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

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~Calthorpe Park,~ Pershore road, has an area of 3la. 1r. 13p., and was
given to the town in 1857 by Lord Calthorpe. Though never legally
conveyed to the Corporation, the Park is held under a grant from the
Calthorpe family, the effect of which is equivalent to a conveyance in
fee. The Duke of Cambridge performed the opening ceremony in this our
first public park.

~Calthorpe Road~ was laid out for building in the year 1818, and the
fact is worthy of note as being the commencement of our local West End.

~Calico, Cotton, and Cloth.~--In 1702 the printing or wearing of printed
calicoes was prohibited, and more strictly so in 1721, when cloth
buttons and buttonholes were also forbidden. Fifty years after, the
requisites for manufacturing cotton or cotton cloth were now allowed to
be exported, and in 1785 a duty was imposed on all cotton goods brought
into the Kingdom. Strange as it may now appear, there was once a
"cotton-spinning mill" in Birmingham. The first thread of cotton ever
spun by rollers was produced in a small house near Sutton Coldfield as
early as the year 1700, and in 1741 the inventor, John Wyatt, had a mill
in the Upper Priory, where his machine, containing fifty rollers, was
turned by two donkeys walking round an axis, like a horse in a modern
clay mill. The manufacture, however, did not succeed in this town,
though carried on more or less till the close of the century, Paul's
machine being advertised for sale April 29, 1795. The Friends'
schoolroom now covers the site of the cotton mill.

~Canals.~--The first Act for the construction of the "cut" or canal in
connection with Birmingham was passed in 1761, that to Bilston being
commenced in 1767. The delivery here of the first boat-load of coals
(Nov. 6, 1769) was hailed, and rightly so, as one of the greatest
blessings that could be conferred on the town, the immediate effect
being a reduction in the price to 6d per cwt, which in the following May
came down to 4d. The cutting of the first sod towards making the Grand
Junction Canal took place July 26, 1766, and it was completed in 1790.
In 1768 Briudley, the celebrated engineer, planned out the Birmingham
and Wolverhampton Canal, proposing to make it 22 miles long; but he did
not live to see it finished. The work was taken up by Smeaton and
Telford; the latter of whom calling it "a crooked ditch" struck out a
straight cut, reducing the length to 14 miles, increasing the width to
40 feet, the bridges having each a span of 52 feet. The "Summit" bridge
was finished in 1879. The Fazeley Canal was completed in 1783, and so
successfully was it worked that in nine years the shares were at a
premium of L1170. In 1785 the Birmingham, the Fazeley, and the Grand
Junction Companies took up and completed an extension to Coventry. The
Birmingham and Worcester Canal was commenced in 1,791, the cost being a
little over L600,000, and it was opened for through traffic July 21,
1815. By an agreement of September 18, 1873, this canal was sold to the
Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Co. (otherwise the Sharpness Dock Co.),
and has thus lost its distinctive local name. The Birmingham and Warwick
commenced in 1793; was finished in 1800. Communication with Liverpool by
water was complete in 1826, the carriage of goods thereto which had
previously cost L5 per ton, being reduced to 30s. For a through cut to
London, a company was started in May, 1836, with a nominal capital of
L3,000,000, in L100 shares, and the first cargoes were despatched in
August, 1840. In April, 1840, an Act was passed to unite the Wyrley and
Essington Canal Co. with the Birmingham Canal Co., leading to the
extension, at a cost of over L120,000, of the canal system to the lower
side of the town. There are 2,800 miles of canals in England, and about
300 miles in Ireland. The total length of what may properly be called
Birmingham canals is about 130 miles, but if the branches in the "Black
Country" be added thereto, it will reach to near 250 miles. The first
iron boat made its appearance on canal waters July 24, 1787; the first
propelled by steam arrived here from London, September 29, 1826. The
adaptation of steam power to general canal traffic, however, was not
carried to any great extent, on account of the injury caused to the
banks by the "wash" from the paddles and screws, though, when railways
were first talked about, the possibility of an inland steam navigation
was much canvassed. When the Bill for the London and Birmingham Railway
was before Parliament, in 1833, some enterprising carriers started (on
Midsummer-day) an opposition in the shape of a stage-boat, to run daily
and do the distance, with goods and passengers, in 16 hours. The
Birmingham and Liverpool Canal Company introduced steam tugs in 1843. On
Saturday, November 11, they despatched 16 boats, with an aggregate load
of 380 tons, to Liverpool, drawn by one small vessel of 16-horse power,
other engines taking up the "train" at different parts of the voyage.
Mr. Inshaw, in 1853, built a steamboat for canals with a screw on each
side of the rudder. It was made to draw four boats with 40 tons of coal
in each at two and a half miles per hour, and the twin screws were to
negative the surge, but the iron horses of the rail soon put down, not
only all such weak attempts at competition, but almost the whole canal
traffic itself, so far as general merchandise and carriage of light
goods and parcels was concerned. "Flyboats" for passengers at one time
ran a close race with the coaches and omnibuses between here,
Wolverhampton, and other places, but they are old people now who can
recollect travelling in that manner in their youth.

