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

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~Medical Associations.~--According to the "Medical Register" there are
35 physicians and 210 surgeons resident in the borough, and there are
rather more than 300 chemists and druggists. According to a summary of
the census tables, the medical profession "and their subordinates"
number in Birmingham and Aston 940, of whom 376 are males and 564
females. In 1834, at Worcester, under the presidency of Dr. Johnson, of
this town, the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association was formed
for encouraging scientific research, improving the practice of medicine,
and generally looking after the interests of the profession. In 1856 the
name was changed to The British Medical Association, with head offices
in London, but prior to that branches had been established in various
large towns, the Birmingham and Midland Counties' branch being foremost,
holding its first meeting at Dee's Hotel, in December, 1854. The society
has now about 9,000 members, with a reserve fund of L10,000; in the
local branch there are 359 members, who subscribe about L150 per annum.
--The Birmingham Medical Institute was launched Feb. 5, 1876, but the
question of admitting homeopathists as members was nearly the upsetting
of the craft at the first meeting; thanks to the sails being trimmed
with a little common sense, however, the difficulty was tided over. The
opening of the Institute in Edmund Street took place December 17, 1880.
The cost of the building was about L6,000, and the purposes to which it
is applied are the providing accommodation for meetings of the
profession and the housing of the valuable medical library of over 6,000
books. As something worthy of note, it may be mentioned that the
Institute was opened free from debt, the whole cost being previously
subscribed.

~Memorials and Monuments.~--See "_Statues," &c._

~Men of Worth.~--The "Toy-shop of the World," the home of workers, free
from the blue blood of titled families, and having but few reapers of
"unearned increment," is hardly the place to look for "men of worth or
value" in a monetary point of view, but we have not been without them. A
writer in _Gazette_, September 1, 1828, reckoned up 120 inhabitants who
were each worth over L10,000 each; 50 worth over L20,000; 16 worth over
L50,000; 9 worth over L100,000; 3 worth over L200,000; 2 worth over
L300,000 each, and 1 worth over L400,000. Taking certain Income Tax
Returns and other information for his basis another man of figures in
1878 made calculations showing that there were then among us some 800
persons worth more than L5,000 each, 200 worth over L10,000, 50 worth
over L20,000, 35 worth over L50,000, 26 worth over L100,000, 12 worth
over L250,000, 5 worth over L500,000, and 2 worth over or near
L1,000,000 each.

~Mercia.~--In 585, this neighbourhood formed part of the Heptarchic
kingdom of Mercia, under Cridda; in 697, Mercia was divided into four
dioceses; this district being included in that of Lichfield; in 878,
Mercia was merged in the kingdom of England. According to Bede and the
Saxon Chronicles, Beorned was, in 757, king of Mercia, of which
Birmingham formed part, and in Canute's reign there was an Earl Beorn,
the king's nephew, and it has been fancifully suggested that in this
name Beorn may lie the much-sought root for the etymology of the town's
name. Beorn, or Bern, being derived from _ber_, a bear or boar, it might
be arranged thusly:--

_Ber_, bear or boar; _moeng_, many; _ham_, dwelling--the whole making
_Bermoengham_, the dwelling of many bears, or the home of many pigs!

~Metchley Camp.~--At Metchley Park, about three miles from town, near to
Harborne, there are the remains of an old camp or station which Hutton
attributes to "those pilfering vermin, the Danes," other writers
thinking it was constructed by the Romans, but it is hardly possible
that an undertaking requiring such immense labour as this must have
done, could have been overlooked in any history of the Roman occupation.
More likely it was a stronghold of the native Britons who opposed their
advance, a superstition borne out by its being adjacent to their line of
Icknield Street, and near the heart of England. From a measurement made
in 1822, the camp appears to have covered an area of about 15-1/2 acres.
Hutton gives it as 30 acres, and describes a third embankment. The
present outer vallum was 330 yards long by 228 wide, and the interior
camp 187 yards long by 165 wide. The ancient vallum and fosse have
suffered much by the lapse of time, by the occupiers partially levelling
the ground, and by the passing through it of the Worcester and
Birmingham canal, to make the banks of which the southern extremity of
the camp was completely destroyed. Some few pieces of ancient weapons,
swords and battle-axes, and portions of bucklers, have been found here,
but nothing of a distinctively Roman or Danish character. As the
fortification was of such great size and strength, and evidently formed
for no mere temporary occupation, had either of those passers-by been
the constructors we should naturally have expected that more positive
traces of their nationality would have been found.

