HANDBOOK
OF
BIRMINGHAM.

PREPARED FOR THE
MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
1886.

BIRMINGHAM:
Hall and English, Printers, &c., High Street.
1886.

[Entered at Stationers’ Hall.]

CONTENTS.

CONTRIBUTORS.

(The figures show the pages of this work where the articles appear.)

CORRECTIONS.

INTRODUCTION.

BY G.J. JOHNSON.

This Handbook, being prepared for the use of the members of the British Association, at their meeting in Birmingham, in 1886, it is deemed desirable to preface it by a very brief sketch of the progress of the town since the first meeting here of the Association in 1839, a period only three years short of half a century.

The Corporation.[1]—When the Association met in Birmingham, on the 26th of August, 1839, the Borough had recently been incorporated—the first meeting of the Town Council having been held on the 27th of the previous December; but when the Council attempted to exercise the power of making a Borough Rate, the Overseers refused to levy it in consequence of objections which had been raised to the validity of the Charter. In addition to these pecuniary difficulties, the town was just recovering from the effects of the Chartist riots, in the Bull Ring, seven weeks before. The Corporation had not the control of a single policeman or constable, and the town was in charge of a body of London police.

The same day on which the Association met, the Royal assent was given to an Act (2 and 3 Vic., c. 88), hurriedly passed, to appoint a Commissioner of Police in the Borough for two years, and to authorise an advance of £10,000, for the purpose of organizing and paying a police force.

The validity of the charter of incorporation was ultimately settled by a statutory confirmation (5 and 6 Vic., c. III), which received the royal assent on the 12th of August, 1842. As a consequence, the control of the police was transferred to the Watch Committee of the Corporation. At the time of the transfer the strength of the force was 300 men, and the population of the borough 183,000. The population is now about 427,000, and the police force is 550 in number, and is both efficient and adequate.

The great cost of conveying prisoners and lunatics to the County Gaol and Asylum at Warwick, and the inadequacy of both to the increasing population, rendered the building of a Borough Gaol and Lunatic Asylum at Winson Green a necessity, and as soon as the Corporation obtained the control of the police the gaol was proceeded with and opened in 1849. In the following year the Lunatic Asylum was opened, to which was added, in 1882, another Asylum at Rubery Hill, near Bromsgrove.

The year 1851 is memorable in our municipal history for the vesting in the Corporation, for the first time, of complete control over the entire borough by the transfer to it of the conflicting powers and jurisdictions of the other governing bodies (see pp. [18] and [19].) Up to that date the formation and maintenance of the streets, roads, and footways of the town, the lighting and drainage, and all the other important work now undertaken by the Public Works Committee of the Corporation could not be dealt with in any uniform system, because six other governing bodies or officials had statutory powers over the portions of the Borough which were outside the parish of Birmingham. With the year 1852 a new and uniform system commenced, and not an hour too soon, having regard to the rapid increase of the population and the consequent multiplication of new streets and roads. The aspect of the town has been completely changed in the paving of the roads and footways, the lighting of the streets, the widening of many of the principal thoroughfares, and the carrying into operation of a complete and uniform system of drainage and sewerage. To the Public Works Committee belongs also the control of the numerous tramways which lead from the centre of the town to the suburbs in every direction, except the upper part of Edgbaston, the approach to which is rendered difficult by the narrowness of Broad Street. The improved system of drainage and sewerage brought to an issue the serious question of how the sewage of the town was to be dealt with. From the year 1858 this had become a serious and increasing difficulty, involving the Corporation in constant and costly litigation with the neighbouring landowners, resulting in injunctions from the Court of Chancery. In 1871 a special Committee called “The Sewage Enquiry Committee” was instituted, who recommended the course ultimately adopted, viz.: the formation of a board representing the whole drainage area, and the establishment of a large sewage farm at Saltley. The latter was first undertaken and found to be a solution of the difficulty, and in the year 1877 the other object was attained by the constitution of the “Birmingham Tame and Rea District Drainage Board,” composed of twenty-two representatives from the different governing bodies in the drainage area, of whom twelve are elected by the Town Council of Birmingham. To this body the sewage farm has been transferred, and is now carried on with the most beneficial result.

Immediately after the passing of the Public Health Act, 1872, the Borough was constituted an Urban Sanitary District and the Council as the Urban Sanitary Authority, set itself vigorously to the work of improving the public health. A Borough Hospital for the treatment of small pox and scarlet fever was established in 1874. The Public Health Act, 1875, indirectly removed for sanitary purposes the limit on rating powers to which the Council were obliged to submit in their Act of 1851. By the zealous labours of the Health Committee, and the liberal application of the pecuniary resources placed at its command by the Act of 1875, the death rate has been reduced from 24.8 per 1,000 in 1874 to 19.1 in 1885, although the mean density of the population has increased in the same period 20 per cent.

In 1851 the first of the four sets of public baths was opened in Kent Street, followed by other sets in Woodcock Street (1860), Northwood Street (1862), and Monument Road (1883). Under the management of the same Committee of the Council are placed the ten public parks and recreation grounds of the Borough, of which five have been given to the Corporation and five have been acquired by purchase. The list is as follows:—

In 1860 the Free Libraries Act was adopted, and the first branch library was opened in Constitution Hill, on the 3rd of April, 1861. The first Central Lending Library and Art Gallery were opened on the 6th Sept., 1865, on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association. (See for the subsequent history of the Free Libraries [p. 69] et seq.)

In 1863 the Borough Cemetery at Witton was completed. (See [p. 117].)

In 1874, a Fire Brigade was established, which now consists of thirty well-trained men, with six engines, and all suitable apparatus.

From the year 1851 to 1873 was a period of steady progress in our municipal affairs; but the mayoralty of the Right Hon. (then Mr.) Joseph Chamberlain, 1873-6, was signalised by the building of the Council House; the acquisition of the undertakings of the two Gas Companies of the Borough, as well as that of the Waterworks Company, and the authorisation of a great scheme of street improvement of which the formation of Corporation Street is the principal feature. Curiously enough, the acquisition of the gas supply of the Borough had a consequence, apparently as far removed as Tenterden steeple from the Goodwin Sands, viz., the provision of the present commodious Art Gallery ([p. 123].) The explanation is, that under the Free Libraries Act, the Town Council had the power to appropriate the site for the purpose of an Art Gallery, but no power to raise money to erect the building otherwise than by the penny rate, which was then hardly sufficient for the annual cost of the Free Libraries. The Gas department of the Corporation requiring to build larger offices, the Council, at the request of the Free Libraries Committee, granted the land to the Gas Committee, on condition that they should build over their offices the new Art Gallery, which they have done at an estimated cost of £40,000. By this means a difficulty which seemed insuperable was overcome. In addition to this benefit to the town, the Gas Committee have earned for the Corporation a profit of more than £25,000 a year.

Thirty years of municipal activity, such as has been described, commencing with the Act of 1851, of course involved repeated applications to Parliament, and in 1882 the mass of legislation was found to be enormous, and a consolidation of twenty separate Acts was effected by the Birmingham (Corporation) Consolidation Act, 1883, which removed the limit of the Free Library rate, and enabled the Corporation to establish the Municipal School of Art (see [p. xviii.]), and to provide adequate funds for the maintenance of the Corporation Art Gallery.

Thus the same Corporation which, in 1839, had no revenue, nor means of obtaining any, and required to be assisted by the Government with a loan of £10,000 for police purposes, in the year 1885, levied rates for municipal purposes (exclusive of poor’s rate and the School Board rate) to the amount of £318,882, being 4s. 5d. in the pound on the annual value of the rateable property of the borough, and now borrows money readily at three-and-a-quarter per cent. Its revenue, and the income received from some of the Committees, sufficed to keep the operations of the Corporation in working order, and to pay the interest on £7,606,269—the aggregate amount of the liabilities on capital account on 31st December, 1885. With reference to this large amount of indebtedness it should be noted that £2,720,061 is the capitalized value at twenty-five years’ purchase of the annuities granted as the purchase moneys of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Company, and the Water Works Company, and that £450,000 was paid in cash for the purchase of The Birmingham Gas Company, and also that £1,520,567 has been expended on the Improvement Scheme. This reduces the sum still due for the debts of the former governing bodies and all the public works executed by the Corporation since 1839, to £2,915,630, and there can be no doubt that the whole of the indebtedness is more than balanced by the value of the property belonging to the Corporation.

It remains to be noticed that the Corporation is the largest landowner in the Borough, owning more than 2,000 acres of land (including its share of the sewage farm) and is the largest employer of labour, employing upwards of 4,000 persons. Also that in July, 1884, Birmingham was made an assize town; whereupon the Town Council took into immediate consideration the necessity of building Courts for Assizes, Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions, and in July, 1886, approved of plans for the purpose. The “New Law Courts” as they are termed, will be erected in Corporation Street.

Population.—In the year 1839 the population of the Borough was estimated at 180,000. The following is the result of each subsequent census, namely:—

The population in 1886 is estimated to be about 427,000.

A still more striking example of the progress of the town is afforded by the following statement kindly prepared by Mr. S. Walliker, the energetic and courteous Postmaster of the town.

Statement Shewing the Growth of the Birmingham Post Office During the Past 20 Years.

In 1871 (the year after the Telegraphs were transferred to the Post Office), the number of Telegraph Messages dealt with was 1,081,825, and in 1885-6, 3,111,662. The number of Parcels dealt with in 1885-6 was 2,492,689.

Gifts for public purposes.—“More than princely, civic munificence” was a happy phrase of Professor Max Müller on the occasion of the opening of the Mason Science College, and it is certain that in proportion as the feeling of citizenship in any community becomes strong it will manifest itself in the establishment or assistance of institutions for public purposes. Birmingham has never been without examples of this kind. The earliest of the existing charities of the town is—

Lench’s Trust, originated by a feoffment, 11th March, 1525, by William Lench, of lands in and near Birmingham to trustees. With this trust many other smaller gifts have been incorporated, and the income of the whole is now applied to the maintenance of four sets of almshouses for aged women, in Conybere Street, Hospital Street, Ladywood Road, and Ravenhurst Street. The total number of inmates is 178, and each of them has a house and four shillings a week. The income of this charity has grown with the growth of the town like that of the Grammar School (see [p. 26].) In 1839 it was £758, in 1886 it is £3,085.

The next endowment in order of time was that of the Free Grammar School (see [p. 26]) to which has since been added one half of the endowment of Milward’s Charity (A.D. 1684). Then came—

Fentham’s Charity (A.D. 1712), part of the revenue of which is appropriated to the maintenance of certain boys in the Blue Coat School, distinguished by a dark green dress.

With the exception of a number of smaller charities for apprenticing boys, relieving poor widows, giving doles of bread, no important public benefactions were bestowed for nearly a century. Almshouses in imitation of Lench’s Trust, twenty in number, were built by Joseph Dowell, in Warner Street, in 1820, and another set by Mrs. Glover, in Steelhouse Lane, for thirty-six aged women, in 1832.

The last twenty years have been fruitful in gifts by our wealthier citizens beginning with—

Evans’ Cottage Homes, Founded in 1867, by Alfred Smith Evans (of the then well-known firm of Evans and Askin), are six cottages at Selly Oak, of a superior kind to the ordinary almshouse, for ladies of reduced means. Each inmate is required to possess an income of £25 a year, and receives £20 a year from the trust. Vacancies in the trustees are supplied by magistrates of the borough, appointed by the Town Council.

The Orphanage and Almshouses at Erdington, completed in 1868, at a cost of £60,000, by the late Sir Josiah (then Josiah) Mason, and endowed with an annual income from landed property, which in 1885 produced £6,400. The Orphanage contains upwards of 300 children, in the proportion of two girls to one boy. The Almshouses contain 30 poor women. Seven of the fourteen trustees are appointed by the Town Council.

Crowley’s Orphanage.—Thomas Crowley, a timber merchant, of Birmingham, who died 28th February, 1869, by deed dated 15th February, 1869, settled £10,000 upon trusts to educate poor orphan girls. No orphanage has yet been built, but temporary homes have been opened in Ladywood Road.

The James’ Trust.—The Misses Elizabeth and Emma James, by deed dated 1st November, 1869, conveyed a freehold estate in Paradise Street, as an endowment for “The James’ Almhouses” they had built at Nechells for aged women, to provide five annuities of £20 each for poor and decayed gentlewomen, and a scholarship of £50 a year from the Free Grammar School at Birmingham to the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. The net income is about £750 per annum, the surplus beyond £450 per annum is to be accumulated, and applied in building additional almshouses.

The Public Picture Gallery Fund originated in a gift in the year 1871, by Mr. T. Clarkson Osler (of the well-known firm of glass manufacturers) of a sum of £3,000 for the purchase of pictures for the Corporation Art Gallery. This sum is augmented by other donations and amounts subscribed, and has been the means of adorning the Art Gallery with many valuable pictures.

Dudley Trust.—Mr. William Dudley, a Jeweller of Birmingham, by deed dated 8th May, 1875, settled £100,000 in the hands of Trustees to be used in (1) Loans to young tradesmen at low rates of interest; (2) Annuities to aged tradesmen, and (3) Surplus to be applied in aid of the charitable institutions of the Borough. Four of the Trustees are to be appointed by the Town Council.

Free Libraries.—In order of time reference should be made to the fund of nearly £15,000 raised in 1879 to refurnish the Reference Library after the fire, and to the valuable gifts of books detailed at [p. 72] et seq.

The Art Gallery Purchase Fund originated in an offer of Messrs. Tangye, on 3rd July, 1880, to contribute £5,000 to a fund for the purchase of examples of art for the New Art Gallery, since built by the Gas Committee as previously stated ([p. xiii.]), and a further £5,000 on condition that an equal sum was raised by public subscription. The sum of £7,000 additional was raised and placed at the disposal of a Special Committee of the Town Council, called the “Art Gallery Purchase Committee.”

The Mason Science College.—For a full account of which (see [p. 45]), was opened 1st October, 1880. Its cost was £60,000, and it is endowed with landed property producing £3,600 per annum. Of the eleven Trustees, five are appointed by the Town Council.

The Wilkes Bequest.—Mr. Alfred Salt Wilkes, a Manufacturer in Birmingham, who died on the 29th July, 1881, left a sum of money expected to realise £98,000 for division, after two life interests, between the Birmingham and Midland Institute and the General Hospital.

Municipal School of Art.—On the 9th of November, 1881, the retiring Mayor, Mr. Richard Chamberlain, announced to the Council that Miss Ryland had offered £10,000, Messrs. Richard and George Tangye, another £10,000 (afterwards increased to £10,937), and Mr. Cregoe Colmore a piece of land worth £14,000 for the building of the present School of Art. The foundation stone was laid 31st March, 1884, by Mr. Richard Tangye, and the building (see [p. 125]) finished and opened on 14th September, 1885. The former School of Art, a voluntary association supported by public subscription (and to which Miss Ryland had been a generous donor) being transferred to the Corporation.

The Princess Alice Orphanage, at Chester Road, was established, 1882, partly by a donation of £10,000 by Mr. Solomon Jevons, of Birmingham.

The Lloyds’ Almshouses, in Belgrave Road, were founded by the widow of Mr. James Lloyd, a banker, of Birmingham.

The Jaffray Suburban Hospital, at Erdington, for the treatment of chronic and non-contagious cases in connection with the Birmingham General Hospital, is the latest, but not the least of the gifts to the town. It was built and furnished at the sole cost of Mr. John Jaffray, and opened on the 27th November, 1885.

An enumeration of these gifts would not be complete without reference to the five gifts of public parks particularised in the list at [page xii].

