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

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~Sultan Divan.~--Formerly a questionable place of amusement in Needless
Alley, but which was bought for L7,500, and opened by the Young Men's
Christian Association, January 7, 1875.

~Sunday in Birmingham.~--Sunday dogfights _have_ been heard of in this
town, but it was sixty years ago, when brutal sports of all kinds were
more rife than now. Prior to that, however, many attempts were made to
keep the Sabbath holy, for we read that in 1797 the heavy wagons then in
use for transport of goods were not allowed to pass through the town,
the authorities fining all offenders who were so wicked as to use their
vehicles on the Lord's Day. The churchwardens were then supported by the
inhabitants, who held several public meetings to enforce the proper
observance of the day, but there have been many changes since. In
January, 1856, a Sunday League, for opening museums, libraries, &c., on
the Sabbath, was started here. In the last session of Parliament in
1870, there were eighteen separate petitions presented from this town
against opening the British Museum on Sundays. The Reference Library and
Art Gallery commenced to be opened on Sundays, April 28, 1872, and they
are well frequented. Sunday labour in the local Post Offices was stopped
Aug. 10, 1873. In 1879 a society was formed for the purpose of
delivering lectures, readings, and addresses of an interesting nature,
on the Sunday evenings of the winter season, the Town Hall, Board
Schools, and other public buildings being utilised for the purpose (the
first being held in the Bristol Street Schools, Oct. 19, 1879), and very
popular have they been, gentlemen of all sects and parties taking part,
in the belief that

A Sabbath well spent
Brings a week of content.

In 1883, during an inquiry as to the extent of drunkenness on the
Sabbath, it was shown that the county of Warwick (including Birmingham)
was remarkably clear, as out of a population of 737,188 there had only
been 348 convictions during 1882. For Staffordshire, with a population
of 980,385, the convictions were 581. Northumberland, 687 convictions
out of 434,074. Durham, 1,015 out of 867,586. Liverpool 1,741 out of
552,425. Manchester, 1,429 out of 341,508.

~Sutton Coldfield~, on the road to Lichfield, is celebrated even more
for its park than its antiquity. The former was left to the town by the
Bishop of Exeter (John Harman), otherwise known as Bishop Vesey, who was
a native of Sutton, and whose monument is still to be seen in the old
Church. He procured a charter of incorporation in 1528, and also founded
the Grammar School, and other endowed charities, such as the Almshouses,
the Poor Maidens' Portions, &c., dying in 1555, in his 103rd year.
Thirty years' back, the park contained an area of 2,300 acres, but a
small part was sold, and the railways have taken portions, the present
extent, park and pools, being estimated at 2,034 acres, the mean level
of which is 410 feet above the sea level. A good length of Icknielde
Street, or the Old Roman Road, is distinctly traceable across a portion
of the park. King John visited Sutton manor-house in April, 1208. On the
18th of October, 1642, Charles I. reviewed his Staffordshire troops
here, prior to the battle of Edgehill, the spot being long known as "The
King's Standing." The mill-dams at Sutton burst their banks July 24,
1668, and many houses were swept away. The population is about 8,000,
and the rateable value is put at L50,000, but as, through the attraction
of the park, the town is a very popular resort, and is rapidly
increasing, it may ultimately become a place of importance, worthy of
municipal honours, which are even now being sought. The number of
visitors to the park in the Whit-week of 1882, was 19,549; same week in
1883, it was 11,378; in 1884, it was 17,486; of whom 14,000 went on the
Monday.

