Chapter XVIII: Part 18

_Catholic Apostolic Church_, Summer Hill Terrace.--This edifice, erected in 1877, cost about £10,000, and has seats for 400.

_Christian Brethren_.--Their head meeting-house is at the Central Hall, Great Charles Street, other meetings being held in Bearwood Road, Birchfield Road, Green Lanes, King Street, (Balsall Heath), New John Street, Wenman Street, (opened in June, 1870), and at Aston and Erdington.

_Christadelphians_ meet at the Temperance Hall, Temple Street.

_Church of the Saviour_, Edward Street.--Built for George Dawson on his leaving the Baptists, the first turf being turned on the site July 14, 1846, and the opening taking place Aug. 8, 1847.

_Congregational_.--How the Independents sprang from the Presbyterians, and the Congregationalists from them, is hardly matter of local history, though Carr's Line Chapel has sheltered them all in rotation. The first building was put up in 1747-48, and, with occasional repairs lasted full fifty years, being rebuilt in 1802, when the congregation numbered nearly 900. Soon after the advent of the Rev. John Angell James, it became necessary to provide accommodation for at least 2,000, and in 1819 the chapel was again rebuilt in the form so well known to the present generation. The rapidity with which this was accomplished was so startling that the record inscribed on the last late affixed to the roof is worth quoting, as well on account of its being somewhat of a novel innovation upon the usual custom of foundation-stone memorial stone, and first-stone laying and fixing:--

"Memoranda. On the 30th day of July, 1819, the first stone of this
building was laid by the Rev. John Angell James, the minister. On the
30th day of October, in the same year, this the last slate was laid by
Henry Leneve Holland, the builder, in the presence of Stedman Thomas
Whitwell, the Architect.--_Laus Deo_."

In 1875-76 the chapel was enlarged, refronted, and in many ways strengthened and improved, at a cost of nearly £5,000, and it now has seats for 2,250 persons.--Ebenezer Chapel, Steelhouse Lane, which will seat 1,200, was opened Dec. 9, 1818. Its first pastor, the Rev. Jehoida Brewer, was the first to be buried there.--The first stone of Highbury Chapel, which seats 1,300, was laid May 1, 1844, and it was opened by Dr. Raffles in the following October.--Palmer Street Chapel was erected in 1845.--The first stone of the Congregational Church in Francis Road was laid Sept. 11, 1855, the opening taking place Oct. 8, 1856.--The first stone of the Moseley Road building was laid July 30, 1861, and of that in the Lozells, March 17, 1862.--The chapel at Small Heath was commenced Sept. 19, 1867, and opened June 21, 1868; that at Saltley was began June 30, 1868, and opened Jan. 26, 1869.--The chapel in Park Road, Aston, was began Oct. 7, 1873; the church on Soho Hill, which cost £15,000, was commenced April 9, 1878, and opened July 16, 1879.--The memorial-stones of the church at Sutton Coldfield, which cost £5,500, and will seat 640, were laid July 14, 1879, the opening taking place April 5, 1880; the Westminster Road (Birchfield) Church was commenced Oct. 21, 1878, was opened Sept. 23, 1879, cost £5,500, and will seat 900; both of these buildings have spires 100ft. high.--The foundation-stone of a chapel at Solihull, to accommodate 420, was laid May 23, 1883.--Besides the above, there is the Tabernacle Chapel, Parade, chapels in Bordesley Street, Gooch Street, and St. Andrew's Road, and others at Acock's Green, Erdington, Handsworth, Olton, Yardley, &c.

_Disciples of Christ_ erected a chapel in Charles Henry Street in 1864; in Geach Street in 1865; in Great Francis Street in 1873.

_Free Christian Church_, Fazeley Street--Schoolrooms were opened here in 1865 by the Birmingham Free Christian Society, which were enlarged in 1868 at a cost of about £800. Funds to build a church were gathered in succeeding years and the present edifice was opened April 1, 1877, the cost being £1,300.

_Jews_.--The Hebrew Synagogue in Blucher Street was erected in 1856, at a cost of £10,000.

_Methodists_.--The Primitive Methodists for some time after their first appearance here held, their meetings in the open air or in hired rooms, the first chapel they used being that in Bordesley Street (opened March 16, 1823, by the Wesleyans) which they entered upon in 1826. Other chapels they had at various times in Allison Street, Balloon Street, Inge Street, &c. Gooch Street Chapel was erected by them at a cost of over £2,000 (the first stone being laid August 23, 1852) and is now their principal place of worship, their services being also conducted in Chapels and Mission Rooms in Aston New Town, Garrison Lane, Long Acre, Lord Street, Morville Street, Wells Street, Whitmore Street, The Cape, Selly Oak, Perry Barr, Sparkbrook, and Stirchley Street.--_The Methodist New Connexion_ have chapels in Heath Street, Kyrwick's Lane, Ladywood Lane, Moseley Street, and Unett Street--The first stone of a chapel for the _Methodist New Congregational_ body was placed July 13, 1873, in Icknield Street West.--The _Methodist Reformers_ commenced to build a chapel in Bishop Street, November 15, 1852.--The _Methodist Free Church_ has places of worship in Bath Street, Cuckoo Road, Muntz Street, Rocky Lane, and at Washwood Heath.

_New Church_.--The denomination of professing Christians, who style themselves the "New Church," sometimes known as "The New Jerusalem Church," and more commonly as "Swedenborgians," as early as 1774 had a meeting room in Great Charles Street, from whence they removed to a larger one in Temple Row. Here they remained until 1791, when they took possession of Zion Chapel, Newhall Street, the ceremony of consecration taking place on the 19 of June. This event was of more than usual interest, inasmuch as this edifice was the first ever erected in the world for New Church worship. The rioters of 1791, who professed to support the National Church by demolishing the Dissenting places of worship, paid Zion Chapel a visit and threatened to burn it, but the eloquence of the minister, the Rev. J. Proud, aided by a judicious distribution of what cash he had in his pocket, prevailed over their burning desires, and they carried their torches elsewhere. On the 10th of March, 1793, however, another incendiary attempt was made to suppress the New Church, but the fire was put out before much damage was done. What fire and popular enmity could not do, however, was accomplished by a financial crisis, and the congregation had to leave their Zion, and put up with a less pretentious place of worship opposite the Wharf in Newhall Street. Here they remained till 1830, when they removed to Summer Lane, where a commodious church, large schools, and minister's house had been erected for them. In 1875 the congregation removed to their present location in Wretham Road, where a handsome church has been built, at a cost of nearly £8,000, to accommodate 500 persons, with schools in the rear for as many children. The old chapel in Summer Lane has been turned into a Clubhouse, and the schools attached to it made over to the School Board. The New Church's new church, like many other modern-built places for Dissenting worship, has tower and spire, the height being 116ft.