~Canal Accidents.~--The banks of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal,
near Wheeley's Road, gave way on May 26, 1872, causing considerable
damage to the properties near at hand. A similar occurrence took place
at Aston, July 20, 1875; and a third happened at Solihull Lodge Valley,
October 27, 1880, when about 80ft. of an embankment 30-ft. high
collapsed.

~Canal Reservoir,~ better known as "The Reservoir," near Monument Lane,
a popular place of resort, covers an area of 62A. 1R. 5P., and is
three-quarters of a mile long. Visitors and others fond of boating can
be accommodated here to their heart's content.

~Cannon.~--The first appearance of these instruments of destruction in
connection with the English army was in the time of Edward III. in his
wars with the Scotch and the French, the first great battle of
historical note in which they were used being that of Cressy, in 1346.
The manufacture of "small arms," as they are called, has been anything
but a small feature in the trade history of our past, but
cannon-founding does not appear to have been much carried on, though a
local newspaper of 1836 mentioned that several 250 and 300-pounder guns
were sent from here in that year for the fortifications on the
Dardanelles.

~Cannon Hill Park~ covers an area of 57a. 1r. 9p., and was presented to
the town by Miss Ryland, the deed of conveyance bearing date April 18th,
1873. The nearest route to this Park is by way of Pershore Road and
Edgbaston Lane, omnibuses going that way every half-hour.

~Caps.~--The inventor of percussion caps is not known, but we read of
them as being made here as early as 1816, though they were not
introduced into "the service" until 1839. The manufacture of these
articles has several times led to great loss of life among the workers,
notes of which will be found under the head of "_Explosions_." See also
"_Trades_."

~Carlyle.~--The celebrated philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, resided here for
a short time in 1824; and his notes about Birmingham cannot but be worth
preserving. Writing to his brother John under date Aug. 10, he says:--

"Birmingham I have now tried for a reasonable time, and I cannot
complain of being tired of it. As a town it is pitiful enough--a mean
congeries of bricks, including one or two large capitalists, some
hundreds of minor ones, and, perhaps, a hundred and twenty thousand
sooty artisans in metals and chemical produce. The streets are
ill-built, ill-paved, always flimsy in their aspect--often poor,
sometimes miserable. Not above one or two of them are paved with
flagstones at the sides; and to walk upon the little egg-shaped,
slippery flints that supply their places is something like a penance.
Yet withal it is interesting for some of the commons or lanes that
spot and intersect the green, woody, undulating environs to view this
city of Tubal Cain. Torrents of thick smoke, with ever and anon a
burst of dingy flame, are issuing from a thousand funnels. 'A thousand
hammers fall by turns.' You hear the clank of innumerable steam
engines, the rumbling of cars and vans, and the hum of men interrupted
by the sharper rattle of some canal boat loading or disloading, or,
perhaps, some fierce explosion when the cannon founders [qy: the
proof-house] are proving their new-made ware. I have seen their
rolling-mills, their polishing of teapots, and buttons and
gun-barrels, and lire-shovels, and swords, and all manner of toys and
tackle. I have looked into their ironworks where 150,000 men are
smelting the metal in a district a few miles to the north: their coal
mines, fit image, of Arvenus; their tubes and vats, as large as
country churches, full of copperas and aqua fortis and oil of vitroil;
and the whole is not without its attractions, as well as repulsions,
of which, when we meet, I will preach to you at large."

~Carr's Lane.~--Originally this is believed to have been known as
"Goddes Cart Lane," and was sufficiently steep to be dangerous, as
evidenced by accidents noted in past history.

~Carr's Lane Chapel,~ the meeting house of the old Independents, or as
they are now called, the Congregationalists, will be noticed under
"_Places of Worship_."