~Methodism.~--The introduction here must date from Wesley's first visit
in March, 1738. In 1764, Moor Street Theatre was taken as a meeting
place, and John Wesley opened it March 21. The new sect afterwards
occupied the King Street Theatre. Hutton says:--"The Methodists
occupied for many years a place in Steelhouse Lane, where the wags of
the age observed, 'they were eaten out by the bugs.' They therefore
procured the cast-off Theatre in Moor Street, where they continued to
exhibit till 1782, when, quitting the stage, they erected a superb
meeting house in Cherry Street, at the expense of L1,200. This was
opened, July 7, by John Wesley, the chief priest, whose extensive
knowledge and unblemished manners give us a tolerable picture of
apostolic purity, who believed as if he were to be saved by faith, and
who laboured as if he were to be saved by works." The note made by
Wesley, who was in his 80th year, respecting the opening of Cherry
Street Chapel, has been preserved. He says:--"July 6th, 1782. I came to
Birmingham, and preached once more in the old dreary preaching-house.
The next day I opened the new house at eight, and it contained the
people well, but not in the evening, many more then constrained to go
away. In the middle of the sermon a huge noise was heard, caused by the
breaking of a bench on which some people stood. None of them were hurt;
yet it occasioned a general panic at first, but in a few minutes all was
quiet." Four years after the opening, Wesley preached in the chapel
again, and found great prosperity. "At first," he wrote, "the
preaching-house would not near contain the congregation. Afterwards I
administered the Lord's Supper to about 500 communicants." Old as he
then was, the apostle of Methodism came here a time or two after that,
his last visit being in 1790. Many talented men have since served the
Wesleyan body in this town, and the society holds a strong position
among our Dissenting brethren. The minutes of the Wesleyan Conference
last issued give the following statistics of the Birmingham and
Shrewsbury District:--Church members, 18,875; on trial for membership,
l,537; members of junior classes, 2,143; number of ministerial class
leaders, 72; lay class leaders, 1,269; local or lay preachers, 769 (the
largest number in any district except Nottingham and Derby, which has
798). There are 40 circuits in the district, of which 27 report an
increase of membership, and 13 a decrease.--See "_Places of Worship_."

~Methodism, Primitive.~--The origin of the Primitive Methodist Connexion
dates from 1808, and it sprung solely from the custom (introduced by
Lorenzo Dow, from America, in the previous year) of holding "camp
meetings," which the Wesleyan Conference decided to be "highly improper
in England, even if allowable in America, and likely to be productive of
considerable mischief," expelling the preachers who conducted them. A
new society was the result, and the first service in this town was held
in Moor Sreet, in the open air, near to the Public Office, in the summer
of 1824. The first "lovefeast" took place, March 6, 1825, and the first
"camp meeting," a few months later. A circuit was formed, the first
minister being the Rev. T. Nelson, and in 1826, a chapel was opened in
Bordesley Street, others following in due course of time, as the
Primitives increased in number. The Birmingham circuit contains about
800 members, with over 2,000 Sunday School scholars, and 250 teachers.--
See "_Places of Worship_."

~Metric System.~--This, the simplest decimal system of computation yet
legalised is in use in France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, and other
parts of Europe, as well as in Chili, Peru, Mexico, &c., and by 27 and
28 Vic., cap. 117, its use has been rendered legal in this country. As
our local trade with the above and other countries is increasing
(unfortunately in some respects), rules for working out the metric
measures into English and _vice versa_ may be useful. The unit of length
is the _metre_ (equal to 39.37 inches); it is divided into tenths
(decimetres), hundredths (centimetres), and thousandths (millimetres),
and it is multiplied by decimals in like way into hectometres,
kilometres, and myriometres. The unit of weight is the _gramme_, divided
as the metre into decigrammes, centigrammes, and milligrammes;
multiplied into decagrammes, hectogrammes, and kilogrammes. The unit of
capacity is the _litre_, divided and multiplied like the others.

1 inch equals 2-1/2 centimetres.
1 foot equals 3 decimetres.
1 mile equals 1-3/5 kilometres.
1 cwt. equals 50.8 kilogrammes.
1 ounce (troy) equals 31 grammes.
1 pound (troy) equals 3.72 decagrammes.
1 gallon equals 4-1/2 litres.
1 quart equals 1-1/16 litres.
1 metre equals 39.37 inches.
1 hectometre equals 109-1/3 yards.
1 cubic metre equals 61,027 cubic inches.
1 kilometre equals 1,093 yards.
1 decigramme equals 1-1/2 grains.
1 gramme equals 15 grains.
1 kilogramme equals 2-1/5 pounds (avoirdupois).
1 litre equals 1-3/4 pints.

