BIRMINGHAM SIGHTS & STORIES
Retired former Blue Badge guide Kenneth Hughes was the guest speaker at the November meeting of the North Arden Local History Society. Mr Hughes is well known to members (and many other local societies) and has previously spoken to us about ‘Sauce (HP), Tea (Typhoo) and Custard (Birds)’, the ‘Jewellery Quarter’ as well as ‘Cadbury’s and Bournville’; his talks are full of fascinating little known facts and always a joy to attend. This was no exception and his talk in November was very much up to his usual standard.
THE BULL RING & NELSON:The talk began in the Bull Ring (Two Words – not one as 21st Century Developers with NO Birmingham roots are wont to use!) the very centre of Birmingham and around which much of our development evolved. Mr Hughes said that when he took tourists around they always asked if this was where, in the past, we staged bull fights and it had to be explained that unlike Spain all we did was tether a bull (or a bear) to ring in floor and set the dogs on it! Fortunately this barbaric practice along with cock fighting was outlawed in the 1850’s. Their second question was invariably why in a city one hundred miles from the sea did we have a statue dedicated to Lord Nelson?
The reason for this was given by Mr Hughes who explained that after an unsuccessful naval engagement during which he had lost his right arm at Tenerife Nelson together with Lord and Lady Hamilton was touring around England for what we today call R & R. At the end of August 1802 they visited Worcester where the ‘Freedom of the City’ had been bestowed on Nelson and travelled up to Birmingham to attend a play at the Theatre Royal: they had rooms at Styles Hotel then in Temple Street. When Nelson left the hotel to go to the Theatre his carriage was waiting but there were no horses and it was explained that the ordinary men of Birmingham were so delighted that this naval hero was visiting their town that they had insisted on drawing the carriage themselves. A few days were spent in Birmingham that included a visit to several factories such as Elkingtons and a visit to meet Matthew Boulton at his house in Soho (now open as a museum). So great was the effect of this visit on the people of Birmingham that when news of his death at Trafalgar reached the town a decision was made to erect a statue in his memory that was paid for by public subscription (£2,500) this was erected in 1809 and unveiled on 25th October 1810 (the Golden Jubilee of George III). It was the first statue to Nelson in Great Britain (second in the World) and beat London by 37 years the one Trafalgar Square being revealed in 1846.
The Railings round our statue are made to look like ships boarding pikes, held in place by a twisted rope and are reminiscent of ship to ship combat in the 1800’s. In the relocation of the statue in the recent Bull Ring redevelopment the developers refused to the reinstate these railing on health and safety grounds (after 200 years of no personal damage history!) forgetting that in 1952 the statue and railings had been designated a Grade II listed status. Eventually after prolonged arguments they were restored to their rightful place. If you see old photographs of the Bull Ring before the desecrations of the 1960’s you will note street lamps around it; the base of these lamp-posts were actual ships canon barrels, but these have disappeared over time. The statue forms the centre piece for Birmingham’s Trafalgar Day celebrations every year now (nearest Sunday to 21st October) a lapsed custom revived through actions of Professor Carl Chinn about 2002 that was attended by Nelson’s Great-great-great-granddaughter.
THE THEATRE ROYAL:The theatre that Nelson and the Hamilton’s attended on New Street was an earlier building to the one demolished to make way for a Woolworths in 1956 that many readers will remember from pantomime trips at Christmas times as or escorting children. The first ‘Royal’ was built in the 1770’s; this was damaged by fire in the 1792 and the repaired building would have been the one present in 1802. It was again damaged and restored following a fire in 1820 and survived until 1904 when the replacement was built that most readers will remember. The 19th Century theatre had two sculptured bas-relief medallions as features on its exterior: these where head and shoulder effigies of the actor David Garrick and William Shakespeare which were relocated inside the 1904 building. After the 1956 closure these two effigies found a home in Birmingham’s Central Library. Now that this building is about to be replaced by the proposed library facing Centenary Square between Baskerville House and the Repertory Theatre one can only hope that these effigies survive and find a home within this new building and are not deposited in the Museum stores in Nechells. Mr Hughes then spent some time telling us all about the Rodway family and their involvement with the Theatre Royal over many years; amongst their charitable works they endowed new wards at both the General and Queens (the ‘Acci’) Hospitals. Very well known at the time was Mr Rodways’ daughter whose married name was Phyllis Bushall-Matthews: it was she who made sure the two medallions were presented to the Central Library.
