Thomas Thalric Harman

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Poor law management in the borough is greatly complicated from the fact of its comprising two different parishes, and part of a third. The Parish of Birmingham works under a special local Act, while Edgbaston forms part of King's Norton Union, and the Aston portion of the town belongs to the Aston Union, necessitating three different rates and three sets of collectors, &c. If a poor man in Moseley Road needs assistance he must see the relieving officer at the Parish Offices in the centre of the town if he lives on one side of Highgate Lane he must find the relieving officer at King's Heath ”

“ 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. ”

“ Parsons, Preachers, and Priests of the Past.—It would be a lengthy list or make note of all the worthy and reverend gentlemen who have, from pulpit or platform, lectured and preached to the people in our town, or who have aided in the intellectual advancement and education of the rising generation of their time. Church and Chapel alike have had their good men and true, and neither can claim a monopoly of talent, or boast much of their superiority in Christian fellowship or love of their kind. ”

“ The bitter feelings engendered by the old church-rate wars had doubtless much to do with this neglect of the "parish" church, but it was not exactly creditable to the Birmingham men of '49, when attention was drawn to the dangerous condition of the spire, and a general restoration was proposed, that what one gentleman has been pleased to call "the lack of public interest" should be made so manifest that not even enough could be got to rebuild the tower. ”

“ His connection with the public institutions of this town is part of our modern history, and no man yet ever exercised such influence or did more to advance the intelligence and culture of the people, and, as John Bright once said of Cobden "it was not until we had lost him that we knew how much we loved him." ”

“ The chapel, which has several stained windows, is capable of seating 800 persons, and in it, on May 9, 1883, the Bishop of Worcester administered the rite of confirmation to 31 of the inmates, a novelty in the history of Birmingham Workhouse, at all events. Full provision is made for Catholics and Nonconformists desiring to attend the services of their respective bodies. In connection with the Workhouse may be noted the Cottage Homes and Schools at Marston Green (commenced in October, 1878) for the rearing and teaching of a portion of the poor children left in the care of the Guardians. ”

“ Ancient records tell us that in 1285 three persons (William of Birmingham, Thomas of Maidenbacche, and Ranulph of Rugby) gave 23 acres of land at Aston and Saltley (then spelt Saluteleye) for the "endowment" of the Hospital of St. Thomas the Apostle, but that rather goes to prove the previous existence of a religious edifice instead of dating its foundation. In 1310 the Lord of Birmingham gave an additional 22 acres, and many others added largely at the time, a full list of these donors being given in Toulmin Smith's "Memorials of old Birmingham." ”

“ The cost of the buildings in the Upper Priory, including the site (1,500 square yards at seven guineas per yard) , was about £20,000, there being in addition to the offices and stables, a waiting-room (in which two men are on duty night and day) , a drill ground 153 ft. long by 40 ft. wide, an engine-room large enough for six engines, good-sized recreation rooms, baths, &;c. The residences are erected upon the "flat" system, and have a special interest in the fact that they constitute the first important introduction of that style of building in Birmingham. ”

“ Series of useful lectures and lessons have followed since, all bearing on home life, and as it has been shown that nearly one-half of the annual number of deaths in Birmingham are those of children under 5 years of age, it is to be hoped that the "useful work " the ladies of the Association have undertaken may be resultive in at least decreasing such infantile mortality. ”

“ By the end of 1799 the list shows that 92 patents had been granted to Birmingham men after Richard Baddeley had brought out his "patent streaks," and during the present century there have been many hundreds of designs patented or registered, scores of fortunes being made and thousands of hands employed, but often the inventors themselves have sold their rights for trifling amounts or succumbed to the difficulties that stood in the way of bringing their brainwork into practical use. ”

“ The design of the Municipal Buildings is essentially classical, but not of any particular style. Mr. Yeoville Thomasson, the architect, having given free rein to his own conceptions of what was required in a modern erection of the nature of a local Parliament House. The south, or principal front (to Ann Street) , has a length of 296 feet, the frontage to Congreve Street is 122 feet, and that to Eden Place is 153 feet. From the ground to the top of the main cornice the height is 65 feet; the pediment over the central entrance is 90 feet high ”

“ The necessity for such an institution was soon made apparent by larger premises being required, and the old police station, corner of Bradford Street and Alcester Street, was taken. This has been turned into a "Home," and it is never short of occupants, other premises being opened in 1883, close to Deritend Bridge, for the casual night-birds, the most promising of whom are transferred to the Home after a few days' testing. A somewhat similar Refuge for Girls has also been established, and if properly supported by the public, these institutions must result in much good. ”

“ The first election day was fixed for December 12, and for some time it was rumoured that Mr. Richard Spooner would stand in opposition to Messrs. Thomas Attwood and Joshua Scholefield, the chosen representatives of the Liberals; but the Conservative party, deeming it but right that those who had borne the brunt of the constitutional fight should be allowed the first honours of the local victory, declined to oppose those gentlemen, and they were accordingly returned without opposition. ”