~Cartoons.~--If some of our fore-fathers could but glance at the
illustrations or the portait caricatures of local public men and their
doings, now given us almost daily, we fear they would not credit us
moderns with much advancement in the way of political politeness,
however forward we may be in other respects. Many really good cartoons
_have_ appeared, and neither side can be said to hold a monopoly of such
sketchy skilfulness, but one of the best (because most truthful) was the
cartoon issued in October 1868, giving the portrait of a
"Vote-as-you're-told" electer, led by the nose by his _Daily Post_.

~Castle.~--Birmingham Castle is named in an ancient document as being
situated a "bowshot southwestward of the church," but the exact site
thereof has never been traced. It is supposed to have been erected about
the year 1140, and to have been demolished by order of King Stephen, in
1176.

~Castle Street~ takes its name from the hostlery once so famous among
our coach officers.

~Catacombs.~--There is a large number of massively-built stone vaults
underneath Christ Church, each divided into tiers of catacombs, or
receptacles for the dead. It is in one of these that the remains of
Baskerville at last found a resting place.--The catacombs at the General
Cemetery are many, being cut out of the sandstone rock known as Key
Hill, and a large number have been and can be excavated underneath the
church in the Warstone Lane Cemetery.

~Cathedral.~--See "_Places of Warship--Catholic_."

~Cat Shows.~--The first Cat Show held here was opened November 29th,
1873, and was a very successful speculation; but the exhibitions of the
two following years did not pay and since then the grimalkins have been
left at home.

~Cattle Show.~--As first started (in 1849, when it was held near Kent
Street), and at Bingley Hall in the following year, this was an annual
show of cattle, sheep, and pigs only, but after years has made it a
gathering place for specimens, of nearly everything required on a farm,
and the "Show" has become an "_Exhibition_," under which heading full
notice will be found.

~Cemeteries.~--The burial grounds attached to the Churches were formerly
the only places of interment save for suicides and murderers--the former
of whom were buried at some cross-road, with a stake driven through the
body, while the latter were frequently hung in chains and got no burial
at all. In 1807 the first addendum to our churchyards was made by the
purchase of 13,192 square yards of land in Park Street, which cost
L1,600. Having been laid out and enclosed with substantial railed walls
at a further outlay of L764, the ground was duly consecrated July 16,
1813, and for some years was the chief receptacle for decaying humanity
of all classes, many thousands of whom were there deposited. By degrees
the ground came to be looked upon as only fit for the poorest of the
poor, until, after being divided by the railway, this "God's Acre" was
cared fir by none, and was well called the "black spot" of the town.
Since the passing of the Closed Burial Grounds Bill (March 18, 1878) the
Corporations have taken possession, and at considerable expense have
re-walled the enclosure and laid it out as a place of health resort for
the children of the neighbourhood. The burial grounds of St.
Bartholomew's, St. Martin's, St. Mary's, and St. George's have also been
carefully and tastefully improved in appearance, and we can now venture
to look at most of our churchyards without shame.

The General Cemetery at Key Hill was originated at a meeting held Oct.
18, 1832, when a proprietary Company was formed, and a capital fixed at
L12,000, in shares of L10 each. The total area of the property is about
twelve acres, eight of which are laid out for general burials, in a
edition to the catacombs cut into the sandstone rock.

The Church of England Cemetery in Warstone Lane is also the property of
a private Company, having a capital of L20,000 in L10 shares. The area
is nearly fifteen acres, the whole of which was consecrated as a burial
ground for the Church on August 20, 1848.

The Catholic Cemetery of St. Joseph, at Nechell's Green, received its
first consignment in 1850.

The introduction and extension of railways have played sad havoc with a
number of the old burial grounds belonging to our forefathers. As
mentioned above the London and North Western took a slice out of Park
Street Cemetery. The Great Western cleared the Quakers' burial ground in
Monmouth Street (where the Arcade now stands) the remains of the
departed Friends being removed to their chapel yard in Bull Street, and
a curious tale has been told in connection therewith. It is said that
the representative of the Society of Friends was a proper man of
business, as, indeed, most of them are, and that he drove rather a hard
bargain with the railway directors, who at last were obliged to give in
to what they considered to be an exorbitant demand for such a small bit
of freehold. The agreement was made and the contract signed, and Friend
Broadbrim went on his way rejoicing; but not for long. In selling the
land he apparently forgot that the land contained bones, for when the
question of removing the dead was mooted, the Quaker found he had to pay
back a goodly portion of the purchase money before he obtained
permission to do so. In clearing the old streets away to make room for
New Street Station, in 1846, the London and North Western found a small
Jewish Cemetery in what was then known as the "Froggery," but which had
long been disused. The descendants of Israel carefully gathered the
bones and reinterred them in their later-dated cemetery in Granville
Street, but even here they did not find their last resting-place, for
when, a few years back, the Midland made the West Suburban line, it
became necessary to clear out this ground also, and the much-disturbed
remains of the poor Hebrews were removed to Witton. The third and last
of the Jewish Cemeteries, that in Betholom Row, which was first used in
or about 1825, and has long been full, is also doomed to make way for
the extension of the same line.--During the year 1883 the time-honoured
old Meeting-house yard, where Poet Freeth, and many another local
worthy, were laid to rest, has been carted off--dust and ashes, tombs
and tombstones--to the great graveyard at Witton, where Christian and
Infidel, Jew and Gentile, it is to be hoped, will be left at peace till
the end of the world.

