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

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_Vinegar_.--Fardon's Vinegar Brewery, Glover Street, is worth a visit,
if only to look at their five vats, each upwards of 30ft. high and 24ft.
in diameter, and each capable of storing 58,000 gallons. But, besides
these, among the largest of their kind in the world, there are thirteen
24,000 gallons vats, five 15,000, and twenty seven 10,000.

_Vitriol_.--The Oil of Vitriol in 1800 was reduced from 3s. per lb. to
1s.; in 1865 it was sold at 1d.

_Watchmaking_.--Few names of eminent horologists are to be found in the
lists of departed tradesmen; so few indeed that watchmaking would seem
to have been one of the unknown arts, if such a thing was possible at
any period of the last two hundred years of Birmingham history. Messrs.
Brunner (Smallbrook Street), Swinden (Temple Street), and Ehrardt (Barr
Street West) take the lead at present among private firms, but the
introduction of a watch manufactory is due to Mr. A L. Dennison, who,
though not the originator of the notion, after establishing factories in
America (in or about 1850) and Switzerland, came to this country in
1871, and, with other gentlemen in the following year started the
Anglo-American Watch Co. (Limited), a factory being erected in Villa
Street. The trade of the Co. was principally with America, which was
supplied with machine-made "works" from here until the Waltham, Elgin,
and other firms over there beat them out of the market, a not very
difficult operation, considering that our fair-trading cousins impose a
25 per cent. duty on all such goods sent there by the free-traders of
this country. The Villa Street establishment was purchased in 1875 by
Mr. William Bragge, who developed the business under the name of The
English Watch Co., the manufacture being confined almost solely to
English Lever watches, large and small sized, key-winding and keyless.
In January, 1882, Mr. Bragge, for the sum of L21,000 parted with the
business, plant, stock, and premises, to the present English Watch Co.
(Limited), which has a registered capital of L50,000 in shares of L10
each, the dividend (June, 1884) being at the rate of 6 per cent. on
paid-up capital.--In April, 1883, the prospectus of The English Double
Chronograph Co. (Limited) was issued, the capital being L50,000 in L10
shares, the object of the company being to purchase (for L15,000) and
work the patents granted to Mr. W. H. Douglas, of Stourbridge, for
improvements in chronographs, the improvements being of such a nature
that ordinary keyless English levers can be turned into double
chronographs at a trifling cost.

_Whipmaking_, as a trade distinct from saddlery, dates from about 1750,
and it received a great impetus by the introduction, in 1780, of a
machine by Matthew Dean for the easier manipulation of the leather
thongs.

_Whistles_ of all sizes and sorts, from the child's tin whistle to the
huge and powerful steam whistles used on board the American liners, are
made in this town, and it might be imagined there could be but little
novelty in any new design. This, however, is not the case, for when the
authorities of Scotland Yard (June, 1884) desired a new police whistle,
samples were sent in from many parts of the country, from America, and
from the Continent. The order, which was for 40,000, was secured by
Messrs. J. Hudson and Co., Buckingham Street, and so distinct is the
speciality, that fifty other places have followed the example of the
Metropolis.

_Wire_.--Wire-drawing, which formerly had to be done by hand, does not
appear to have been made into a special trade earlier than the beginning
of the 18th century, the first wire mill we read of being that of Penns,
near Sutton Coldfield, which was converted from an iron forge in 1720.
Steel wire was not made till some little time after that date. The
increased demand for iron and steel wire which has taken, place during
the last 35 years is almost incredible, the make in 1850 being not more
than 100 tons: in 1865 it was calculated at 2,000 tons, in 1875 it was
put at 12,000 tons, while now it is estimated to equal 30,000 tons. In
March 1853, a piece of No. 16 copper wire was shown at Mr. Samuel
Walker's in one piece, three miles long, drawn from a bar 6/8ths in
diameter. Originally the bar weighed 128 lbs, but it lost 14lbs in the
process, and it was then thought a most remarkable production, but far
more wonderful specimens of wire-spinning have since been exhibited. A
wire rope weighing over 70 tons, was made in 1876 at the Universe Works,
of Messrs. Wright, who are the patentees of the mixed wire and hemp
rope. Birdcages, meat covers, mouse traps, wire blinds, wire nails, wire
latticing, &c., we have long been used to; even girding the earth with
land and ocean telegraph wire, or fencing in square miles at a time of
prairie land, with wire strong enough to keep a herd of a few thousand
buffaloes in range, are no longer novelties, but to shape, sharpen, and
polish a serviceable pair of penny scissors out of a bit of steel wire
by two blows and the push of a machine, _is_ something new, and it is
Nettlefold's latest.

