Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham by Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

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~Funeral Reform.~--An association for doing away with the expensive
customs so long connected with the burying of the dead, was organised in
1875, and slowly, but surely, are accomplishing the task then entered
upon. At present there are about 700 enrolled members, but very many
more families now limit the trappings of woe to a more reasonable as
well as economical exhibit of tailors' and milliners' black.

~Furniture.~--Judging from some old records appertaining to the history
of a very ancient family, who, until the town swallowed it up, farmed a
considerable portion of the district known as the Lozells, or Lowcells,
as it was once called, even our well-to-do neighbours would appear to
have been rather short of what we think necessary household furniture.
As to chairs in bedrooms, there were often none; and if they had
chimnies, only movable grates, formed of a few bars resting on "dogs."
Window-curtains, drawers, carpets, and washing-stands, are not,
according to our recollection, anywhere specified; and a warming-pan
does not occur till 1604, and then was kept in the bed-room. Tongs
appear as annexations of grates, without poker or shovel; and the family
plate-chest was part of bed-room furniture. Stools were the substitutes
for chairs in the principal sitting-room, in the proportion of even
twenty of the former to two of the latter, which were evidently
intended, _par distinction_, for the husband and wife.

~Galton.~--The family name of a once well-known firm of gun, sword, and
bayonet makers, whose town-house was in Steelhouse Lane, opposite the
Upper Priory. Their works were close by in Weaman Street, but the mill
for grinding and polishing the barrels and blades was at Duddeston, near
to Duddeston Hall, the Galton's country-house. It was this firm's
manufactury that Lady Selbourne refers to in her "Diary," wherein she
states that in 1765 she went to a Quaker's "to see the making of guns."
The strange feature of members of the peace-loving Society of Friends
being concerned in the manufacture of such death-dealing implements was
so contrary to their profession, that in 1796, the Friends strongly
remonstrated with the Galtons, leading to the retirement of the senior
partner from the trade, and the expulsion of the junior from the body.
The mansion in Steelhouse Lane was afterwards converted into a
banking-house; then used for the purposes of the Polytechnic
Institution; next, after a period of dreary emptiness, fitted up as the
Children's Hospital, after the removal of which to Broad Street, the old
house has reverted to its original use, as the private abode of Dr.
Clay.

~Gambetta.~--The eminent French patriot was fined 2,000 francs for
upholding the freedom of speech and the rights of the press, two things
ever dear to Liberal Birmingham, and it was proposed to send him the
money from here as a mark of esteem and sympathy. The _Daily Post_ took
the matter in hand, and, after appealing to its 40,000 readers every day
for some weeks, forwarded (November 10, 1877) a draft for L80 17s. 6d.

~Gaols.~--The Town Gaol, or Lockup, at the back of the Public Office, in
Moor-street, was first used in September, 1806. It then consisted of a
courtyard, 59 ft. by 30 ft. (enclosed by a 26 ft. wall) two day rooms or
kitchens, 14 ft. square, and sixteen sleeping cells, 8 ft. by 6 ft. The
prisoners' allowance was a pennyworth of bread and a slice of cheese
twice a day, and the use of the pump. Rather short commons, considering
the 4 lb. loaf often sold at 1s. The establishment, which is vastly
improved and much enlarged, is now used only as a place of temporary
detention or lockup, where prisoners are first received, and wait their
introduction to the gentlemen of the bench. The erection of the Borough
Gaol was commenced on October 29, 1845, and it was opened for the
reception of prisoners, October 17, 1849, the first culprit being
received two days afterwards. The estimated cost was put at L51,447, but
altogether it cost the town about L90,000, about L70,000 of which has
been paid off. In the year 1877, three prisoners contrived to escape;
one, John Sutcliffe, who got out on July 25, not being recaptured till
the 22nd of January following. The others were soon taken back home. The
gaol was taken over by the government as from April 1, 1878, Mr. J.W.
Preston, being appointed Governor at a salary of L510, in place of Mr.
Meaden, who had received L450, with certain extras.--See "_Dungeon_" and
"_Prisons_." The new County Goal at Warwick was first occupied in 1860.