~Taxes.~--Would life be worth living if we had to pay such taxes as our
fathers had to do? Here are a few:--The hearth or chimney tax of 2s. for
every fire-place or stove in houses rated above 20s. per annum was
imposed in the fifteenth year of Charles II.'s reign, but repealed in
the first year of William and Mary, 1689; the owners of Edgbaston Hall
paid for 22 chimneys before it was destroyed in 1668. In 1642, there was
a duty of L4 a pair on silk stockings. A window tax was enacted in 1695
"to pay for the re-coinage of the gold coin," and was not entirely
removed till July 24, 1851; from a return made to Parliament by the Tax
Office in 1781, it appeared that the occupiers of 2,291 houses paid the
window tax in Birmingham; there was collected for house and window tax
in 1823, from the inhabitants of this town, the sum of L27,459 12s.
1-3/4d., though in the following year it was L9,000 less. Bachelors and
widowers were rated by 6 and 7 William III., c. 6, "to enable the King
to carry on the war against France with rigour." Births, marriages, and
deaths were also made liable to duties by the same Act. The salt duties
were first levied in 1702, doubled in 1732, and raised again in 1782,
ceasing to be gathered in 1825. The price of salt at one period of the
long Peninsular war rose to L30 per ton, being retailed in Birmingham at
4l. per lb. Carriages were taxed in 1747. Armorial bearings in 1798.
Receipts for money and promisory notes were first taxed in 1782. Hair
powder tax, of 21s. per annum, was first levied in 1795. In 1827, there
was a 1s. 3d. duty on almanacks. The 3s. advertisement duty was reduced
to 1s. 6d. in 1833, and abolished August 4, 1853. The paper duty, first
put on in 1694, was repealed in 1861; that on bricks taken off in 1850;
on soap in 1853; on sugar in May, 1874, and on horses the same year.
Hats, gloves, and linen shirts were taxed in 1785; patent medicines,
compound waters, and codfish, in 1783; in fact every article of food,
drink, and clothing required by man from the moment of his birth until
his burial, the very shroud, the land he trod on, the house he lived in,
the materials for building, have all been taxed. For coming into the
world, for living in it, and for going out of it, have Englishmen had to
pay, even though they grumbled. Now-a-days the country's taxes are few
in number, and per head are but small in amount, yet the grumbling and
the growling is as heavy as of old. _Can_ it arise from the pressure of
our local rates? Where our fathers paid 20s. to the Government, we do
not pay 5s.; but where the old people gave 5s. in rates, we have to part
with 25s.

~Telegraphs.~--The cable for the first Atlantic telegraph was made here.
Its length was 2,300 nautical miles, and it required 690,000 lbs. of
copper in addition to the iron wire forming the strand, of which latter
there was about 16,000 miles' length. The first time the "Queen's
Speech" was transmitted to this town by the electric telegraph was on
Tuesday, November 30, 1847, the time occupied being an hour and a half.
The charge for sending a message of 20 words from here to London, in
1848, was 6s. 6d. The Sub-Marine Telegraph Co. laid their wires through
Birmingham in June and July, 1853.

~Temperance.~--There appears to have been a sort of a kind of a
temperance movement here in 1788, for the Magistrates, at their sitting
August 21, strongly protested against the increase of dram-drinking; but
they went on granting licenses, though. Father Matthew's first visit was
September 10, 1843; J.B. Gough's, September 21, 1853; Mr. Booth's, in
May, 1882. The first local society for inculcating principles of
temperance dates from September 1, 1830; U.K. Alliance organised a
branch here in February, 1855; the first Templars' Lodge was opened
September 8, 1868; the Royal Crusaders banded together in the summer of
1881; and the Blue Ribbons were introduced in May, 1882. This novelty in
dress ornamentation was adopted (so they said) by over 40,000
inhabitants, but at the end of twelve months the count was reduced to
8,000, including Sunday School children, popular parsons, maidens
looking for husbands, old maids who had lost their chances, and the
unco' guid people, who, having lost their own tastes, would fain keep
others from their cakes and ale.

~Temple Row.~--A "parech meeting" in 1715 ordered the purchase of land
for a passage way out of Bull Street to St. Philip's Church. It was not
until 1842 when part of the Royal Hotel stables were taken down, that it
was made its present width. In 1837 the churchyard had some pleasant
walks along the sides, bounded by a low wooden fence, and skirted with
trees.