_Wire Nails, Staples, &c._, are made at Nettlefold's by machinery much
in advance of what can ba seen elsewhere. In the nail mill the "Paris
points" as wire nails are called, are cut from the coil of wire by the
first motion of the machine as it is fed in, then headed and pointed at
one operation, sizes up to one inch being turned out at the rate of 360
a minute. In the manufacture of spikes, the punch for making the head is
propelled by springs, which are compressed by a cam, and then released
at each stroke; two cutters worked by side cams on the same shaft cut
off the wire and make the point. A steel finger then advances and knocks
the finished spike out of the way to make room for the next. Wire
staples, three inches long, are turned out at the rate of a hundred a
minute; the wire is pushed forward into the machine and cut off on the
bevel to form the points; a hook rises, catches the wire, and draws it
down into the proper form, when a staple falls out complete.

_Wire Gauge_.--The following table shows the sizes, weights, lengths,
and breaking strains of iron wire under the Imperial Standard Wire
Gauge, which came into operation March 1, 1884--

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Size | DIAMETER | Sectional | WEIGHT OF | Length | BREAKING STRAINS
on | ------------| area in |----------- | of | ----------------
Wire | Inch Mille- | Sq. |100 Mile | Cwt. | Annealed |Bright
Gauge| metres | Inches |Yards | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
lbs. lbs. yds. lbs. lbs.
7/0 .500 12.7 .1963 193.4 3404 58 10470 15700
6/0 .464 11.8 .1691 166.5 2930 67 9017 13525
5/0 .432 11. .1466 144.4 2541 78 7814 11725
4/0 .400 10.2 .1257 123.8 2179 91 6702 10052
3/0 .372 9.4 .1087 107.1 1885 105 5796 8694
2/0 .348 8.8 .0951 93.7 1649 120 5072 7608
1/0 .342 8.2 .0824 81.2 1429 138 4397 6595
1 .300 7.6 .0598 69.6 1225 161 3770 5655
2 .276 7. .0598 58.9 1037 190 3190 4785
3 .252 6.4 .0499 49.1 864 228 2660 3990
4 .232 5.9 .0423 41.6 732 269 2254 3381
5 .212 5.4 .0365 34.8 612 322 1883 2824
6 .192 4.9 .0290 28.5 502 393 1644 2316
7 .176 4.5 .0243 24. 422 467 1298 1946
8 .160 4.1 .0201 19.8 348 566 1072 1608
9 .144 3.7 .0163 16. 282 700 869 1303
10 .128 3.3 .0129 12.7 223 882 687 1030
11 .116 3. .0106 10.4 183 1077 564 845
12 .104 2.6 .0085 8.4 148 1333 454 680
13 .092 2.3 .0066 6.5 114 1723 355 532
14 .080 2. .0050 5. 88 2240 268 402
15 .072 1.8 .0041 4. 70 2800 218 326
16 .064 1.6 .0032 3.2 56 3500 172 257
17 .056 1.4 .0025 2.4 42 4667 131 197
18 .048 1.2 .0018 1.8 31 6222 97 145
19 .040 1. .0013 1.2 21 9333 67 100
20 .036 .9 .0010 1. 18 11200 55 82
------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Yates_.--At one period this was the favourite slang term of the
smashing fraternity for the metal used in their nefarious business, the
spoons manufactured by Messrs. Yates and Son being the best material for
transmutation into base coin.