_Presbyterians_.--It took a long time for all the nice distinctive differences of dissenting belief to manifest themselves before the public got used to Unitarianism, Congregationalism, and all the other isms into which Nonconformity has divided itself. When Birmingham was as a city of refuge for the many clergymen who would not accept the Act of Uniformity, it was deemed right to issue unto them licenses for preaching, and before the first Baptist chapel, or the New Meeting, or the Old Meeting, or the old Old Meeting (erected in 1689), were built, we find (1672) that one Samuel Willis, styling himself a minister of the Presbyterian persuasion, applied for preaching licenses for the school-house, and for the houses of John Wall, and Joseph Robinson, and Samuel Taylor, and Samuel Dooley, and John Hunt, all the same being in Birmingham; and William Fincher, another "minister of the Presbyterian persuasion," asked for licenses to preach in the house of Richard Yarnald, in Birmingham, his own house, and in the houses of Thomas Gisboon, William Wheeley, John Pemberton, and Richard Careless, in Birmingham, and in the house of Mrs. Yarrington, on Bowdswell Heath. In Bradford's map (1751) Carr's Lane chapel is put as a "Presbiterian chapel," the New Meeting Street building close by being called "Presbiterian Meeting." It was of this "Presbiterian Chapel" in Carr's Lane that Hutton wrote when he said it _was_ the road to heaven, but that its surroundings indicated a very different route. Perhaps it was due to these surroundings that the attendants at Carr's Lane came by degrees to be called Independents and the New Meeting Street folks Unitarians, for both after a time ceased to be known as Presbyterians. The Scotch Church, or, as it is sometimes styled, the Presbyterian Church of England, is not a large body in Birmingham, having but three places of worship. The first Presbytery held in this town was on July 6, 1847; the foundation-stone of the Church in Broad Street was laid July 24, 1848; the Church at Camp Hill was opened June 3, 1869; and the one in New John Street West was began July 4, 1856, and opened June 19, 1857.

_Salvation Army_.--The invasion of Birmingham by the soldiers of the Salvation Army was accomplished in the autumn of 1882, the General (Mr. Booth) putting in an appearance March 18, 1883. They have several rendezvous in the town, one of the principal being in Farm Street, from whence the "soldiers" frequently sally out, with drums beating and colours flying, much to their own glorification and other people's annoyance.

_Unitarians_.--The building known for generations as the Old Meeting, is believed to have been the first Dissenting place of worship erected in Birmingham; and, as its first register dates from 1689, the chapel most likely was built in the previous year. It was doubtless but a small building, as in about ten years (1699) a "Lower Meeting House" was founded in Meeting House Yard, nearly opposite Rea Street. The premises occupied here were gutted in the riots of 1715, and the owner promised the mob that it should no more be used as a chapel, but when calmer he repented and services were held until the New Meeting House in Moor Street was opened. The rioters in 1715 partly destroyed the old Meeting and those of 1791 did so completely, as well as the New Meeting, which (began in 1730) was opened in 1732. For a time the congregations united and met at the Amphitheatre in Livery Street, the members of Old Meeting taking possession of their re-erected chapel, October 4, 1795. New Meeting being re-opened April 22, 1802. The last-named building remained in the possession of the Unitarians until 1861, when it was sold to the Roman Catholics. The last services in Old Meeting took place March 19, 1882, the chapel and graveyard, comprising an area of 2,760 square yards, being sold to the L. & N. W. R. Co., for the purpose of enlarging the Central Station. The price paid by the Railway Company was £32,250, of which £2,000 was for the minister and £250 towards the expense of removing to private vaults the remains of a few persons whose friends wished that course. A portion of Witton Cemetery was laid out for the reception of the remainder, where graves and vaults have been made in relative positions to those in the old graveyard, the tombstones being similarly placed. A new church has been erected in Bristol Street for the congregation, with Sunday Schools, &c., £7,000 being the sum given for the site.--In 1839, Hurst Street Chapel was built for the Unitarian Domestic Mission. May 1, same year, the first stone was laid of the Newhall Hill Chapel, which was opened July 10, 1840.--The Church of the Messiah, Broad Street, was commenced Aug. 12, 1860, and opened Jan. 1, 1862. This church, which cost £10,000 and will seat nearly 1,000 is built over a canal, one of the strangest sites ever chosen for a place of worship. In connection with this church, there is a chapel in Lawrence Street.

_Welsh Chapels_.--The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists meet in the little chapel, bottom of Hockley Hill, and also in Granville Street, near Bath Row.--The Welsh Congregationalists (Independents) assemble at Wheeler Street Chapel, opened May 1, 1839.

_Wesleyans_.--The first Wesleyan Chapel in Birmingham was opened by John Wesley, March 21, 1764, the building having been previously a theatre. Cherry Street Chapel, opened July 7, 1782, was rebuilt in 1823.-- Bradford Street Chapel was opened in 1786, Belmont Row in 1789, and Bath Street in 1839.--In 1825, a chapel was built in Martin Street, which was converted into a school on the opening (Nov. 10, 1864) of the present edifice, which cost £6,200.--Newtown Row Chapel was built in 1837 and Great Hampton Street and Unett Street Chapels in 1838, the latter being enlarged in 1844.--Branston Street Chapel was opened April 18, and Moseley Road, May 1, 1853.--The Bristol Road Chapel was opened January 18, 1854, and that in King Edward's Road, January 18, 1859.--The first stones were laid for the chapels in Villa Street April 21, 1864, Handsworth Oct. 21, 1872, Selley Oak Oct. 2, 1876, Peel Street, August 30, 1877, Cuckoo Road, June 10, 1878, Nechells Park Road Oct. 25, 1880, Mansfield Road Feb. 19, 1883. Besides the above there are chapels in Coventry Road, Inge Street, Knutsford Street, Lichfield Road, Lord Street, New John Street, Monument Road, and Warwick Road, as well as mission rooms in several parts of the town and suburbs. Acock's Green, Erdington. Harborne, King's Heath, Northfield, Quinton, &c. have also Wesleyan Chapels.--_The Wesleyan Reformers_ meet in Floodgate Street, and in Upper Trinity Street.