To turn inches into millimetres add the figures 00 to the number of
inches, divide by 4, and add the result two-fifths of the original
number of inches.

To turn millimetres to inches add the figure 0 and divide by 254.

To make cubic inches into cubic centimetres multiply by 721 and divide
by 44; cubic centimetres into cubic inches multiply by 44 and divide by
721.

To turn grains into grammes, multiply the number by 648 and divide the
product by 10,000.

To turn grammes into grains, multiply by 10,000, dividing the result by
648.

The metric system is especially useful in our local jewellery and other
trades, but it is very slowly making its way against the old English
foot and yaid, even such a learned man as Professor Rankine poking fun
at the foreign measures in a comic song of which two verses run:--

Some talk of millimetres, and some of kilogrammes,
And some of decillitres to measure beer and drams;
But I'm an English workman, too old to go to school,
So by pounds I'll eat, by quarts I'll drink, and work by my two-foot
rule.

A party of astronomers went measuring of the earth,
And forty million metres they took to be its girth;
Five hundred million inches now go through from pole to pole,
So we'll stick to inches, feet, and yards, and our own old two-foot
rule.

~Mid-England.~--Meriden, near Coventry, is believed to be about the
centre spot of England.

~Midland Institute.~--Suggestions of some such an institution, to take
the place of the defunct Mechanics', had several time appeared in print,
but nothing definite was done in the matter until the subject was
discussed (June 4, 1852) over the dinner table of Mr. Arthur Ryland.
Practical shape being given to the ideas then advanced, a town's meeting
on Dec. 3, 1853, sanctioned the grant by the Council of the land
necessary for the erection of a proper building, and an Act of
Incorporation was obtained in the following Parliamentiry session. In
December 1854, Charles Dickens gave three readings in the Town Hall, in
behalf of the building fund, whereby L227 13s. 9d. was realised, the
donations then amounting to L8,467. The foundation stone was laid by
Prince Albert, on Nov. 22, 1855, and the contract for the first part of
the building given to Messrs. Branston and Gwyther for L12,000. The
lecture theatre was opened Oct. 13, 1857, when addresses were delivered
by Lord Brougham, Lord Russell, and Lord Stanley, the latter delivering
the prizes to the students who had attended the classes, which were
first started in October, 1854, at the Philosophical Institute. In 1859,
the portrait of David Cox was presented to the Institute, forming the
first contribution to the Fine Art Gallery, which was built on portion
of the land originally given to the Institute, the whole of the
buildings being designed by Mr. E.M. Barry. The amount subscribed to the
building fund was about L18,000, and the coat, including furniture and
apparatus more than L16,000. Great extension has been made since then,
on the Paradise Street side, and many thousands spent on the
enlargement, branch classes bring also held at several of the Board
Schools to relieve the pressure on the Institute. In 1864, the members
of the Institute numbered 660, and the students 880, with an income of
L998; in January, 1874, there were 1,591 members, 733 family ticket
holders. 2,172 students, and an income of L2,580. At the end of 1833,
the number of annual subscribers was 1,900, and lecture ticket-holders
838. In the Industrial Department there were 4,334 students; the
Archaeological Section numbered 226 members, and the musical Section 183.
108 students attended the Laws of Health classes, 220 the Ladies
classes, and 36 the classes for preparation for matriculation. The
benefits derived from the establishment of the Midland Institute, and
the amount of useful, practical, and scientific knowledge disseminated
by means of its classes among the intelligent working men of the town
and the rising generation, is incalculable. These classes, many of which
are open at the low fee of 1d., and some others specially for females,
now include the whole of the following subjects:--English language and
literature, English history, French, German, Latin, Greek, and Spanish,
algebra, geometry, mensuration, trignometry, and arithmetic, music,
drawing, writing, English grammar, and composition, botany, chemistry,
experimental physics, practical mechanics, and metallurgy, elementary
singing, physical geography, animal physiology, geology, practical plane
and solid geometry, &c. The general position of the Institute with
regard to finance was as follows:--Gross receipts in General Department,
L3,281 5s. 6d.; expenditure in this department (including L998 1s. 6d.
deficiency at the close of the year 1882), L3,088 17s. 2d.; balance in
favour of the General Department, L192 8s. 4d. Gross receipts in
Industrial Department, L1,747 13s.; expenditure in this department,
L3,173 7s. 10d.; deficiency, Ll,425 14s. 10d., met by a transfer from
the funds of the General Department. The total result of the year's
operations in both departments left a deficiency of L1,233 6s. 6d. The
amount due to bankers on the General Fund was L863 13s. 6d; and the
amount standing to the credit of the Institute on the Repairs Account is
L440 12s. 2d. It is much to be regretted that there is a total debt on
the Institute, amounting to L19,000, the paying of interest on which
sadly retards its usefulness. Many munificent donations have been made
to the funds of the Institute from time to time, one being the sum of
L3,000, given by an anonymous donor in 186[**], "in memory of Arthur
Ryland." In August, same year, it was announced that the late Mr. Alfred
Wilkes had bequeathed the bulk of his estate, estimated at about
L100,000, in trust for his two sisters during their lives, with
reversion in equal shares to the General Hospital and the Midland
Institute, being a deferred benefaction of L50,000 to each.