~Trafalgar.~--See "_Nelson_" and "_Statues_."

~Train Bands.~--The Trainbands of former days may be likened to the
militia of the present time, but were drawn from every parish in the
hundreds, according to the population. A document in the lost Staunton
Collection, gave the names and parishes of the men forming "Lord
Compton's Company of Foot for the Hundred of Hemlingford" in 1615, being
part of the "Warwickshire Trayue Bands." Birmingham supplied six men
armed with pikes and six with muskets; Birmingham and Aston jointly the
same number; Edgbaston one pike; Coleshill three of each; Sutton
Coldfield. four pikes and six muskets; Solihull three pikes and four
muskets; Knowle the same; Berkswell two pikes and five muskets; and
Meriden one pike and two muskets. These Trained Bands numbered 6OO men
from Coventry and the county in 1642, besides the Militia and Volunteers
of Warwickshire, which were called up in that year. These latter
mustered very strongly on the days for review and training, there being
at Stratford-upon-Avon (June 30) 400 Volunteers well armed and 200
unarmed; at Warwick (July 1 & 2) 650 well armed; at Coleshill (July 4)
8OO almost all well armed; and at Coventry near 800 most well armed--the
total number being 2,850, making a respectable force of 3,450 in all,
ready, according to the expression of their officers, "to adhere to His
Majestie and both Houses of Parliament, to the losse of the last drop of
their dearest blood." These fine words, however, did not prevent the
"Voluntiers" of this neighbourhood opposing His Majestie to the utmost
of their power soon afterwards.