THE ALEXANDRA THEATRE:
The ‘Alex’ in John Bright Street only dates from the early 1900’s and owes its name to Lester Collingwood, the Temperance movement and the Cadbury family. Admiral Collingwood was Nelson’s second in command at Trafalgar and some authorities claim that more of the credit for the victory should be accorded to him because Nelson was fatally wounded relatively early in the fighting. This is especially so on Menorca in the Balearics where the former Collingwood villa is now an hotel and, according to Mr Hughes, you risk getting lynched if you so much as mention Nelson! A William Coutts ran a Sunday School for the Cadbury’s initially in Bull Street, later moving to the Bristol Road, and finishing up in one on Park Street by the Bull Ring that had begun as a Methodist Chapel at which John Wesley is known to have preached. This became a (Temperance – alcohol free) Night Club that was very popular and known locally as the ‘Mucker’ that the Council closed down. Mr Coutts then bought up a plot of land in John Bright Street where he built a Theatre, the Lyceum, part financed by Henry Mitchell, the brewer (of M & B fame) who contributed £4000. More finance was required to equip the interior and part of this came from Lester Collingwood, a Londoner and descendant of the Admiral: who renamed it the Alexandra Theatre in honour of Edward VII Queen who had recently succeeded to the Throne. The family much more associated with the Alex is that of Derek Salberg whose father Leon took over following Collingwood’s death in 1910. Leon died in his office at the Theatre in 1938 and his ghost is said to inhabit the theatre along with several others. Arthur Lowe (Captain Mainwaring) passed away in his dressing room at the Alex in 1982.
BIRMINGHAM STATUES:
Love it or hate it everyone must surely remember the glass fibre ‘Forward’ statue in Centenary Square outside the ICC and the ‘Rep’ that was destroyed by fire on 10th April 2003. Raymond Mason, the sculptor who created it is a Birmingham born man whose origins where in Wheeleys Lane in the Holloway Head area but now lives and works in Paris: Mr Hughes told us of how had become personally acquainted with the artist during the Statues erection during the building of Centenary Square and after wards. He said that hidden away in depths of the Museums stores in Nechells (Dolman Street - only opened to the public twice a year) is another statue by Raymond Mason of a mining disaster near Paris that he presented to Birmingham and concurred with one of our members suggestion that it ought to sited near the location of the former colliery in Hampstead that suffered a similar tragic event in 1908. The talk then shifted to the once proposed relocation of the Boulton-Murdoch-Watt (gilded) statue that was originally set outside the Registry Office on the opposite side of Broad Street. We were shown some pictures of the removal of these figures when they were taken away for restoration – an event that attracted little attention. Unfortunately this proved to be a non starter, as Mr Hughes explained, because directly beneath Centenary Square is a well used rail tunnel leading to New Street Station and the weight of the plinth that carries the gilded figures was too much for the ground to tolerate and a may have caused a rail disaster. The Plinth and Statues could have been relocated within Centenary Square where it would have been on solid ground but it was thought that plans for the new library (mentioned above) may have put this on hold for the time being.
You cannot open any history of Birmingham without coming across the names of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch and the towns’ growth during the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th Century. Next year, 2009 sees the bicentenary of Boulton’s death in 1809 and we understand that plans are afoot not to let this event pass unnoticed. Incidentally if you believe in superstition and theories about numbers Matthew Boulton died in 1809: James Watt in 1819 and William Murdoch in 1839 (all 9’s) and if you are so inclined there are numerous combinations you can do with 3’s and 9’s (it was probably sheer coincidence anyway).FASCINATING FACTS:
Mr Hughes then went through several sights and facts of the ‘not many people know that….’ type beginning with a Branch of Lloyds Bank in Digbeth that showed their original emblem of a beehive. These can still be seen at Poplar Road, Solihull, and Sutton Coldfield. Is this intended to be because like ‘bees store their honey, Lloyds store your money’ or if you want more than you are entitled to the Bank, like bees will sting you! Lloyds began in Birmingham in 1765 and their first branch is marked by a Blue Plaque in Dale End very close to Albert Street where there used to be the Beehive Department Store that once upon a time employed Jasper Carrot as a lino salesman! Lloyds only adopted the Black Horse symbol after they set up in London.
Reverting to the Bull Ring we next heard about St Martin’s Church whose tower (13th Century) is oldest surviving feature, set in the wall of the church near the tower is an outdoor pulpit that overlooks the old outdoor market area from where the incumbent could preach to the shoppers (competing with ‘Holy Joe’ on his soapbox?) One of the treasures of St Martins is a stained glass window by the Birmingham born Pre Raphaelite artist Edward Burn Jones; towards the end of 1940 just before the blitz really got going the Bishop gave instructions that this window was to be removed, packed and put into safe storage in the countryside for the duration. This was duly done and the crate left overnight in the entrance, that same night the church was hit by bombs and the roof over the case collapsed, next morning they found the case covered by rubble and broken masonry; when opened for examination the window was completely intact and undamaged.