~Midland Metropolis.~--Birmingham was so entitled because it was the
largest town, and has more inhabitants than any town in the centre of
England. To use a Yankeeism, it is "the hub" of the Kingdom; here is the
throbbing heart of all that is Liberal in the political life of Europe;
this is the workshop of the world, the birth-spot of the steam-engine,
and the home of mock jewellery. In all matters political, social, and
national, it takes the lead, and if London is the Metropolis of all that
is effete and aristocratic, Birmingham has the moving-power of all that
is progressive, recuperative and advancing. When Macaulay's New
Zealander sits sadly viewing the silent ruins of the once gigantic city
on the Thames, he will have the consolation of knowing that the
pulse-beats of his progenitors will still be found in the Mid-England
Metropolis, once known as the town of Burningsham or Birmingham.

~Mild Winters.~--The winter of 1658-9 was very mild, there being neither
snow or frost. In 1748 honeysuckles, in full bloom, were gathered near
Worcester, in February. In the first four months of 1779 there was not a
day's rain or snow, and on the 25th of March the cherry, plum, and pear
trees were in full bloom. An extraordinary mild winter was that of
1782-3. A rose was plucked in an open garden, in New Street, on 30th
December, 1820. In December, 1857, a wren's nest, with two eggs in it
was found near Selly Oak, and ripe raspberries were gathered in the
Christmas week at Astwood Bank. The winter of 1883-4 is worthy of note,
for rose trees were budding in December, lambs frisking about in
January, and blackbirds sitting in February.

~Milk.~--The reports of the Borough Analyst for several successive
years, 1879 to 1882, showed that nearly one-half the samples of milk
examined were adulterated, the average adulteration of each being as
much as 20 per cent.; and a calculation has been made that the Brums pay
L20,000 a year for the water added to their milk! Next to the bread we
eat, there is no article that should be kept freer from adulteration
than milk, and the formation of a Dairy Company, in April, 1882, was
hailed as a boon by many. The Company started with a nominal capital of
L50,000 in L5 shares, and it rigidly prosecutes any farmer who puts the
milk of the "wooden cow" into their cans.

~Minories.~--Once known as Upper and Lower Minories, the latter name
being given to what, at other times, has been called "Pemberton's Yard"
or the "Coach Yard." The names give their own meaning, the roads leading
to the Priory.

~Mints.~--See "_Trades_."

~Missionary Work.~--About a million and a quarter sterling is yearly
contributed in England to Foreign, Colonial, and Home Missionary
Societies, and Birmingham sends its share very fairly. The local
Auxiliary, to the Church Missionary Society, in 1882, gathered L2,133
8s. 6d.; in 1883 (to June both years) it reached L2,774 17s. 8d., of
which L2,336 6s 11d. was from collections in the local churches. The
Auxiliary to the London Missionary Society gathered L1,050, of which
L991 was collected in churches and chapels. The Baptist Missionary
Society was founded in October, 1792, and branch was started here a few
months afterwards, the first fruits totting up to the very respectable
amount of L70. A branch of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was formed
here in 1814 for the Birmingham and Shrewsbury district, and the amounts
gathered in 1882 totalled L4,829 10s. 3d. To the Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews, the Birmingham Auxiliaries in 1883 sent
L323. There are also Auxiliaries of the Church of England Zenana, of the
South American, and of one or two other Missionary Societies. The Rev.
J.B. Barradale, who died in China, early in 1879, while relieving
sufferers from famine, was educated at Spring Hill College. He was sent
out by the London Missionary Society, and his death was preceded by that
of his wife and only child, who died a few weeks before him, all from
fever caught while helping poor Chinamen.

