing the produce of their labour. Of 74 boys discharged in 1879-81, 69 per cent are reported to be doing well, 19 per cent. to be reconvicted, and 12 per cent. unknown.-- At _Stoke Farm_ Reformatory, established in 1853, there were 78 boys under detention, in charge of 10 officers; and 19 on license. Stoke received £1,182 19s. 8d. from the Treasury, £102 17s. 6d. from the rates, and £100 from subscriptions. The boys cost 6s. 11d. per head per week, and there was an industrial profit of £18 14s. 11d. Of 62 boys discharged in 1879-81, 76 per cent, were reported to be doing well, 16 per cent. to be convicted of crime, 5 per cent. doubtful, 11/2 per cent. dead, 11/2 per cent. unknown.

_Licensed Victuallers' Asylum_, Bristol Road, founded in 1848, to receive and maintain for life distressed members of the trade and their wives or widows.--The Secretary is Mr. H.C. Edwards, The Quadrant, New Street.--See. "_Trade Societies_."

_Little Sisters' Home_.--Founded in 1864, by three French and two English members of the Catholic "Order of Little Sisters of the Poor," the first home being at one of the large houses in the Crescent, where they sheltered, fed, and clothed about 80 aged or broken-down men and women. In 1874 the Sisters removed to their present establishment, at Harborne, where they minister to nearly double the number. The whole of this large family are provided for out of the scraps and odds-and-ends gathered by the Sisters from private houses, shops, hotels, restaurants, and bars of the town, the smallest scraps of material crusts of bread, remains of meat, even to cigar ends, all being acceptable to the black robed ladies of charity daily seen in the town on their errand of mercy. Though essentially a Catholic institution, the "Little Sisters" bestow their charity irrespective of creed, Protestants being admitted and allowed freely to follow their own religious notions, the only preference made being in favour of the most aged and destitute.

_Magdalen Asylum and Refuge_.--First established in 1828, the chapel in Broad Street being opened in 1839. Removed to Clarendon Road, Edgbaston, in 1860. There are usually from 35 to 40 inmates, whose labour provides for great part of the yearly expenditure; and it is well that it is so, for the subscriptions and donations from the public are not sent in so freely as could be wished. The treasurer is Mr. S.S. Lloyd.

_Medical Mission_.--Opened in Floodgate Street, Deritend, in 1875. While resembling other medical charities for the relief of bodily sickness, this mission has for its chief aim the teaching of the Gospel to the sick poor, and in every house that may be visited. That the more worldly part of the mission is not neglected is shown by the fact that the expenditure for the year ending Michaelmas, 1883, reached £643.

_Night Refuges_.--Mr. A.V. Fordyce, in July, 1880, opened a night asylum in Princess Road, for the shelter of homeless and destitute boys, who were supplied with bed and breakfast. The necessity for such an institution was soon made apparent by larger premises being required, and the old police station, corner of Bradford Street and Alcester Street, was taken. This has been turned into a "Home," and it is never short of occupants, other premises being opened in 1883, close to Deritend Bridge, for the casual night-birds, the most promising of whom are transferred to the Home after a few days' testing. A somewhat similar Refuge for Girls has also been established, and if properly supported by the public, these institutions must result in much good.

_Nurses_.--Tim Birmingham and Midland Counties' Training Institution for Nurses, organised in 1868, has its "Home" in the Crescent. It was founded for the purpose of bringing skilled nursing to the homes of those who would otherwise be unable to obtain intelligent aid in carrying out the instructions of their medical attendants. The subscription list for 1882 amounted to £282 1s., and the sum to the credit of the nurses pension fund to £525 1s. The committee earnestly appeal for increased support, to enable them to extend the work of the institution, from which at present the services of four nurses are granted to the District Nursing Society, Newhall Street, for attendance on the sick poor. The staff included 66 trained nurses, with 18 probationers, the latter passing for their training through the General, Children's, and Homoeopathic Hospitals. The nurses from the "Home" attend on an average over 500 families in the year, those from the District Society conferring their services on nearly 200 other families.