~Gaol Atrocities.~--The first Governor appointed to the Borough Gaol was
Captain Maconochie, formerly superintendent over the convicts at Norfolk
Island in the days of transportation of criminals. He was permitted to
try as an experiment a "system of marks," whereby a prisoner, by his
good conduct and industry, could materially lessen the duration of his
punishment, and, to a certain extent improve his dietary. The
experiment, though only tried with prisoners under sixteen, proved very
successful, and at one time hopes were entertained that the system would
become general in all the gaols of the kingdom. So far as our gaol was
concerned, however, it proved rather unfortunate that Captain
Maconochie, through advancing age and other causes, was obliged to
resign his position (July, 1851), for upon the appointment of his
successor, Lieutenant Austin, a totally opposite course of procedure was
introduced, a perfect reign of terror prevailing in place of kindness
and a humane desire to lead to the reformation of criminals. In lieu of
good marks for industry, the new Governor imposed heavy penal marks if
the tasks set them were not done to time, and what these tasks were may
be gathered from the fact that in sixteen months no less than fifteen
prisoners were driven to make an attempt on their lives, through the
misery and torture to which they were exposed, three unfortunates being
only too successful. Of course such things could not be altogether
hushed up, and after one or two unsatisfactory "inquiries" had been
held, a Royal Commission was sent down to investigate matters. One case
out of many will be sufficient sample of the mercies dealt out by the
governor to the poor creatures placed under his care. Edward Andrews, a
lad of 15, was sent to gaol for three months (March 28, 1853) for
stealing a piece of beef. On the second day he was put to work at "the
crank," every turn of which was equal to lifting a weight of 20lbs., and
he was required to make 2,000 revolutions before he had any breakfast,
4,000 more before dinner, and another 4,000 before supper, the
punishment for not completing either of these tasks being the loss of
the meal following. The lad failed on many occasions, and was fed almost
solely on one daily, or, rather, nightly allowance of bread and water.
For shouting he was braced to a wall for hours at a time, tightly cased
in a horrible jacket and leather collar, his feet being only moveable.
In this position, when exhausted almost to death, he was restored to
sensibility by having buckets of water thrown over him. What wonder that
within a month he hung himself. A number of similar cases of brutality
were proved, and the Governor thought it best to resign, but he was not
allowed to escape altogether scot free, being tried at Warwick on
several charges of cruelty, and being convicted, was sentenced by the
Court of Queen's Bench to a term of three months' imprisonment.

~Garibaldi.~--At a meeting of the Town Council, April 5, 1865, it was
resolved to ask Garibaldi to pay a visit to this town, but he declined
the honour, as in the year previous he had similarly declined to receive
an offered town subscription.

~Garrison.~--Though a strong force was kept in the Barracks in the old
days of riot and turbulence, it is many years since we have been
favoured with more than a single company of red coats at a time, our
peaceful inland town not requiring a strong garrison.

~Gardens.~--A hundred to 150 years ago there was no town in England
better supplied with gardens than Birmingham, almost every house in what
are now the main thoroughfares having its plot of garden ground. In 1731
there were many acres of allotment gardens (as they came to be called at
a later date) where St. Bartholomew's Church now stands, and in almost
every other direction similar pieces of land were to be seen under
cultivation. Public tea gardens were also to be found in several
quarters of the outskirts; the establishment known as the Spring Gardens
closing its doors July 31, 1801. The Apollo Tea Gardens lingered on till
1846, and Beach's Gardens closed in September, 1854.

