Thomas Thalric Harman

“ Torrents of thick smoke, with ever and anon a burst of dingy flame, are issuing from a thousand funnels. 'A thousand hammers fall by turns.' You hear the clank of innumerable steam engines, the rumbling of cars and vans, and the hum of men interrupted by the sharper rattle of some canal boat loading or disloading, or, perhaps, some fierce explosion when the cannon founders [qy: the proof-house] are proving their new-made ware. ”

“ Birmingham bells have, however, made some little noise in the world, and may still be heard on sea or land, near and far, in the shape of door bells, ship bells, call bells, hand bells, railway bells, sleigh bells, sheep bells, fog bells, mounted on rockbound coasts to warn the weary mariner, or silver bells, bound with coral from other coasts, to soothe the toothless babbler. ”

“ Crime.—A few local writers like to acknowledge that Birmingham is any worse than other large towns in the matter of crime and criminals, and the old adage respecting the bird that fouls its own nest has been more than once applied to the individuals who have ventured to demur from the boast that ours is par excellence, a highly moral, fair-dealing, sober, and superlatively honest community. ”

“ Why should Birmingham be without its Crystal Palace of Industry when there is hardly an article used by man or woman (save food and dress materials) but what is made in her workshops? We have the men, we have the iron, and we have the money, too! And it is to be hoped that ere many years are over, some of our great guns will see their way to construct a local Exhibition that shall attract people from the very ends of the earth to this "Mecca" of ours. ”

“ Students of history will readily understand how the fine old place came gradually to be but little better than a huge barn, the inside walls whitewashed as was the wont, the monuments mutilated and pushed into corners, the font shoved out of sight, and the stained glass windows demolished. ”

“ With ladies on the School Board, lady Guardians, lady doctors, a special Women's Property Protection Act, &c., &c., it can hardly be said that our lady friends are much curtailed of their liberty. We know there are Ladies' Refreshment Rooms, Ladies' Restaurants, and Ladies' Associations for Useful Work and a good many other things, but we doubt if the dear creatures of to-day would ever dream of having such an institution as Ladies' Card Club, like that of their Edgbaston predecessors of a century back. ”

“ Then came the world's revolutioniser, steam, and no place in the universe has profited more by its introduction than this town. Gas engines are now popular, and even water engines are not unknown, while the motive power derivable from electricity is the next and greatest boon promised to us, Mean- while, the introduction of compressed air as a means of transmitting power for long distances marks a new and important era, not only in engineering science, but in furthering the extension of hundreds of those small industries, which have made Birmingham so famous a workshop. ”

“ Hoping to do away with this impression, a well-known local lawyer bethought himself of the long-forgotten "Appeal of Murder," trusting that by a second acquittal Thornton's innocence would be acknowledged by all. Though the condition of all the parties was but humble, friends soon came forward with funds and good advice, so that within the year and a day which the law allowed, proceedings were taken in the name of William Ashford (Mary's brother, who, as next heir, according to the old law, had the sole power of pardon in such a case) for an "Appeal of Murder" against Abraham Thornton. ”

“ But though they are ever moving they are ever at home; who once lived the favourites of heaven, and fed upon the cream of the earth, but now are little regarded by either; whose society is entirely confined to themselves, except in the commercial line. In the synagogue, situated in the Froggery, they still preserve the faint resemblance of the ancient worship, their whole apparatus being no more than the drooping ensigns of poverty. ”

“ Open Spaces.—March 8, 1883, saw the formation of the Birmingham Association for the Prevention of Open Spaces and Public Footpaths, the object of which is to be the securing of the rights of the public to the open spots, footpaths, and green places, which, for generations, have belonged to them. There are few such left in the borough now, but the Association may find plenty to do in the near neighbourhood, and if its members can but save us one or two of the old country walk, they will do good service to the community. ”

“ Lunacy.—Whether it arises from political heat, religious ecstacies, intemperance, or the cares and worry of the universal hunt for wealth, it is certainly a painful fact to chronicle that in proportion to population insanity is far more prevalent now than it was fifty years ago, and Birmingham has no more share in such excess than other parts of the kingdom. ”

“ When the centenary of the Hospital was celebrated in 1879, a suggestion was made that an event so interesting in the history of the charity would be most fittingly commemorated by the establishnient of a Suburban Hospital, where patients whose diseases are of a chronic character could be treated with advantage to themselves, and with relief to the parent institution, which is always so pressed for room that many patients have to be sent out earlier than the medical officers like. ”

“ Pigs and sheep were sold in New Street up to the opening of Smithfield. Some five-and-twenty years back a movement was set on foot for the removal of the Cattle Market to the Old Vauxhall neighbourhood, but the cost frightened the people, and the project was shelved. The "town improvers " or to-day, who play with thousands of pounds as children used to do at chuck-farthing, are not so easily baulked, and the taxpayers will doubtless soon have to find the cash for a very much larger Cattle Market in some other part of the borough. ”