In 1860, the Corporation purchased 105 acres of land at Witton for the
Borough Cemetery. The foundation stones of two chapels were laid August
12, 1861, and the Cemetery was opened May 27, 1863, the total cost being
nearly L40,000. Of the 105 acres, 53 are consecrated to the use of the
Church of England, 35 laid out for Dissenters, and 14 set aside for
Catholics and Jews.

~Census.~--The numbering of the people by a regular and systematic plan
once in every ten years, only came into operation in 1801, and the most
interesting returns, as connected with this town and its immediate
neighbourhood, will be found under the heading of "_Population_."

~Centre of Birmingham.~--As defined by the authorities for the
settlement of any question of distance, Attwood's statue at the top of
Stephenson Place, in New Street, is reckoned as the central spot of the
borough. In olden days, Nelson's monument, and prior to that, the Old
Cross, in the Bull Ring, was taken as the centre. As an absolute matter
of fact, so far as the irregular shape of the borough area will allow of
such a measurement being made, the central spot is covered by Messrs.
Harris and Norton's warehouse in Corporation Street.

~Centenarians.~--John Harman, better known as Bishop Vesey, died in
1555, in his 103rd year. James Sands, who died at Harborne in 1625, was
said to have been 140 years old, and his wife lived to be 120. Joseph
Stanley, of Aston, died in May, 1761, in his 106th year. Wesley, under
date of March 19, 1768, wrote of having seen George Bridgens, then in
his 107th year; Hutton, in noticing the long life of Bridgens, also
mentions one John Pitt who lived to be 100, a Mrs. Moore who reached
104, and an old market man who completed his 107th year. A Mr. Clarkson
died here, in February, 1733, aged 112. William Jennens, _the_ Jennens
of untold, but much coveted, wealth, died in June, 1798, aged 103. John
Roberts, of Digbeth, had a family of twenty-eight children, six by his
third wife, whom he married when nearly eighty, and lived to see his
103rd year, in 1792, dying July 6. Thomas Taylor, a cobbler, stuck to
his last until a week of his death, July 8, 1796, at 103. T. Blakemore
died November 12, 1837, aged 105. Mrs. E. Bailey, founder of the Female
Charity School, was also 105 at her death, December 2, 1854. Another old
lady was Elizabeth Taylor, who died at Sparkbrook, March 5, 1864, aged
104 years. Mary Hemming, of Moseley Wake Green, died December 5, 1881,
in her 104th year.

~Centenary Celebrations~, more or less worthy of note, are continuously
recurring, and the date of some few are here preserved. Our loyal
grandfathers honoured the hundredth, anniversary of the Revolution of
1688, by a public dinner, November 4, 1788. Old Bluecoat boys in like
manner kept the centenary of their school, August 24, 1824. Admirers of
the Philosopher Priestley chose All Fools' Day, 1831, as the fitting day
to celebrate the anniversary of his birth. The Centenary of the
Protestant Dissenting Charity Schools was worthily celebrated by the
raising of a special sum amounting to L1,305, as an addition to the
funds. In January, 1859, Robert Burns' anniversary was remembered by the
holding a supper in Aston Hall, at which only half-a-dozen Scotchmen
were present out of half-a-hundred guests. The Dissenting Ministers of
this and the neighbouring counties, who, for a hundred years, have met
together once a month, celebrated the event by a quiet luncheon-dinner,
December 13, 1882. The Tercentenary of the Free Grammar School was
celebrated with learned speeches April 16, 1852; that of Good Queen
Bess, by a public prayer meeting, November 16, 1858; and that of
Shakespeare, April 23, 1864, by the founding of a Shakespeare Memorial
Library. The thousandth anniversary of Alfred the Great, October 29,
1849, was made much of by the Political Knowledge Association, which had
not been in existence it thousand days. The fact of John Bright being
M.P. for Birmingham for a quarter of a century, was celebrated in June,
1883, by the Liberal Association, who got up a "monster" procession in
imitation of the celebrated Attwood procession of the old days of
Reform. The holiday was most thoroughly enjoyed by the public generally,
and immense numbers of people thronged the streets to hear the bands and
see what was to be seen.