~Temple Street~ takes its name from the old summer arbour, wittily
called "the Temple," which once stood in a garden where now Temple Row
joins the street. An advertisement in _Gazette_ of December 5, 1743,
announced a house for sale, in Temple Street, having a garden twelve
yards wide by fifty yards long, adjoining the fields, and with a
prospect of four miles distance.

~Theatrical Jottings.~--What accommodation, if any, was provided here
for "their majesties' servants," the playactors, in the times of Queen
Anne and her successor, George I., is not known, but as Hutton tells us
that in 1730 the amusements of the stage _rose_ in elegance so far that
threepenny performances were given "in a stable in Castle Street," we
may be sure the position held by members of the profession was not very
high in the estimation of our townsfolk previous to that period. Indeed,
it would almost seem as if the acting of plays was quite an innovation
at the time named, and one that met with approval, for shortly after we
read of there being theatres in Smallbrook Street, in New Street, and "a
new theatre" in Moor Street. The first-named closed in 1749 or 1750; the
second is _supposed_ to have been on the site of the present Theatre
Royal, but it could not have been a building of much importance as we
find no note of it after 1744; the third, built in 1739, was taken
possession of by the disciples of Wesley, and on March 21, 1764, was
opened as a chapel. Previous to the last event, however, another theatre
had been erected (in 1752) in King Street, leading out of New Street,
near to the Free School, which, being enlarged in 1774, is described by
Hutton as having few equals. In this year also (1774) the Theatre Royal
was erected (at a cost of nearly L5,700) though the latter half of its
title was not assumed until August, 1807, on the occasion of the Royal
assent being given to the house being "licensed." A bill had been
introduced into the House of Commons for this purpose on the 26th of
March, 1777, during the debate on which Burke called Birmingham "the
great toyshop of Europe," but it was thrown out on the second reading.
The King Street Theatre, like its predecessor in Moor Street, after a
time of struggle, was turned into a place of worship in 1786, a fate
which, at a later date, also befell another place of public
entertainment, the Circus, in Bradford Street, and the theatrical
history of the town, for a long term of years centred round the Theatre
Royal, though now and then spasmodic attempts were made to localise
amusements more or less of a similar nature. One of these, and the
earliest, was peculiarly unfortunate; early in 1778 a wooden pavilion,
known as the "Concert Booth," was erected in the Moseley Road, dramatic
performances being _given_ between the first and last parts of a vocal
and instrumental concert, but some mischievous or malicious incendiary
set fire to the building, which was burnt to the ground Aug. 13 of the
same year. Four years later, and nearly at the same date (Aug. 17) the
Theatre in New Street met with a like fate, the only portion of it left
being the stone front (added in 1780) which is still the same,
fortunately coming almost as safely through the next conflagration. The
proprietors cleared away the ruins, and erected a more commodious
structure, which, under the management of Mr. William Macready, was
opened June 22, 1795. In the meantime, the King Street Theatre having
been chapelised, the town appears to have been without any recognised
place for dramatic entertainments other than those provided in the large
rooms of the hotels, or the occasional use of a granary transmogrified
for the nonce into a Thespian arena. On the night of the 6th of January,
1820, after the performance of "Pizarro," the Theatre Royal was again
burnt out, but, possibly from having their property insured up to
L7,000, the proprietors were not so long in having it rebuilt, the doors
of the new house being opened on following Aug. 14. This is,
practically, the same building as the present, which has scats for about
3,500, the gallery holding 1,000. Many of the first artists of the
profession have trod the boards of the Old Theatre since the last-named
date, and Birmingham has cause to be proud of more than one of her
children, who, starting thence, have found name and fame elsewhere. The
scope of the present work will not allow of anything move than a few
brief notes, and those entirely of local bearing, but a history of the
Birmingham stage would not be uninteresting reading.