_Protestant Dissenting Charity School_, Graham Street.--This is one of the oldest of our philanthropical institutions, having been established in 1760--the first general meeting of subscribers being held June 22, 1761. The first house taken for the purposes of the charity was in New Meeting Street, and both boys and girls were admitted, but since 1813 only girls have received its benefits. These are taken from any locality, and of any Protestant denomination, being housed, fed, clothed, educated and trained for domestic servants. There are usually about 45 to 48 inmates, the cost per child averaging in 1883 (for 56 girls) nearly £20 per head. At the centenary in 1861 a fund of nearly £1,500 was raised by public subscription in aid of the institution, which has but a small income from investments. Subscribers of a guinea per year have the right of nominating and voting for the admission of one child every year. The present home in Graham Street was erected in 1839, and application should be made to the matron for information or for servant girls.

_Sanatorium_, situated at Blackwell, near Bromsgrove.--This establishment, which cost £15,750, of which £2,000 was given by Miss Ryland, was built to provide a temporary home, with pure air, rest, and nourishing diet for convalescent patients, who otherwise might have had to pine away in the close-built quarters of this and neighbouring towns. The buildings, which will accommodate sixty persons, were opened April 16, 1873, and take the place of a smaller establishment to which Miss Ryland had devoted for some years a house at Sparkbrook. The average number of inmates is put at fifty, and the number who passed through the house in 1883 was 1,052, the expenditure for the year being £1,780 8s. The income was derived from annual subscriptions, £901 10s.; special subscriptions, £347 11s. 6d.; paid by hospitals for maintenance of patients, £192 6s.; grant from the General Hospital, £26 5s.; share of Hospital Saturday collection, £211 Os. 4d. The Secretary, from whom all information can be received as to terms of special and other tickets, is Mr. E.J. Bigwood, 3, Temple Row West.

_Servants' Home and Training Institution_, established in 1860, finds shelter for a time to as many as 240 young women in the course of a year, many looking upon it as the only home they have when out of a situation. In connection with it is a "training school" and laundry, where a score or more girls are taught. Both parts of the institution pay their way, receipts and expenditure (£180 and £350 respectively) generally balancing. The Servants' Home is at 30, Bath Row, where there is a Registry for servants, and also for sick and monthly nurses.

_Town Mission_--Established in 1837, and re-modelled in 1850. This institution seeks work in a variety of ways, its agents visiting the homes of the poor, the wards of the Hospitals, the lodging-houses, and even the bedsides of the patients in the smallpox and fever hospitals. In addition to the providing and looking after the "Cabmen's Rests," of which there are sixteen in the town, the Mission employs a Scripture reader specially to deal with the deaf and dumb members of the community, about 200 in number. At the Noel Road Refuge (opened in 1859) about 40 inmates are received yearly, and at Tindal House (opened in 1864) about half that number, the two institutions having (to end of 1883) sheltered 1,331 females, of whom nearly a thousand have been brought back to moral and industrious habits. The income of the Society for 1883 was £1,690 17s. 3d., the expenditure being a little over that amount, though the laundries connected with the Refuges more than pay their way. The office is at the Educational Chambers; 90, New Street.

_Young Men's Christian Association_.--Instituted in 1849; incorporated in 1873. For many years its meetings were held at the Clarendon Chambers, but when the notorious "Sultan Divan" was closed in Needless Alley, it was taken for the purposes of this institution, the most appropriate change of tenancy that could possibly be desired, the attractions of the glaring dancing-rooms and low-lived racket giving place to comfortable reading-rooms, a cosy library, and healthy amusements. Young men of all creeds may here find a welcome, and strangers to the town will meet friends to guide them in choice of companions, or in securing comfortable homes.--A similar Association is that of the Church of England Y.M.C.A., at 30, Paradise Street, which was commenced in 1849, and numbers several hundred members.--At a Conference held Nov. 24, 1880, it was decided to form a Midland District Union of Y.M.C.A.s in this and the surrounding counties.

_Young Women's Christian Association_, 3, Great Charles Street.--The idea of forming an institute for young women was first mooted in 1874, a house being taken for the purpose in Colmore Row in 1876, but it was removed to Great Charles Street in 1882, where lodgings may be obtained for 2s. 6d. a week. From returns sent in from various branches in connection with the Association, it would appear that the number of members in Birmingham was 1,500, which says much or its popularity among the class it was intended to benefit.