In addition to these benefactions, mention ought to be made of the numerous gifts of pictures, sculptures and bronzes, given to the Art Gallery by our leading citizens, which will be found detailed in the Art Gallery Catalogue. Five of these gifts are deserving of special mention, namely, (1) the collection of arms given 17th August, 1876, by the Guardians of the Birmingham Proof House, and now arranged in the south gallery; (2) the collection of pictures of David Cox given by the late J. H. Nettlefold; (3) Müller’s well known “Prayers in the Desert,” and others given by the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain; (4) a collection of Wedgwood ware given by Messrs. Richard and George Tangye; and (5) the clock in the tower of the Art Gallery given by Mr. Follett Osler, F.R.S. Now that so admirable a gallery has been provided for the reception of such gifts, it may be confidently hoped that others equally valuable will be constantly added by the public spirit and liberality of the citizens of Birmingham.

It is computed that the value of these and other smaller gifts for public purposes for the last twenty years approaches, if it does not exceed, one million sterling.

Hospital Sunday and Saturday Collections.—The suggestion of a collection in the churches and chapels of the town on the last Sunday in October, for the medical charities was made by the Midland Counties’ Herald Newspaper, October, 1859. It was warmly taken up by the then Rector of Birmingham, Dr. Miller, and has been continued annually since 27th October, 1859. The total sum contributed up to and including the collection in October, 1885, is £124,433, the average for twenty-seven years being £4,608.

Hospital Saturday Collection.—The first Hospital Saturday Collection, designed to reach a class differing from the contributors to the Hospital Sunday Collection, took place March 15th, 1873. It has gradually grown in amount, and now produces a larger annual sum than the Hospital Sunday Collection. The amount raised in fourteen years is £63,250, or an average of £4,517. The last collection produced £6,521.

Clubs.—Small clubs, meeting at stated times for social purposes, were always common in Birmingham. The Bean Club, which meets annually, has existed since 1660. The “parlours” of the better class of public houses were places where tradesmen used to assemble in the evenings and were social clubs in the old sense. In 1840 the present Waterloo Rooms, now occupied by the Midland Conservative Club, were built for a club house, but the time was not ripe and they were let to the Government for the Old Bankruptcy Court.

The Union Club (non-political) was the first club in the modern sense, and was established in 1856, in rooms in Bennett’s Hill, and succeeded so well that the present club-house, at the corner of Colmore Row and Newhall Street, was built for it, and the club removed there in May, 1869.

The Midland Club, in New Street, was established in the year 1869, and is a non-political club.

The Conservative Club was established in 1872. The present club house is in Union Street, but a larger club house in Temple Row is being built.

The Liberal Club was established in the year 1877, in New Street, and in November, 1885, was removed to the stately building at the corner of Congreve Street and Edmund Street.

The Reform Club was established in the year 1879, under the title of the Junior Liberal Club. It occupies rooms in New Street.

The Midland Conservative Club, which now occupies the Waterloo Rooms, in Waterloo Street, was established in the year 1882.

All the above clubs are open to members of the Association during the meeting of 1886, on presentation of their cards of membership.

For an account of The Clef Club see [page 148].

Other clubs of a political, social, or scientific character are very numerous in Birmingham.

The matters touched upon in this Introduction must be regarded as illustrative of the progress of the town in a few particulars which did not fall within any of the divisions of Part II. of this Handbook (see Table of Contents). Fully to realize the development in every direction of our municipal, educational, ecclesiastical, literary, artistic, and industrial life, the whole of that part should be consulted. The remainder of the book will shew how assiduously various branches of science are cultivated amongst us.

PART I.
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
1086—1800.

BY SAM: TIMMINS.

Origin of Name.—Eight hundred years ago the name of Birmingham first appeared in history, and almost exactly with the present name of the town. In the famous Domesday Book (1083-1086), compiled for William the Norman, the name is spelled “Bermingeha’,” but the varieties of spelling, from the conquest, have been remarkable. Some curious collector has summed up one hundred and forty variations, but most of these may be resolved into two forms of pronunciation—either Birmingham or Bromicham. It is curious that no other town or village in England seems to have a similar name to that of Birmingham, and hence its etymology is somewhat obscure. Hutton’s favourite origin was Broom from the plant, Wych, a dwelling or a descent, and Ham a home, so that Bromwycham was supposed to be the original name indicating local details; but Hutton had forgotten to look at Domesday Book, or to explain how Bromwycham had been turned into Birmingham. Still more, he had neglected Dugdale’s remark that while “ham,” for home, explained the final syllable, the other two syllables certainly denoted some personal name. All later researches have tended to confirm this suggestion, and modern philologists, including Prof. E. A. Freeman, are almost unanimous in agreeing that “Berm,” or “Beorm,” or some similar form represents the name of some Saxon tribe or people, and that Bermingham would be a patronymic or family name, with the “ing” or “iung” denoting some progeny or tribe, and giving the name to the “de Berminghams,” who flourished in the place, as Dugdale fully shows.

Early History.—As to the ante-Norman holders, Dugdale says on the authority of Domesday Book, that in “Edward the Confessor’s days (Birmingham was) the freehold of one Ulvvine,” but the history begins with the Domesday Book which gives the following details:—“Richard holds of William (Fitz Ausculf) four hides in Bermingha’. The arable employs six ploughs; one is in the demesne. There are five villeins and four bordars with two ploughs. Wood half a mile long, and four furlongs broad. It was, and is worth 20s.” These few facts compare very favourably with the description of other places, and show that Birmingham was then a place of some importance. No church is mentioned, and no priest, but those omissions do not necessarily prove that the place had neither, and probably it had both. The extent of the “hide” is very uncertain and it seems to have varied from sixty to one hundred acres. This entry obviously relates to Birmingham only, and Edgbaston, Aston, and other places are similarly described. This extract is merely given to show that some sort of town existed long before 1083-1086, and that its name was nearly as we spell and sound it now.

After Domesday Book a long blank occurs, except as to certain documentary evidence as to Fairs, (1166 and 1251), and the help given to Simon de Montfort against Henry III., by William de Bermingham. But a little light is thrown on the condition of Birmingham by further examination of a curious and unique old map of England and Scotland now in the Bodleian Library, but which was known to Gough and included in his Topography, (Vol. I., p. 77,) with an engraving by Basire, which, however, is very imperfect and inaccurate. A photo-zincograph of this ancient map was produced by the Ordnance Office in 1875, with a description by Mr. W. Basevi Saunders, who settles the date of the map as circa 1286-1300. In this map, which is remarkably interesting but ludicrously wrong in many parts, especially as to Scotland, Birmingham distinctly appears. Cathedral cities and large churches are generally indicated, rivers are marked, and even miles on roads, while a large number of single houses are marked to show towns, when no names are given. In the portion marked “Ardene” one house, with “Brmynghā,” clearly appears between Worcester and Lichfield, and is the only town in Warwickshire which is described by name, not even Coventry or Warwick being named. This seems to show that Birmingham was a place of some importance even six hundred years ago, and that its name was then spelled nearly as now, the abbreviations probably indicating “Bermyngham.”

As Dugdale’s Warwickshire is generally limited to the territorial and family history, which is difficult to condense, and rarely refers to the existence or state of the buildings in his time, there is very little material for the history of the town for several centuries. He mentions, however, that Peter de Bermingham “had a Castle here which stood nearre a Bow-shoot from the Church south-westwards” (12 Henry II., 1166), doubtless on the site of Smithfield market, which had buildings and moat till 1815. A market was granted by the same king, and on Thursdays, and was probably largely frequented and helped the progress of the town. From this de Bermingham family, Dugdale says, “doubtless came the de Berminghams of Ireland, who settled there very antiently: perhaps in Hen. II. days on the first conquest of that realm by Ric. Strongbow:” but the family connection with Birmingham ended with Edward and his tragic story in 1545.

The Priory.—The Hospital or Priory of St. Thomas the Apostle has had its name and site preserved by the names “Upper and Lower Priory,” “Minories,” &c., but the exact site of the buildings and the date of the foundation are uncertain. The grounds occupied a large space along Bull Street, Dale End, John Street, and Steelhouse Lane; but even in the recent excavations for new streets scarcely a fragment has been found. A century ago the pseudo-antiquarian William Hutton, who did his best to write a History of Birmingham, records that in 1775 he removed “twenty waggon loads of old stones, great numbers of which were highly finished in the Gothic taste; parts of porticos, windows, arches, ceilings—some fluted, some ciphered, yet complete as the day they left the chisel,” and that after letting the builders destroy the greater portion, he used some in making a fire-place in “an under-ground kitchen.” There is little hope now of finding any of these relics or of settling the site on which the Priory buildings stood. Even Dugdale failed to find its origin, and simply records that the first mention occurs in 13 Edwd. I. (1285), and that the Commissioners of Henry VIII. (1545) valued it at £8. 8s. 10d., and that it was duly dissolved.

St. Martin’s Church.—The Mother Church, St. Martin’s, claims great antiquity, but its exact date has not been found. During the recent restoration some early wall-paintings were discovered, with the still more valuable remains which formed part of a Norman Church, very evidently on the same site, but all traces of whose history have been lost. The existing Church has, however, some highly interesting monuments of some of the de Berminghams of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, one in alabaster, representing an ecclesiastic, being well known as an almost unique example of fifteenth century art. The present restored church has replaced an ugly brick casing which covered the decaying portion of an earlier church supposed to have been of the latter part of the thirteenth century with later alterations. The Registers begin in 1555, and have been carefully preserved, as well as various Church Books which have been used in the History of St. Martin’s by Mr. J. Thackray Bunce.

St. John’s Chapel.—Another ecclesiastical relic, in name only, is to be found in the ugly last century brick building, St. John’s Chapel, Deritend, which has replaced the “propper chappel,” which Leland saw in 1538, an early English building among the trees by the river side. This “chapel” was founded in 1375, by some of the inhabitants of Deritend and Bordesley, who found the floods often preventing access to their Parish Church at Aston. Thirteen of the inhabitants of the hamlets contributed the funds, and acquired the right of “appointing one Chaplain” for the services, and such Chaplain is appointed to this day by the parishioners’ votes. Tradition records that John Rogers, one of the early translators of the Bible, and the first Martyr of the reign of Mary, was born in Deritend near this Chapel, and a marble slab records his fame, but the tradition is doubtful, and has not been fully confirmed.

The Guild of the Holy Cross, whose Hall was on the site of the present King Edward’s School, was founded in 6 Rich. II. (1382), for the maintenance of two priests to celebrate service daily in the Church of St. Martin, but ten years later was formed into a “Guild or Fraternitie, consisting of men and women of Birmingham,” in the names of the “Bailiffs and Communaltie of Birmingham and other adjacent places, for a Chantrie of priests and services in the Church, for the souls of the Founders and all the Fraternitie,” but in 37 Hen. VIII. (1545) the lands were valued at £31. 2s. 10d., and appropriated by the Crown, and afterwards, 5 Edw. VI. (1550), were used for the foundation of the “Free Grammar School of King Edward the Sixth, for the Education and Instruction of Children in Grammar for ever,”—the basis of the present noble foundation, not only in New Street, but in several important Branch Schools.

Leland’s Description, 1538.—Nearly half of the sixteenth century had passed before Birmingham was visited and described by any stranger, and the visit of John Leland is a memorable landmark in the history of the town. His few words are familiar but worth quoting again, not merely as a record, but as a contrast with the changed conditions of over three hundred years. In the reign of Henry VIII., he made his famous journey through England, and in 1538 he visited Birmingham and rode through the town, which he describes in picturesque words:—“I came through a pretty street or ever I entred into Bermingham towne. This street, as I remember, is called Dirtey [Deriten]. In it dwell smithes and cutlers, and there is a brooke [Rea] that divideth this street from Bermingham, and is an hamlett or member belonginge to the Parish therebye. There is at the end of Dirtey a propper chappell and mansion house of tymber, hard on the rype [bank] as the brooke runneth downe: and as I went through the ford by the [foot] bridge, the water ranne downe on the right hand, and a fewe miles below goeth into Tame, ripâ dextrâ. * * * * The beauty of Bermigham, a good markett towne in the extreame parts of Warwike-shire, is one street going up alonge, almost from the left ripe of the brooke up a meane hill by the length of a quarter of a mile. I saw but one Paroch Church in the towne. There be many smiths in the towne that use to make knives and all mannour of cuttinge tooles, and many loriners that make bittes, and a great many naylors. Soe that a great part of the towne is maintained by smithes whoe have their iron and sea-cole out of Stafford-shire.”

This description of the town is minute and careful. The “mansion house of tymber” still remains as the Old Crown House in Deritend; and nearly opposite other half-timbered houses of the same period survive. The “propper chappell” has greatly changed its form, and the descriptions of trade are no longer strictly accurate, as some of the handicrafts are now better known at Sheffield, Walsall, and Halesowen. Some other old houses of the sixteenth century still remain, one notably in Digbeth, which has been carefully preserved; and one early sixteenth century house in Bull Street, near Dale End, has just been removed (1886). One remarkable change has occurred since Leland’s days; for the streams which crossed the roads have disappeared beneath, and the pumps and wells and water courses are long since gone.

Camden’s Description, 1584.—The visit of William Camden confirms Leland’s account, and shows considerable progress, as the town was “swarming with inhabitants and echoing with the noise of anvils,” and the general prosperity evidently continued through the century, and far into the next century too, for it is clear that the manufacture of swords, if not of guns and pistols, had begun and was destined to extend the fame and improve the industrial condition of the town.

Prince Rupert.—The busy occupants of the line of road traversed by Leland and Camden had serious trouble a century later. Charles I. on his way, in 1642, to Edge Hill had stopped at Aston Hall, which had been built early in the seventeenth century, and was believed to be from a design by Inigo Jones. Sir Thomas Holte had been true to the King, but had become unpopular with the Birmingham people, who were on the Parliamentary side. Aston Hall was attacked and besieged for three days, and the traces of the cannonading still remain. In the April of the next year, 1643, the fiery Rupert advanced to Birmingham from Camp Hill, and was stopped in Deritend by the barricades and valour of the people, but he forced his way, plundered and fired eighty houses, and left the town on the other side after heavy losses of life and limb. Clarendon has described Birmingham “as of great fame for hearty wilful affected disloyalty to the King as any town in England,” and the town had supplied the Parliamentary army with 15,000 swords, but “Prince Rupert’s Burning Cruelty to Birmingham” only intensified the opposition to the King and his cause.

A City of Refuge.—The latter part of the seventeenth century saw many marked advances in the prosperity of the town. The extravagances of the restoration period greatly increased the demand for many of the products of Birmingham ingenuity and skill. The demand for fire-arms also encouraged and extended one of the trades which was afterwards to become one of the great industries of the town; not only so, but Birmingham had become a sort of City of Refuge for reformers of all sorts, and a sort of Free Port for many sorts of manufactures which, owing to the customs of corporate towns, were restricted elsewhere. The “five mile,” and other acts, drove out many useful and able people and sent them to reside in a place where there was more elbow room and more free air, and thus not only the population but the energy and usefulness of the inhabitants rapidly increased. The visits of George Fox had stimulated many people, like those of Wesley a century later, and every influence, industrial, political, religious, social, seemed to continue and develop and intensify the life and progress of the town.

Early Printers and Booksellers—The eighteenth century added but little to the antiquities, but much to the history of Birmingham. The industrial developments which Leland and Camden noted made far more rapid progress towards the end of the seventeenth century, when Birmingham became as famous for fire-arms as it had been for pikes and swords half a century before. Even that progress was, however, to be far exceeded before the eighteenth century ended, and the almost infinite variety of manufactures had become established. Birmingham was, in fact, in those times, what London has since become, the centre towards which the foremost men of the day tended for many years. In the early years of the century, Dr. Johnson’s father came to Birmingham weekly with a small stock of books—the only supply the town seems to have had—but a few years later Thomas Warren had begun to print, newspapers were started, and books of considerable importance were published. Dr. Johnson’s first literary work, his translation of Lobo’s Abyssinia, was dictated to Warren, but probably not printed in Birmingham, although as early as 1712, and possibly ten years sooner, books were printed in the town. So early as 1652 a master of the Grammar School had published a Latin Grammar—the earliest Birmingham book—and in 1717 the first book printed in Birmingham appeared from Matthew Unwin’s press.