A wooden building in Moor Street, formerly a circus, was licensed March,
19, 1861; closed in 1863, and cleared off the ground in 1865.

Theatrical performances were licensed in Bingley Hall in 1854.

The Prince of Wales Theatre, previously Broad Street Music Hall, was
opened in 1862. It was reconstructed in 1876, and has accommodation for
an audience of 3,200.

The Holte Theatre was opened May 12, 1879, the license to the Lower
Grounds Co. being granted November 29, 1878.

The last new Theatre, the Grand, in Corporation Street, must rank as one
of the handsomest edifices in the town. It faces what was once the Old
Square, and has a frontage of 120ft., the height to the cornice of the
roof being 52ft., the whole being capped with a dome, supporting a
winged figure of Auroro, which, drawn in a car by prancing horses, is
15ft. high. The interior is laid out in the most improved modern style,
ornately decorated throughout, and provides accommodation for over 3,000
persons. The cost is put at L30,000, of which L17,000 went to the
builders alone, and the theatre is the property of Mr. A. Melville. The
opening day was Nov. 14th, 1883.

The "Interlude of Deritend Wake, with the representation of a
Bull-baiting" was part of the performance announced at the King street
Theatre, May 31, 1783.

Mrs. Sarah Siddons, whose _debut_ in London the previous season had been
anything but successful, came to Birmingham for the summer season of
1776. Henderson, one of her colleagues here, notwithstanding the Drury
Lane veto, declared that she was "an actress who never had an equal nor
would ever have a superior"--an opinion quickly verified.

One of Kean's benefits was a total failure. In the last scene of the
play "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," wherein allusion is made to the
marriage of a lady, "Take her," said Kean, "and the Birmingham audience
into the bargain."

Garrick was visiting Lord Lytton at Hagley on one occasion when news was
brought that a company of players were going to perform at Birmingham.
His lordship suggested that Garrick should write an address to the
audience for the players. "Suppose, then," said he, "I begin thus:

"Ye sons of iron, copper, brass and steel,
Who have not heads to think, nor hearts to feel."

"Oh," cried his lordship, "if you begin like that, they will hiss the
players off the stage, and pull the house down." "My lord," replied
Garrick, "what is the use of an address if it does not come home to the
business and bosoms of the audience?"

A "Birmingham Garrick," was the name given to an actor named Henderson
(1782), whose friends did not think him quite so great a tragedian as he
fancied himself.

Kemble made his last appearance on the Birmingham stage July 9, 1788.

Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday, was the pantomime in 1790.

Madame Catalini first appeared at Royal in 1807.

Incledon, the famous tenor, sang here first time in same year.

William Charles Macready made his _debut_ on the stage of the Royal as
_Romeo_, June 7, 1810. He took his farewell benefit Aug. 13, 1871.

Alfred Bunn had the Theatre in 1823, during which year there appeared
here Mr. and Mrs. C. Kemble, W.C. Macready, Joey Grimaldi, Miss Ellen
Tree (afterwards Mrs. Charles Kean), W. Farrer, Braham, Elliston,
Dowton, Rignold and Power.

Barry Sullivan was born here in 1824.

In 1824 the whole town was up in arms taking part in the "Battle of the
Preachers and the Players," which was commenced by the Rev. J. Augell
James delivering a series of sermons bitterly inveighing against the
theatre, as a place of amusement, and pouring forth the most awful
denunciations against the frequenters thereof. Alfred Bunn, the manager,
was not slow to retort. He put "The Hypocrite" on the boards, Shuter,
the clever comedian and mimic, personating Mr. James in the part of
_Mawworm_ so cleverly that the piece had an immense run. The battle
ended in a victory for both sides, chapel and theatre alike being
crammed. If it pleased the godly it was a god-send for Bunn whose
exchequer it filled to repletion.

Signer Costa was at the Festival in 1829, and he afterwards appeared on
the stage at the Royal.

Paganini first fiddled at the Royal, January 22, 1832.