_Miscellaneous_.--Lady Huntingdon's followers opened a chapel in King Street in 1785, and another in Peck Lane in 1842 (both sites being cleared in 1851), and a third in Gooch Street, Oct. 26th, 1851.--The believers in Joannah Southcote also had chosen spots wherein to pray for their leader, while the imposture lasted.--The celebrated Edward Irving opened Mount Zion Chapel, March 24th, 1824. "God's Free Church," in Hope Street, was "established" June 4th. 1854.--Zoar Chapel was the name given to a meeting-room in Cambridge Street, where a few undenominational Christians met between 1830 and 1840. It was afterwards used as a schoolroom in connection with Winfield's factory.--Wrottesley Street Chapel was originally built as a Jewish Synagogue, at a cost of about 2,000. After they left it was used for a variety of purposes, until acquired by William Murphy, the Anti-Catholic lecturer. It was sold by his executors, Aug. 2nd, 1877, and realised £645, less than the cost of the bricks and mortar, though the lease had 73 years to run.

~Places of Worship.~--_Roman Catholics_.--From the days of Queen Mary, down to the last years of James II.'s reign, there does not appear to have been any regular meeting-place for the Catholic Inhabitants of Birmingham. In 1687, a church (dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen and St. Francis) was built somewhere near the site of the present St. Bartholomew's but it was destroyed in the following year, and the very foundation-stones torn up and appropriated by Protestant plunderers. [See "_Masshouse Lane_."]

It was a hundred years before the next church, St. Peter's, near Broad Street, was erected, and the Catholic community has increased but slowly until the last thirty years or so. In 1848 there were only seven priests in Birmingham, and but seventy in the whole diocese. There are now twenty-nine in this town, and about 200 in the district, the number of churches having increased, in the same period, from 70 to 123, with 150 schools and 17,000 scholars. The following are local places of worship:--

_Cathedral of St. Chad_,--A chapel dedicated to St. Chad (who was about the only saint the kingdom of Mercia could boast of), was opened in Bath Street, Dec. 17, 1809. When His Holiness the Pope blessed his Catholic children hereabouts with a Bishop the insignificant chapel gave place to a Cathedral, which, built after the designs of Pugin, cost no less than £60,000. The consecration was performed (July 14, 1838) by the Right Rev. Doctor (afterwards Cardinal) Wiseman, the district bishop, in the presence of a large number of English noblemen and foreign ecclesiastical dignitaries, and with all the imposing ceremonies customary to Catholic celebrations of this nature. The adjoining houses detract much from the outside appearance of this reproduction of medieval architecture, but the magnificence of the interior decorations, the elaborate carvings, and the costly accessories appertaining to the services of the Romish Church more than compensate therefor. Pugin's plans have not even yet been fully carried out, the second spire, that on the north tower (150ft. high), being added in 1856, the largest he designed still waiting completion. Five of a peal of eight bells were hung in 1848, and the remainder in 1877, the peculiar and locally-rare ceremony of "blessing the bells" being performed by Bishop Ullathorne, March 22nd, 1877.

_Oratory_, Hagley Road--Founded by the Fathers of the Order of St. Philip Neri, otherwise called Oratorians. The Father Superior is the Rev. Dr.J. H. Newman (born in 1801), once a clergyman of the Church of England, the author of the celebrated "Tract XC.," now His Eminence Cardinal Newman.

_St. Anne's_, Alcester Street.--In 1851, some buildings and premises originally used as a distillery were here taken on a lease by the Superior of the Oratory, and opened in the following year as a Mission-Church in connection with the Congregation of the Fathers in Hagley Road. In course of time the property was purchased, along with some adjacent land, for the sum of £4,500, and a new church has been erected, at a cost of £6,000. The foundation-stone was laid Sept. 10th, 1883, and the opening ceremony took place in July, 1884, the old chapel and buildings being turned into schools for about 1,500 children.

_St. Catherine of Sienna_, Horse Fair.--The first stone was laid Aug. 23, 1869, and the church was opened in July following.

_St. Joseph's_, Nechells, was built in 1850, in connection with the Roman Catholic Cemetery.

_St. Mary's_, Hunter's Lane, was opened July 28, 1847.

_St. Mary's Retreat_, Harborne, was founded by the Passionist Fathers, and opened Feb. 6, 1877.

_St. Michael's_, Moor Street, was formerly the Unitarian New Meeting, being purchased, remodelled, and consecrated in 1861.

_St. Patrick's,_ Dudley Road, was erected in 1862.

_St. Peter's_, Broad Street, built in 1786, and enlarged in 1798, was the first Catholic place of worship erected here after the sack and demolition of the church and convent in Masshouse Lane. With a lively recollection of the treatment dealt out to their brethren in 1688, the founders of St. Peter's trusted as little as possible to the tender mercies of their fellow-townsmen, but protected themselves by so arranging their church that nothing but blank walls should face the streets, and with the exception of a doorway the walls remained unpierced for nearly seventy years. The church has lately been much enlarged, and the long-standing rebuke no more exists.

In addition to the above, there are the Convents of "The Sisters of the Holy Child," in Hagley Road; "Sisters of Notre Dame," in the Crescent; "Little Sisters of the Poor," at Harborne; "Our Lady of Mercy," at Handsworth; and others connected with St. Anne's and St. Chad's, besides churches at Erdington, &c.