~Chamberlain Memorial.~--See "_Statues_," &c.

~Chamber of Commerce.~--In 1783 there was a "Standing General Commercial
Committee," composed of the leading merchants and Manufacturers, who
undertook the duty of looking after the public interests of the town
(not forgetting their own peculiarly private ditto). That they were not
so Liberal as their compeers of to-day may be gathered from the fact of
their strongly opposing the exportation of brass, and on no account
permitting a workman to go abroad.

~Chamber of Manufacturers.~--When Pitt, in 1784, proposed to tax coal,
iron, copper, and other raw materials, he encountered a strong
opposition from the manufacturers, prominent among whom were Boulton
(Soho), Wilkinson (Bradley), and Wedgwood (Potteries), who formed a
"Chamber," the first meeting of which was held here in February, 1785.
The Minister was induced to alter his mind.

~Chandeliers.~--Many beautiful works of art have been manufactured in
this town, which, though the wonder and admiration of strangers, receive
but faint notice here, and find no record except in the newspaper of the
day or a work like the present. Among such may be ranked the superb
brass chandelier which Mr. R.W. Winfield sent to Osborne in 1853 for Her
Majesty, the Queen. Designed in the Italian style, this fine specimen of
the brassworkers' skill, relieved by burnishing and light matted work,
ornamented with figures of Peace, Plenty, and Love in purest Parian,
masks of female faces typical of night, and otherwise decorated in the
richest manner, was declared by the late Prince Consort as the finest
work he had ever seen made in this country and worthy to rank with that
of the masters of old. Not so fortunate was Mr. Collis with the
"Clarence chandelier" and sideboard he exhibited at the Exhibition of
1862. Originally made of the richest ruby cut and gilded glass for
William IV., it was not finished before that monarch's death, and was
left on the maker's hand. Its cost was nearly L1,000, but at the final
sale of Mr. Collis's effects in Dec. 1881 it was sold for L5.

~Chapels and Churches.~--See "_Places of Worship_."

~Charity.~--Charitable collections were made in this neighbourhood in
1655, for the Redmontese Protestants, Birmingham giving L15 11s. 2d.,
Sutton Coldfield L14, and Aston L4 14s. 2d. On the 6th of June, 1690,
L13 18s. 1-1/2d. were collected at St. Martin's "for ye Irish
Protestants." In 1764 some Christmas performances were given for the
relief of aged and distressed housekeepers, and the charitable custom
thus inaugurated was kept up for over seventy years. In the days of
monks and monasteries, the poor and needy, the halt and lame, received
charitable doles at the hands of the former and at the gates of the
latter, but it would be questionable how far the liberality of the
parsons, priests, and preachers of the present day would go were the
same system now in vogue. It has been estimated that nearly L5,000 is
given every year in what may be called the indiscriminate charity of
giving alms to those who ask it in the streets or from door to door. By
far the largest portion of this amount goes into the hands of the
undeserving and the worthless, and the formation of a central relief
office, into which the charitably-disposed may hand in their
contributions, and from whence the really poor and deserving may receive
help in times of distress, has been a long felt want. In 1869 a "Charity
Organisation Society" was established here, and it is still in
existence, but it does not appear to meet with that recognised support
which such an institution as suggested requires. In 1882 a special fund
was started for the purpose of giving aid to women left with children,
and about L380 was subscribed thereto, while the ordinary income was
only L680. The special fund can hardly be said as yet to have got into
working order, but when the cost of proving the property of the
recipients, with the necessary expenses of office rent, salaries, &c.,
have been deducted from the ordinary income, the amount left to be
distributed among the persons deemed by the officials deserving of
assistance is small indeed, the expenses reaching about L330 per year.
In 1880 it cost L329 18s. 4d. to give away food, cash, and clothing,
&c., valued at L386 16s. 6d., an apparent anomally which would not be so
glaring if the kind-hearted and charitable would only increase the
income of the Society, or re-organise it upon a wider basis.--For
statistics of poverty and the poor see "_Pauperism_" and "_Poor Rates_."