“ The Liberal party have maintained their ascendancy, and they have provided the town with a set of schools that cannot be equalled by any town in the kingdom, either for number, magnificence of architecture, educational appliance, high-class teachers, or (which is the most important) means for the advancement of the scholars, to whom every inducement is held out for self-improvement, except in the matter of religion, which, as nearly as possible, is altogether banished from the curriculum. ”

“ Few men have entered so quickly into popular favour as Dr. Miller did, which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the fact that he not only showed a sincere desire to live in harmony with the Dissenters of all shades, but that he was prepared to take his full share in the public work of the town, and determined to be the minister—not of any section of the people, but of the parish altogether. ”

“ As in the case of New Street Station, the introduction of the Great Western Railway caused the removal of a very large number of old buildings, but the monster wooden shed which did duty as the Snow Hill Station for many years was as great a disgrace to the town as ever the old tumbledown structures could have been that were removed to make way for it. This, however, was remedied in 1871, by the erection of the present building, which is extensive and convenient, the platforms having a run of 720 feet, the span of the roof being 92 feet. ”

“ Henry Disney, Birmingham is described as "a very large populous town, the upper part of which stands dry on the side of a hill, but the lower is watry, and inhabited by the meaner sort of people. They are employed here in the Iron Works, in which they are such ingenious artificers, that their performances in the smallwares of iron and steel are admired both at home and abroad. ”

“ Nothing has been too ponderous and naught too trivial for the exercise of the inventive faculties of our skilled workmen. All the world knows that hundreds of patents have been taken out for improvements, and discoveries in connection with steam machinery, but few would credit that quite an equal number relate to such trifling articles as buckles and buttons, pins and pens, hooks and eyes, &c.; and fortunes have been made even more readily by the manufacture of the small items than the larger ones. ”

“ Going away from the immediate centre of the town architectural improvements will be noted on all hands, Snow Hill, for one place, being evidently in the regenerative throes of a new birth, with its Gothic Arcade opposite the railway station, and the new circus at the foot of the hill, where for so many long years there has been nothing hut a wreck and a ruin. ”

“ It has been proved that; the town's name has, at times, been spelt in over a gross of different ways, and if any reader will take the trouble to look at the public buildings, banks, and other places where the blue, red, and gold of the Birmingham Arms shines forth, he will soon be able to count three to four dozen different styles; every carver, painter, and printer apparently pleasing himself how he does it. ”

“ Timmins, "The devotion of George Dawson to Shakespeare was not based upon literary reasons alone, nor did it only rest upon his admiration and his marvel at the wondrous gifts bestowed upon this greatest of men, but it was founded upon his love for one who loved so much. His heart, which knew no inhumanity, rejoiced in one who was so greatly human, and the basis of his reverence for Shakespeare was his own reverence for man. ”

“ There is a curious miscellany of articles on exhibition at Aston Hall, which some may call a "Museum," and a few cases of birds, sundry stuffed animals, &c., but we must wait until the Art Gallery now in course of erection, is finished before the Midland Metropolis can boast of owning a real Museum. At various times, some rich examples of industrial art have been exhibited in the temporary Art Gallery adjoining the Midland Institute, and now, in one of the rooms of the Free Library, there are sufficient to form the nucleus of a good Museum. ”

“ Now the Jews are entitled to every right and privilege that a Christian possesses. It is not possible to say when the Jewish community of this town originated, but it must have been considerably more than a hundred and fifty years ago, as when Hutton wrote in 1781, there was a synagogue in the Froggery, "a very questionable part of the town," and an infamous locality. He quaintly says:— "We have also among us a remnant of Israel, a people who, when masters of their own country, were scarcely ever known to travel, and who are now seldom employed in anything else. ”

“ Guardians, and all others connected with them should be allowed more elbow-room. A parish palace, almost rivalling our Municipal Buildings in magnificence of ornate architecture, has therefore been erected at the junction of Edmund Street and Newhall Street, where poor unfortunate people going to the Workhouse, and whose ultimate destination will possibly be a pauper's grave, may have the gratification of beholding beautiful groups of statuary sculpture. ”

“ Robert Walter Winfield, though he took comparatively little part in the public life of our town, deserves a prominent place among our men of note as a manufacturer who did much towards securing Birmingham a somewhat better name than has occasionally been given it, in respect to the quality of the work sent out. Starting early in life, in the military ornament line, Mr. Winfield began in a somewhat small way on the site of the present extensive block of buildings known as Cambridge Street Works, which has now developed into an establishment covering several acres of land. ”

“ I have looked into their ironworks where 150,000 men are smelting the metal in a district a few miles to the north: their coal mines, fit image of Arvenns; their tubes and vats, as large as country churches, full of copperas and aqua fortis and oil of vitroil; and the whole is not without its attractions, as well as repulsions, of which, when we meet. ”