~Gas.~--William Murdoch is generally credited with the introduction of
lighting by gas, but it is evident that the inflammability of the gas
producible from coal was known long before his day, as the Rev. Dr. John
Clayton, Dean of Kildare, mentioned it in a letter he wrote to the Hon.
Robert Boyle, in 1691. The Dr.'s discovery was probably made during his
stay in Virginia, and another letter of his shows the probability of his
being aware that the gas would pass through water without losing its
lighting properties. The discovery has also been claimed as that of a
learned French _savant_ but Murdoch must certainly take the honour of
being the first to bring gas into practical use at his residence, at
Redruth, in 1792, and it is said that he even made a lantern to light
the paths in his evening walks, the gas burned in which was contained in
a bag carried under his arm, his rooms being also lit up from a bag of
gas placed under weights. The exact date of its introduction in this
neighbourhood has not been ascertained though it is believed that part
of the Soho Works were fitted with gas-lights in 1798, and, on the
occurrence of the celebration of the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, a public
exhibition was made of the new light, in the illumination of the works.
The _Gazette_ of April 5, 1802 (according to extract by Dr. Langford, in
his "Century of Birmingham Life") described the various devices in
coloured lamps and transparencies, but strangely enough does not mention
gas at all. Possibly gas was no longer much of a novelty at Soho, or the
reporter might not have known the nature of the lights used, but there
is the evidence of Mr. Wm. Matthews, who, in 1827 published an
"Historical Sketch of Gaslighting," in which he states that he had "the
inexpressible gratification of witnessing, in 1802, Mr. Murdoch's
extraordinary and splendid exhibition of gaslights at Soho." On the
other hand, the present writer was, some years back, told by one of the
few old Soho workmen then left among us, that on the occasion referred
to the only display of gas was in the shape of one large lamp placed at
one end of the factory, and then called a "Bengal light," the gas for
which was brought to the premises in several bags from Mr. Murdoch's own
house. Though it has been always believed that the factory and offices
throughout were lighted by gas in 1803, very soon after the Amiens
illumination, a correspondent to the _Daily Post_ has lately stated that
when certain of his friends went to Soho, in 1834, they found no lights
in use, even for blowpipes, except oil and candles and that they had to
lay on gas from the mains of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas
Company in the Holyhead Road. If correct, this is a curious bit of the
history of the celebrated Soho, as other manufacturers were not at all
slow in introducing gas for working purposes as well as lighting, a
well-known tradesman, Benjamin Cook, Caroline Street, having fitted up
retorts and a gasometer on his premises in 1808, his first pipes being
composed of old or waste gun-barrels, and he reckoned to clear a profit
of L30 a year, as against his former expenditure for candles and oil.
The glassworks of Jones, Smart, and Co., of Aston Hill, were lit up by
gas as early as 1810, 120 burners being used at a nightly cost of 4s.
6d., the gas being made on the premises from a bushel of coal per day.
The first proposal to use gas in lighting the streets of Birmingham was
made in July 1811, and here and there a lamp soon appeared, but they
were supplied by private firms, one of whom afterwards supplied gas to
light the chapel formerly on the site of the present Assay Office,
taking it from their works in Caroline Street, once those of B. Cook
before-mentioned. The Street Commissioners did not take the matter in
hand till 1815, on November 8 of which year they advertised for tenders
for lighting the streets with gas instead of oil. The first shop in
which gas was used was that of Messrs. Poultney, at the corner of Moor
Street, in 1818, the pipes being laid from the works in Gas Street by a
private individual, whose interest therein was bought up by the
Birmingham Gaslight Company. The principal streets were first officially
lighted by gas-lamps on April 29, 1826, but it was not until March,
1843, that the Town Council resolved that that part of the borough
within the parish of Edgbaston should be similarly favoured.

~Gas Companies.~--The first, or Birmingham Gaslight Co. was formed in
1817, incorporated in 1819, and commenced business by buying up the
private adventurer who built the works in Gas Street. The Company was
limited to the borough of Birmingham, and its original capital was
L32,000, which, by an Act obtained in 1855, was increased to L300,000,
and borrowing powers to L90,000 more, the whole of which was raised or
paid up. In the year 1874 the company supplied gas through 17,000
meters, which consumed 798,000,000 cubic feet of gas. The Birmingham and
Staffordshire Gas Co. was established in 1825, and had powers to lay
their mains in and outside the borough. The original Act was repealed in
1845, the company being remodelled and started afresh with a capital of
L320,000, increased by following Acts to L670,000 (all called up by
1874), and borrowing powers to L100,000, of which, by the same year
L23,000 had been raised. The consumption of gas in 1874 was
1,462,000,000 cubic feet, but how much of this was burnt by the
company's 19,910 Birmingham customers, could not be told. The two
companies, though rivals for the public favour, did not undersell one
another, both of them charging 10/-per 1,000 feet in the year 1839,
while in 1873 large consumers were only charged 2/3 per 1,000 feet, the
highest charge being 2/7. The question of buying out both of the Gas
Companies had been frequently mooted, but it was not until 1874 that any
definite step was taken towards the desired end. On April 17th, 1874,
the burgesses recorded 1219 votes in favour of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain's
proposition to purchase the Gas [and the Water] Works, 683 voting
against it. On Jan. 18th, 1875, the necessary Bills were introduced into
the House of Commons, and on July 15th and 19th, the two Acts were
passed, though not without some little opposition from the outlying
parishes and townships heretofore supplied by the Birmingham and
Staffordshire Co., to satisfy whom a clause was inserted, under which
Walsall, West Bromwich, &c., could purchase the several mains and works
in their vicinity, if desirous to do so. The Birmingham Gas Co. received
from the Corporation L450,000, of which L136,890 was to be left on loan
at 4%, as Debenture Stock, though L38,850 thereof has been kept in hand,
as the whole was redeemable within ten years. The balance of L313,000
was borrowed from the public at 4%, and in some cases a little less. The
Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Co. were paid in Perpetual Annuities,
amounting to L58,290 per year, being the maximum dividends then payable
on the Co.'s shares, L10,906 was returned as capital not bearing
interest, L15,000 for surplus profits, L30,000 the half-year's dividend,
and also L39,944 5s. 4d. the Co's Reserve Fund. The total cost was put
down as L1,900,000. The Annuities are redeemable by a Sinking Fund in 85
years. For their portion of the mains, service pipes, works, &c.
formerly belonging to the Birmingham and Staffordshire Company, the
Walsall authorities pay the Corporation an amount equivalent to
annuities valued at L1,300 per year; Oldbury paid L22,750, Tipton
L34,700, and West Bromwich L70,750.