Sheridan Knowles, Macready, Paganini, Matthews, and Miss Ellen Tree were
among the Stars at the Royal in 1833.

Mercer H. Simpson took the management of the Royal in 1838. His farewell
benefit was on December 16, 1864, and he died March 2, 1877, aged 76.

Sims Reeves' first visit to this town was in May, 1843; his last
appearance at the Festivals was in 1873; at the Royal in May, 1875, and
at the Town Hall, March 25, 1884.

Jenny Lind first sang here Aug. 29, 1847; she sang for the Queen's
Hospital at Town Hall, Dec. 28, 1848; her last concerts were Jan. 22-23,
1862.

Madle. Rachael first played here Aug. 19, 1847.

Charles Dickens and his amateur friends gave their special performances
in aid of the Shakespeare House Fund, at the Royal, June 6 and 27, 1848,
the receipts amounting to L589.

Variety was not wanting at our New Street Theatre in 1852. Among the
artistes advertised to appear were: A strong Man who had 5 cwt. of stone
broken (by a sledge hammer) on his chest nightly; performing Dogs and
Horses; Madame Grisi, Signor Mario, Haymarket Company, Benjamin Webster,
and Madame Celeste, etc., etc.

Miss Menken, the female _Mazeppa_, appeared at Prince of Wales', May 15
1865, and at the Royal in Nov. 1807.

Miss Neilson's first appearance here was in Nov. 1868, in an adaptation,
by Mr. C. Williams, a local dramatist, of Miss Braddon's "Captain of the
Vulture."

Mr. Irving first appeared as _Hamlet_ in this town at Prince of Wales',
Dec., 1877.

Sarah Bernhardt was at Prince of Wales', July 4-6, 1881.

Kyrle Beilew last appeared here at Prince of Wales', Sept, 17, 1881.

Mrs. Langtry was at Prince of Wales', May 29, 1882.

Edwin Booth's first appearance here was at the Royal, as _Richelieu_,
Dec. 11, 1882.

Bobby Atkins, whose real name was Edward, was the most popular comedian
of the Royal, with which he had been connected for more than twenty-five
years. He died in 1882, in his 64th year. His bosom friend, John Barton,
made his exit from the world's stage April 16, 1875.

Sir. George Rignold's mother is stated by Mr. Thomas Swinbourne (himself
a native) to have been a leading actress of the Theatre Royal and very
popular, as indeed she would necessarily be, her _role_ of parts
including _Hamlet_ and _Virginius_. The father was, says Mr. S., "an
admirable terpsichorean artiste, and George inherits the talents of both
parents, with a dash of music besides, for, like _William_, in
'Black-eyed Susan,' he 'plays on the fiddle like on angel.'"

Two or three of our places of amusement have been turned into chapels
permanently, and therefore it was hardly a novelty to hold "Gospel
services" in the Prince of Wales's Theatre, October 3, 1875, but it was
to their credit that "the gods" behaved themselves.

~Time.~--When it is exactly twelve at noon here in Birmingham, it is
7min. 33secs. past at Greenwich, 12min. 50secs. past at Dover, and
16min. 54secs. past at Paris; while it wants 1-1/2mins. to the hour at
Manchester, 9-1/2min. at Glasgow, 17min. 50secs. at Dublin, and
26-1/2mins. at Cork. At Calcutta, the corresponding time would be
6.1-1/2 p.m., Canton 7.40 p.m., Japan 9.15 p.m., Mexico 5.34 a.m., New
Orleans 8.5 a.m., New York 7.11 a.m., New Zealand 11.45 p.m., Nova
Scotia 7.55 a.m., San Francisco 4.5 a.m., St., Petersburg 2.10 p.m.,
Sydney 10.12 p.m., and at Washington just seven o'clock in the morning.