~Tramways.~--These take their name from Mr. Outram, who, in 1802,
introduced the system of lightening carriage by running the vehicles on
rail in the North of England. The first suggestion of a local tramway
came through Mr. G.F. Train, who not finding scope sufficient for his
abilities in America, paid Birmingham a visit, and after yarning us well
asked and obtained permission (Aug. 7, 1860) to lay down tram rails in
some of the principal thoroughfares, but as his glib tongue failed in
procuring the needful capital his scheme was a thorough failure. Some
ten years after the notion was taken up by a few local gentlemen, and at
a public meeting, on December 27, 1871, the Town Council were authorised
to make such tramways as they thought to be necessary, a Company being
formed to work them. This Company was rather before its time, though now
it would be considered, if anything, rather backward. The first line of
rails brought into use was laid from the buttom of Hockley Hill to
Dudley Port, and it was opened May 20, 1872; from Hockley to top of Snow
Hill the cars began to run September 7, 1873; the Bristol Road line
being first used May 30, though formally opened June 5, 1876. The
Birmingham and District Tramway Company's lines cost about L65,000, and
they paid the Corporation L910 per year rental, but in May, 1877, their
interest was bought up by the Birmingham Tramway and Omnibus Company for
the sum of L25,000, the original cost of the property thus acquired
being L115,000. The new company leased the borough lines for seven years
at L1,680 per annum, and gave up the out-district portion of the
original undertaking. That they have been tolerably successful is shown
by the fact that in 1883 the receipts from passengers amounted to
L39,859, while the owners of the L10 shares received a dividend of 15
per cent. The authorised capital of the company is L60,000, of which
L33,600 has been called up. The Aston line from Corporation Street to
the Lower Grounds was opened for traffic the day after Christmas, 1882.
The Company's capital is L50,000, of which nearly one-half was expended
on the road alone. This was the first tramway on which steam was used as
the motive power, though Doune's locomotire was tried, Jan. 8, 1876,
between Handsworth and West Bromwich, and Hughes's between Monmouth
Street and Bournbrook on July 2, 1880, the latter distance being covered
in twenty-five minutes with a car-load of passengers attached to the
engine. The next Company to be formed was tha South Staffordshire and
Birmingham District Steam Tramway Co., who "broke ground" July 26, 1882,
and opened their first section, about seven miles in length (from
Handsworth to Darlaston), June 25, 1883. This line connects Birmingham
with West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Great Bridge, Dudley, Walsall, and
intermediate places, and is worked with 40-horse power engines of
Wilkinson's make. The Birmingham and West Suburban Tramways Co.'s lines,
commencing in Station Street run, by means of branches from several
parts, to various of the suburbs:--1st, by way of Pershore Street, Moat
Row, Bradford Street, and Moseley Road, to Moseley; 2nd, by way of
Deritend, Bordesley, Camp Hill, along Stratford Road, to Sparkhill; 3rd,
leaving Stratford Road (at the Mermaid) and along Warwick Road, to
Acock's Green; 4th, striking off at Bordesley, along the Coventry Road
to the far side of Small Heath Park; 5th, from Moat Row, by way of
Smithfield Street to Park Street, Duddeston Row, Curzon Street, Vauxhall
Road, to Nechells Park Road; 6th, in the same direction, by way of Gosta
Green, Lister Street, and Great Lister Street, using "running powers"
over the Aston line where necessary on the last-named and following
routes; 7th from Corporation Street, along Aston Street, Lancaster
Street, Newtown Row, up the Birchfield Road; 8th, from Six Ways,
Birchfield, along the Lozells Road to Villa Cross, and from the Lozells
Road along Wheeler Street to Constitution Hill, forming a junction with
the original Hockley and Snow Hill line. The system of lines projected
by the Western Districts Co., include: 1st, commencing in Edmund Street,
near the Great Western Railway Station, along Congreve Street, Summer
Row, Parade, Frederick Street, and Vyse Street, to join the Hockley
line; 2nd, as before to Parade, along the Sandpits, Spring Hill to
borough boundary in Dudley Road, and along Heath Street to Smethwick;
3rd, as before to Spring Hill, thence in one direction along Monument
Road to Hagley Road, and in the opposite direction along Icknield Street
to Hockley; 4th, starting from Lower Temple Street, along Hill Street,
Hurst Street, Sherlock Street to the borough boundary in Pershore Road,
and from Sherlock Street, by way of Gooch Street, to Balsall Heath; 5th,
by way of Holloway Head, Bath Row, and Islington to the Five Ways. The
whole of the lines now in use and being constructed in the Borough are
the property of the Corporation, who lease them to the several
Companies, the latter making the lines outside the borough themselves,
and keeping them in repair. The average cost of laying down is put at
50s. per yard for single line, or L5 per yard for double lines, the cost
of the metal rail itself being about 20s. per yard.

~Trees in Streets.~--Though a few trees were planted along the Bristol
Road in 1853, and a few others later in some of the outskirts, the
system cannot be fairly said to have started till the spring of 1876,
when about 100 plane trees were planted in Broad Street, 100 limes in
Bristol Street, 20 Canadian poplars in St. Martin's church-yard, a score
or so of plane trees near Central Station, and a number in Gosta Green
and the various playgrounds belonging to Board Schools, a few elms,
sycamores, and Ontario poplars being mixed with them. As a matter of
historical fact, the first were put in the ground Nov. 29, 1885, in
Stephenson Place.

~Tunnels.~--The tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, near
King's Norton, is 2,695 yards long, perfectly straight, 17-1/2-ft. wide,
and 18-ft. high. In the centre a basin is excavated sufficiently wide
for barges to pass without inconvenience; and in this underground
chamber in August, 1795, the Royal Arch Masons held a regular chapter of
their order, rather an arch way of celebrating the completion of the
undertaking. The other tunnels on this canal are 110, 120, 406, and 524
yards in length. On the old Birmingham Canal there are two, one being
2,200 yards long and the other 1,010 yards. On the London and Birmingham
Railway (now London and North Western) the Watford tunnel is 1,830 yards
long, the Kisley tunnel 2,423 yards, and Primrose Hill 1,250 yards. On
the Great Western line the longest is the Box tunnel, 3,123 yards in
length. The deepest tunnel in England pierces the hills between Great
Malvern and Herefordshire, being 600ft. from the rails to the surface;
it is 1,560 yards in length. The longest tunnels in the country run
under the range of hills between Marsden in Yorkshire and Diggle in
Lancashire, two being for railway and one canal use. One of the former
is 5,434 yards, and the other (Stanedge, on the L. & N.W.) 5,435 yards
long, while the canal tunnel is 5,451 yards.