~Gas Fittings.~--Curious notions appear to have been at first
entertained as to the explosive powers of the new illuminator, nothing
less than copper or brass being considered strong enough for the
commonest piping, and it was thought a great innovation when a local
manufacturer, in 1812, took out a patent for lead pipes copper-coated.
Even Murdoch himself seems to have been in dread of the burning element,
for when, in after years, his house at Sycamore Hill changed owners, it
was found that the smaller gas pipes therein were made of silver,
possibly used to withstand the supposed corrosive effects of the gas.
The copper-covered lead pipes were patented in 1819 by Mr. W. Phipson,
of the Dog Pool Mills, the present compo being comparatively a modern
introduction. Messengers, of Broad Street, and Cook, of Caroline Street
(1810-20), were the first manufacturers of gas fittings in this town,
and they appear to have had nearly a monopoly of the trade, as there
were but three others in it in 1833, and only about twenty in 1863; now
their name is legion, gas being used for an infinitude of purposes, not
the least of which is by the gas cooking stove, the idea of which was so
novel at first that the Secretary of the Gas Office in the Minories at
one time introduced it to the notice of the public by having his dinner
daily cooked in a stove placed in one of the office windows. An
exhibition of gas apparatus of all kinds was opened at the Town Hall,
June 5, 1878, and that there is still a wonderful future for development
is shown by its being seriously advocated that a double set of mains
will be desirable, one for lighting gas, and the other for a less pure
kind to be used for heating purposes.

~Gas Works.~--See "_Public Buildings_."

~Gavazzi.~--Father Gavazzi first orated here in the Town Hall, October
20, 1851.

~Geographical.~--According to the Ordnance Survey, Birmingham is
situated in latitude 52 deg. 29', and longitude 1 deg. 54' west.

~Gillott.~--See "_Noteworthy Men_."

~Girls' Home.~--Eighteen years ago several kind-hearted ladies opened a
house in Bath Row, for the reception of servant girls of the poorest
class, who, through their poverty and juvenility, could not be sheltered
in the "Servants' Home," and that such an establishment was needed, is
proved by the fact that no less than 334 inmates were sheltered for a
time during 1883, while 232 others received help in clothing &c.,
suited to their wants. The Midland Railway having taken Bath House, the
Home has lately been removed to a larger house near the Queen's
Hospital, where the managers will be glad to receive any little aid that
can be rendered towards carrying on their charitable operations.

~Glass.~--In the reign of Henry VI. the commonest kind of glass was sold
at 2s. the foot, a shilling in those days being of as much value as a
crown of today. The earliest note we can find of glass being made here
is the year 1785, when Isaac Hawker built a small glasshouse behind his
shop at Edgbaston Street. His son built at Birmingham Heath on the site
now occupied by Lloyd and Summerfield. In 1798 Messrs. Shakespeare and
Johnston had a glasshouse in Walmer Lane. Pressed glass seems to have
been the introduction of Rice Harris about 1832, though glass "pinchers"
(eleven of them) are named in the Directory of 1780. In 1827 plate-glass
sold at 12s. per foot and in 1840 at 6s., ordinary sheet-glass being
then 1s. 2d. per foot. There was a duty on plate-glass prior to April 5,
1845, of 2s. 10-1/2d. per foot. The "patent plate" was the invention of
Mr. James Chance, and Chance Brothers (of whose works a notice will be
found in another part of this book) are the only manufacturers in this
country of glass for lighthouse purposes--See also "_Trades_," &c.