~Philanthropic Trust Funds.~--That our predecessors forgot not charity is well proved, though some of the "Trusts" read strangely in these days.

_Apprenticing Poor Boys_.--A favourite bequest in past days was the leaving of funds for apprenticing poor lads to useful trades, and when workmen were so scarce and valuable that the strong arm of the law was brought in to prevent their emigrating or removing, doubtless it was a useful charity enough. Now-a-days the majority of masters do not care about the small premiums usually paid out of these trusts, and several such charities have been lost sight of or become amalgamated with others. The funds, however, left by George Jackson, 1696, and by Richard Scott, 1634, are still in the hands of trustees, and to those whom it may concern, Messrs. Horton and Lee, Newhall street, solicitors to both trusts, will give all needful information.

_Banner's Charity_.--Richard and Samuel Banner, in 1716, left some land at Erdington, towards providing clothing for two old widows and half-a-dozen old men, the balance, if any, to be used in apprenticing poor boys in Birmingham,

_Dudley Trust_.--Mr. William Dudley, at his decease in 1876 left £100,000 on trust for the purpose of assisting young tradesmen commencing business on their own account, to relieve aged tradesmen of the town who had not succeeded in life, and lastly to benefit the charities of the town. The rules require that applicants must be under fifty years of age; that they must reside within the limits of the borough; that they must not have been set up in business more than three years; that they must give satisfactory proof of their honesty, sobriety, and industry; and that they must give satisfactory security to the Trustees, either personal, viz., by bond with two or more sureties [each surety must give two or three references], or upon freehold, copyhold, or leasehold properties. All these conditions being satisfactorily met, the loans, which will be made free of cost, will bear interest at 2-1/2 per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly, and must be repaid within five years, and if the money is wanted for more than two years, repayments by instalments must then commence. The benefactions to aged persons take the shape of grants, annual or otherwise, not exceeding £20 in any one year, in favour of persons who fulfil the following requirements: They must be of the age of sixty years at least, they must have been tradesmen within the limits of the borough; and they must be able to show to the satisfaction of the Trustees that they are of good character and need assistance, and that they have not received any parochial relief. The Trustees have made several large grants to charitable institutions. Offices: 20, Temple Row.

_Fentham's Charity_.--In 1712 George Fentham left about one hundred acres of land in Handsworth and Erdington Parishes, in trust, to teach poor children to read, and to clothe poor widows. The property, when devised, was worth £20 per year. At the end of the century it was valued at £100 per year; and it now brings in nearly £460. The twenty children receiving the benefits of this charity are admitted to the Blue Coat School, and are distinguished by their dress of dark green. Some fifty widows yearly share in the clothing gifts.

_Food and Clothing_.--John Crowley, in 1709, bequeathed an annuity o 20s. chargeable on property in the Lower Priory, to be expended in "sixpenny bread" for the poor at Christmas.--Some land at Sutton Coldfield was left, in 1681, by John Hopkins, to provide clothing and food for the poor of St. Martin's.--Palmer's Charity, 1867, finds about £40 per annum, which is distributed among eighty recipients selected by the Town Council, the majority being poor old women, who go for their doles Dec. 12th.--In addition to the above there have been a number of minor charities left to the churchwardens for providing food and clothing which have either been lost sight of, or mixed up with others, some dating as far back as 1629-30.

_George Hill's Charity_ is now of the value of nearly £5,000, bringing in about £120 yearly. Of this 52s. goes to the churchwardens of the parish church to provide bread for the most necessitous and aged poor; 20s. to the incumbent of Deritend, and the residue in pensions of not more than £20 to decayed schoolmasters and schoolmistresses.

_Hollier's Charity_ was devised in 1789, the land now known as Highgate Park (originally 10 acres) being left to clothe, annually, twenty poor persons, twelve from Birmingham and eight from Aston. The purchase money paid by the Corporation has been invested, and, under the direction of the Charity Commissioners, the income of this charity is appropriated thus:--£50 for clothing for twelve poor men or women of Birmingham, and eight ditto of Aston; £25 for relieving deserving and necessitous persons discharged from Borough Lunatic Asylum; £150 to the Dispensaries of Birmingham and Aston; £25 each to the Children's Hospital and the Sanatorium; and the remainder to the General Hospital.