~Police.~--Though the Court Leet provided for the appointment of constables, no regular body of police or watchmen appear to have existed even a hundred years ago. In February, 1786, the magistrates employed men to nightly patrol the streets, but it could not have been a permanent arrangement, as we read that the patrol was "resumed" in _October, 1793_, and later on, in March, 1801, the magistrates "solicited" the inhabitants' consent to a re-appointment of the night-watch. After a time the Commissioners of the Streets kept regular watchmen in their employ--the "Charleys" occasionally read of as finding sport for the "young bloods" of the time--but when serious work was required the Justices appear to have depended on their powers of swearing-in special constables. The introduction of a police force proper dates from the riotous time of 1839 [See "_Chartism_"], for immediately after those troublous days Lord John Russell introduced a Bill to the House of Commons granting special powers for enforcing a rate to maintain a police force here, under the command of a Commissioner to be appointed by the Government. The force thus sought to be raised, though paid for by the people of Birmingham, were to be available for the whole of the counties of Warwick, Worcester and Stafford.

Coercive measures were passed at that period even quicker than Government can manage to get them through now a-days, and notwithstanding Mr. Thos. Attwood's telling Little Lord John that he was "throwing a lighted torch into a magazine of gunpowder" and that if he passed that Bill he would never be allowed to pass another, the Act was pushed through on the 13th of August, there being a majority of thirteen in favour of his Lordship's policy of policeing the Brums into politeness. The dreaded police force was soon organised under Mr. Commissioner Burges (who was paid the small salary of £900 a year), and became not only tolerated but valued. It was not till some years after, and then in the teeth of much opposition, that the Corporation succeeded in getting into their own hands the power of providing our local guardians of the peace. Mr. Inspector Stephens was the first Chief Superintendent, and in March, 1860, his place was filled by the promotion of Mr. George Glossop. In April, 1876, the latter retired on an allowance of £400 a year, and Major Bond was chosen (June 2nd). The Major's term of office was short as he resigned in Dec. 1881. Mr. Farndale being appointed in his stead. In May, 1852, the force consisted of 327, men and officers included. Additions have been made from time to time, notably 50 in August, 1875, and so early in 1883, the total rank and file now being 550, equal to one officer for every 700 of population. February 8, 1876, the unpopular Public-house Inspectors were appointed, but two years' experience showed they were not wanted, and they were relegated to their more useful duties of looking after thieves and pickpockets, instead of poking their noses into private business. In 1868, £200 was expended in the purchase of guns, pistols, and swords for the police and officers at the Gaol. The Watch Committee, in May, 1877, improved the uniform by supplying the men with "spiked" helmets, doubtless to please the Major, who liked to see his men look smart, though the military appearance of the force has been greatly improved since by the said spikes being silvered and burnished.

~Political Union.~--See "_Reform Leagues_."

~Polling Districts.~--The sixteen wards of the borough are divided into 131 polling districts.

~Polytechnic.~--This was one of the many local literary, scientific, and educational institutions which have been replaced by our Midland Institute, Free Libraries, &c. It was founded in April, and opened in October, 1843, and at the close of its first year there were the names of very nearly 500 members on the books, the rates of subscription being 6s. per quarter for participation in all the benefits of the institution, including the lectures, library, classes, baths, &c. With the "People's Instruction Society," the "Athenic Institute," the "Carr's Lane Brotherly Society" (said to have been the first Mechanics' Institution in Britain), the Polytechnic, in its day, did good work.

~Poor Law and Poor Rates.~--Local history does not throw much light upon the system adopted by our early progenitors in their dealings with the poor, but if the merciless laws were strictly carried out, the wandering beggars, at all events must have had hard lives of it. By an act passed in the reign of Henry VIII., it was ordered that vagrants should be taken to a market town, or other convenient place and there to be tied to the tail of a cart, naked, and beaten with whips until the body should be bloody by reason of the punishment. Queen Elizabeth so far mitigated the punishment that the unfortunates were only to be stripped from the waist upwards to receive their whipping, men and women, maids and mothers, suffering alike in the open street or market-place, the practice being, after so using them, to conduct them to the boundary of the parish and pass them on to the next place for another dose, and it was not until 1791 that flogging of women was forbidden. The resident or native poor were possibly treated a little better, though they were made to work for their bread in every possible case. By the new Poor Act of 1783, which authorised the erection of a Workhouse, it was also provided that the "Guardians of the Poor" should form a Board consisting of 106 members, and the election of the first Board (July 15th, 1783), seems to have been almost as exciting as a modern election. In one sense of the word they were guardians indeed, for they seem to have tried their inventive faculties in all ways to find work for the inmates of the House, even to hiring them out, or setting them to make worsted and thread. The Guardians would also seem to have long had great freedom allowed them in the spending of the rates, as we read it was not an uncommon thing for one of them if he met a poor person badly off for clothes to give an order on the Workhouse for a fresh "rig out." In 1873 the Board was reduced to sixty in number (the first election taking place on the 4th of April), with the usual local result that a proper political balance was struck of 40 Liberals to 20 Conservatives. The Workhouse, Parish Offices, Children's Homes, &c., will be noted elsewhere. Poor law management in the borough is greatly complicated from the fact of its comprising two different parishes, and part of a third. The Parish of Birmingham works under a special local Act, while Edgbaston forms part of King's Norton Union, and the Aston portion of the town belongs to the Aston Union, necessitating three different rates and three sets of collectors, &c. If a poor man in Moseley Road needs assistance he must see the relieving officer at the Parish Offices in the centre of the town if he lives on one side of Highgite Lane he must find the relieving officer at King's Heith; but if he happens to be on the other side he will have to go to Gravelly Hill or Erdington. Not long ago to obtain a visit from the medical officer for his sick wife, a man had to go backwards and forwards more than twenty miles. The earliest record we have found of the cost of relieving the poor of the parish is of the date of 1673 in which year the sum of £309 was thus expended. In 1773 the amount was £6,378, but the pressure on the rates varied considerably about then, as in 1786 it required £11,132, while in 1796 the figures rose to £24,050. According to Hutton, out of about 8,000 houses only 3,000 were assessed to the poor rates in 1780, the inhabitants of the remaining number being too poor to pay them. Another note shows up the peculiar incidence of taxation of the time, as it is said that in 1790 there were nearly 2000 houses under £5 rental and 8,000 others under £10, none of them being assessed, such small tenancies being first rated in 1792. The rates then appear to have been levied at the uniform figure of 6d. in the £ on all houses above £6 yearly value, the ratepayers being called upon as the money was required--in and about 1798, the collector making his appearance sixteen or eighteen times in the course of the year. The Guardians were not so chary in the matter of out-relief as they are at present, for in 1795 there were at one period 2,427 families (representing over 6,000 persons, old and young) receiving out-relief. What this system (and bad trade) led to at the close of the long war is shown in the returns for 1816-17, when 36 poor rates were levied in the twelvemonth. By various Acts of Parliament, the Overseers have now to collect other rates, but the proportion required for the poor is thus shown:--