Early Maps and Engravings—Thomas Warren’s first known book is dated 1728, and many important works afterwards came from his press. Engraving, as well as printing, soon became common, and many excellent examples soon came forth. In 1731, William Westley published the first map or Plan of Birmingham, followed by others of great value, as Bradford’s, in 1751, and Hanson’s, in 1779; and Bradford also issued a “View of Birmingham,” of a size and quality unsurpassed in line-engraving, of which only two copies have survived. Many folio and quarto volumes appeared in the middle of the century from Thomas Aris, C. Earl, and others, and were remarkably fine productions for a midland town a century and a half ago.

John Baskerville—All these, however, were surpassed by the far-famed productions of John Baskerville’s press, for his experience as a grave-stone cutter in Moor Street, and his fine taste and restless energy enabled him to produce type and paper, and to print in so excellent a style, that his productions soon won European fame. At Easy Hill—the house, in ruins, still remains—he made his own presses, type, and probably paper to some extent, and spent hundreds of pounds before he had formed letters to please his fastidious eyes and excellent taste. Birmingham has few greater claims to honour in the industries and arts than those which have so universally been given to the Baskerville Press.

Directories—The later half of the century was even more distinguished in many other ways. The modern Directories were not popular or common till late in the last century. Even the rare London Directory of 1677 does not seem to have had many imitators, but about 1750 the increasing number of trades stimulated the demand. In Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in Sheffield and other towns, Directories appeared, and Birmingham was among the first, and one of great interest and value appeared in 1770, and probably earlier, followed by others, ever increasing as the population increased, but very curiously contrasting with the huge volumes of later days.

Cotton Spinning—One of the most remarkable, perhaps, of the industrial schemes in Birmingham, was the establishment of a cotton mill, which still remains as a building and shows its origin, although now a rolling mill. It was the natural result of the genius of John Wyatt and of Lewis Paul, for in a room in the Upper Priory—now covered by the schools of the Society of Friends—the first cotton spinning machine was erected and worked, and the old distaff and spindle, and spinning machine doomed. Thomas Warren, Edward Cave, Dr. James, and others, took up the speculation of Lewis Paul, and mills were built at Birmingham and Northampton, but before the century closed they had failed to pay.

The Soho Works—The most famous of all the classes of industrial enterprises in Birmingham was the famous “Soho.” From the manufacture of “toys”—steel toys, buckles, buttons, sword-hilts, &c.—in Snow Hill, Matthew Boulton had removed to Soho in 1763. There he erected machinery for water power, but by happy accident, James Watt visited the place, and Boulton was so struck with his improvements in the steam engine, which Soho only seemed able to produce, that a connection began which has immortalised the names of Boulton and Watt, and shed undying glory on the industrial history of Birmingham. The story has been too often told to require repetition, but even now it has scarcely been fully told. Soho itself has perished, scarcely a relic remains, but James Watt’s house at Heathfield still exists with relics which will ever be an honour to his genius, and will keep his memory green. All admirers of the genius of Watt will hope and desire that these remains of an industrial hero, a genius of the useful arts, may become a public trust, to show posterity how so illustrious a man of science was valued in his life, and is honoured by those who rejoice in the fruits of his genius and skill.

Famous Men: the Soho Circle—One of the most remarkable chapters in the history of Birmingham would be a full record of the men of the latter half, or even the last quarter, of the last century who gave lustre to the town, and who materially helped its constant progress. “Soho” had not only supplied what the world had long wanted, “power,” but it had set up a standard of excellence, and had trained a class of workmen who were to go forth to conquer, at home and abroad, in all industrial work. The spirit of Soho is still abroad in the land, and Birmingham may claim to have been one of the foremost in the mechanical progress of the past hundred years.

The galaxy of great men, as it has been called, who met in Birmingham a century ago is certainly remarkable. Boulton was a native of the town, but many “strangers came within the gates.” James Watt—almost all-accomplished—was soon followed by Joseph Priestley, who lived here for eleven years. His fame had preceded him, his great discoveries had been made. A storm of popular and ignorant bigotry drove him from the town, wrecked his home, ruined his laboratory, and burned his library; but the sons have “blushed to find their fathers were his foes;” and a statue honoured his memory and his great discovery of oxygen on the centenary of that day. Dr. Darwin, of Lichfield and Derby, the father of a noble line, and himself a man of genius and power, was a constant visitor. William Murdock, one of the ablest of the Soho group, the first maker of a locomotive, and the practical inventor of gas-lighting, was long a resident in the town, and is buried near Boulton and Watt. John Baskerville, the printer; Josiah Wedgwood, the famous art-potter; James Keir, the great chemist; Richard Edgeworth and Thomas Day, authors; Joseph Berington, the learned Roman Catholic; Dr. Withering, the botanist; Dr. Parr, the famous Greek scholar; Samuel Galton, the Quaker; John Proud, the Swedenborgian; John Wyatt, the inventor; Edmund Hector, Johnson’s friend; and many others, formed such a “happy family” of genius and worth as few towns of the period could surpass or equal; and that “golden age” of Birmingham, the men and names, and works and progress of the last century, must ever be remembered and honoured, even in these days of quicker progress and greater victories in scientific and industrial pursuits.

[Many very interesting details of the History of Birmingham are necessarily omitted in this brief summary and may be found in the following works:—

The Reference Library contains all the works named, and many others,—every known book or pamphlet, map or directory, relating to the History of Birmingham; and the detailed catalogue (pp. 93) classifies the collection under numerous headings, including all the Acts of Parliament relating to Birmingham and its neighbourhood.]

PART II.

Chapter I.
LOCAL GOVERNING BODIES.

BY J. THACKRAY BUNCE.

The Local Government of Birmingham is administered by five sets of authorities:—

1. Justices of the Peace.

2. Town Council.

3. Drainage Board.

4. Boards of Guardians.

5. School Board.

Justices of the Peace.—The first of these bodies was constituted by Royal Grant in 1838, when the town was incorporated as a municipal borough. A Court of Quarter Sessions was then next established, for the trial of prisoners, and a Recorder was appointed. The Court of Petty Sessions for the borough was instituted at the same time, under special commission of the peace. The duties of the justices are to maintain peace and order in the borough, to administer justice at petty sessions, to appoint visitors to the prison, and to grant licences for public houses, theatres, and concert halls, and licences for music and dancing in houses kept for the sale of liquor. They are invested with powers of control over the police on occasions of actual or threatened disturbance of public order; and any two of them, sitting in petty sessions, are empowered to suspend or dismiss any police constable for sufficient cause.

The Town Council has charge of the general administration of the affairs of the borough; watching; lighting; making, draining, and repairing streets and roads; the care of the public health, by the prevention and removal of nuisances, the enforcement of a system of house inspection, the collection and disposal of night soil and house refuse, and the maintenance of a Borough Hospital; the control of the Borough Cemetery, (for which it acts as a Burial Board;) the provision and management of Baths and Parks; of Free Libraries, Museums, and Schools of Art; and it also has control of the manufacture and sale of Gas, and the provision of Water. The powers of the Corporation, originally and to a limited extent conferred by Royal Charter in 1838, were by degrees enlarged by twenty special local Acts or Orders sanctioned by Parliament, for various purposes. The whole of these were, in 1883, consolidated in the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation Act, which, together with the Municipal Corporations Amendment Act of 1882, and the Public Health Act of 1875, constitute the Municipal Law under which the affairs of the Borough are administered.

The Drainage Board is a body composed in part of representatives elected by the Town Council, and in part of representatives elected by the Local Boards of districts adjoining the Borough. There are twenty-two members of this Board, two of them, the Mayor of Birmingham, and the Chairman of the Aston Manor Local Board being ex-officio, and the others being elected in the following proportions: Birmingham Town Council eleven; one each from the Local Boards of Aston Manor, Balsall Heath, Handsworth, Harborne, Saltley, and Smethwick; and one each (elected by the respective Boards of Guardians) for Aston Rural District and Sutton Coldfield, King’s Norton and Northfield, and Perry Barr. The Board has charge of the sewage from the districts above named, extending over an area of 45,000 acres. The whole of the sewers are made to converge to a common outlet at Saltley, where the sewage is received into tanks, and is then purified, first by precipitation, and next by passing it through the land of the sewage farm, the effluent water, thus rendered clear and harmless, being poured into the rivers Cole and Tame. The sludge remaining in the sewage tanks is dug into the land. For the purposes of sewage treatment the Drainage Board has acquired about 1,200 acres of land in the Tame Valley. The Board has borrowing powers, exercised to the extent of £400,000 for the acquisition of land and the execution of works; and it has also rating powers for the payment of interest and repayment of capital, and for current expenditure. These powers are exercised by serving precepts upon the several local authorities included in the Drainage area, in proportion to the number of their rated tenements.

The Boards of Guardians have charge of the poor law administration of the Borough. There are three parishes in the Borough, namely, Birmingham, Edgbaston, and part of Aston. The parish of Birmingham is separately administered by a Board of Guardians, originally constituted under a Local Act of 23 Geo. III. (1782) modified by a local Act of 1 and 2 Wm. IV. (1831) and further modified by “orders” of the Poor Law Board, and the Local Government Board; the last of these was issued in 1882. The number of Guardians for the parish is 60, and the twelve overseers (the rating authority for poor law purposes) also have seats on the Board.

The parish of Edgbaston is wholly in the Borough, but it forms part of the King’s Norton Union, and as to the poor law is governed by the Guardians of that Union. The parish of Aston is only partially within the Borough; it is administered by the Guardians of Aston Union. Edgbaston and Aston parochial affairs are governed under the general poor law Acts, there being no local Act for either parish.

The School Board, which consists of fifteen members, was first elected in November, 1870, under the Elementary Education Act passed in that year. It has charge of the Board Schools throughout the Borough.

The above described bodies are all of them representative, but are elected on different franchises, and by different methods.

The Town Council is elected by the votes of all occupiers in the sixteen wards in which the Borough is divided, women householders being entitled to vote; three Councillors being chosen for each ward, and one of the three retiring each year; and the votes being given by ballot. The Drainage Board is elected by the governing authorities. The Guardians of the Poor are chosen, in Birmingham; by ratepayers of £12 annual value, the whole Board being elected at one time, by voting papers delivered at the place of election; and in the other parishes by all occupying householders, by voting papers collected from the electors. The School Board is elected by the votes of all householders, the whole Board retiring at the end of three years, and the votes being taken on the cumulative plan, each elector giving the whole of his votes to one candidate, or dividing them in any other proportion, at pleasure.

Each of the bodies is invested with borrowing and rating powers, limited by local or general acts. The Town Council levies rates on the whole Borough—a Municipal or Borough Rate for general municipal purposes, under the Municipal Corporations Acts, and an Improvement Rate, for purposes specified in the Local Improvement Act. The Drainage Board and the School Board serve precepts upon the Town Council for the amounts they respectively require, and these amounts are included in the Borough Rate. The Guardians of the Poor make rates for their respective parishes for poor law purposes; and they collect, on behalf of the Town Council, the rates levied for municipal expenditure, including the money required by the Drainage Board and the School Board. There is one assessment for local rates, made (under a recent agreement with the Town Council) by the parish overseers.

The preceding statement shortly describes the existing arrangement of local government in Birmingham; but, in order to explain the growth of the system now in operation, it is necessary briefly to sketch the history of local administration. Birmingham has always been what is called a free town, that is, until after the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835, it had no Corporation, with a restricted burgess roll, and consequently the community was open to all who cared to settle in the town for the purposes of residence or trade, a circumstance which largely contributed to the rapid growth of Birmingham in population, industry, and wealth. Down to the year 1769, the government of the place was controlled by the three sets of authorities existing in all non-chartered communities.—1, the justices, to keep the peace, and to punish crime. 2, the court leet (with its elected jury, its high and low bailiffs, its ale tasters, flesh connors, and leather sealers) meeting at irregular intervals, under the direction of the Lord of the Manor, and invested with the care of markets, nuisances, and other matters pertaining to, or interfering with, the rights of the lord. 3, the Churchwardens, who transacted the church and parish business, and held vestry meetings for general town purposes, and for the choice of surveyors of the highways.

In 1769, an Act of Parliament was obtained, constituting a body of Commissioners for the purposes of maintaining, improving, and lighting the town, and invested with general powers affecting the health and safety of the inhabitants, and the common welfare. By subsequent Acts—five in number, the last of these being passed in 1828—the powers of the Street Commissioners were extended, and they were authorised by the last named Act to build a Town Hall. Their authority was confined to what was then known as “the town of Birmingham,” the boundaries of which were co-extensive with the parish of Birmingham. The first Commissioners were named in the Act constituting them, and vacancies were thereafter filled up by the Commissioners themselves, without reference to the inhabitants. The system of local government thus instituted continued unchanged until the year 1838. In 1832, Birmingham was, for the first time, under the provisions of the Reform Act, constituted a Parliamentary borough, with the right of returning two members to the House of Commons. The boundaries of the Borough were so arranged as to include the parish of Birmingham, the parish of Edgbaston, and the hamlets of Deritend and Bordesley, and Duddeston and Nechells, in the parish of Aston, the area thus formed being 8,240 acres. The Parliamentary Reform Act was followed by the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, in 1835. For a considerable time there had been a strong feeling in favour of some completer form of local government than that afforded by the Commissioners Acts, and especially for government founded upon the representative principle. In 1837, steps were taken to obtain a charter of incorporation for the town, under the authority of the Municipal Corporations Act; and in October, 1838, after much opposition, both locally and in Parliament, a charter was granted, and the Corporation of Birmingham came into existence.

The boundaries of the new Municipal Borough were fixed so as to correspond with those of the Parliamentary Borough, above described. The area was divided into thirteen wards (extended in 1873 to sixteen wards), and the Council was constituted of 16 aldermen and 48 councillors. The first elections of councillors took place on the 26th of December, 1838, and on the day following the Council met, and elected the aldermen, the governing body being then fully constituted. Mr. William Scholefield was elected the first Mayor.

Although Birmingham had now obtained a system of representative government, the state of affairs was by no means satisfactory. In the parish of Birmingham the self-elected Commissioners of the Street Act retained their full authority, and in the district of Deritend and Bordesley local government was for certain purposes still exercised by a body of Commissioners constituted by an Act passed in 1791, while Duddeston and Nechells were governed by Commissioners appointed under an Act of 1829. There were consequently four governing bodies within the borough, and the powers of the new Corporation were consequently seriously limited and its action impeded. Other difficulties of a peculiarly embarrassing character speedily developed themselves. The validity of the Charter was contested both in the Law Courts and in Parliament; disputes arose between the Borough Magistracy and the County Bench; hindrances were put in the way of the Court of Quarter Sessions granted for the Borough. In addition to these causes of disquiet the occurrence of the Chartist riots of 1839 furnished a pretext for withdrawing from the Corporation the right of establishing a constabulary or police force for the town, and a special Police Act was passed by which, while paid for by the ratepayers, the police force was placed under the absolute control of a Government Commissioner. In 1842 this perplexing condition of affairs was, however, brought to an end, by the passing of an Act of Parliament confirming the Charters of Birmingham and Manchester, and an Act was also passed transferring to the Corporation of Birmingham the control of the local police force. The powers of the Town Council, however, were still very limited, owing to the conflicting local authorities existing in the Borough, and it became evident in the course of time that, in the public interests, the representative body must finally be made supreme. The minor bodies did not yield without a contest, but in the end the pressure of opinion overcame their resistance, and in 1851 the passing of the Birmingham Improvement Act put an end to all the bodies of Commissioners, and transferred their powers, with others provided by the Act, to the Town Council, as the representative of the ratepayers of the borough, and the Town Council became thenceforward the sole governing authority for all municipal purposes. The Act mentioned further authorised the borrowing of loans for purposes of town improvements and for a system of sewerage, and empowered the Council to levy a special rate for such purposes, in addition to the ordinary municipal rate levied under the Municipal Corporations Act. Ten years later, in 1861, a second Improvement Act invested the Corporation with further powers of administration and of borrowing; and numerous other Acts were subsequently obtained for specific purposes. Among these were the Parks Act, 1854; an order (1873) extending to sixteen the number of Wards in the Borough;—an Act giving the Council power to acquire closed burial grounds and to lay them out as places of public recreation, passed in 1878; Acts for the purchase of the Gas and Water undertakings in 1875; an Act for a Sanitary Improvement Scheme under the provisions of the Artisans’ Dwellings Act, 1876; for the constitution of a Drainage Board, in 1878; and for the issue of Corporation Stock in 1880. The powers of most of these enactments, with additional powers, were embodied in the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation Act of 1883, which, amongst other provisions, abolished the restriction to one penny in the pound previously imposed upon the Free Libraries Rate (under the General Libraries Act) and authorised the Council to conduct a Municipal School of Art.