~Turnpike Gates.~--At one time there were gates or bars on nearly every
road out of the town. Even at the bottom of Worcester Street there was a
bar across the road in 1818. There was once a gate at the junction of
Hang'sman Lane (our Great Hampton Row) and Constitution Hill, which,
baing shifted further on, to about the spot where Green and Cadbury's
Works now are, remained till 1839. The gate in Deritend was removed in
August, 1828; the one at Five Ways July 5, 1841; those at Small Heath,
at Sparkbrook, in the Moseley Road, and in the Hagley Road were all
"free'd" in 1851, and the sites of the toll houses sold in 1853. In the
"good old coaching days" the turnpike tolls paid on a coach running
daily from here to London amounted to L1,428 per year.

~Union Passage~, at first but a field path out of the yard of the Crown
Tavern to the Cherry Orchard, afterwards a narrow entry as far as
Crooked Lane, with a house only at each end, was opened up and widened
in 1823 by Mr. Jones, who built the Pantechnetheca. Near the Ball Street
end was the Old Bear Yard, the premises of a dealer in dogs, rabbits,
pigeons, and other pets, who kept a big brown bear, which was taken out
whenever the Black Country boys wanted a bear-baiting. The game was put
a stop to in 1835, but the "cage" was there in 1841, about which time
the Passage became built up on both sides throughout.

~Vaughton's Hole.~--An unfortunate soldier fell into a deep clay pit
here, in July, 1857, and was drowned; and about a month after (August 6)
a horse and cart, laden with street sweepings, was backed too near the
edge, over-turned, and sank to the bottom of sixty feet deep of water.
The place was named after a very old local family who owned considerable
property in the neighbourhood of Gooch Street, &c., though the
descendants are known as Houghtons.

~Vauxhall.~--In an old book descriptive of a tour through England, in
1766, it is mentioned that near Birmingham there "is a seat belonging to
Sir Listen Holte, Bart, but now let out for a public house (opened June
4, 1758), where are gardens, &c., with an organ and other music, in
imitation of Vauxhall, by which name it goes in the neighbourhood." The
old place, having been purchased by the Victoria Land Society, was
closed by a farewell dinner and ball, September, 16, 1850, the first
stroke of the axe to the trees being given at the finish of the ball, 6
a.m. next morning. In the days of its prime, before busy bustling
Birmingham pushed up to its walls, it ranked as one of the finest places
of amusement anywhere out of London. The following verse (one of five)
is from an "Impromptu written by Edward Farmer in one of the alcoves at
Old Vauxhall, March 6. 1850":--

"There's scarce a heart that will not start,
No matter what it's rank and station,
And heave a sigh when they destroy,
This favourite place of recreation.
If we look back on memory's track,
What joyous scenes we can recall,
Of happy hours in its gay bowers,
And friends we met at Old Vauxhall!"

~Velocipedes.~--We call them "cycles" nowadays, but in 1816-20 they were
"dandy-horses," and in the words of a street billet of the period

"The hobby-horse was all the go
In country and in town."

~Views of Birmingham.~--The earliest date "view" of the town appears to
be the one given in Dugdale's Warwickshire, of 1656, and entitled "The
Prospect of Birmingham, from Ravenhurst (neere London Road), in the
South-east part of the Towne."

~Villa Cross~ was originally built for and occupied as a school, and
known as Aston Villa School.