~Tithes.~--One hundred and fifty years ago (if not, considerably later)
the Rector of St. Martin's was paid tithes in cash based on the value of
the crops, &c., one acre of good wheat being tithed at 7s. 6d.; an acre
of good barley at 4s. 4-1/2d.; an acre of flax and hemp, if pulled, at
5s.; an acre of good oats, peas, or potatoes, and all kinds of garden
stuff at 3s. 9d.; for meadow land 4d. an acre, and 2d. for leasow (or
leasland); 3d. being claimed for cow and her calf. 1-1/2d. for each
lamb, &c. In course of time these payments were changed into a fixed
tithe rent, but before matters were comfortably settled, the Rector
found it necessary to give notice (April, 1814) that he should enforce
the ancient custom of being paid "in kind." The gun trade was brisk at
that time, but whether the reverend gentleman took his tenths of the
guns, what he did with them, or how the parties came to terms is not
recorded.--The tithes formerly due in kind to the Vicar of Edgbaston
were commuted by Act passed June 8, 1821, into art annual "corn rent,"
payable by the occupiers or all kinds in the parish.

~Tower.~--Originally, all guns made here for Government, had to be put
together in London, but when the French Revolution broke out, it was
seen that a quicker mode of procedure was necessary, and an
establishment in Bagot Street was erected in 1798, where all guns for
Government were viewed and stamped with the "Tower" mark. Hence the
name.

~Town Criers~ were first appointed in 1526. Jacob Wilson entered into
office May 4, 1853, and was pensioned off with 15s. a week in August,
1879, after a family tenure of the office, according to Jacob, of about
350 years. Surely it was a crying shame to stop the children of that
family from crying in the future. The last of the criers did not last
long after deposition from office, Jacob's last words being uttered in
1881.

~Town Improvements.~--Some fifty and odd years ago Dobbs, a local
comedian, used to sing,

"Brumagem has altered so,
There's scarce a place in it I know;
Round the town you now must go
To find old Brumagem."

Had he lived till these days he might well have sung so, for
improvements are being carried out so rapidly now that in another
generation it is likely _old_ Birmingham will have been improved off the
face of the earth altogether. Prior to the days of steam, our
forefathers went about their work more leisurely, for it was not until
1765 that the Act was obtained for the "enlightening" of the streets,
and four years later when the first Act was passed (April 21, 1769) for
street improvements. The Street Commissioners appointed by this Act, and
who held their first meeting May 22, 1769, for many years did little
more than regulate the traffic of the streets, keep them clean_ish_, and
look after the watchmen. In course of time the operations of the said
Commissioners were extended a little, and it is to them that we owe the
existence of the central open space so long known as the Bull Ring, for
they gave L1,730, in 1801, for the removal of nine tenements there and
then blocking the way. Money must have been of more value then than now,
for if such a purchase was necessary at the present date one or two more
figures would require being added to the amount. This town improvement
was completed in 1806, when the Commissioners purchased the remaining
houses and shops round St. Martin's, but property owners had evidently
learned something during the five years, for whereas the Commissioners
at first estimated the further cost at L10,957, they reluctantly had to
provide no less than L22,266, the additional sum required being
swallowed up by "incidental expenses." The poet already quoted had
apparently been absent during these alterations, for he wailingly
bemoaned--

"Poor old Spiceal Street half gone,
The poor old Church stands all alone,
And poor old I can only groan,
That I can't find Brumagem."