Rate Amount Paid to Cost of In and Other Parochial Year in £ collected Corporation Out Relief Expenditure s.d. £ £ £ £ 1851 4 0 78,796 39,573 17,824 21,399 1861 3 8 85,986 36,443 34,685 14,878 1871 3 2 116,268 44,293 37,104 34,871 1881 4 8 193,458 107,520 42,880 48,058

The amounts paid over to the Corporation include the borough rate and the sums required by the School Board, the Free Libraries, and the District Drainage Board. In future years the poor-rate (so-called) will include, in addition to these, all other rates levyable by the Corporation. The poor-rates are levied half-yearly, and in 1848,1862, and 1868 they amounted to 5s. per year, the lowest during the last forty years being 3s. in 1860; 1870, 1871, and 1872 being the next lowest, 3s. 2d. per year. The number of persons receiving relief may be gathered from the following figures:--

Highest Lowest
Year. No. daily No. daily
1876 7,687 7,058
1877 8,240 7,377
1878 8,877 7,242
1879 14,651 8,829
1880 13,195 7,598
1881 11,064 7,188
1882 9,658 7,462
1883 8,347 7,630

Not long ago it was said that among the inmates of the Workhouse were several women of 10 to 45 who had spent all their lives there, not even knowing their way into the town.

~Population.~--Hutton "calculated" that about the year 750 there would be 3,000 inhabitants residing in and close to Birmingham. Unless a very rapid thinning process was going on after that date he must have been a long way out of his reckoning, for the Domesday Book gives but 63 residents in 1085 for Birmingham, Aston, and Edgbaston. In 1555 we find that 37 baptisms, 15 weddings, and 27 deaths were registered at St. Martin's, the houses not being more than 700, nor the occupiers over 3,500 in number. In 1650, it is said, there were 15 streets, about 900 houses, and 5,472 inhabitants. If the writer who made that calculation was correct, the next 80 years must have been "days of progress" indeed, for in 1700 the town is said to have included 28 streets, about 100 courts and alleys, 2,504 houses, one church, one chapel, and two meeting-houses, with 15,032 inhabitants. In 1731 there were 55 streets, about 150 courts and alleys, 3,719 houses, two churches, one chapel, four Dissenting meeting-houses, and 23,286 inhabitants. The remaining figures, being taken from census returns and other reliable authorities, are more satisfactory.

Year. Inhabitants. Houses.
1741 24,660 4,114
1773 30,804 7,369
1778 48,252 8,042
1781 50,295 8,382
1791 73,653 12,681
1801 78,760 16,659
1811 85,755 19,096
1821 106,721 21,345
1831 142,251 29,397
1841 182,922 36,238
1851 232,841 48,894
1861 296,076 62,708
1871 343,787 77,409
1881 400,774 84,263

The inhabitants are thus divided as to sexes:

Year. Males. Females. Totals.
1861 143,996 152,080 296,076
1871 167,636 176,151 343,787
1881 194,540 206,234 400,774

The increase during the ten years in the several parts of the borough shows:

Part of
Birmingham Edgbaston Aston in
parish. parish. borough. Totals.

1881 246,352 22,778 131,644 400,774
1871 231,015 17,442 95,330 343,787
------- ------ ------- -------
Increase 15,337 5,336 36,314 56,987

These figures, however, are not satisfactorily correct, as they simply give the totals for the borough, leaving out many persons who, though residing outside the boundaries are to all intents and purposes Birmingham people; and voluminous as census papers usually are, it is difficult from those of 1871 to arrive at the proper number, the districts not being subdivided sufficiently. Thus, in the following table Handsworth includes Soho and Perry Barr, Harborne parish includes Smethwick, Balsall Heath is simply the Local included district, while King's Norton Board is Moseley, Selly Oak, &c.

Places. Inhabitants.
Aston Parish 139,998
Aston Manor 33,948
Balsall Heath 13,615
Handsworth 16,042
Harborne Parish 22,263
Harborne Township 5,105
King's Norton Parish 21,845
Yardley Parish 5,360

For the census of 1881, the papers were somewhat differently arranged, and we are enabled to get a nearer approximation, as well as a better notion of the increase that has taken place in the number of inhabitants in our neighbourhood.

Place 1871 1881
Acock's Green 1,492 2,796
Aston Manor 33,948 53,844
Aston Parish 139,998 201,287
Aston Union 146,808 209,869
Balsall Heath 13,615 22,734
Birchfield 2,544 3,792
Castle Bromwich 689 723
Erdington 4,883 7,153
Handsworth 16,042 22,903
Harborne 5,105 6,433
King's Heath 1,982 2,984
King's Norton 21,845 34,178
King's Norton
Union ------ 96,143
Knowle 1,371 1,514
Moseley 2,374 4,224
Northfield 4,609 7,190
Olton ----- 906
Perry Barr 1,683 2,314
Quinton 2,010 2,145
Saltley ----- 6,419
Selly Oak 2,854 5,089
Smethwick 17,158 25,076
Solihull 3,739 5,301
Ward End ----- 866
Water Orton ----- 396
Witton 182 265
Yardley 5,360 9,741