~Visitors of Distinction~ in the old Soho days, were not at all rare,
though they had not the advantages of travelling by rail. Every event of
the kind, however, was duly chronicled in the _Gazette_, but they must
be men of superior mark indeed, or peculiarly notorious perhaps, for
their movements to be noted nowadays. Besides the "royalties" noted
elsewhere, we were honoured with the presence of the Chinese
Commissioner Pin-ta-Jen, May 7, 1866, and his Excellency the Chinese
Minister Kus-ta Jen, January 23, 1878. Japanese Ambassadors were here
May 20, 1862, and again November 1, 1872. The Burmese Ambassadors took a
look at us August 14, 1872, and the Madagascar Ambassadors followed on
January 5, 1883.--Among the brave and gallant visitors who have noted
are General Elliott, who came August 29th, 1787. Lord Nelson, August 30,
1802, and there is an old Harborneite still living who says he can
recollect seeing the hero come out of the hotel in Temple Row. The Duke
of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel dined at Dee's Hotel, September 23,
1830. The Duke's old opponent, Marshal Soult, in July 1833, seemed
particularly interested in the work going on among our gun-shops. Lady
Havelock, her two daughters, and General Havelock, the only surviving
brother of Sir Henry, visited the town October 8, 1858. General Ulysses
Grant, American Ex-president, was soft-soaped at the Town Hall, October
19, 1877.--Politicians include Daniel O'Connell, January 20, 1832. The
Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, who visited the Small Arms Factory, August
18, 1869, was again here August 22, 1876, immediately after being raised
to the peerage as Earl of Beaconsfield. The Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone
was welcomed with a procession and a "monster meeting" at Bingley Hall.
May 31, 1877. The Right Hon. R.A. Cross, Home Secretary, honoured the
Conservatives by attending a banquet in the Town Hall, Nov. 20, 1876.
Sir Stafford Northcote, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, came here Oct.
19, 1878, and was at Aston, Oct. 13, 1884, when the Radical roughs made
themselves conspicuous. Lord Randolph Churchill was introduced to the
burgesses, April 15, 1884; and has been here many times since, as well
as the late Col. Burnaby, who commenced his candidature for the
representation of the borough July 23, 1878.--In the long list of
learned and literary visitors occur the names of John Wesley, who first
came here in March, 1738, and preached on Gosta Green in 1743. Whitfield
preached here in Oct., 1753. Benjamin Franklin was in Birmingham in
1758, and for long afterwards corresponded with Baskerville and Boulton.
Fulton, the American engineer, (originally a painter) studied here in
1795. Washington Irving, whose sister was married to Mr. Henry Van Wart,
spent a long visit here, during the course of which he wrote the series
of charming tales comprised in his "Sketch Book." His "Bracebridge
Hall," if not written, was conceived here, our Aston Hall being the
prototype of the Hall, and the Bracebridge family of Atherstone found
some of the characters. Thomas Carlyle was here in 1824; Mr. and Mrs.
Beecher Stowe ("Uncle Tom's Cabin"), in May, 1853; Sir W. Crofton, Oct.
9, 1862; M. Chevalier, April 28, 1875; Mr. Ruskin, July 14, 1877; Rev.
Dr. Punshon, March 19, and J.A. Froude, M.A., March 18, 1878; Mr.
Archibald Forbes, April 29, 1878; H.M. Stanley, Nov. 6, 1878; Bret
Harte, April 7, 1879; the Rev. T. de Wilt Talmage, an American preacher
of great note, lectured in Town Hall June 9 and July 7, 1879, on "The
Bright side of Things," and on "Big Blunders;" but, taking the brightest
view he could, he afterwards acknowledged that his coming here was the
biggest blunder he had ever made. Oscar Wilde, March 13, 1884. Lola
Montes lectured here March 2-4, 1859. Dr. Kenealy was here June 26,
1875. The Tichborne Claimant showed himself at the Town Hall, August 26,
1872, and again, "after his exile," at the Birmingham Concert Hall, Jan.
12, 1885.