“ Upon the shelves are crowds of books, whose pages open no more to those clear, thoughtful eyes, and scattered in the drawers and boxes are the notes and memoranda, and pocket-books, and diaries never to be continued now. ”

“ Financially, however, though at one time there were nearly 500 members, it was never successful, possibly through lack of assistance that might have been expected from the manufactuers and large employers, for, hide it as we may, with a few honourable exceptions, that class, fifty years ago, preferred strong men to wise ones, and rather set their backs against opening the doors of knowledge to their work-people, or their children. It was a dozen years before the Institution was able to remove to a home of its own in Newhall Street, but it rapidly got into a hopeless state of debt. ”

“ The average import of shell is about 1,000 tons per year, and the value about £30,000.—There are 265 button manufacturers in Birmingham, of whom 152 make pearl buttons, 26 glass, 8 horn and Done, 14 ivory, 12 gilt metal, 3 wood, and 5 linen, the other 45 being of a mixed or general character, silver, brass, steel, wood, and papier mache, being all, more or less, used. Nearly 6,000 hands are employed in the trade, of whom about 1,700 are in the pearl line, though that branch is not so prosperous as it was a few years back. ”

“ There were specimens of some of the greatest achievements in the arts of painting, sculpture, porcelain and pottery, carving and enamelling; ancient and modern metalwork, rich old furniture, armour, &c., that had ever been gathered together, and there can be little doubt that the advance which has since taken place in the scientific and artistic trade circles of the town spring in great measure from this Exhibition.—On the 28th of August, 1865, an Industrial Exhibition was opened at Bingley Hall, and so far as attendance went, it must take first rank, 160,645 visitors having passed the doors. ”

“ The manner in which the estates of the old Lords of the Manor, of the Guild of Holy Cross, and the possessions of the ancient Priory, have been divided and portioned out by descent, marriage, forfeiture, plunder, and purchase is interesting matter of history, but rather of a private than public nature. ”

“ That the inhabitants of Birmingham, so rapidly increasing in numbers and wealth, should be desirous of direct representation in the House of Commons, could be no wonder even to the most bigoted politicians of the last and early part of the present century. ”

“ The first effects of the sheathing of the sword was a collapse in prices of all kinds, and a general stagnation of trade, of which Birmingham, made prosperous through the demand for its guns, &c., felt the full force. Bad trade was followed by bad harvests, and the commercial history of the next dozen years is but one huge chronicle of disaster, shops and mills closing fast, and poverty following faster. ”

“ In 1882 a special fund was started for the purpose of giving aid to women left with children, and about £380 was subscribed thereto, while the ordinary income was only £680. The special fund can hardly be said as yet to have got into working order, but when the cost of proving the property of the recipients, with the necessary expenses of office rent, salaries, &c., have been deducted from the ordinary income, the amount left to be distributed among the persons deemed by the officials deserving of assistance is small indeed, the expenses reaching about £330 per year. ”

“ Sam Timmins, "to open the door and look upon the strange relics there is to stand in the very presence of the mighty dead. Everything in the room remains just as it was left by the fast failing hands of the octogenarian engineer. ”

“ A great advance has taken place during the past thirty years, and Birmingham jewellers now stand foremost in all matters of taste and design, the work- men of to-day ranking as artists indeed, even the commonest gilt jewellery turned out by them now being of high- class design and frequently of most elaborate workmanship. ”

“ Poor Law and Poor Rates.-Local history does not throw much light upon the system adopted by our early progenitors in their dealings with the poor, but if the merciless laws were strictly carried out, the wandering beggars, at all events must have had hard lives of it By an act passed in the reign of Henry VIII., it was ordered that vagrants should be taken to a market town, or other convenient place and there to be tied to the tail of a cart, naked, and beaten with whips until the body should be bloody by reason of the punishment. ”

“ It has been estimated that nearly £5,000 is given every year in what may be called the indiscriminate charity of giving alms to those who ask it in the streets or from door to door. By far the largest portion of this amount goes into the hands of the undeserving and the worthless, and the formation of a central relief office, into which the charitably-disposed may hand in their contributions, and from whence the really poor and deserving may receive help in times of distress, has been a long-felt want. ”

“ First a law must be got to make a street, another to light it, a third to pave it, and then one to keep it clean. It is a narrow street, and an Act must be obtained to widen it; when widened some wiseacre thinks a market should be held in it, and a law is got for that, and for gathering tolls; after a bit, another is required to remove the market, and then the street must be "improved," and somebody receives more pounds per yard than he gave pence for the bit of ground wanted to round off the corners ”

“ It is not too much to say that millions have been spent in improving Birmingham during the past fifty years, not reckoning the cost of the last and greatest improvement of all—the making of Corporation Street, and the consequent alterations on our local maps resulting therefrom. ”