The most remarkable increase of population in any of these districts is in the case of Aston Manor, where in fifty years the inhabitants have increased from less than one thousand to considerably more than fifty thousand. In 1831, there were 946: in 1841, the number was 2,847; in 1851 it was 6,429; in 1861 it reached 16,337; in 1871 it had doubled to 33,948; in 1881 there were 53,844. Included among the inhabitants of the borough in 1881 there were

Males. Females. Totals.
Foreigners 1,288 859 2,147
Irish 3,488 3,584 7,072
Scotch 912 755 1,667
Welsh 1,575 1,742 3,317
Colonial 428 477 905
Born at sea 29 21 50

Of the English-born subjects of Her Majesty here 271,845 were Warwickshire lads and lasses, 26,625 came out of Staffordshire, 21,504 from Worcestershire, 10,158 from Gloucestershire, 7,941 from London, 5,622 from Shropshire, and 4,256 from Lancashire, all the other counties being more or less represented. The following analysis of the occupations of the inhabitants of the borough is copied from the _Daily Post_, and is arranged under the groups adopted by the Registrar-General:--

Occupations of Persons.

Males. Females. Total.
Persons engaged in general
or local government 1,145 79 1,224
Army and navy 307 -- 307
Clerical profession and
their subordinates 287 98 335
Legal ditto 445 -- 445
Medical ditto 336 496 832
Teachers 512 1,395 1,907
Literary and scientific 70 4 74
Engineers and surveyors 111 --- 111
Artists, art-workers
musicians, &c. 729 398 1,127
Engaged in exhibitions,
shows, games, &c. 102 17 119
Domestic service 1,444 13,875 15,319
Other service 176 4,058 4,234
Commercial occupations 6,172 422 6,594
Engaged in conveyance
of men, goods, and
messages 2,442 1,839 11,281
Engaged in agriculture 881 25 906
Engaged about animals 771 5 776
Workers and Dealers in
Books, prints and maps 1,888 428 2,316
Machines and implements 11,189 3,385 14,574
Houses, furniture, and
decorations 12,781 1,209 13,990
Carriages and harness 2,748 466 3,214
Ships and boats 67 --- 67
Chemicals and their
compounds 507 250 757
Tobacco and pipes 200 851 551
Food and lodging 8,126 2,124 10,247
Textile fabrics 1,229 920 2,149
Dress 6,894 12,946 19,840
Various animal substances 1,481 744 2,175
Ditto vegetable
substances 2,277 2,237 4,514
Ditto mineral substances 36,933 9,582 46,515
General or unspecified
commodities 10,542 2,631 18,173
Refuse matters 246 18 264
Without specific
occupations 45,691 116,892 162,583
Children under five
years 28,911 29,133 58,044
------ ------- -------
Total 194,540 206,234 400,774

The comparative population of this and other large towns in England is thus given:--

Pop. Pop. Inc. Prcent
1881. 1871. of inc.
London 3,707,130 3,254,260 452,870 13.89
Liverpool 549,834 493,305 56,429 11.35
Birmingham 400,774 343,787 56,893 16.52
Manchester 364,445 351,189 13,256 3.70
Salford 194,077 124,801 69,276 55.64
Leeds 326,158 259,212 66,946 25.81
Sheffield 312,943 239,946 72,997 30.38
Bristol 217,185 182,552 24,633 13.47
Bradford 203,544 145,830 57,614 39.50
Nottingham 177,934 86,621 91,343 105.81
Hull 152,980 121,892 31,088 25.62
Newcastle 151,822 128,443 23,379 17.96
Portsmouth 136,671 113,569 23,102 20.35
Leicester 134,350 95,220 39,130 41.05
Oldham 119,658 82,629 37,029 45.11
Sunderland 118,927 98,242 20,685 90.40
Brighton 109,062 90,011 19,051 21.11
Norwich 86,437 80,386 6,051 7.50
W'lvrhmptn 76,850 68,291 8,569 12.46
Plymouth 75,700 68,758 4,942 7.10

~Portugal House.~--See "_The Royal_."

~Post Offices.~--Charles I. must be credited with founding the present Post Office system, as in 1635 he commanded that a running post or two should be settled "to run night and day between London and Edinburgh, to go thither and come back again in six days, and to take with them all such letters as shall be directed to any post town in or near that road." Other "running posts" were arranged to Exeter and Plymouth, and to Chester and Holyhead, &c., and gradually all the principal places in the country were linked on to the main routes by direct and cross posts. It has often been quoted as a token of the insignificance of Birmingham that letters used to be addressed "Birmingham, near Walsall;" but possibly the necessity of some writer having to send here by a cross-country route, _viâ_ Walsall, will explain the matter. That our town was not one of the last to be provided with mails is proved by Robert Girdler, a resident of Edgbaston Street in 1652, being appointed the Government postmaster. Where the earlier post offices were situated is uncertain, but one was opened in New Street Oct. 11, 1783, and it is generally believed to have been the same that existed for so many years at the corner of Bennett's Hill. As late as 1820 there was no Bennett's Hill, for at that time the site opposite the Theatre was occupied (on the side nearest to Temple Street) by a rickyard, with accommodation for the mailcoaches and stabling for horses. Next to this yard was the residence of Mr. Gottwaltz, the postmaster, the entrance doorway being at first the only accommodation allowed to the public, and if more than four persons attended at one time the others had to stand in the street. When Bennett's Hill was laid out, the post office was slightly altered, so as to give a covered approach on that side to the letterbox and window, the mailcoaches being provided and horsed by the hotelkeepers to whom the conveyance of the mails was entrusted, the mail guards, or mail-postmen, remaining Government officials. The next office was opened Oct. 10, 1842, on premises very nearly opposite, and which at one period formed part of the new Royal Hotel. The site is now covered by the Colonnade, the present convenient, but not beautiful, Central Post Office, in Paradise Street, being opened Sep. 28, 1873. There are 65 town receiving offices (52 of which are Money Order Offices and Savings' Banks and 13 Telegraph Stations), and 103 pillar and wall letter-boxes. Of sub-offices in the surrounding districts there are 64, of which more than half are Money Order Offices or Telegraph Offices. For the conduct of the Central Office, Mr. S. Walliker, the postmaster, has a staff numbering nearly 300, of whom about 250 are letter carriers and sorters. The Central Postal Telegraph Office, in Cannon Street, is open day and night, and the Central Post Office, in Paradise Street, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Sunday the latter office is open only from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., but letters are dispatched by the night mails as on other days. The Head Parcels Post Office is in Hill Street, on the basement floor of the Central Post Office, from which there are four collections and deliveries daily.