The Consolidation Act, therefore, now constitutes the authority under which (in addition to the powers conferred by general municipal law) the government of the borough is now administered. The following statement, extracted from the “History of the Corporation of Birmingham,” explains the scope and working of the system:—

“The municipal government, under the Charter of Incorporation and the Acts of Parliament relating to municipal corporations, is conducted by a council, consisting of forty-eight councillors and sixteen aldermen.

“Three councillors are allotted to and elected by each of the sixteen wards into which the borough is divided, and each councillor is elected for three years, the elections being so arranged that one-third of the councillors (one in each ward) retire every year, and elections for the choice of their successors are held on the first of November. The aldermen are chosen by the members of the Council, and are elected for six years; they may be chosen from amongst the members of the Council, or from fit persons not members of the Council, but who are qualified for election to it. The Mayor is chosen by the Council, on the ninth of November, for a term of one year. Under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, it was obligatory that, at the time of being elected, he should be a member of the Council; but by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1882 it is provided (sec. 15) that ‘the Mayor shall be a fit person elected by the Council from among the aldermen or councillors, or persons qualified to be such.’ There is now no property qualification required for any members of the Council.

“The Council, as a whole, is the rating and controlling authority for the Borough. In all matters subjected to its authority it acts upon communications from the Mayor, upon motions made upon its own initiative (regulated by its standing orders for the conduct of business) and upon reports and proposals from the Committees it appoints, and to which it delegates specified branches of municipal work, under such regulations and with such limitations as it may direct.

“These Committees have varied from time to time; at present they are sixteen in number, and are named, constituted, and empowered as follows, taking them in the order in which they are stated in the ‘Borough of Birmingham Municipal Diary,’ issued by the Town Clerk, under the direction of the Council:—

1.—Baths and Parks Committee.—“To have charge of the public baths, parks, gardens, and recreation grounds, and the buildings thereon (excepting the recreation ground in St. Clement’s Road, in charge of the Gas Committee, and the buildings in Adderley Park, in charge of the Free Libraries Committee); to have charge of the trees planted in the streets; to lay out disused burial grounds acquired by the Council; and to arrange for supplies of coal and coke to the several departments of the Corporation, excepting the Lunatic Asylum, Public Works, Gas and Water Committees.

2.—Estates Committee.—“To take charge of all estates and buildings belonging to the Corporation, not in charge of other Committees (including the Council House); to make rules for granting the use of the Town Hall; to sell, let or exchange lands or buildings not required for public purposes, as the Council may resolve; to superintend the arrangements of the Borough Cemetery, and perform the functions of the Burial Board; and to arrange for the acquisition of closed burial grounds.

3.—Finance Committee.—“Generally to have charge of the accounts and financial departments of the Borough, reporting thereon to the Council—and thus to present estimates of income and expenditure for the year; to recommend rates, and to see to the collection of rates; to cause the valuations of rateable property to be maintained, and to hear and decide appeals against assessments; to negotiate loans, and to conduct and manage the Birmingham Corporation Stock, ‘with all the powers conferred upon the Council by the Birmingham Corporation Stock Orders;’ to effect fire insurances, insurances on property belonging to the Corporation (excepting that in charge of the Water and Improvement Committees); to print and issue the Council Minutes; and to make orders upon the Borough Treasurer for payments of interest on loans and annuities, and for accounts for moneys which the several Committees of the Council are authorised to expend.

4.—General Purposes Committee.—“To attend to all business and matters referred to it by the Council, of a general character, not entrusted to the various other Committees, and to suggest to the Council, from time to time, any new business, which, in its opinion, is important to the public interest.

5.—Markets and Fairs Committee.—“To transact all matters relating to the regulation, control, and management of the Markets and Fairs holden in the Borough; to administer the Weights and Measures Act, the Dairies Act (so far as it relates to cow-sheds), and the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act; to regulate slaughterhouses; to inspect meat, game, fish, poultry, and other similar articles of food offered for sale.

6.—Health Committee.—“To exercise the powers conferred by legislation for the regulation of lodging-houses, smoke nuisances, nuisances generally, offensive trades, and infectious diseases; to enforce the powers of the Council with reference to drains, closets, ashpits, &c., to carry out the Acts for preventing adulteration of food and drugs; to have charge of the Small-pox and other Borough Hospitals; to have charge of the collection, removal, and disposal of the night soil of the Borough; to ‘proceed with the work of the interception of the contents of privies and ashpits, so far as the powers of the Council will enable them;’ to enforce the Canal Boats Act, the Factories Act (1883), and the Dairies and Milkshops Orders, so far as relates to dairies and milkshops.

7.—Public Works Committee.—“To have charge of all works connected with draining, paving, maintaining, cleansing, and lighting the streets and roads within the Borough; to submit to the Council (and under its authority to execute) all necessary street alterations and improvements, and to act in all other matters arising out of the Acts and Bye-laws relating to streets and buildings, to fix cab-stands; to take charge of public monuments and statues (excepting the Chamberlain Memorial Fountain in charge of the Water Committee); and to construct and maintain the lines of tramways authorised to be laid within the Borough.

8.—Watch Committee.—“To execute the powers relating to the police force given by law; to take charge of the fire brigade; to execute bye-laws regulating cabs and omnibuses, and to license drivers of such vehicles and of tramway cars; to administer the Steam Whistles Act, the Explosives Act, the Petroleum Acts; to control the public mortuaries; to license marine store dealers; to enforce the provisions of the Consolidation Act (1883) relating to the employment of children, and the means of ingress and egress to and from public buildings; and to enforce the bye-laws for the suppression of shouting in the public streets. [By general Acts of Parliament the Watch Committee is authorised to appoint, dismiss, control, and fix the rate of payment of the police constables.]

9.—Lunatic Asylums Committee.—“To have the management and control of the Lunatic Asylums at Winson Green and Rubery Hill, ‘with all the powers, and subject to all the provisions of the several Acts of Parliament now in force with regard to such lunatic asylums.’

10.—Free Libraries Committee.—“To carry into effect the provisions of the Free Libraries and Museums Act, as amended by the Corporation Consolidation Act (1883); reporting to the Council from time to time for approval.

11.—Industrial School Committee.—“To carry into effect the Industrial Schools Act, and to have charge of the Borough Industrial School (at Shustoke), and the land and buildings connected therewith.

12.—Gas Committee.—“To conduct and manage the Corporation Gas Department, with all the powers conferred upon the Council; reporting from time to time thereon.

13.—Water Committee.—“To conduct and manage the Corporation Water Department, with all the powers conferred upon the Council, reporting from time to time; to have charge of all public fountains; to institute and prosecute proceedings for ‘restraining and preventing the pollution of the river Tame, and of any of the tributaries thereof, of the streams at Witton, Plant’s Brook, and Whitacre, and of all other rivers and streams from which the water supply of the borough is obtained.’

14.—Improvement Committee.—“To receive representations from the Medical Officer of Health with regard to unhealthy areas within the borough, and to submit schemes thereon. To conduct the business arising out of the orders granted under the Artisans’ Dwellings Act, with all the powers thereby vested in the Council, excepting that agreements for sales of land, and for the grant of leases for terms longer than fourteen years, shall be provisional only, until confirmed by the Council, and that no new street shall be laid out, or any existing street widened, until approved by the Council.

15.—Art Gallery Purchase Committee.—“To have the expenditure of £10,000, given by Messrs. Tangye, and of the amounts subscribed in addition thereto, in the purchase of objects of art for the Art Gallery of the Borough.

16.—Museum and School of Art Committee.—“To carry out the powers of the Consolidation Act with reference to the erection of a School of Art, and to superintend the arrangements and completion of the Art Gallery.” This Committee has the charge of the School of Art, and is also empowered to manage the Corporation Art Gallery and Museums.

With the exceptions undermentioned, these committees consist of eight members each. The exceptions are—the Lunatic Asylums Committee (eleven members), the Free Libraries Committee (ten members of the Council and six members elected by the Council outside its own body), the Art Gallery Purchase Committee (consisting of the Free Libraries Committee and nine other members); the Museum and School of Art Committee, which consists of eight members appointed for life by the Society of Arts and School of Art; and the General Purposes Committee, which consists of one member (usually the chairman) elected by each of the committees of the Council. The mayor, by virtue of his office, is a member of all committees.

The Town Council is also invested with a share of the management of the chief educational institutions of the town, with the exception of the School Board. It appoints eight Governors (holding office for six years) on the Board of King Edward the Sixth’s Grammar School; five members (holding office for life) on the Trust of Sir Josiah Mason’s College; and four Governors (appointed annually) on the Council of the Midland Institute, the Mayor for the time being being also a Governor of the Institute, by virtue of his office. It also appoints representative Governors on the governing bodies of Lench’s Trust, and several other charities, and further appoints representative Guardians of the Birmingham Proof House, for the proving of fire-arms.

The progress of Birmingham since the establishment of local representative government is exhibited in the following table:—

Chapter II.
EDUCATION.

BY OSMUND AIRY, M.A.,
H.M. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS FOR BIRMINGHAM.

It can fairly be said that there is probably no town in England which possesses a more complete educational system than Birmingham. This system has been no effect of a pre-conceived design, but has grown up, piece by piece, in the stress of the life of a great manufacturing centre, where people of leisure may be counted on the fingers of one hand. All the more, probably, it has been constantly and definitely adapting itself to the needs of the locality. The boast is at any rate a just one, that in this busy population the road is clear, clear that is of all artificial obstructions, clearer far than in many a more polished and cultivated society, for a boy to rise from the gutter to the University, or to eminence in any science or art.

Foundation of the Grammar School.—King Edward’s School owes its origin to an institution more than a century and a half older than itself. The Gild of the Holy Cross, the earliest record of which is to be found in a writ of Richard II., July 10, 1392, was a body which concerned itself, not of course with education, but with functions partly religious and partly quasi-municipal. It possessed a Gild Hall, a building of wood and plaster, standing at a distance from the town on the south side of the highway to Hales Owen, now New Street. In 1547 its possessions were seized by the King, and they continued in the Crown until 1552, when Edward VI., upon the petition of the inhabitants, gave them back to the town for the maintenance of a Free Grammar School, for the instruction of children in grammar. The clear yearly value of these lands was then £21,[2] and they were assigned to William Symmons, gent., Richard Smallbrook, Bailiff, and 18 other inhabitants, “to hold by fealty only, in free soccage” on condition of an annual payment at Michaelmas of £1 (apparently commuted in 1810 for £25. 15s. 6d.). These twenty assignees were to hold their position for life, and all vacancies by death or removal were to be filled up by co-optation. In the first instance they were to be inhabitants of the manor of Birmingham, but the restriction was modified in 1830. They were to nominate a Pedagogue and a Sub-pedagogue, to whose support the revenues were to be exclusively employed; and they were permitted to acquire further revenues to an amount not exceeding £20 per annum.

First Statutes.—More than one hundred years later, Oct. 20, 1676, the Governors issued their first statutes. No tenant of school property might be a Governor. The house, then occupied by the chief schoolmaster, with a barn and croft in New Street,[3] a close called the Lower Leasowe or Broom close, in the “foreign” of Birmingham, and the pit on the lower side of the Leasowe, were appropriated to the use of himself and his successors for ever; while the usher’s house, with the garden, use of the pump, and other appurtenances, a barn and croft in New Street, and Kimberley’s croft in Moor Street, were similarly appropriated to the usher. The salaries of the chief master and usher were to be £68. 15s. 0d. and £34. 6s. 8d. respectively. There were appointed also a chief master’s assistant; an English master, to teach in a distinct school fifty boys[4] to read English; and a scrivener, to teach twenty boys to write and cast accounts. The first two were to be unmarried, but the Governor reserved the power of allowing the scrivener to marry. £30 per annum was allowed for repairs to the school and masters’ houses, payment of dues, etc. Another statute permitted the Governors, when their funds allowed, “to set out to Poore Tradesmen, when they come out of their apprenticeship, or others who want stock to manage their trade, £10 a piece, gratis, for 6 months, on good security;” but no record exists of this having been acted upon.

Scholarships.—£70 a year was devoted to forming seven scholarships of £10 a year each, tenable at any college in either University.[5] Children from the manor had the preference; then those from adjacent places, who had spent the last three years in the school; failing such, the poorest and most capable, to be selected from the upper form by an independent body.[6]

At the end of the reign of Charles II., the charter was surrendered to the Crown, probably under a writ of “Quo warranto;” a new one dated February 20, 1685, being granted by James II. Six years later, a decree in chancery was obtained annulling the new charter, and restoring the old one.

The Second Building.—In 1707, the old Gild Hall was removed, and a new building erected, consisting of a centre and two wings, the latter coming close up to the street, enclosing three sides of a small quadrangle, comprising a dwelling house for the head master, one large and two small school rooms, and a library. A separate house for the second master stood behind. A large tower in the centre was “ornamented with a sleepy figure of the donor, Edward VI., dressed in a royal mantle, with the ensigns of the garter, holding a Bible and a sceptre.” In 1756, a set of urns was placed on the parapet, to relieve the stiff air of the building.[7]

Establishment of Branch Schools.—In 1751, a step of far-reaching importance to the town was taken. The Governors ordained that (having regard to “the great numbers of children who, by reason of their poverty or the negligence of their parents, were never taught to read the English tongue, and the advantages from having many such children taught to read English, more than could be taught in the School”) four masters or mistresses[8] should be chosen to teach English to not more than forty boys or girls apiece in various parts of the town, with a salary of £15, or less in proportion to the numbers. In October, 1790, we read that the Governors “have very laudably opened an evening school in their rooms in Shutt Lane” (used as a branch school previous to 1788), “for the instruction of forty boys in writing and accounts; another school is also opened in Mr. Peele’s in Great Charles Street for twenty boys.”[9]

Corruption in the Management.—Up to 1824, however, the school was far from doing its duty. The revenues disappeared in mysterious ways. The Head Master, Mr. Cooke, gave leases as he thought proper, both as to terms and duration. No money was granted for scholarships. The parents paid the most exorbitant terms for books and stationery. “Altogether the school was a nest of peculation, and greediness became so paramount that the statue of the Royal Founder was allowed to decay and to tumble from its time-honoured elevation into the quadrangle in front of the school.” In 1824, an intrigue between the Governors, the Masters, and the Bishop of Lichfield (whose consent was necessary to all changes), to move the school from the town, and make it select, was frustrated by the vigorous action of the inhabitants, and a commission was appointed by the Court of Chancery to carry out a thorough investigation into the conduct of the school. In 1825 the Master was ordered to draw up a scheme for its future establishment, and to report whether it should be rebuilt; and in 1828 it was further referred to him to enquire whether the old site or a new one should be chosen, and how the money required should be raised.