Though an Improvement Act for Duddeston and Nechells was obtained in
1829, the town improvements for the next forty years consisted
principally of road making, street paving, market arranging, &c., the
opening-up ideas not getting well-rooted in the minds of our governors
until some time after the Town Council began to rule the roast. That a
great deal of work _was_ being done, however, is shown by reference to
the Borough accounts for 1840, in which year L17,366 was expended in
lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the thoroughfares, in
addition to L13,794 actually spent on the highways. 1852 saw the removal
of the turnpikes, at a cost of over L3,200; in the same year L5,800 was
expended in widening the entrance to Temple Row from Bull Street, and
L1,800 for rounding off the corner of Steelhouse Lane and Snow Hill. In
October, 1853, it was decided to obtain for L33,000 the 11,540 square
yards of land at the corner of Ann Street and Congreve Street, where the
Municipal Buildings, Art Gallery, and new Gas Office now stand. Almost
every year since has seen the purchase of properties more or less
required for substantial improvements, though some of them may not even
yet have been utilised. A few fancy prices might be named which have had
to be paid for odd bits of property here and there, but about the
dearest of all was L53 10s. per yard, which the Council paid (in 1864)
for the land required to round off the corner of New Street and
Worcester Street, a further L1,300 going, in 1873, to extinguish certain
leasehold rights. This is by no means the highest figure given for land
in the centre of the town, as Mr. John Feeney, in 1882, paid at the rate
of L66 per yard for the site at corner of Cannon Street and New Street,
the portion retained for his own use costing him even more than that, as
he generously allowed the Corporation to take 30-1/2 yards for L1,000.
The introduction of the railways, and consequent obliteration of scores
of old streets, courts, alleys, and passages, has been of vast service
towards the general improvement of the town, as well in the matter of
health and sanitation, as leading to the construction of many new
buildings and the formation of adequate approaches to the several
railway stations, the erection of such establishments as the Queen's
Hotel, the Great Western Hotel, &c. Nor have private property owners and
speculators been at all backward, as evidenced by our magnificent modern
banking establishments, the huge piles of commercial buildings in
Colmore Row, New Street, and Corporation Street, the handsome shops in
New Street, High Street, and Bull Street, with many other edifices that
our grandfathers never dreamed of, such as the Midland, the Grand, and
the Stork Hotels, the palatial Club Houses, the Colonnade and Arcades,
New Theatres, Inns of Court, &c., &c. Many of these improvements have
resulted from the falling-in of long leases on the Colmore, the Grammar
School, and other estates, while others have been the outcome of a
far-seeing policy on the part of such moneyed men as the late Sir Josiah
Mason, Isaac Horton, and others of somewhat similar calibre. Going away
from the immediate centre of the town architectural improvements will be
noted on all hands, Snow Hill, for one place, being evidently in the
regenerative throes of a new birth, with its Gothic Arcade opposite the
railway station, and the new circus at the foot of the hill, where for
so many long years there has been nothing but a wreck and a ruin. In
close neighbourhood, Constitution Hill, Hampton Street, and at the
junction of Summer Lane, a number of handsome houses and shops have
lately been erected by Mr. Cornelius Ede, in the early Gothic style,
from designs by Mr. J.S. Davis, the architect of the Snow Hill Arcade,
the whole unquestionably forming a very great advance on many former
street improvements. The formation in 1880 of John Bright Street as an
extension of the Bristol Road (cost L30,000) has led to the erection of
many fine buildings in that direction; the opening-out of Meetinghouse
Yard and the alterations in Floodgate Street (in 1879, at a cost of
L13,500), has done much for that neighbourhood; the widening of
Worcester Street and the formation of Station Street, &c., thanks to the
enlargement of the Central Station, and the remodelling of all the
thoroughfares in the vicinity of Navition Street and Worcester Wharf,
also arising therefrom, are important schemes now in progress in the
same direction; and in fact there is hardly any district within the
borough boundaries in which improvements of more or less consequence are
not being made, or have been planned, the gloomy old burial grounds
having been turned into pleasant gardens at a cost of over L10,000, and
even the dirty water-courses known as the river Rea and Hockley brook
have had L12,000 worth of cleaning out bestowed upon them. It is not too
much to say that millions have been spent in improving Birmingham during