~Postal Notes.~--In 1748 letters were conveyed from here by post on six days a week instead of three as previously. To help pay the extra expense it was enacted that any person sending letters by private hands should be liable to a fine of £5 for every letter.--In 1772 a letter sent by "express" post was charged at the rate of 3d. per mile, with a 6d. fee for each stage and 2s. 6d. for the sending off.--Mails for the Continent were made up fortnightly, and once a month for North America. --In 1780, when James Watt was at Truro and Boulton at Birmingham, it took thirteen days for the one to write to and get an answer from the other, and on one occasion a single letter was eleven days on the road. --A local "penny post" was commenced September 4, 1793, but there was only one delivery per day and the distance was confined to one mile from the office.--The postage on letters for London was reduced to 7d., December 1, 1796, but (and for many years after) if more than one piece of paper was used the cost was doubled.--In 1814 the postage of a letter from here to Warwick was 7d.--The system of "franking" letters was abolished in 1839. This was a peculiar privilege which noblemen, Members of Parliament, and high dignitaries possessed of free postage for all their correspondence, and very strange use they made of the privilege sometimes, one instance being the case of two maidservants going as laundresses to an Ambassador who were thus "franked" to their destination. This privilege cost the Post office about £100,000 a year. --The penny postage system of Rowland Hill came into operation January 10th, 1840.--In 1841-2 there were only two deliveries per day in the centre of the town, and but one outside the mile circle, an extra penny being charged on letters posted in town for delivery in the outer districts.--The collection of a million postage stamps for the Queen's Hospital closed Sep. 5, 1859.--Halfpenny stamps for newspapers were first used in 1870.--The telegraphs were taken to by the Post Office in 1876, the first soirée in celebration thereof being held at Bristol Street Board School, Jan. 29, 1877.--The Inland Parcels Post came into operation on August 1, 1883, the number of parcels passing through our local office being about 4,000 the first day, such trifles as beehives, umbrellas, shoes, scythes, baskets of strawberries, &c., &c, being among them. The number of valentines posted in Birmingham on Cupid's Day of 1844 was estimated at 125,000 (the majority for local delivery), being about 20,000 more than in the previous year.

~Power.~--That the letting of mill-power would be a great advantage to hundreds of the small masters whose infinitude of productions added so enormously to the aggregate of our local trade was soon "twigged" by the early owners of steam engines. The first engine to have extra shafting attached for this purpose was that made by Newcomen for a Mr. Twigg in Water Street (the premises are covered by Muntz's metal works now), who, in 1760, advertised that he had "power to let."

~Presentations.~--No local antiquarian has yet given us note of the first public presentation made by the inhabitants of this town, though to the men they have delighted to honour they have never been backward with such flattering and pleasing tokens of goodwill. Some presentations have been rather curious, such as gold-plated buttons and ornate shoe buckles to members of the Royal Family in hopes that the patronage of those individuals would lead to changes in the fashion of dress, and so influence local trade. The gift of a sword to Lord Nelson, considering that the said sword had been presented previously to a volunteer officer, was also of this nature. The Dissenters of the town gave £100 to the three troops of Light Horse who first arrived to quell the riots in 1791, and a similar sum was voted at a town's meeting; each officer being presented with a handsome sword. Trade should have been good at the time, for it is further recorded that each magistrate received a piece of plate valued at one hundred guineas.--Since that date there have been hundreds of presentations, of greater or lesser value, made to doctors and divines, soldiers and sailors, theatricals and concert-hall men, lawyers and prizefighters, with not a few to popular politicians and leading literary men &c. Lord Brougham (then plain Mr.) being the recipient at one time (July 7, 1812); James Day, of the Concert Hall, at another (0ct. 1,1878); the "Tipton Slasher" was thus honoured early in 1865, while the Hon. and Very Rev. Grantham Yorke, D.D., was "gifted" at the latter end of 1875. Among the presentations of later date have been those to Dr. Bell Fletcher, Mr. Gamgee, Mr. W.P. Goodall, and other medical gentlemen; to Canon O'Sullivan, the late Rev. J.C. Barratt, and other clergymen; to Mr. Edwin Smith, secretary of Midland Institute; to Mr. Schnadhorst of the Liberal Association; to Mr. Jesse Collings, for having upheld the right of free speech by turning out of the Town Hall those who differed with the speakers; and to John Bright in honour of his having represented the town in Parliament for twenty-five year.--On April 30, 1863, a handsome silver repoussé table was presented to the Princess of Wales on the occasion of her marriage, the cost, £1,500, being subscribed by inhabitants of the town.

~Price Of Bread.~--At various times during the present century the four-pound loaf has been sold here as follows:--At 4-1/2d. in 1852; at 7-1/2d. in 1845; at 9-1/2d. in June, 1857, and June, 1872; at l0d. in December, 1855, June, 1868, and December, 1872; at l0-1/2d. in February, 1854, December, 1855, December, 1867, and March, 1868, at 11d. in December, 1854, June, 1855, and June 1856; at ll-1/2d. in November, 1846, May and November, 1847, and May, 1848; at 1s. and onwards to 1s. 5-1/2d. in August, 1812, and again in July, 1816; and may God preserve the poor from such times again.--See "_Hard Times_."