_James's Trust_, of 1869, which realises about £1,000 per year, was left to provide homes and pensions for deserving widows and others; five annuities for poor and decayed gentlewomen; and a scholarship at the Grammar School. The Secretary is the Vicar of St. Clement's, Nechells.

_Kylcuppe's Charity_.--Sept. 19, 1611. Richard Kylcuppe devised certain land at Sparkbrook for charitable purposes, the income of which is now handed to the General Hospital and General Dispensary, as nearly as possible following the testator's wishes.

_Lench's Trust_, which dates from 1539, is one of the most important charities of the town, and has an income of over £3,000 a year at present. The original objects of the trust were repairing the streets of the town and relief to poor. From time to time other charities have been incorporated, and the funds administered with those of Lench's Trust. Among these are the "Bell Rope" fund for purchasing ropes for St. Martin's Belfry, the donor of which is not known; Colmore's Charity, dating from 1585, for relieving the poor and repairing streets; Redhill's and Shilton's (about 1520), for like purposes; Kylcuppe's 1610, for the poor, and a small sum towards repairing the church; Vesey's 1583, known as the "Loveday Croft" gift; Ward's 1573, and Wrexam's, 1568, both for gifts to the poor on Good Friday; Ann Scott's, 1808, providing small amounts to be given to the inmates of the Almshouses, &c. The Trust now maintains four sets of almshouses (Conybere Street, Hospital Street, Ravenhurst Street, and Ladywood), accommodating 184 inmates, all women, who receive 5s. a week each, with firing, medical advice and medicines when necessary, and sundry other small comforts beloved by old grannies. The solicitors to the Trust are Messrs. Horton and Lee, Newhall Street. The income of Lench's Trust for the year 1883 amounted to £3,321 10s., of which £1,825 14s. went to the almswomen, £749 1s. 8d. for matrons, doctors, and expenses at the almshouses, £437 9s. 4d. for repairs, insurance, rates, and taxes, and £309 5s. for clerks, collectors, auditors, law and surveyor's charges, printing, &c.

_Milward's Charity_.--John Milward in 1654 left property then worth £26 per annum and the Red Lion public-house (worth another £26, but which could never be traced out), to be devided between the governors of the Free Grammar Schools of Birmingham and Haverfordwest and Brazennose College, for the support at the said college of one student from the above schools in rotation. The Red Lion having been swallowed up at a gulp; the other property would appear to have been kept as a nibbling-cake, for till the Charity Commissioners visited here in 1827 no scholar had ever been sent to college by its means. The railways and canals have taken most of the property of this trust, the invested capital arising from the sales bringing in now about £650 per year, which is divided between the two schools and the college above named, the Birmingham portion being sufficient to pay for two scholarships yearly.

The _Nichol Charity_ provides for the distribution of bread and coals to about 100 people on New Year's Day, by the vicar and churchwardens of St. David's.

_Old Maids and Widows_.--About £40 per year are divided by the Rector and Churchwardens of St. Philip's amongst ten old maids "or single women of virtuous character," and twelve poor widows attending divine service there, the invested money arising from Shelton's Charity, 1826, and Wilkinson's Charity, 1830.--Thomas Pargeter (of Foxcote) in 1867, left money in trust, to provide annuities of £20 each, to unmarried ladies of fifty-five or more, professing Unitarianism, and about 100 are now reaping the fruit of his charity. Messrs. Harding and Son, Waterloo Street, are the solicitors.

_Ridduck's Trust_, for putting poor boys out apprentice, was devised in 1728, the property consisting of a farm at Winson Green. By direction of the Court of Chancery, the income is now divided, £70 to Gem Street Free Industrial School, and £20 to the British School, Severn Street. The Trustees include the Mayor, the Rectors of St. Martin's, St. Philip's, St. Thomas's, St. George's, several Nonconformist ministers, and the Registrar of the Society of Friends.