the past fifty years, not reckoning the cost of the last and greatest
improvement of all--the making of Corporation Street, and the consequent
alterations on our local maps resulting therefrom. The adoption of the
Artizans' Dwelling Act, under the provisions of which the Birmingham
Improvement Scheme has been carried out, was approved by the Town
Council, on the 16th of October, 1875. Then, on the 15th of March, 1876,
followed the Local Government Board enquiry; and on the 17th of June,
1876, the provisional order of the Board, approving the scheme, was
issued. The Confirming Act received the Royal assent on the 15th of
August, 1876. On the 6th of September, 1880, a modifying order was
obtained, with respect to the inclusion of certain properties and the
exclusion of others. The operations under the scheme began in August,
1878, when the houses in New Street were pulled down. In April, 1879, by
the removal of the Union Hotel, the street was continued into Cherry
Street: and further extensions have been made in the following order:--
Cherry Street to Bull Street, August 1881; the Priory to John Street,
June 1881; Bull Street to the Priory, January, 1882; John Street to
Aston Street, February, 1882. Little Cannon Street was formed in August
1881; and Cowper Street in January, 1881. The first lease of land in the
area of the scheme--to the Women's Hospital--was agreed upon in January,
1876; and the first lease in Corporation Street--to Mr. J.W. Danieli--
was arranged in May, 1878. In July, 1879, a lease was agreed upon for
the new County Court. The arbitrations in the purchase of properties
under the scheme were begun in June, 1879, and in June, 1880, Sir Henry
Hunt, the arbitrator nominated by the Local Government Board, made his
first award, amounting to L270,405, the remainder of the properties
having been bought by agreement. The loans borrowed on account of the
scheme amount to L1,600,000, the yearly charge on the rates being over
L20,000 per annum, but as the largest proportion of the property is let
upon 75-year leases, this charge will, in time, not only be reduced
yearly by the increase of ground-rents, as the main and branch streets
are filled up, but ultimately be altogether extinguished, the town
coming in for a magnificent income derived from its own property. The
length of Corporation Street from New Street to Lancaster Street is 851
yards, and if ultimately completed (as at first intended) from Lancaster
Street to Aston Road, the total length will be 1,484 yards or
five-sixths of a mile. The total area of land purchased for the
carrying-out of the scheme is put at 215,317 square yds. (about 44a. 1r.
38p.), of which quantity 39,280 square yards has been laid out in new
streets, or the widening of old ones. Of the branch or connecting
streets intended there is one (from Corporation Street to the corner of
High Street and Bull Street, opposite Dale End), that cannot be made for
several years, some valuable leases not expiring until 1890 and 1893,
but, judging by the present rate of building, Corporation Street itself
will be completed long before then. More than a score of the
unhealthiest streets and lanes in the town have been cleared away, and
from a sanitary point of view the improvement in health and saving of
life in the district by the letting in of light and air, has been of the
most satisfactory character, but though the scheme was originated under
the Artisans' Dwelling Act, intended to provide good and healthy
residences in lieu of the pestiferous slums and back courts, it cannot
in one sense be considered much of a success. The number of artisans'
dwellings required was 1,335, about 550 of which were removed
altogether, the rest being improved and relet, or converted into shops,
warehouses, &c. A piece of land between Newtown Row and Summer Lane,
containing an area of 14,250 square yards was purchased for the purpose
of leasing for the erection of artisans' dwellings, and a 50ft. wide
street was laid out and nicely planted with trees, but, owing either to
the badness of trade, or the over-building of small houses in other
parts previously, less than a sixth of the site has been taken, and but
a score of houses built, a most wonderful contrast to the rapid filling
of Corporation Street with its many magnificent edifices present and
prospective, that promise to make it one of the finest streets in the
provinces. There cannot, however, be such necessity for the erection of
small houses as was imagined when the Act was adopted here, for
according to a return lately obtained, and not reckoning the thousands
of little domiciles on the outskirts, there are in the borough 4,445
houses usually let at weekly rentals up to 2s. 6d. per week, 24,692 the
rentals of which are between 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6d., and 36,832 others
between 3s. 6d. and 7s. per week, a total of 65,969 working men's
houses, but of which 5,273 (taking one week with another) are always
void.