~Prices of Provisions, &c.~--In 1174, wheat and barley sold at Warwick for 2-1/2d. per bushel, hogs at 1s. 6d. each, cows (salted down) at 2s. each, and salt at 1-4/5d. per bushel. In 1205 wheat was worth 12 pence per bushel, which was cheap, as there had been some years of famine previous thereto. In 1390 wheat was sold at 13d. per bushel, so high a price that historians say there was a "dearth of corn" at that period. From accounts preserved of the sums expended at sundry public feasts at Coventry (Anno 1452 to 1464) we find that 2s. 3d. was paid for 18 gallons of ale, 2s. 6d. for 9 geese, 5d. for 2 lambs, 5d. for a calf, l0d. for 9 chickens, 3d. for a shoulder of mutton, 1s. 3d. for 46 pigeons, 8d. for a strike of wheat and grinding it, &c. An Act of Parliament (24, Henry VIII.) was passed in 1513 that beef and pork should be sold at a half-penny per pound. In 1603 it was ordered that one quart of best ale, or two of small, should be sold for one penny. In 1682 the prices of provisions were, a fowl 1s., a chicken 5d., a rabbit 7d.; eggs three for 1d.; best fresh butter, 6d. per lb.; ditto salt butter, 3-1/2d.; mutton 1s. 4d. per stone of 8lb.; beef, 1s. 6d. per stone; lump sugar, 1s per lb.; candles, 3-1/2d. per lb.; coals, 6d. per sack of 4 bushels; ditto charcoal, 1s. 2d. best, 8d. the smallest. Wheat averaged 50s. per quarter, but the greatest part of the population lived almost entirely on rye, barley, oats, and peas. Cottages in the country were let at about 20s. per annum. In 1694 a pair of shoes cost 3s. 6d.; a pair of stockings, 1s. 4d.; two shirts, 5s. 4d.; leather breeches, 2s.; coat, waistcoat, and breeches, 16s.; a coffin, 5s.; a shroud and a grave for a poor man, 3s. l0d. In November, 1799, the quartern loaf was sold in London, at 1s. l0-1/2d. and in this town at 1s. 4d., the farmers coming here to market having to be protected by constables for months together.

~Priory.~--History gives us very little information respecting the Hospital or Priory of St. Thomas the Apostle [See "_Old Square_"] and still less as the Church or Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr. The site of the Priory was most probably where the Old Square was laid out, though during the many alterations that have latterly been made not a single stone has been discovered to prove it so. A few bones were found during the months of Aug. and Sept., 1884, and it is said that many years back a quantity of similar remains were discovered while cellars were being made under some of the houses in Ball Street, and one late writer speaks of cellars or crypts, which were hastily built up again. From these few traces it is not unlikely that the Chapel existed somewhere between the Minories and Steelhouse Lane, monkish chants probably resounding where now the members of the Society of Friends sit in silent prayer. Ancient records tell us that in 1285 three persons (William of Birmingham, Thomas of Maidenhacche, and Ranulph of Rugby) gave 23 acres of land at Aston and Saltley (then spelt Saluteleye) for the "endowment" of the Hospital of St. Thomas the Apostle, but that rather goes to prove the previous existence of a religious edifice instead of dating its foundation. In 1310 the Lord of Birmingham gave an additional 22 acres, and many others added largely at the time, a full list of these donors being given in Toulmin Smith's "Memorials of old Birmingham." In 1350, 70 acres in Birmingham parish and 30 acres in Aston were added to the possessions of the Priory, which by 1547, when all were confiscated, must have become of great value. The principal portions of the Priory lands in Aston and Saltley went to enrich the Holte family, one (if not the chief) recipient being the brother-in-law of Sir Thomas Holte; but the grounds and land surrounding the Priory and Chapel appear to have been gradually sold to others, the Smallbroke family acquiring the chief part. The ruins of the old buildings doubtless formed a public stonequarry for the builders of the 17th century, as even Hutton can speak of but few relics being left in his time, and those he carefully made use of himself! From the mention in an old deed of an ancient well called the "Scitewell" (probably "Saints' Well"), the Priory grounds seem to have extended along Dale End to the Butts (Stafford Street), where the water was sufficiently abundant to require a bridge. It was originally intended to have a highly-respectable street in the neighbourhood named St. Thomas Street, after the name of the old Priory, a like proviso being made when John Street was laid out for building.

~Prisons.~--Before the incorporation of the borough all offenders in the Manor of Aston were confined in Bordesley Prison, otherwise "Tarte's Hole" (from the name of one of the keepers), situate in High Street, Bordesley. It was classed in 1802 as one of the worst gaols in the kingdom. The prison was in the backyard of the keeper's house, and it comprised two dark, damp dungeons, twelve feet by seven feet, to which access was gained through a trapdoor, level with the yard, and down ten steps. The only light or air that could reach these cells (which sometimes were an inch deep in water) was through a single iron-grated aperture about a foot square. For petty offenders, runaway apprentices, and disobedient servants, there were two other rooms, opening into the yard, each about twelve feet square. Prisoners' allowance was 4d. per day and a rug to cover them at night on their straw. In 1809 the use of the underground rooms was put a stop to, and the churchwardens allowed the prisoners a shilling per day for sustenance. Those sentenced to the stocks or to be whipped received their punishments in the street opposite the prison, and, if committed for trial, were put in leg-irons until called for by "the runners." The place was used as a lock-up for some time after the incorporation, and the old irons were kept on show for years.--The old Debtors' Prison in 1802 was in Philip Street, in a little back courtyard, not fourteen feet square, and it consisted of one damp, dirty dungeon, ten feet by eleven feet, at the bottom of a descent of seven steps, with a sleeping-room, about same size, over it. In these rooms male and female alike were confined, at one time to the number of fifteen; each being allowed 3d. per day by their parishes, and a little straw on the floor at night for bedding, unless they chose to pay the keeper 2s. a week for a bed in his house. In 1809 the debtors were removed to the Old Court House [See "_Court of Requests_"], where the sleeping arrangements were of a better character. Howard, the "Prison Philanthropist," visited the Philip Street prison in 1782, when he found that the prisoners were not allowed to do any work, enforced idleness (as well as semi-starvation) being part of the punishment. He mentions the case of a shoemaker who was incarcerated for a debt of 15s., which the keeper of the prison had to pay through kindly allowing the man to finish some work he had begun before being locked up. In these enlightened days no man is imprisoned for owing money, but only because he does not pay it when told to do so.--See also "_Dungeon_" and "_Gaols_."