The Bill of 1830-1.—In May, 1830, after a prolonged struggle of the Governors and Master against the people, a bill was presented to parliament to enable the Governors to build a new school, to raise £50,000 for the purpose, and to regulate the school according to a scheme approved by Chancery. It was vehemently opposed by the Dissenters, on the clause directing that “no person shall be elected a governor who is not a member of the Established Church of England,” and was thrown out on the third reading in the Lords, but passed in the following year, the obnoxious clauses having been removed. In the first place, the school was to be rebuilt on the old site, at a cost of £30,000, and all branches of an English education, in addition to the dead languages, were to be taught. No boy was to be admitted under eight years of age, or retained after nineteen (no limits of age had existed hitherto); and boys, not sons of inhabitants, were to pay fees. In the second place, a new school was to be built distinct from the Grammar School, for the teaching of modern languages; while four branch schools for the free education of boys and girls of the humbler classes were to be erected before 1840, £1,000 being spent upon each. Ten exhibitions, each of £50 per annum, were created, Birmingham boys taking precedence. Ratepayers, though non-resident, might be governors, provided they were not tenants of school property, and attended once in two years. The accounts were to be published yearly, and there was also to be an annual examination of the school.

The Present Building.—The new building was erected from the designs of Mr. Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. The style is the latest pure Gothic in England, that which prevailed immediately before the commencement of the 16th century. “The school is entered by a spacious porch, highly ornamented: two large apartments, with oak pannelled walls and ceilings, are the school room for the commercial school;[10] the classical school is 120 feet long, 45 high, 30 wide, with a lofty angular roof, supported by a series of magnificent obtuse angled arches of the Tudor style. At the end, where the chair of the Head Master is placed, is a handsome lofty oak carved screen. The Second Master’s chair is opposite to this, and the Usher’s chairs are on the sides. There is a library and a fine bust of Edward VI. by Scheemaker.”

It was not until 1836 that the Governors were able to carry out actively the provisions of the Act of 1831. A fresh Act in 1837 amended the former one by repealing the power to build a separate modern school, which it was now arranged should be carried on in the premises of the Grammar School. The new building had cost £67,000, instead of £30,000; and the excess was to be defrayed out of the £50,000 mentioned in the Act of 1831. By the scheme approved in Chancery, in 1838, masters were ordered to be appointed during that year in elementary literature, geography, elements of composition, sacred and profane history, mathematics, natural philosophy, writing, and arithmetic; French and German masters in 1839 and 1840; and Spanish and Italian when advisable. Temporary lecturers might also be employed, and a visitation of the school was to take place once a year. A branch school was in progress in Aston Street, in 1837, and a second was proposed in Cottage Lane, near the Sandpits. Mr. E. Oxenbould and Miss A. Corbett were elected master and mistress of two others in the Parade, in August, 1838; and a fourth for boys, was opened in Meriden Street, on April 10, 1839. These branch schools, the history of which it is difficult to make out clearly, were for the time regulated by the statute of 1852, which established four schools, Gem Street, Edward Street, Meriden Street, and Bath Row, accommodating altogether 510 boys, from 8 to 14 years of age, and 490 girls from 7 to 13. The children were nominated by the Governors, and examined for admission by the Head Master, who had entire control of these schools, visited them once a month, and made an annual report on their condition to the Governors. A general English and religious education was given; the boys learning in addition bookkeeping and the elements of geometry, and the girls, knitting and plain needlework.

In 1861 it was ordered that the second master should have the general supervision of the English school, under the direction of the head master, who retained in his hands the admission and promotion of scholars, and most other matters of importance.

Discontent in the Town.—Meanwhile serious discontent had arisen with the constitution of the body of governors. By the original charter it was laid down that they should be “twenty of the more discreet inhabitants.” But, by the operation of the method of co-optation in filling up vacancies, the following state of things, as given by Mr. T. H. Green, one of the assistant commissioners of 1864, had arisen. “The Board has fairly represented the upper or more select section of society in Birmingham, so far as this section is politically conservative and attached to the established Church. It has been necessarily antagonistic to the Town Council, and careless or contemptuous of local politics. To belong to it has been a certain social distinction. Social and municipal distinction have not coincided, and hence the Board has been an object of public animosity, irrespectively of the manner in which it has exercised its functions.”[11] And this it still more strongly put in the report of the Commission. “No dissenter, within the memory of man, has been a governor; till recently no one of liberal politics has been a governor; no mayor of the town has till the present year been a governor; no member of the borough except one, a conservative; not one Town Councillor.”

Abortive attempts were made in 1831, 1842, and 1861, to introduce the Town Council element; and in 1864, after much newspaper agitation, signalised especially by the letters of “Historicus,”[12] a grammar school Reform Association was formed, which, in 1865, in conjunction with the Town Council, endeavoured in vain to induce the Governors to surrender the principle of co-optation. Both appealed to the Endowed Schools Commissioners, who proposed that there should be 21 governors, of whom 10 should be chosen by the Town Council, and the rest by co-optation; and that for the future free education should be given only to those who had passed a competitive examination. In 1868, however, the Town Council resolved to demand that all the governors should be elected from their body, a demand they repeated in 1872 (in answer to a slight modification by the Commissioners of the above scheme). They also objected to the proposed entrance and tuition fees.

The New Scheme.—Finally, in 1875, the Charity Commissioners proposed the scheme in a great measure now in force.[13] There were to be 21 governors, of whom eight were to be nominated by the Town Council, and four by Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities, and the Teachers on the foundation; the remainder by the governors themselves. Those nominated by the Town Council were to serve for six years, those by the Universities and Teachers for seven: all were to be eligible for reappointment. Boys were to enter the school by competitive examination in two classes, (1) free foundation scholars; (2) those paying entrance and tuition fees.[14] This scheme was vehemently but unsuccessfully contested by the Town Council. All efforts to move the Charity Commissioners were unavailing. When at length it reached the Commons, on March 5th, 1878, Mr. Bright, supported by the other Borough members, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Muntz, moved its rejection; but the motion was defeated by a majority of 59, in a house of 199, and the scheme received the royal assent on March 16th.

Immediately previous to 1878, the schools on the foundation were (1) The Grammar School (Classical, English, and Lower) with 584 boys: (2) the Branch Elementary Schools with 607 boys and 554 girls.[15] A great development was now arranged for. There were now to be (1) a High School for Boys up to the age of 19, with preparation for the Universities; (2) a Middle School for Boys to age of 16, when Latin, at least one modern language, natural science, and drawing, were to be taught. (3) An Upper School for Girls. (4) The existing branch Elementary Schools, or “Lower Middle” School for children to age of 14, teaching all subjects included in the possible curriculum of the best public Elementary Schools[16] though reaching a far higher standard than is there obtained. The necessity for the head and second masters being in Orders was done away with; the religious teaching was to be undoctrinal, and there was to be an emphatic conscience clause: no master might hold any benefice or cure of souls, nor might he in future,[17] without the express permission of the Governors, take boarders. The jurisdiction of the Master of the Middle School was increased, though supreme authority in matters of discipline was still reserved to the Head Master. Provision was made for the subdivision of the Middle School and the Upper Girls’ School, when desirable, and for the establishment of evening schools.

Scholarships were arranged as follows:—(1) Foundation Scholarships in all the Schools, the holders of which received education free. The number of these was not to exceed a third of the total number in each school. Half of those given in the Lower Middle Schools were restricted to scholars attending Public Elementary Schools within the Borough, for not less than two consecutive years immediately preceding admission, and a third of the remainder were offered for competition among the candidates for admission; the rest being competed for by scholars already in the School. (2) King Edward VI. Scholarships, viz.: annual payments to deserving scholars while at the school, to an amount not less than £200 a year; the value of each to be not more than £25 a year plus tuition fees. (3) Besides the James Charities exhibitions of £50 a year at Oxford or Cambridge, £400 a year was to be given for exhibitions at either of the Universities, to scholars of at least two years standing in the High School; and £200 for exhibitions tenable at any educational institution for boys or girls at either High or Middle School. All these scholarships were to be gained by competition.[18]

In the competitive examination for entrance, preference was to be given to boys and girls resident within ten miles of Birmingham.

Development of 1883.—In 1883, the final step in development was taken. It was felt that the “Lower Middle” Schools, were now doing work which largely overlapped that of the Middle School, and the consent of the Charity Commissioners was obtained to the following change. These Schools were converted into Schools of the same grade as the “Middle” School of the 1878 scheme, (1) The Girls’ School at Meriden street had been transferred to Camp hill, in 1881, and a Boys’ School was now erected on the same site. (2) The Proprietary School at the Five Ways was absorbed into the foundation, and the staff of the old Middle School, hitherto domiciled at New Street, was transferred to improved buildings there, the boys from the Bath Row School also being taken in. The pupils from the old Middle School were dispersed throughout the various Boys’ Schools now opened. (3) This enabled the provision of 1878 for a High School for Girls to be carried out[19] in the New Street Buildings thus left vacant. (4) A new school for Boys and Girls was erected in Albert Road, Aston, to which the scholars from Gem Street were transferred. In 1882, the Boys Schools at Edward Street, Meriden Street, and Bath Row were closed. Thus, at the present time, the Schools under the foundation are—High Schools for Boys and Girls at New Street; Grammar Schools for Boys at the Five Ways, Boys and Girls at Aston and Camp Hill, Girls at Summer Hill and Bath Row. The admission fee is at the High School, 10/-, and at the Grammar Schools, 2/6; the annual tuition fee at the High Schools, £9; at the Grammar Schools, £3.

Among the numerous honours gained at the Universities since 1800 should be mentioned the following:—at Cambridge, 8 chancellor’s medallists, and 10 university scholars; 6 senior classics, 28 first class-men in the classical tripos, and 6 first class-men in the moral science tripos; 35 wranglers: at Oxford, 8 university scholars, 5 first class-men in Literis Humanioribus, 11 in classical moderations, and 2 in Disciplinis Mathematicis et Physicis. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, one Bishop (Lightfoot), and one Regius Professor of Divinity (Westcott), are also old Birmingham boys. During the past few years the school has also gained high and numerous distinctions at London University, Queen’s College (Birmingham), and the Mason Science College.

List of the Head Masters from the earliest date now known:—circa 1650, John Barton; 1654, Nathaniel Brooksby; 1685, John Hickes, M.A.; 1694, James Parkinson; 1722, John Hansted; 1726, Edward Mainwaring; 1746, John Wilkinson; 1759, Thomas Green; 1766, John Brailsford; 1775, Thomas Price; 1797, John Cooke; 1830, Francis Jeune (afterwards Dean of Jersey, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Bishop of Peterborough); 1838, James Prince Lee (afterwards Bishop of Manchester); 1848, Edwin Hamilton Gifford, Archdeacon of London; 1862, Charles Evans; 1872, A. R. Vardy. It should also be mentioned that in 1830, the second master was the Rev. Rann Kennedy, father of the celebrated Head Master of Shrewsbury, himself a classic of the highest attainments.

Queen’s College.—The story of Queen’s College is an interesting record of mingled success and failure; of success where it set about doing much needed work, and of failure where it appeared to be placing itself in antagonism to the prevailing spirit and influences of the town.

The formation of a School of Medicine and Surgery for Birmingham and the Midland Counties was suggested in 1828 by Mr. Sands Cox, who had made a diligent inspection of all the chief medical schools at home and abroad; and it was immediately carried out by the help of Dr. Johnstone and the unstinted liberality of Dr. Warneford. Lectureships in various branches of Medicine were at once established, and in 1830 a Museum and Library were fitted up. From 1836 to 1843 the new Institution was known as “The Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery,” the royal patronage having been obtained in the former year. But in 1843 a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted to it under the title of “The Queen’s College, at Birmingham.” By the munificent endowments of Dr. Warneford,[20] the Governors were soon enabled to widen the scope of the college. Departments were created for literature, science, and art, and for instruction in the doctrines and duties of Christianity according to the Church of England. Queen’s Hospital was founded with a chaplaincy, also endowed with £1,000 by Dr. Warneford, who, in addition, appears to have borne almost the whole expense of the College Chapel. An arrangement was now made whereby the London University admitted students of the college for the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine, and, upon the college Certificate, for B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L. The exclusively Church of England character of the college and all concerned with it was untiringly insisted upon by its promoters. A chapel was established with daily services at which the attendance was compulsory. By the supplemental charter of 1847 it was laid down that the Lord Bishop of the Diocese was to be the visitor; the Principal, who was to be a Nobleman, or one of the Hon. Governors, must also belong to the Church of England. The Vice-President must be a dignitary of the Church near Birmingham: all the classical, mathematical, and medical tutors must also be churchmen. The feelings which prompted these rigorous regulations are concisely expressed in a letter of Dr. Warneford to Mr. Sands Cox in 1849, in which he says, “to guard against the subtle designs of the Jesuits, and the insidious intrusion of malignant dissenters, imperatively requires much deliberation!” From a second supplemental charter of 1851, it appears that Dr. Warneford had given £4,400, increased in 1852 by £6,500, for a Professorship of Pastoral Theology; and £3,500, increased in 1852 by £2,500, for a Wardenship, the holder of which must necessarily be a clergyman. All resident students were to be members of the Church, and attendance at Chapel service was compulsory.

There can be little doubt that the attempt to erect an exclusively Church of England College in a town in which dissent was overwhelmingly predominant was a leading cause of the failure which awaited the institution.

The affairs of the college were by the original charter to be conducted by a council of eighteen, of whom twelve were to be elected by the first body of Governors, and two were to be Professors elected from their own body; the Principal, Vice-Principal, Treasurer, and Dean of the Faculty completed the number. Vacancies in the council were to be filled up by co-optation, and vacancies in the Professorial staff by the council from a list supplied by the Professors. By the supplemental charter of 1847, the Principal and Council were constituted one body politic and corporate, and were allowed to acquire property of an annual value not exceeding £2,500, and the same amount for the hospital. The council was also greatly widened by twelve ex-officio Governors, of whom two were members of the council of the hospital, which was represented also by the senior Physician and senior Surgeon; the others were the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Warwickshire, the Dean of Worcester, Archdeacon of Coventry, the Mayor of the borough, the High Bailiff of the Manor, and the Rectors of St. Martin’s and St. Philip’s.

To this body of ex-officio governors was entrusted the appointment of the Warden, who later became the real ruler of the college, all matters of general organisation and discipline, and all religious duties, being in his hands. The council was further widened by the admission of two members of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and two each from the Birmingham Architectural and Law Societies. An east wing was added to the college, for engineering and architecture, containing lecture rooms and an engineering workshop. A three years’ course and the passing of two public examinations constituted the requirements for the degree of C.E. of Queen’s College. A Department of General Literature was formed, Dr. Warneford endowing it in 1852 with £2,000. A full collegiate system was established for this department, with resident, and later non-resident students, at which a three years’ course was to be passed. The subjects of study were to be Greek, Latin, Mathematics, Logic, Modern Languages, History, Civil Engineering, Natural, Political, and Moral Philosophy, and the doctrines of the Church of England; the subjects selected having particular reference to the requirements for the examination of the University of London. A Junior Department was also established in or about 1851, for a two years’ preparatory course with collegiate discipline. The whole constitution of the college was, however, codified by the “Rules and Regulations” of 1857; by which it appears that these somewhat ambitious views, pointing to the establishment of a University, had become modified. The design of the college, as now laid down, was “to provide instruction for young men intending to engage in one or other of the following professions:—(1) Medicine and Surgery; (2) Civil Architecture and Engineering; (3) Theology (with a view to ordination); and any other professional study which may from time to time be added.[21] This instruction is combined with a system of collegiate training and moral discipline according to the religious principles of the English schools and colleges connected with the Church of England, and with so much of the ordinary branches of a liberal education, in a department of arts and general literature, as may be properly given in subordination and in reference to such special studies.” For the collegiate education the inclusive fees were to be £75 a year.