~Moated Houses.~--The Parsonage, as well as the Manor House (as noted
elsewhere), were each surrounded by its moat, and, possibly, no portion
of the United Kingdom could show more family mansions, and country
residences, protected in this manner, than the immediate district
surrounding Birmingham. Many more or-less-preserved specimens of these
old-fashioned houses, with their water guards round them, are to be met
with by the rambler, as at Astwood Bank. Erdington, Inkberrow, Yardley,
Wyrley, &c. Perhaps, the two best are Maxtoke Castle, near Coleshill,
and the New Hall, Sutton Coldfield.

~Modern Monasteries.~--The foundation-stone of St. Thomas's Priory, at
Erdington, for the accommodation of the Monks of the Order of St.
Benedict, was laid on Aug. 5, 1879, by the Prior, the Rev. Hildebrand de
Hemptinne. Alter the date, and the reader might fancy himself living in
Mediaeval times.

~Monument.~--The high tower erected near the Reservoir has long borne
the name of "The Monument," though it has been said it was built more as
a strange kind of pleasure-house, where the owner, a Mr. Perrott, could
pass his leisure hours witnessing coursing in the day-time, or making
astronomical observations at night. Hence it was often called "Perrott's
Folly." It dates from 1758--See also "_Statues_," &c.

~Moody and Sankey.~--These American Evangelists, or Revivalists, visited
here in Jan. 1875, their first meeting being held in the Town Hall, on
the 17th, the remainder of their services (to February 7) being given in
Bingley Hall. They came also in February, 1883. when the last-named
place again accommodated them.

~Moor Street.~--Rivaling Edgbaston Street in its antiquity, its name has
long given rise to debate as to origin, but the most likely solution of
the puzzle is this: On the sloping land near here, in the 14th century,
and perhaps earlier, there was a mill, probably the Town Mill, and by
the contraction of the Latin, _Molendinaria_, the miller would be called
John le Molendin, or John le Moul. The phonetic style of writing by
sound was in great measured practised by the scriveners, and thus we
find, as time went on, the street of the mill became Moul, Moule, Mowle,
Molle, Moll, More, and Moor Street. A stream crossed the street near the
Woolpack, over which was a wooden bridge, and farther on was another
bridge of more substantial character, called "Carter's Bridge." In flood
times, Cars Lane also brought from the higher lands copious streams of
water, and the keeping of Moor Street tidy often gave cause to mention
these spots in old records, thus:--

L s. d.
1637--Paid Walter Taylor for ridding
the gutters in Moor Street 0 0 11
1665--Zachary Gisborne 42 loads of
mudd out of Moore Street .. 0 0 7
1676--J. Bridgens keepinge open
passage and tourneing water
from Cars Lane that it did
not runne into More Street
for a yeare .. .. .. .. 0 4 0
1688--Paid mending Carter's Bridge
timber and worke .. .. .. 0 5 0
1690--John, for mending Moore Street
Bridg .. .. .. .. .. .. 0 0 10

Moor Street, from the earliest date, was the chosen place of residence
for many of the old families, the Carless, Smalbroke, Ward, Sheldon,
Flavell, Stidman, and other names, continually cropping up in deeds;
some of the rents paid to the Lord of the Manor, contrasting curiously
with the rentals of to-day. For three properties adjoining in More
Street, and which were so paid until a comparatively modern date, the
rents were:--

"One pound of pepper by Goldsmythe and Lench,
Two pounds of pepper by the master of the Gild,
One pound of cumin seed, one bow, and six barbed bolts, or arrow heads
by John Sheldon."

~Moseley.~--One of the popular, and soon will be populous suburbs,
connected as it is so closely to us by Balsall Heath. It is one of the
old Domesday-mentioned spots, but has little history other than
connected with the one or two families who chose it for their residence
ages ago. It is supposed the old church was erected prior to the year
1500, a tower being added to it in Henry VIII.'s reign, but the parish
register dates only from the middle of last century, possibly older
entries being made at King's Norton (from which Moseley was
ecclesiastically divided in 1852). Moseley does not appear to have been
named from, or to have given name to, any particular family, the
earliest we have any note about being Greves, or Grevis, whose tombs are
in King's Norton Church, one of the epitaphs being this:--

"Ascension day on ninth of May,
Third year of King James' reine,
To end my time and steal my coin,
I William Greves was slain. 1605."

Hutton says that the old custom of "heriot" was practised here; which is
not improbable, as instances have occurred in neighbourhood of
Bromsgrove and other parts of the county within the past few years. This
relic of feudalism, or barbarism, consists of the demanding for the lord
of the manor the best movable article, live or dead, that any tenant
happens to be possessed of at the time of his death.