Birmingham received its Charter of Incorporation as a Borough on 1st November 1838. The package containing the Charter was opened by William Scholefield, the High Bailiff at the office of the Birmingham Journal and was read to the public at the Town Hall on 5th November. The first town council, made up of the mayor, sixteen aldermen and forty-eight councillors elected from thirteen wards, met on 27th December 1838, the day after they were elected.
One of the first decisions made by Birmingham’s very first Council was to adopt the town’s new motto, ‘Forward’. One of the alternative suggestions rejected was ‘Fortitudo et Rectum’. It is suggested that the ‘Forward’ motto was influenced by Birmingham’s leading position at that time in the modern spheres of science and industry, the motto demonstrating that Birmingham was proudly looking to the future and not back to past glories in which it had little share.
The City’s coat of arms was adopted by Birmingham Corporation on 3rd April 1889, following the earlier receipt of ‘letters patent’ granting a Royal Charter Conferring the title of “city” on 14th January 1889. However, the original coat of arms was modified and enhanced, becoming the City Council’s official emblem on 10th May 1977. The modern-day coat of arms shows a shield divided by a cross into patterned quarters with a crown at the centre. Beneath the shield is the City’s motto “Forward” and above it is a crest made up of a knight’s visor helmet bearing a mural crown with a rose gules. From this crest emerges the arm of a smith, holding a hammer.
The most striking features of the coat of arms are a man and woman standing either side of the ornate central shield clearly representing Birmingham’s cultural and industrial heritage. On the left of the shield is a woman with a laurel wreathe, holding in her left hand a book and in her right hand a painter’s palette. She is said to represent the artistic and learning tradition of the city. The figure on the right hand side is a man in the clothes of a smith, holding a cupel and in his left hand a hammer. He is stood next to an anvil and is said to represent the industrial heritage of Birmingham.
The patterns on the shield tell an interesting story and date back to the medieval Lords who gave not only their family arms to the town but also their name. The de Bermingham family (or Bermyngham) were Lords of the Manor of Birmingham for over 400 years. The family probably acquired the manor shortly after the Norman Conquest and it was Peter de Bermingham who was first granted a market near the river Rea in 1166. In 1536 it was Edward de Bermingham who was finally deprived of the Manor by the Crown, having been unjustly framed by John Dudley.
The toothed pattern, known as an indent, which occurs in the top right quarter and bottom left quarter of the shield is from the de Bermingham’s coat of arms. The pattern known as ‘lozenges’ in the top left and bottom right quarters of the shield in the City’s coat of arms originally came from the shield of the noble Fitz-Ansculf family, who were Lords of Dudley. When an heiress of the Fitz-Ansculf family married a son of the de Bermingham family, the lozenges from her family shield were incorporated into her husband’s shield. This only happened because she was marrying beneath her, normally the male line would dominate and his shield would be passed to his sons unaltered.
Both of these patterns occur on three sculptured effigies of knights which lie inside St Martin’s church and also in the tiles of the chancel floor. These three knights are said to include William Bermyngham who fought under Edward the First and Sir John Bermygham who represented the county in the Parliament of Richard the Second.
There are however a number of anomalies in the modern day coat of arms. Firstly, the position of the four patterned quarters does not correspond to ancient heraldic rules in that the lozenges of the Fitz-Ansculf heiress should occupy the second and third quarters whilst her husband’s indent should occupy the first and fourth quarters of the shield. The correct shield is represented in the old tiles of the chancel floor of St Martins, whereas the shield used in the coat of arms since 1889, is in fact, wrong.
Her’s on the right! The second anomaly lies in the fact that the two figures in the coat of arms, the male smith and female artist have swapped sides since they were originally designed in 1889. The coat of arms used since 1977 shows the female figure on the left of the shield and the male figure on the right, whereas in the original coat of arms he was on the left and she was on the right.
Find out more at the website links below:
Other reference material used to research this page:
Forward A History Project by T W Sussams 1932
Portrait of Birmingham Vivian Bird 1974
Forward – the ill-fated statue in Centenary Square
In 1991 Birmingham celebrated the opening of the new International Convention Centre by HM the Queen and the renewal of the adjacent public space which was renamed Centenary Square. It was a time of great optimism for the city and a renewed sense of public pride. The addition of a brand new piece of public sculpture in Centenary Square on the theme of the city’s motto ‘Forward’ therefore seemed to be extremely apt.
Forward was a huge piece of sculpture by Raymond Mason which was placed in the centre of the new public square. It was made out of fibreglass and painted cream and pink. The piece had a cartoon-like appearance and showed a group of people emerging from the smoky mists of Birmingham’s industrial past, led at the front by a striking figure with one hand in the air, signifying industry, and his other hand clutching his chest, signifying Birmingham as the heart of England.
Other figures in the procession included a woman personifying the Arts from the City’s coat of arms, blowing a kiss to the past and another woman dropping a curtsey in the direction of the Repertory Theatre. Joseph Chamberlain with his monocle was also present, as was Josiah Mason clutching a pile of books. An inscription at the front of the sculpture related to the genetic formula of DNA, representing the continuous advances of scientific discovery.
Facing the future
The Forward sculpture attracted great controversy and generous piles of public indignation. Letters to the Evening Mail and other newspapers described it as being made of margarine, marzipan or marshmallow. One of the figures heads was sawn off and the sculpture as used by children as a climbing frame and by adults as a place to scoff their McDonalds.
However, as with Iron:Man in New Street, the Birmingham public were gradually starting to warm to their marshmallow cartoon people when in 2003 it was set alight by teenage vandals and completely ruined.
In 1991 Birmingham celebrated the opening of the new International Convention Centre by HM the Queen and the renewal of the adjacent public space which was renamed Centenary Square. It was a time of great optimism for the city and a renewed sense of public pride. The addition of a brand new piece of public sculpture in Centenary Square on the theme of the city’s motto ‘Forward’ therefore seemed to be extremely apt.
Forward was a huge piece of sculpture by Raymond Mason which was placed in the centre of the new public square. It was made out of fibreglass and painted cream and pink. The piece had a cartoon-like appearance and showed a group of people emerging from the smoky mists of Birmingham’s industrial past, led at the front by a striking figure with one hand in the air, signifying industry, and his other hand clutching his chest, signifying Birmingham as the heart of England.
Other figures in the procession included a woman personifying the Arts from the City’s coat of arms, blowing a kiss to the past and another woman dropping a curtsey in the direction of the Repertory Theatre. Joseph Chamberlain with his monocle was also present, as was Josiah Mason clutching a pile of books. An inscription at the front of the sculpture related to the genetic formula of DNA, representing the continuous advances of scientific discovery.
Facing the future
The Forward sculpture attracted great controversy and generous piles of public indignation. Letters to the Evening Mail and other newspapers described it as being made of margarine, marzipan or marshmallow. One of the figures heads was sawn off and the sculpture as used by children as a climbing frame and by adults as a place to scoff their McDonalds.
However, as with Iron:Man in New Street, the Birmingham public were gradually starting to warm to their marshmallow cartoon people when in 2003 it was set alight by teenage vandals and completely ruined.
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