There can be little doubt that this idea of creating a resident University in Birmingham was the result of mistaken, though religious, zeal. For the deep and earnest feelings which prompted it we must refer to the record of the meeting of April 20, 1843, contained in Mr. Sands-Cox’s Annals of Queen’s College, published in 1873. But the conditions of life in the town were not favourable, and the scheme broke down through its own weight. Resident students there were, indeed, in small numbers; but the pecuniary loss which they caused to the college was considerable, and in 1873 that part of the scheme from which, thirty years before, so much had been hoped, was declared not to be “an essential part of the College,” and was allowed to lapse. Lord Lyttelton, the President, in a letter written in December, 1873, strongly, though reluctantly, urged this step. As strongly, too, he urged that the theological department should be discontinued. “The more simply and singly the college can henceforth be limited to the objects of a place of instruction for medical students, the better and more likely it is to attain those objects. The hopes that the college might become a University, with the consequent attempt to engraft upon it Faculties of Arts, Law, and others, are now, as I fear, mere dreams of the past.”

Meanwhile the work of the college appears for some years to have been conducted with considerable vigour, and a certain success. Gradually, however, whether from bad management, or from the inherent faults of the constitution, it began to decay, and then its decline was rapid. In 1863, an appeal was put out to relieve it from a debt of nearly £4,000; and in 1864, its condition fell under the eyes of the Charity Commissioners. As the result of their enquiry “it appeared in effect that the college had fallen into a state of decay, and was on the verge of bankruptcy; that the buildings were suffering from want of funds for repairs, and the students diminishing, and that the college could not be made effective and answer the purpose for which it was founded, without the interference of the Court of Chancery, and that the present constitution of the said college was defective.” Accordingly, in February, 1867, a scheme was ordered to be drawn up for the future management, approved by the Master of the Rolls, May 7, 1867, and confirmed by “The Queen’s College, Birmingham, Act.” The council was henceforth to consist of the President, Vice-President, Warden, and twelve others. No condition of churchmanship was attached to the last named. All vacancies were to be filled up, no longer by co-optation, but by the annual meetings. Officers of the college might serve on the Council, but no one who was concerned in the profits of any work done or materials provided for the college. The three original departments, theology, medicine, and arts,[22] were maintained, the Warden to be the resident head of all three. Architecture and engineering were dropped out. Until the debt was cleared off, the offices of Warden and Professor of Theology were to be held by the same person, afterwards by different persons, the Professor to be appointed by the President, Vice-President, and Visitor. There were to be also Professors of Classics and Mathematics and a Medical Tutor. The rights of the church were further secured by a clause referring all questions touching her doctrine and discipline to the President and Vice-President, and in the last resort to the Visitor, whose decision was to be final. With the obvious exceptions, however, of the Warden and Theology Professor, all religious tests on the members of the staff were abolished. Methods were laid down for the payment of the existing debt. A clause, specially declaring that the natural history and anatomy museum were to be preserved in the college, along with the models of machinery and philosophical apparatus, and were to be open to properly qualified persons free of charge, was violated in 1870 by their being removed to Aston Hall, the rooms thus set free being given up to the School of Art. Finally, the college and hospital were entirely separated, the latter being compelled to repay Warneford’s endowment of £1,000.

During 1873 and 1874, evening classes in connection with the Arts Department were started “to afford to young men who have had a good education, and who desire to maintain and improve their acquirements, an opportunity of doing this at a small expense.” Morning Classes for ladies in connection with the Birmingham Higher Education Association were also attempted. The Arts Department of the College itself appears to have died a natural death in 1872: in 1871 it contained “three or four students preparing for admission into the Theological or Medical Departments.”

The Theological Department also has led a languishing existence. In 1874 it contained but 11 students[23] and from then until 1882 the number fluctuated between 11 and 23. Since then it has again been declining. The report of 1885 laments this fact, but gives no figures. An attempt has been made in this year to raise the standard of this department by appointing the Cambridge Preliminary Examination as the final examination of the College.

It is by the Medical School, its original raison d’être, that Queen’s College has a distinct claim upon Birmingham and the Midlands. This part of the scheme has always flourished and still is flourishing; and it is justly regarded as one of the most important provincial schools of medicine in the kingdom. It started with almost its full development from the beginning. Thus in 1828 the plan of lectures included anatomy, physiology, and pathology, materia medica and medical botany, chemistry, and pharmacy, principles and practice of physic and surgery, midwifery and other diseases of women and children. In 1845, we find this list increased by the division of anatomy into “General and Surgical,” and “Descriptive and Comparative.” Chemistry also was added. In 1874, the Chair of Pathology, which had dropped out of the original list, was recreated, and an additional Professorship of Physiology and Anatomy appointed. In 1880, following the Act for the Registration of Dentists, a School of Dental Medicine and Surgery was formed, and this was recognised in 1882 by the Royal College of Surgeons. The lectures on anatomy and chemistry were recognised as qualifying for the degrees of the University of Edinburgh. In 1885, the Borough Lunatic Asylum was associated with the College, students being now at liberty to obtain instruction in lunacy and mental diseases. Summer dissections were also carried on for the first time in this year.

In 1882, consequent upon the organisation of the Mason Science College, an important change was made. It was felt that if both institutions carried on, within a stone’s throw of each other, parallel courses of lectures, great waste of power would ensue. It was therefore arranged that the lectures on chemistry, botany, and physiology should in future be delivered by the Professors of Mason College, acting as lecturers for Queen’s College, and delivering courses of lectures suited to the requirements of medical students. In this way not only was the overlapping avoided, but the endowments of Queen’s College were materially relieved, while the resources of the Mason College magnificent library were also available to the students of the former. The Birmingham Medical School was now placed in a position of equality with the richest and best organised Colleges in the United Kingdom.

It should be mentioned that in 1879, in addition to the already existing Ingleby Scholarships, two new classes of entrance scholarships were created by the Council, the Sydenham and Queen’s. The former were to be given by the vote of the Council to the orphan sons of legally qualified medical men; the Queen’s were to be awarded by examination to sons of medical men; the sons of former students having the preference in both cases. At the present time the college contains considerably more than 100 students, that being the normal number. That its condition, so far as medicine is concerned, is one of vigorous vitality, may be gathered from the following extract from the last Report. “The students have passed examinations at five Universities, in six cases gaining distinction, one being the highest attainable. At the Primary Examination for the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, thirty students passed in one or both branches. At the above mentioned examinations there were only four complete rejections during the year. It must be borne in mind, also, that this result does not accrue from careful weeding out of students by a test examination. All students, having attended the required number of lectures, were permitted to present themselves for examination.”

Mason College.—The scheme of a University at Queen’s College had, as we have seen, broken down through the inherent defects of its design. We come now to the establishment of another University, which in its building, equipment, and aims, forms a worthy completion to the educational system of the town.

Indirectly the result, no doubt, of that movement for University extension which has characterized the last twenty years, the establishment of this college was directly the work of one man, Sir Josiah Mason, whose fortune had been made during sixty years’ residence in Birmingham, and who was already a benefactor to the town through the Orphanage and Almshouses he had established at Erdington. The considerations which prompted him to this noble foundation are thus expressed by himself:—“When I was a young man—it is so long ago that while still living in this generation I can recall the memories of a time long past—there were no means of scientific teaching open to the artisan classes of our manufacturing towns; and those who, like myself, would gladly have benefited by them were compelled to plod their weary way, under disadvantages and through difficulties of which our young men of this day can form no adequate idea. Schools at that time were few and poor, there were no institutions of popular teaching, no evening classes to which youths might go after their day’s work was ended.” At eighty years of age, therefore, he determined to provide “enlarged means of scientific instruction, on the scale required by the necessities of this town and district, and upon terms which render it easily available by persons of all classes, even the very humblest.” Whatever was necessary for the improvement of scientific industry, and for the cultivation of art, especially as applied to manufactures, was to be taught; facilities were to be afforded, if desirable, for medical instruction, and, most wisely, the door was left open for any further development necessary to adapt the scheme to the requirements of future years.

The plan of the college first began to assume shape about 1868, under the advice of Mr. G. J. Johnson, formerly Professor of Law in Queen’s College; Mr. George Shaw, formerly Professor of Chemistry at Queen’s College; and Mr. J. Thackray Bunce. It was not, however, until December 12, 1870, that the Foundation Deed was executed, by which Dr. Blake and Mr. Johnson were constituted the first trustees. The Founder had already purchased some land in Edmund Street, and an endeavour was made to secure the ground at the corner of Edmund Street and Congreve Street (upon which the new Liberal Club now stands); failing that the land stretching through Edmund Street to Great Charles Street was, after many difficulties and delays, obtained. The site contains about an acre.

In September, 1872, the six trustees required by the foundation deed were thus nominated: Dr. Blake, Messrs. G. J. Johnson, W. C. Aitken, J. T. Bunce, George Shaw, and Dr. Heslop; and their first meeting was held on Feb. 23rd, 1873. The architect selected by the founder, Mr. J. A. Cossins, had meanwhile been visiting the principal science colleges at home and abroad; and his plans, prepared from this experience, were approved in the autumn of 1874. On the founder’s 80th birthday, February 25th, 1875, the first stone was laid by himself, when, in replying to a congratulatory address, he gave an interesting sketch of his career from the day when he cobbled shoes in Kidderminster, to the time when he became the owner of the largest pen factory in the world. A full description of the college buildings as completed may be found in the Birmingham Daily Post for October 2nd, 1880.[24] Since that time an important addition has been made by the erection of a series of rooms for the Physiological department.

The Foundation Deed lays down this general statement as to the aims of the proposed college:—

“It being understood that the institution intended to be hereby founded is to be called Josiah Mason’s Scientific College, or Josiah Mason’s College for the study of Practical Science, he, the said Josiah Mason, hereby declares that his intention in founding the same is to promote thorough systematic education and instruction specially adapted to the practical, mechanical, and artistic requirements of the manufactures and industrial pursuits of the midland district, and particularly the boroughs of Birmingham and Kidderminster, to the exclusion of mere literary education and instruction, and of all teaching of theology and of subjects purely theological, which limitations the said Josiah Mason hereby declares to be fundamental.”

The deed then provides for two courses of instruction, namely:—

1.—Regular systematic instruction (to qualify students either for the B.Sc. and D.Sc. of the University of London, or for any profession or pursuit in which scientific knowledge can be usefully applied.)

2.—Popular instruction, which it is intended shall be given by evening lectures to artisans and others who cannot attend the classes for regular systematic instruction.

The regular instruction was to include the following:—Mathematics, abstract and applied; Physics, mathematical and experimental; Chemistry, theoretical, practical, and applied; The Natural Sciences, especially geology and mineralogy, with their application to mines and metallurgy; Botany and Zoology; Physiology, with reference to the Laws of Health; English, French, and German Languages. By a subsequent deed of February 23, 1874, Anatomy, and Greek and Latin languages, were added to the list. And by a third deed, February 23, 1881, it is provided that (in order to qualify the College for admission as a constituent member of the London or Victoria Universities) regular systematic instruction may at the discretion of the Trustees include all such other subjects as the Trustees may for the time being judge necessary or desirable for the benefit of the students. Similar liberty to vary the course of instruction, either by the addition of fresh subjects, or discontinuance of any subject previously taught, according to the discretion of the Trustees, is given in the case of the Popular Instruction.

Moreover, once in every fifteen years the provisions of the deed may be varied, so as better to adapt the regulations to the circumstances of the time. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this provision, which formed the subject of the peroration of a beautiful speech by Prof. Max Müller at the opening ceremony, which ended thus:—“Let him rest assured that such faith is never belied, and that rising and coming generations, while applauding his munificence, will honour and cherish his memory for nothing so much as for that one clause in which he seems to say, like a wise father, ‘Children, I trust you.’” (College Calendar, 1880-81.)

One class of subjects alone is emphatically excluded. It is “provided always, that no lectures, or teaching, or examination, shall be permitted in the institution upon theology, or any question or subject in its nature purely theological, or upon any question which for the time being shall be the subject of party political controversy.” And this condition “the said Josiah Mason doth declare to be fundamental.” Similarly it is declared to be a fundamental condition that “no principal, vice-principal, professor, teacher, or other officer, servant, or assistant of the institution shall be required to make any declaration as to, or to submit to any test whatever of their religious or theological opinions, or be presumed to be qualified or disqualified by any such religious or theological opinions, but shall be appointed solely for their fitness to give the scientific or artistic instruction required from them.” The contrast with Queen’s College was complete.

Fees were to be paid by students, the admission of whom is subject to no limitation whatever in the popular classes.[25] The only limitation as regards the regular classes is that the Trustees are to give the preference, all other things being equal, to candidates who have been or are inmates of the Orphanage, to the extent of not more than one-fifth of the whole number of regular students, and thereafter to candidates born within the borough of Birmingham and Kidderminster, in the proportion of two Birmingham to one Kidderminster student. The original deed provided that no student not wholly dependent for a livelihood upon his own skill or labour, or depending upon the support of his parents or some other person, should be admitted to the college; and that students should not be under fourteen nor above twenty-five years of age. By the deed of variation, December 12, 1870, the limit of age was done away with, and the conditions above laid down were made to apply to the remission of fees. A preliminary examination for admission is imposed only upon students under the age of sixteen years.

In every line the deed breathes the spirit of modern Birmingham; it contains regulations directed to a clear aim, with absolute freedom to vary those regulations so as best, at any given time, to secure that aim by recognising new conditions; it excludes from its scheme no subject of useful learning; and it maintains the idea that secular instruction is of too high a dignity to be fettered, as regards either pupils or instructors, by theological or political considerations. In one provision not yet noticed it recognises with equal directness, the principle by which Birmingham has for long been pervaded, viz., that over all the great institutions of the town, popular control ought to be exercised. Until the death of the founder, the governing body was to consist of six trustees; but it was ordered that after his death the Town Council was to nominate five others. Vacancies in the Borough Trustees were to be filled up by the Town Council; those in the other six by the whole body. One single qualification is laid down as fundamental for the trusteeship. The holder must be a Protestant and a layman.

On October 1st, 1880, the College was formally opened, when a brilliant address was delivered in the Town Hall, by Professor Huxley, before a meeting attended by representatives of the Universities, and many leading scientific bodies, and presided over by the Mayor; and, in the evening of the same day took place the formal transfer of the building by the Founder to the Trustees. “Thus was completed a work which stands without parallel in the annals of modern education in England, the gift of a college, amply planned, nobly built, liberally endowed; the generous benefaction of one man, who looked for no reward but the consciousness that, by the foundation, others would have the means of acquiring knowledge denied by the poverty of his early life to himself; trusting that though unblessed with children of his own, he might, in the students of his college, leave behind him an intelligent, earnest, industrious, and truth loving and truth seeking progeny for many generations to come.” During the first year of work, 53 students attended: in 1884-85, 523, of whom 199 were in the evening classes.

During the session, 1882-3, the college began receiving a grant from the science and art department, in aid of the instruction of a limited number of teachers engaged in science teaching. During the same year, by arrangement with the School Board, the Council granted six Wright Memorial Scholarships, to enable scholars from Board Schools to go through a science course at Mason College.[26] These scholarships are tenable for three years, and relieve the scholars of the payment of all fees.