_Preaching Sermons_.--By Salusbury's Charity, 1726, the Rectors of St. Martin's and St. Philip's are entitled to the sum of 15s to preach sermons once a year for the benefit of the Blue Coat School--Ingram's Charity, 1818, consisting of the yearly interest of £500 4 per cent. India Stock, was intended to insure the preaching of an annual sermon on the subject of kindness to animals (especially to the horse) by a local clergyman of the Established Church, but the Governors of King Edward's School, who are the trustees, have obtained the sanction of the Charity Commissioner to a scheme under which sermons on kindness to animals may take the form of one or more free lectures on the kind treatment of animals, and especially of the horse, to be delivered in any place of public worship, or other building or room approved by the trustees, and not necessarily, as heretofore, by a clergyman of the Established Church, and in a church.

_Scripture Reading_.--In 1858 Admiral Duff left a sum of money, which brings in about £45 per year, for the maintenance of a Scripture Reader for the town of Birmingham. The trustee of this land is the Mayor for the time being, and the Scripture Reader may be heard of at the Town Clerk's office.

_The Whittingham Charity_, distributed at St. James's, Ashted, in March, furnishes gifts to about eighty poor people (principally widows), who receive blankets, sheets, quilts, flannel, &c., in addition to bread and coal.

~Philosophical Society.~--A society with this name was formed in 1794 for the promulgation of scientific principles among mechanics. Its meetings were held in an old warehouse in the Coach Yard, and from the fact that many workmen from the Eagle Foundry attended the lectures, delivered mainly by Mr. Thomas Clarke, the members acquired the name of "the cast-iron philosophers." Another society was formed in 1800, for the diffusion of scientific knowledge amongst the middle and higher classes, and by the year 1814 it was possessed of a handsome Lecture Theatre, a large Museum, with good collections of fossils and minerals, a Library, Reading Room, &c., in Cannon Street. Like many other useful institutions of former days, the philosophical has had to give way to the realistic, its library of dead men's writings, and its fossils of the ancient world, vanishing in face of the reporters of to-day's doings, the ubiquitous throbs of the "Walter" and "Hoe" steam presses resounding where erst the voice of Science in chronicling the past foreshadowed the future.

~Pillory.~--This ancient machine for the punishment of prigs formerly stood in High Street. The last time it was used was in 1813. We pillory people in print now, and pelt them with pen and ink. The Act for abolishing this method of punishment was not passed until June 30, 1837. What became of the pillory here is not known, but there is, or was lately, a renovated specimen of the article at Coleshill.

~Pinfold Street~ takes its name from the "pound" or "pinfold" that existed there prior to 1752. There used to be another of these receptacles for straying animals near to the Plough and Harrow in Hagley Road, and a small corner of Smithfield was railed off for the like purpose when the Cattle market was there established. The "Jacob Wilsons" of a previous date held a field under the Lords of the Manor wherein to graze their captured cattle, but one of the Town Criers mortgaged it, and his successors lost their right to the land which was somewhere about Caroline Street.

~Places of Worship.~--_Established Church_.--In 1620 there were 358 churches in Warwickshire, 130 in Staffordshire, and 150 in Worcestershire; but St. Martin's, Edgbaston, Aston, Deritend, and Handsworth, churches were all that Birmingham could boast of at the beginning of last century, and the number had not been increased to a very large extent even by the year 1800. As will be seen from the dates given in following pages, however, there was a goodly number of churches erected in the first half of this century, about the end of which period a "Church extension" movement was set on foot. The success was so apparent that a society was formed (Jan., 1865), and in March, 1867, it was resolved to raise a fund of £50,000, for the purpose of at once erecting eight other new churches in the borough, Miss Ryland heading the list of donations with the munificent gift of £10,000. It is difficult to arrive at the amount expended on churches previous to 1840, but the annexed list of churches, built, enlarged, or repaired in this neighbourhood from 1840 to 1875, will give an approximate idea of the large sums thus invested, the whole of which was raised solely by voluntary contributions.