Mr Hughes then spoke briefly about Oscar Deutsch and his ODEON Cinemas; he was a Birmingham man who chose Odeon because of its Greek origin for an ‘Outdoor Theatre’. Everyone now knows that ‘Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation’ is the usually accepted meaning for this. What we did not previously know was that he never paid his contractors in cash but gave them shares in the cinema in lieu, thus ensuring they did their best work because their share income was dependent upon the returns. He used the same architect for all the cinemas with an instruction that he wanted them the same but different which is why, no matter what their present day use is they are easily recognisable for what they once were.
One the corner of Ann Street (now Colmore Row) opposite the Town Hall (opened 1834 – designed by Joseph Hansom – of the Hansom Cab design) stood Harris’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” (plus second hand goods and a ‘freak-show’) an 18th Century building used as a ‘museum of unusual curios’ that was swept away to make way for new Council House that opened in 1879 thanks to work/guidance of men like Joseph Chamberlain. It was designed J Yeoville Thomason (who also designed the original Lewis building in Bull Street/Corporation Street). Outside this once stood a statue of former Prime Minister Robert Peel who was not popular with the Brummie people over his actions in respect of the Corn Laws that lead to riots because of the increase in the price of bread. They later changed their minds after he repealed the same laws he had introduced. Following a traffic accident that knocked down his statue it was repaired and now stands outside ‘Tally-Ho’ the Police Training College on Pershore Road – the modern Police force was also one of Peel’s contributions. Incidentally he lived at Drayton Manor the leisure complex outside Tamworth.
Thanks to Joseph Chamberlain’s administration as Mayor Birmingham was one of the first Councils to set up its own public utility authorities for gas, electricity and eventually water supply. Rather than load their citizens with local taxes/rates the profits from these companies were used to build and open the now well renowned Museum and Art Gallery, for which Yeoville Thomason was the chosen Architect. If you have ever visited this you will remember that all the galleries, including the Edwardian Tea Room are on the first floor level, why? Because in the original scheme the ground floor contained offices where the public went to pay their bills. Later the Gas authority moved to expanded accommodation round the corner in Edmund Street where the former Gas Hall is now used to house travelling exhibitions.
Still existing on the opposite side of Paradise Street facing the town hall and original site of the Midland Institute is the building that was Queens College – a medical training school and forerunner of the Universities Medical School. In the basement of this was a museum that was open to the public and contained objects and examples of the work of a former taxidermist that were relocated to Aston Hall. A terrific row erupted because when the College moved to Edmund Street there used to be two giraffes – only one survived and it was reported that the second one had fallen apart revealing no skeleton but an infested horse-hair mattress and the remains of a brass bedstead!
The Museum and Art Gallery is well known to many because of its Clock Tower – ‘Big Brum’ which was donated to the town by Abraham Politovsky, a glassmaker in Broad Street who was the unofficial timekeeper whose job it was to go round winding and correcting the time setting on all the public clocks on a Saturday evening to the correct local time. Many residents used these as a standard to set their own watches and clocks to on their way to church or chapel on Sunday mornings. For some years Birmingham and its people would not accept Greenwich Mean Time (introduced in the mid 19th Century for the benefit of the Railways) and wanted to keep their own local time. Eventually Abraham tired of this dual time arrangement and realising that ultimately GMT had to be accepted on one Saturday he set all the public clocks to GMT. As you can imagine this gave an upturn for all the watch makers/repairers the following week when many citizens thought that their time-pieces had developed faults overnight.
It was a remarkable, well illustrated and informative evening and Mr Hughes gave us much more detail, anecdotes from his years as a guide and other personal recollections than space permits us to include in this report. We very much look forward to a further visit from Ken Hughes at some time in the future.
We are always pleased to welcome guests and visitors at our meetings, the next of which will be on 8th January 2009 when the topic will be a return visit by our own member Nick Ward who will be telling us more about the ‘Uniforms of the Guards’ a must for any ex-guardsmen in the area. The following meeting will be another return visit by Dr Mike Hodder on the most ‘Recent Archaeological Developments in the Birmingham Area’ on February 12th. Meetings are held in the Spencer Lounge Bar at Arden Hall, Water Orton Road at 7.45pm.JERRY DUTTON.
NORTH ARDEN LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
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