The Mason College Union, formed with the sanction of the council, was now opened.[27] The circumstances attending the admission of students from Queen’s College to certain classes will be found detailed in the section treating of that institution. The completion of the scheme necessitated the creation of a new Chair of Botany. In the early part of the session, the council constituted the Professors of the College an Academic Board, to act generally under the superintendence of the council in regulating and co-ordinating the various departments of the college; the chairmanship being held by the Professors in turn. In July, 1883, a department of Coal Mining and Colliery Management was established, and upwards of twenty students attended, principally young mining engineers, preparing for the government examination. During the year courses of lectures upon education, provided by Mr. George Dixon, were delivered by Professor Meiklejohn and Mr. H. Courthope Bowen. During 1884, the council were enabled to fill up a gap which they had often deplored by the creation of nine scholarships, as follows: Two entrance scholarships of £30 each; one of £30 for students of one year’s standing; two of £30 each for students of two years’ standing; two of £20 each, connected with the examinations of the University of London; and two technical scholarships of £30 each. Each of these is tenable for one year. In the following year, Messrs. Richard and George Tangye each created a scholarship of the annual value of £30. Free popular lectures for artisans were given throughout the winter, the tickets being distributed among about one hundred of the leading firms. So much were they valued, that it was found necessary to repeat each lecture.

One of the most important and interesting features of the college is its noble library. With this will always be connected the name of the late Dr. Heslop, its chief benefactor, indeed, it may be said, its maker. As early as 1882, out of its 4,869 volumes, he had contributed 3,130. On the 23rd February, 1886, the library contained 17,554 vols. The geological museum contained at the same date 19,115 specimens.

The Birmingham and Midland Institute is at present educating more than 4000 persons of both sexes and of all ranks; and this fact alone is sufficient to show its importance. The principle upon which it proceeds is one which at the time of its establishment was entirely novel, though it has since been adopted in other similar institutions. It has never professed to lay down a priori a course of instruction which it considers ought to be given; but, by supplying a want wherever such want has been made known, it has endeavoured to adapt itself constantly to requirements of the people which otherwise would never be satisfied. In the words of Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, “We have never made up our minds to teach any particular subject, unless we were convinced that there existed outside our walls a present readiness to study it. But, once convinced of such a desire, we have done whatever we could to meet it.”

The Institute had its origin, strangely enough, at a time of marked intellectual decadence in Birmingham. The existing societies, the Philosophical Institution, the Mechanics’ Institution, and the Polytechnic Institution, were dead or moribund. On June 10th, 1852, at the suggestion of Mr. Arthur Ryland, a few members of the first-named society met and appointed a committee which reported in January, 1853. On September 6th the Town Council gave a grant of the present site, and by an Act obtained in 1854 the Institute was incorporated. In this Act the objects of the Institute are defined to be the “diffusion and advancement of Science, Literature, and Art.” There were to be two departments, (a) General, to provide (1) Reading and News Rooms; (2) Libraries, Museums, a gallery of the fine arts, collection of mining records, and other collections for scientific purposes; (3) Lectures and meetings for discussion in the higher branches of knowledge, (b) Industrial, to provide (1) classes for elementary and progressive instruction in Mathematics and Practical Science, and such other subjects as may seem fit to the Council of the Institute; (2) laboratories, models, philosophical apparatus, and all other things necessary for the objects of the Institute.[28] The Institute was to be governed by a Council of twenty-five consisting of (1) Official Governors, a President, two Vice-presidents, and a Treasurer; the head master of King Edward’s Grammar School, the warden of Queen’s College, the chairmen of the Committee of the Birmingham Society of Arts, and of the government School of ornamental Art. (2) Borough Governors, the Mayor and four members of the Town Council, elected annually by that body; and (3) thirteen Elected Governors, viz: eleven members of the Institute, and two students of the Industrial Department. The President, the Vice-Presidents, and the thirteen, were to be chosen by the members of the Institute at the annual general meeting. Casual vacancies were to be filled up by the Council, which was to meet at least once a month. Not less than three of the thirteen were to be regarded as ineligible for re-election each year. Among the Presidents will be found the men most eminent in their various branches of knowledge.

A start was made in the beginning of 1854, the salary of a Science teacher for the first year having been guaranteed by the Science and Art department. Classes were opened in Chemistry, Physics, and Physiology, for both sexes, and were carried on in the room of the Philosophical Institute in Cannon Street, until 1857. On November 22nd, 1855, £10,000 having previously been subscribed to the building fund, the first stone of the new buildings was laid by the Prince Consort. Penny Scientific lectures were now started; and, in deference to a most remarkable expression of opinion on the part of the artisans themselves that they had not education sufficient to enable them to profit by the lectures as given, Penny Lectures on elementary Mathematics and Science were also given. In 1856 Mr. George Dawson and Mr. Sam: Timmins volunteered to conduct an English Literature class, which they continued for three years, and classes, also taught voluntarily, were established in Arithmetic, Latin, French, English History, Logic, Languages, and Thought.[29]

In 1859, a subscription of £5,000 having been raised to pay off the debt incurred, the Institute now located in its own buildings, founded a Chemical Society—at present the Institute Scientific Society—members of which delivered lectures to the men in workshops, as well as Natural History and Microscopical Societies. In the examination by the Society of Arts in 1859, one Institute student, C. J. Woodward, now at the head of the Chemical department of the Institute, took the first prize in chemistry, twelve others gaining certificates; while in 1860 both the English literature prizes were carried off by two other students, Henry Simpson and Howard S. Pearson, now Lecturer on English Literature at the Institute. That the right classes were being touched is shown by the fact that 33 per cent. of the students were artisans, 33 per cent. shopmen and clerks, and 16 per cent. women of the same ranks. In 1868 the numbers were 45, 29, and 21 per cent. A steady increase both of students and subscribers (the latter induced by the annual conversazione and the high quality of the occasional lectures) took place during the following years; and the students were stimulated by the many valuable prizes offered by leading inhabitants and by the Central Literary Association. So crowded had the classes now become, that it was imperative to secure further space; and in 1873 the prospect of this was secured by a re-arrangement of buildings and an exchange of land with the Free Libraries, £15,000 being subscribed for the alterations proposed. In the previous year Charles Kingsley had delivered a famous presidential address, one result of which was an anonymous gift of £2,500 to found a class in the Laws of Health. This class was opened in October, 1873, with 400 students, and ever since that time has formed an important feature in the Institute’s programme, branch classes in the subject being established in 1878 in four of the Board Schools.

At the same date a new departure was made by founding branch classes at three Board Schools in the outskirts of the borough. Of the success of the Industrial Department up to this time we cannot do better than quote from an article by Mr. Edwin Smith, for many years secretary to the Institute, in the Central Literary Magazine for April, 1874:—

“It has enabled a pupil teacher from a national school to win a Whitworth scholarship against competitors from the universities and from the principal science colleges in the kingdom; a working rule maker to win a scholarship at one of the Royal Colleges of Science, and a working electro-plater to win the first prizes from the Society of Arts in four modern languages; it has sent out distinguished pupils to take part in the civil service of India, to conduct mining operations in America, to take part in the telegraphic service of Australia, to fill an important commercial post in Japan, to conduct the laboratory work in some of the largest manufactories in the country, to become head masters and assistant masters in our Grammar Schools, to help in the science teaching of the University of Cambridge, and to fill responsible posts on newspapers of the provincial press; twelve of its own teachers have been educated in its classes, and it has sent into the manufactories and workshops of the town, men who have applied to numerous useful purposes in their trade the knowledge which they have acquired within the walls of the Institute.”

During 1878 was begun the erection of the new buildings from the designs of Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, at an estimated cost of £30,000. The great fire of January 11th, 1879, which utterly destroyed the Free Libraries, greatly interfered with the work, and it was not until the summer of 1881, that the beautiful buildings fronting to Paradise Street, were ready for occupation. The burden of the heavy debt incurred was somewhat lightened by the prospects of a bequest, subject to two lives, of £50,000.

Hitherto, the annual examination of the classes which did not fall under the Science and Art Departments had been conducted by volunteers. An endeavour was made in 1880 to induce the Senate of the London University to undertake this work. The Senate did not see its way to do this, but it suggested that the council should apply to the Rev. Philip Magnus, one of the University Examiners, and later a member of the Commission on Technical Education. Mr. Magnus undertook the duty, and the plan has been retained since then, the standard for the council certificate being made as nearly as possible that of the matriculation examinations at London. In this year was founded the Institute Union of Teachers and Students, and it was now, too, that the Institute gave birth to a number of local institutes, environing the town in a continuous chain, formed on the lines of the parent body, and serving local requirements.[30] During 1882, a musical section was begun, with 157 members, and an instrumental class with 500. A still more noteworthy movement was the establishment of a class in practical metallurgy. During the following year this had developed into an excellent laboratory, furnaces, balance room, fume chambers, and benches for twenty-three students; the class being under the care of Mr. A. H. Hiorns. A new class was also formed in iron and steel, in connection with the City and Guilds of London Institute. The council co-operated, too, in organizing a course of lectures on Health by eminent medical men in the town, similar to those delivered in Edinburgh and elsewhere, and these have since been an annual institution. During this fruitful year were founded the Institute Magazine, and the Debating, Dramatic, and Literary Sections. An Archæological Section, still in full vitality, had been organized as early as 1870, and continues to issue quarto volumes of Transactions, containing the Papers read, with original illustrations and records of excursions to local and other places of archæological interests.

Fruitful, however, though this year of 1883 was, it stands out as one peculiarly sad in the Institute history, for during it took place the sudden death of Mr. John Henry Chamberlain, who as Hon. Secretary since 1865, had continuously devoted himself to its interest. In the words of the Report for 1883, “Under his guidance the Institute had undergone development which is truly marvellous … he had genius to see the needs of the time, and the direction in which the Institute could be developed to meet them.… The wisdom of his counsel, the extent and variety of his knowledge, the grace of his eloquence, and the wonderful charm of his personal presence, made him a colleague whom it is impossible to replace. He expired almost in the act of serving the Institute.”

During 1884, a meteorological observatory was formed at the Monument, in Monument Road, an anemometer being erected there at the cost of Mr. Follett Osler, and the Birmingham Chess Club became a new section of the Institute. In 1885, the School of Art was removed from the Institute Buildings, where it had hitherto found a home, to the beautiful building in Edmund Street erected by the town for its reception. This gave great additional space, sorely needed, for the industrial department, and, on the initiative of Mr. G. H. Kenrick, it was at once utilised, at a cost of £2,000 (guaranteed by Mr. Kenrick) for a great expansion of the metallurgical classes. An engineering workshop was formed, and the laboratory greatly increased, so that the Institute now possesses—and it is perhaps its most interesting feature—the most extensive metallurgical school in Great Britain, one indeed well-nigh worthy of the position of Birmingham in the manufacturing world. In this year too, classes in singing and in the practice of several musical instruments were formed, the violin class being particularly successful. And a teachers’ board was established, from which valuable suggestions are offered to the council for improvements in the education given to the classes.

The following figures are worth recording. In 1854, there were one member[31] and 165 students; in 1874, 1591 members, and 2179 students; in 1886, 1927 members, and (in the central and branch classes) 4190 students, thus distributed: science, 1474; language and literature, 1046; arithmetic, 324; matriculation, 13; music, 1233; ladies 100.

Elementary Education.—The work performed by the School Board may be best realized from the following figures. Previous to the passing of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, there were within the Borough public elementary schools with accommodation for 28,983 children, and shortly afterwards further accommodation was made for 1,476; so that in round numbers there were places for about 30,000 children. There were also the so called elementary schools on the King Edward VI.’s foundation, noticed under that head, and a few private adventure schools. The official enquiry of 1871 showed, however, that accommodation was then necessary for 55,000, so that even then the town was scarcely more than half supplied. But, further, this half supply was but half utilized, since the average attendance in the schools was only about 16,000.

During the fifteen years of its existence the School Board has provided thirty-two large sets of new buildings, most of them with extensive playgrounds, and it also occupies three sets of school premises which are rented. The total accommodation provided in these schools is sufficient for 35,277 children; while that in the Denominational Schools is now about the same as in 1871, the total being 29,141. A few certified efficient schools accommodate 794 children; so that there is at the present date a total accommodation of 65,212, or more than double that of 1871. Still more remarkable is the change wrought in the average attendance. In 1871 this was 50.3 per cent. of the number on the books. In other words, out of every 100 places provided 50 were vacant. The average attendance is now 85 per cent.

Even now the accommodation provided does not reach that required. The population being 420,000 there should be places for one-sixth of that number, according to the government scale, that is for 70,000. Thus the Board is still behind-hand to the amount of 5,000 places. Moreover, according to the average of the last eight years, the population of the Borough is increasing at the rate of 60,000 per annum, and consequently the accommodation required at the rate of 1,000 per annum. In other words, the Board has to provide five new schools to catch up the present deficit, and one school every year to keep pace with the yearly increase.

Besides the schools whose curriculum is confined to the subjects named in the New Code, the Board has established, upon the initiative and in a great measure at the cost of the Chairman, George Dixon, Esq., M.P., a Technical School for boys in the 7th standard, which provides an education in elementary science, machine construction, &c.; and which is furnished with a large chemical laboratory, and an admirably fitted lecture room, a special room for teaching technical drawing, and a workshop in which the boys are trained to the use of tools and to working from scale. This school, which is well worth a visit, is in Bridge Street, five minutes’ walk from the Town Hall, in premises handed over to the Board, rent free, and partially fitted up by Mr. Dixon.

Many of the Board Schools form real architectural ornaments of the town. They are in three stages of design, the earliest being that in which boys, girls, and infants form separate departments, the boys and the infants being usually on the ground floor, the girls on the floor above the boys. In the second stage a large centre hall is surrounded by class-rooms on the ground floor; half way to the roof runs a gallery, from which doors open into another set of class-rooms. The infants are on the ground floor (except in Hope Street), in a separate part of the building; the whole school being under the supervision of a master. In the last stage everything is on the ground floor. The latest erected buildings of this stage are models of airiness and light. The specimens of the three styles easiest reached and most worth seeing are respectively Bristol Street, Icknield Street, and Stratford Road or Foundry Road.

It should be noticed that half-time scholars are now almost unknown, although the conditions of life would seem to point to a wide extension of the system.

A few scholarships, far fewer than could be wished, are at the disposal of the Board. They are of three classes, Major, Elementary Science, and Minor. Boys who hold the Wright, Piddock, and J. H. Chamberlain Memorial Scholarships receive £15 a year, on certain conditions, during a two years’ course at King Edward’s School, and £25 a year, with remittance of fees, for three years more at Mason College. Several Elementary Science Scholarships, in connection with the Science and Art Department, have hitherto been provided out of a fund called the Higher Education Fund, raised for the purpose of assisting poor but deserving scholars, by which a grant of £5 is guaranteed, with an additional £5 on passing a good examination under the Science and Art Department. It is greatly to be regretted that the funds raised for providing Minor Scholarships are all exhausted, except the Chamberlain and Edgbaston Day School for Girls Trust Funds.

In the early stages of the Board’s work, when a Church majority was elected, religious education was given in the Birmingham schools. Upon the accession of the Liberal and Non-Conformist party to power such education was entirely done away with. The result of frequent and somewhat bitter controversy has been that at present a small portion of the Bible is read each day by the head teacher without note or comment.

The Voluntary Schools have, up till quite recently, had no common organization. There has now, however, been formed an Association of Voluntary School Managers, under whose auspices it is proposed to undertake some amount of inspection, and which will frame and discuss all measures directed to their common welfare. The Chairman is the Rev. Canon Bowlby, Rector of St. Philip’s.