Acock's Green ... ... £6,405
Aston Brook ... ... 5,000
Balsall Heath ... ... 8,500
Bishop Ryder's ... ... 886
Christ Church ... ... 1,000
Christ Church, Sparkbrook 9,163
Edgbaston ... ... ... 2,200
Hay Mills ... ... ... 6,500
Immanuel ... ... ... 4,600
King's Heath ... ... 3,900
King's Norton ... ... 5,092
Moseley ... ... ... 2,491
Saltley ... ... ... 7,139
St. Alban's ... ... 2,800
St. Andrew's ... ... 4,500
St. Anne's ... ... ... 2,700
St. Anne's, Moseley ... 7,500
St. Asaph's... ... ... 7,700
St. Augustine's ... ... 7,800
St. Barnabas' ... ... 3,500
St. Bartholomew's... ... 1,260
St. Clement's ... ... 3,925
St. Cuthbert's ... ... 5,000
St. David's... ... ... 6,185
St. Gabriel's ... ... 4,307
St. George's Edgbaston ... 1,583
St. James's Edgbaston ... 6,000
St. John's, Ladywood ... 7,200
St. Lawrence's ... ... 4,380
St. Luke's ... ... ... 6,286
St. Martin's ... ... 30,134
St. Matthew's ... ... 4,850
St. Matthias's ... ... 5,361
St. Mary's ... ... ... 4,503
St. Mary's, Selly Oak ... 5,400
St. Nicholas' ... ... 4,288
St. Paul's ... ... ... 1,400
St. Philip's ... ... 9,987
St. Saviour's ... ... 5,273
St. Silas's... ... ... 4,677
St. Stephen's ... ... 3,200
St. Stephen's, Selly Oak 3,771

To the above total of £228,336 expended on churches in or close to the borough, there should be added £57,640 expended in the erection, &c., of churches close at hand in the adjoining diocese of Lichfield; £25,000 laid out at Coleshill, Northfield, and Solihull (the principal residents being from Birmingham); and a still further sum of £150,000 spent on Church-school buildings. These figures even do not include the vast amounts invested for the endowments of the several churches and schools, nor is aught reckoned for the value of the land or building materials where given, nor for the ornamental decorations, fonts, pulpits, windows, and furnishings so munificently lavished on our local churches. Since the year 1875 it has been calculated that more than £100,000 has been devoted to similar local church-building purposes, so that in less than fifty years much more than half-a-million sterling has been voluntarily subscribed by the Churchmen of the neighbourhood for the religious welfare and benefit of their fellow men. Still there is room for more churches and for more preachers, and the Church Extension Society are hoping that others will follow the example of the "Landowner," who, in the early part of the year (1884) placed £10,000 in the hands of the Bishop towards meeting the urgent need of additional provision for the spiritual wants of the inhabitants.--Short notes of the several churches can alone be given.

_All Saints'_, in the street of that name, leading out of Lodge Road, is a brick erection of fifty years' date, being consecrated September 28, 1833. It was built to accommodate about 700 and cost £3,850, but in 1881 it was enlarged and otherwise improved at an outlay of over £1,500, and now finds sittings for 1,760, a thousand of the seats being free. The Rev. P.E. Wilson, M.A., is the Rector and Surrogate, and the living (value £400) is in the gift of the Birmingham Trust. The Nineveh schoolroom is used for services on Sunday and Thursday evenings in connection with All Saints.

_All Saints'_, King's Heath, is built of stone in the perpendicular Gothic style, and cost £3,200, the consecration taking place on April 27th, 1860. There are sittings for 620, one half being free. The Rev. J. Webster, M.A., is the Vicar; the living (value £220) being in the gift of the Vicar of Moseley, King's Heath ecclesiastical parish being formed out of Moseley parish in 1863.

_All Saints'_, Small Heath.--Rev. G.F.B. Cross, M.A., Vicar. Soon after the death of the Rev. J. Oldknow, D.D., of Holy Trinity, in 1874, it was resolved to carry out his dying wishes by erecting a church in the fast-filling district of Small Heath. At first the iron building formerly used as a place of worship in Cannon Hill Park was put up, and the Vicar was instituted in October, 1875. The foundation-stone of a permanent building was laid Sept. 8, 1882, which accommodates over 1,000 worshippers. That part of the future "Oldknow Memorial Church" at present finished, comprising the nave, north aisle, and north transept, with seating for nearly 700 (all free), was consecrated July 28, 1883. The patronage is vested in trustees, the incumbent's stipend being £150.

_All Saints'_, Stechford.--A temporary church of iron and wood, erected at a cost of £620, to accommodate 320 persons, all seats being free, was dedicated Dec. 18, 1877.