~Godwillings.~--In olden days when our factors started on their tours
for orders, it was customary to send a circular in advance announcing
that "God willing" they would call upon their customers on certain
specified dates. In the language of the counting-house the printed
circulars were called "Godwillings."

~Goldschmidt.~--Notes of the various visits of Madame Goldschmidt,
better known by her maiden name of Jenny Lind, will be found under the
heading of "_Musical Celebrities_."

~Good Templars.~--The Independent Order of Good Templars, in this town,
introduced themselves in 1868, and they now claim to have 90,000 adult
members in the "Grand Lodge of England."

~Gordon.~--Lord George Gordon, whose intemperate actions caused the
London Anti-Papist Riots of 1780, was arrested in this town December 7,
1787, but not for anything connected with those disgraceful proceedings.
He had been found guilty of a libel, and was arrested on a judge's
warrant, and taken from here to London, for contempt of the Court of
King's Bench in not appearing when called upon to do so. It has been
more than once averred that Lord George was circumcised here, before
being admitted to the Jewish community, whose rites and ceremonies,
dress and manners, he strictly observed and followed; but he first
became a Jew while residing in Holland, some time before he took
lodgings in such a classic locality as our old Dudley-street, where he
lay hidden for nearly four months, a long beard and flowing gaberdine
helping to conceal his identity.

~Gough.~--Gough Road, Gough Street, and a number of other thoroughfares
have been named after the family, from whom the present Lord Calthorpe,
inherits his property.--See "_Edgbaston Hall_."

~Grammar School.~--See "_Schools_."

~Great Brooke Street~ takes its name from Mr. Brookes, an attorney of
the olden time.

~Great Eastern Steamship.~--The engines for working the screw propeller,
4 cylinders and 8,500 horse-power (nominal 1,700) were sent out from the
Soho Foundry.

~Green's Village.~--Part of the old [**]ookeries in the neighbourhood of
the [**]nkleys.

~Grub Street.~--The upper part of Old Meeting Street was so called until
late years.

~Guardians.~--See "_Poor Law_."

~Guildhall.~--The operative builders commenced to put up an edifice in
1833 which they intended to call "The Guildhall," but it was only half
finished when the ground was cleared for the railway. Some of the local
antiquaries strongly advocated the adoption of the name "Guildhall" for
the block of municipal buildings and Council House, if only in
remembrance of the ancient building on whose site, in New Street, the
Grammar School now stands.

~Guild of the Holy Cross.~--Founded in the year 1392 by the "Bailiffs
and Commonalty" of the town of Birmingham (answering to our aldermen and
councillors), and licensed by the Crown, for which the town paid L50,
the purpose being to "make and found a gild and perpetual fraternity of
brethren and sustern (sisters), in honour of the Holy Cross," and "to
undertake all works of charity, &c., according to the appointment and
pleasure of the said bailiffs and commonalty." In course of time the
Guild became possessed of all the powers then exercised by the local
corporate authorities, taking upon themselves the building of
almshouses, the relief and maintenance of the poor, the making and
keeping in repair of the highways used by "the King's Majestie's
subjects passing to and from the marches of Wales," looking to the
preservation of sundry bridges and lords, as well as repair of "two
greate stone brydges," &c., &c. The Guild owned considerable portion of
the land on which the present town is built, when Henry VIII., after
confiscating the revenues and possessions of the monastic institutions,
laid hands on the property of such semi-religious establishments as the
Guild of the Holy Cross. It has never appeared that our local Guild had
done anything to offend the King, and possibly it was but the name that
he disliked. Be that as it may, his son, Edward VI., in 1552, at the
petition of the inhabitants, returned somewhat more than half of the
property, then valued at L21 per annum, for the support and maintenance
of a Free Grammar School, and it is this property from which the income
of the present King Edward VI.'s Grammar Schools is now derived,
amounting to nearly twice as many thousands as pounds were first
granted. The Guild Hall or Town's Hall in New Street (then only a bye
street), was not _quite_ so large as either our present Town Hall or the
Council House, but was doubtless considered at the time a very fine
building, with its antique carvings and stained glass windows emblazoned
with figures and armorial bearings of the Lords right Ferrers and
others. As the Guild had an organist in its pay, it may be presumed that
such an instrument was also there, and that alone goes far to prove the
fraternity were tolerably well off, as organs in those times were costly
and scarce. The old building, for more than a century after King
Edward's grant, was used as the school, but even when rebuilt it
retained its name as the Guild Hall.