Municipal School of Art.—[By Mr. E. R. Taylor, Head Master.]—The Society of Arts and School of Art were, in June, 1885, transferred to the Corporation under the above title. This Society was established at a meeting held in the Public Office, Moor Street, on 7th February, 1821, at which it was resolved:—(1.) “That an Institution be now established in Birmingham for the encouragement of arts and manufactures, and that it be called ‘The Birmingham Society of Arts.’” (2.) “That a Museum be formed for the reception of the most approved specimens of sculpture, and of all such other works illustrative of the different branches of Art as the Society may have the means of procuring.” (3.) “That suitable accommodation be provided for students.” A subscription list was forthwith opened, and Sir Robert Lawley, Bart., gave in addition a valuable collection of casts from the antique. The Museum thus formed was opened for members and students in May, 1822, and in 1827 the first annual exhibition of pictures was held. In 1829 the Society erected the galleries in New Street, now occupied by the Royal Society of Artists, and in this year the first conversazione of the Society of Arts took place. Until 1842 the Society was managed by a joint committee, composed of lay and professional members with equal powers. The lay committee, representing the subscribers, were desirous of furthering the original intention of providing means for art education by applying for aid from the Government School of Design, newly formed in London. Hitherto the teaching had been carried on by the members of the professional, or artists’ committee, who acted as visitors to the School for Drawing from the Antique. The school was open on two evenings in each week, but the average nightly attendance was only fourteen.

The professional committee demurred against these proposed changes, and, on their being adopted by the subscribers, withdrew from the Society, and afterwards formed the present Royal Society of Artists. In 1843, Mr. Dobson, who is now an Associate of the Royal Academy, became the first Head Master, and the title of the Society was at this time altered to “The Society of Arts and School of Design.”

In 1845, Mr. Heavyside succeeded Mr. Dobson, but held the office for a year only, being in turn succeeded by Mr. Thos. Clarke. The number of students at this time was 448.

Mr. George Wallis became Head Master in 1851, and introduced many changes in the organization and work of the school. He resigned in 1857, Mr. D. Raimbach being his successor.

By an agreement between the Society of Artists and the Council of the newly founded Birmingham and Midland Institute, the latter undertook to provide double the existing accommodation for the Society of Arts in their proposed building; and the school was transferred in the summer of 1858 to the rooms which it continued to occupy until last year.

The record of the school from the first seems to be one of continuously increasing success; for in 1864 the number of students had more than doubled, being 939, including elementary and advanced classes.

In its early days the school was much indebted to the Rev. James Prince Lee, M.A., who held the post of Chairman until he was removed to the See of Manchester, and in more recent times to the late Mr. John Henry Chamberlain, Chairman, and Mr. Edwin Smith, Secretary.

In 1875 the whole of the elementary teaching in the evening was transferred to branch classes held in Board Schools.

A most generous offer was made to the school in 1876. An anonymous donor placed the sum of £10,000 at the disposal of the Committee, with a request that it should be chiefly, if not altogether, employed in the improvement of the teaching department, and in the foundation of scholarships or exhibitions.

On the resignation of Mr. Raimbach, the present Head Master (Mr. Edward R. Taylor) was appointed in May, 1877. In the year 1880 a scheme was initiated by a donation of £5,000 from Messrs. Richard and George Tangye, which has resulted in the present Museum and Art Gallery, with its noble collection of pictures and objects of industrial art, the gifts of wealthy citizens to the town. The increasing difficulties under which the School of Art laboured in providing room for the education by which alone these art treasures could be made of use to the town were not lost sight of, and in 1881 the Mayor (Mr. Richard Chamberlain, M.P.) was enabled to announce to the Corporation that land would be given by Mr. Cregoe Colmore, in the centre of the town, on which to build a School of Art, and that Miss Ryland would give £10,000, and Messrs. Richard and George Tangye would also give £10,000 towards the cost of building a School on condition that the Town Council would undertake its management. The result of this generosity is the beautiful building in Margaret Street, the last work of the late Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, who had for many years acted as Chairman of the School, and had taken the deepest interest in its success. It may fairly claim to be one of the best schools of art ever erected. The lighting is bright and cheerful, furnishing in this a contrast to most of such institutions; and the accommodation, especially for the modelling classes and those for studies bearing on design, is most ample, and a great improvement on that given in the old premises.

In the Central and Branch Schools there are this Session 733 students, and in the seven Branch Schools 706 students, mostly artisans. The following are some of their occupations:—

Thirty-four other trades are also represented, besides the children of artisans.

The Awards of the Science and Art Department to the school in 1877 and in 1885, will shew the more recent progress of the school.

Of these prizes and certificates, 40 prizes and 273 certificates were last year awarded for examinations in the advanced sections, including painting, design, drawing from the figure, modelling the figure, history of ornament, anatomy, etc.; the total of awards obtained by all the 198 Schools of Art in the United Kingdom being only 205 prizes, and 1,924 certificates.

By the munificence of “the anonymous donor,” the Corporation are enabled to offer the following free admissions and scholarships tenable in the school for two years:—

Eighty free admissions to the Branch Schools; Fifty free admissions to the Central Schools; Ten scholarships of £5 per annum; Two scholarships of £20 per annum; Two scholarships of £40 per annum.

Chapter III.
LIBRARIES: PAST AND PRESENT.

BY J. D. MULLINS.

The first Public Library, 1733, was one which still exists, and was founded by the Rev. W. Higgs, first Rector of St. Philip’s, who left his Library and a sum of money for a Parochial Library “free to all Clergymen of the Church of England in the town and neighbourhood of Birmingham, and of all other students who shall be recommended either by the Rector of St. Philip’s, or the Rector of St. Martin’s, in Birmingham, or the Rector of Sheldon, near Birmingham,” and which was “designed for the encouragement and promotion of useful Literature, more especially of theological learning.” The books were to be lent out at the discretion of the Trustees to suitable persons, and a folio was to be kept six weeks, a quarto one month, and an octavo or duodecimo fourteen days. The Endowment was £200 in 3 per cents., and it was announced that donations would be very acceptable “for the increase of the Library,” as no payment was required for admission to the use of it. The Library was long kept in a room adjoining St. Philip’s Rectory, (and is duly provided for in the New Rectory) and deserves this mention as the first Free Library in our town.

Subscription Libraries.—Subscription Libraries had been established by William Hutton in Bull Street (in 1751), Joseph Crompton in Colmore Row, and others in the latter half of the last century, but the most important was that of John Lowe, at the Stamp Office in Cherry Street, which was established in 1776, and the catalogue of which in 1796 included 103 pages; and more than 10,000 Standard Books, to which the price of each was added in case of a purchase. The annual subscriptions were 16/- or a guinea according to the privileges, and not only were quarterly subscribers taken, but non-subscribers could have books to read on depositing their value, at twopence per volume per week; or if over four shillings in value at threepence per volume per week. And the Library was to be open from eight o’clock in the morning till nine o’clock in the evening. It is to the credit of the readers of a century ago that a large number of French books were provided for their use.

In 1787 a Subscription Library was opened at 13 Suffolk Street, by M. and S. Olds. The subscription was 12/- per year, 7/- the half year, and 4/- the quarter.

The Birmingham (Old) Library was founded about November, 1779, (though the exact place of its origination is not known), by nineteen subscribers, nearly all being Dissenters, in fact, only one being a member of the Established Church. The proposal was made to the laity generally, and to some of the Clergy, several of whom became members when the Library had become a success. It was founded on broad principles to supply the numerous readers with books, which few private persons could afford to buy, and it was based on principles so sound that it has been highly successful, and has been one of the most prosperous and long-lived of all provincial Libraries. At first, its progress seems to have been slow, and its history obscure; but on the arrival of Dr. Priestley in Birmingham, in 1780, its real prosperity commenced. His experience of a similar Library at Leeds, and his characteristic energy and enthusiasm were given to the young Institution. He not only wrote the various advertisements which appeared, but he drew up a code of laws on the principle adopted at Leeds, and the best testimony to their merit is that they have been substantially without important changes for 100 years.

The books were to be bought by a Committee of twenty chosen annually. The Laws could be made or repealed only at an Annual Meeting or by special notice. Books were to be proposed by the Subscribers, and selected by the Committee. The plan proved highly successful, and the Subscribers rapidly increased. The entrance fee was One Guinea, and the Subscription Six Shillings a year, raised to Eight Shillings in 1781. The Librarian was paid £10 a year, attendance 2 to 5 p.m.

During the first two years the Library had its home at the house of Mr. John Lee, junr., 115, Snow Hill, but was afterwards removed to Messrs. Pearson and Rollason’s, Swan Yard, High Street. By January, 1782, a Library Room was taken, and the books removed there, “hours 2 to 5,” within those hours any Subscriber might see the books, read and make extracts, etc., at his pleasure; in 1785, eleven to one was added to the hours.

In 1790, May 5th, the Library was re-opened at the Upper Priory (late Mr. Payton’s Repository)[32] with 4,000 volumes. About this time a plan was started to build a Library on a Tontine System of 181 shares, “near to a street called Cherry Street, and then lately used as a Bowling Green, formerly called Corbett’s Bowling Green.” An extension doubling the area of the Library Buildings was made about 1843.

At its Centenary, 1879, this Library contained 50,000 volumes. It has now (1886) 1,591 proprietors and subscribers; an annual income of £1,680; an expenditure of £1,531; and 984 volumes were added to the Library in 1885. The Librarian is Mr. C. E. Scarse.

Birmingham New Library.—In 1794 the New Library was founded by some who were dissatisfied with the management of the Parent Institution. The Laws of the Old Library were adopted, with two exceptions. It was originally started in Cannon Street. Rooms were then built on the Tontine plan, in Temple Row West, where the Joint Stock Bank now stands, and after a more or less successful career the New Library was amalgamated with the Union Street or Old Birmingham Library in 1860.

The Medical Library and Institute.—This Library was formed in 1790 at a meeting at the Union Tavern in Cherry Street, and remained for many years as part of the Old Birmingham Library, accessible to the ordinary subscribers, but on the formation of the Medical Institute, in 1878, the books were given up to the promoters of the Institute. It is now a library of some 11,500 vols. at the new building in Edmund Street. Mr. T. G. Johnson is the Librarian. The Institute is supported by the chief medical men of the town and neighbourhood.

The Birmingham Law Library was founded in 1831, by the Barristers and Attorneys practising in Birmingham and the neighbourhood. This is supported by annual subscriptions. It contains nearly 6,000 volumes of Law Works, Reports, Acts, etc. It is in Wellington Passage, Bennett’s Hill. An admirable Catalogue of this Library has been compiled by Mr. Thomas Horton.

The Mason College in Edmund Street, opened in 1880, has now a very choice Scientific Library. It is especially rich in English and Foreign Serials, Transactions, Journals, Magazines, Reviews, Reports, etc., of which Mr. S. Allport the Librarian published a Catalogue in 1883. It owes much of its high character to the late Dr. Heslop, who took great interest in its formation and gave three-fourths of the books.

Other Libraries.—Among the Libraries of the past should be recorded: (1) The Mechanics’ Institution founded in 1826, and carried on till 1842. It had a Reference and Circulating Library with a Reading Room for the use of the members. (2) The Artisans’ Library, founded in 1831, open three evenings a week. Of smaller Libraries, the Parochial one of St. Martin’s, founded by the Rector (Dr. Miller) in 1850, was far above the average character of such Institutions; it was located in Inge Street, and was much used.

News Rooms, either with Libraries or alone, were not numerous in the early part of this century. In August, 1808, the first subscription News Room appears to have been opened at Messrs. Thomson and Wrightson’s Stamp Office, New Street, open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Four London Daily Papers, Lloyd’s List, Prices Current, one Sunday, three Provincial, and three Birmingham Papers, with Reviews and Magazines were provided.

A Commercial News Room was established in 1823, by a number of gentlemen, who took Shares of £20 each to erect a Building and carry on the work.

A News Room of large size and importance was built in 1825, in Waterloo Street, corner of Bennett’s Hill, where the old County Court stood, and where the Inland Revenue Office now stands. As this contained all the leading London Periodicals and Foreign Newspapers, Shipping, Commercial and Law Intelligence, files of important Papers, London Gazette, Times and local Journals, it may almost be included among our Libraries.

As a contrast with this, the only News Room of that time, there are now Nine, in addition to the Reference Reading Room, viz.:—Three Subscription, the Old Library, the Midland Institute, and the Exchange respectively, and six free News Rooms, viz., the Central News Room, and five Branches in different parts of the town.

The Free Libraries of Birmingham.—These were originated, and are sustained, by the municipality, at the cost of the ratepayers, by the levying of a rate of a little over one penny in the pound on the rents or rateable value of the Borough. This rate produces £9,500 a year and maintains the principal or Central Libraries, which include Reference Department of 80,000 volumes, Central Lending Library of 25,000 volumes, and a News Room used regularly by about 5,000 readers a day. It also maintains three Branch Libraries of 10,000 volumes each, with capacious and well supplied News Rooms, and two others of smaller dimensions opened only at night. Altogether these various departments issue more than 2,000 volumes, and accommodate in the Reading and News Rooms more than 11,000 readers daily.

These Free Libraries were commenced tentatively and modestly in a leased house and shopping in Constitution Hill (or Northern part) in 1861, some doubts apparently existing then whether such institutions were really needed or would be appreciated here.

The Library commenced with 6,000 volumes, and an issue for the first year of 108,000. Now there are nearly 140,000 volumes available, with an issue of 844,000 per annum, and one of the most urgent pleas on behalf of and by the population now before the Town Council is for more Free Libraries.

So strong is the desire for the privileges these Libraries afford, that at Ward Elections the question has been asked of Councillors as a test of political fitness: “Will you vote for a Free Library and News Room for this Ward?”

This general willingness of the people to be taxed for the higher benefits of knowledge and culture for themselves and their children is sufficiently novel to be worthy of notice.

The success of the experiment at Constitution Hill induced the Free Libraries’ Committee to prepare plans on a scale commensurate with the demands of the Town, and it was resolved to commence the Central and Western Libraries consisting of Reference Department and Reading Room, Central Lending Library and News Room, and to provide Branch Libraries and News Rooms for the Eastern District at Gosta Green, and for the Southern District at Deritend.

This plan has since been extended to provide Libraries and News Rooms at Nechells, Small Heath, and Spring Hill, (these three have yet to be built). The small and incommodious Room at Constitution Hill or Northern District, the starting point in 1861 of the Libraries, was superseded by a large and handsome building in July 1883. The cost of these buildings was defrayed from loans borrowed on the system of an annual repayment of loan and interest in one hundred years.

The first Reference Library of 16,000 volumes, with the Central Lending Department and News Room, was opened in October, 1866, and an eloquent and original address by the late George Dawson, declared these Libraries open and free for ever, and started them on their course of usefulness. As regards the character of books read, it may be said that by far the largest demand in the Reference Library is for books of practical value in Science and Art, and that the taste for Scientific Works in the Lending Libraries is steadily growing, and the Committee are only too glad to meet the demand.

These Free Lending Libraries seem to reach all classes with their elevating and gladdening influence. There are not only books for the student and worker by which they may be helped in the business of life, but there are books for the weary, books of standard music, books for little children, and even books for the blind.

The History of the Libraries has been, with one exception, an unbroken record of success, and what a world of happiness and growth twenty-five years of successful Library work means it is very difficult to measure or estimate.

The exception was the calamitous fire which occurred on January 11, 1879. The Building was in process of enlargement, and had been to a considerable extent given up into the builders’ hands during its reconstruction. A strong wall had given place for the time being—to avoid the closing of the Reference Library and News Room during the alterations—to temporary arrangements of wood and similar material. The winter was severe, the gas was frozen, an energetic workman in attempting to produce a thaw ignited a flame which blazed up beyond his control, set fire to the temporary screen dividing the existing Library from the extension, and, spreading to the adjoining shelves, soon embraced the whole of the Library in one vast blaze. As this occurred at mid-day on a Saturday, the Rooms of the Library were crowded with Readers, but no one was injured. All sorts and conditions of men strove to save what could be saved of the precious books, but the fire was master, and the salvage was small. The pride the people had in their Free Library, and their grief at its destruction were shewn in a most pathetic manner, books being offered from their own collections, great and small, toward the restoration. Nor was this feeling confined to the town. Her Majesty sent a note through Lieutenant-General Ponsonby, in which she offered a valuable selection of books as follows:—