“ February, and March, 1783, much discussion took place as to building a new Workhouse, but nothing definite was done in the matter until 1790, when it was proposed to obtain an Act for the erection of a Poorhouse at Birmingham Heath, a scheme which Hutton said was as airy as the spot chosen for the building. Most likely the expense, which was reckoned at £15,000, frightened the ratepayers, for the project was abandoned, and for fifty years little more was heard on the subject. ”

“ There is accommodation for 850, of which 250 seats are free. It is related that when the present edifice was erected (1735) a part of the small burial ground was taken into the site, and that pew-rents are only charged for the sittings covering the ground so occupied. The living is valued at £400. For a most interesting account of this church reference should be made to "Memorials of Old Birmingham" by the late Mr. Toulmin Smith. Services also take place at the School Room, and at the Mission Room, Darwin Street. ”

“ Large donations were given by friends as well as by many outside the pale of the Church, and Dr. Wilkinson, the Rector, soon found himself in a position to proceed with the work. The last sermon in the old church was preached by Canon Miller, the former Rector, Oct. 27, 1872, and the old brick barn gave place to an ecclesiastical structure of which the town may be proud, noble in proportions, and more than equal in its Gothic beauty to the original edifice of the Lords de Bermingham, whose sculptured monuments have at length found a secure resting-place in the chancel of the new St. Martin's. ”

“ A new church has been erected in Bristol Street for the congregation, with Sunday Schools, &c., £7,000 being the sum given for the site—In 1839, Hurst Street Chapel was built for the Unitarian Domestic Mission. May 1, same year, the first stone was laid of the Newhall Hill Chapel, which was opened July 10, 1840.—The Church of the Messiah, Bread Street, was commenced Aug. 12, 1860, and opened Jan. 1, 1862. This church, which cost £10,000 and will seat nearly 1,000 is built over a canal, one of the strangest sites ever chosen for a place of worship. ”

“ In one sense of the word they were guardians indeed, for they seem to have tried their inventive faculties in all ways to find work for the inmates of the House, even to hiring them out, or setting them to make worsted and thread The Guardians would also seem to have long had great freedom allowed them in the spending of the rates, as we read it was not an uncommon thing for one of them if he met a poor person badly off for clothes to give an order on the Workhouse for a fresh "rig out." ”

“ Subscribers of a guinea have the right of voting at the elections, and the committee have also power to admit children, on an annual payment of £25. The parents or guardians of the elected candidates, must pay £6 per year towards clothing, &c. The office of the Secretary is at City Chambers, 82 New Street.
Friendless Girls.—The Ladies' Association (established 1878) for the recovery of girls who have given way to temptation for a short time, or who have been convicted of a first offence, has been the means of rescuing many from the streets and from a life of crime. ”

“ Hollier's Charity was devised in 1789, the land now known as Highgate Park (originally 10 acres) being left to clothe, annually, twenty poor persons, twelve from Birmingham and eight from Aston. The purchase money paid by the Corporation has been invested, and, under the direction of thy Charity Commissioners, the income of this charity is appropriated thus:— £50 for clothing for twelve poor men or women of Birmingham, and eight ditto of Aston; £25 for relieving deserving and necessitous persons discharged from Borough Lunatic Asylum ”

“ In August, 1876, the Corporation purchased the site of the chapel, the graveyard, and the adjoining houses, in all about 1,000 square yards in extent, for the sum of £26,500, the last Sunday service being held on October 5, 1879. The remains of departed ministers and past members of the congregation interred in the burial-yard and under the chapel were carefully removed, mostly to Witton Cemetery The exact number of interments that had taken place in Cannon Street has never been stated, but they were considerably over 200; in one vault alone more than forty lead coffins being found. ”

“ They have several rendez-vous in the town, one of the principal being in Farm Street, from whence the "soldiers" frequently sally out, with drums beating and colours flying, much to their own glorification and other people's annoyance. Unitarians.—The building known for generations as the Old Meeting, is believed to have been the first Dissenting place of worship erected in Birmingham; and, as its first register dates from 1689, the chapel most likely was built in the previous year. ”

“ The poor-rates are levied half-yearly, and in 1848, 1862, and 1868 they amounted to 5s. per year, the lowest during the last forty years being 3s. in 1860; 1870, 1871, and 1872 being the next lowest, 3s. 2d. per year.
Not long ago it was said that among the inmates of the Workhouse were several women of 40 to 45 who had spent all their lives there, not even knowing their way into the town.
Population.—Hutton "calculated" that about the year 750 there would be 3.000 inhabitants residing in and close to Birmingham. ”

“ Parliamentary Elections.—Notwithstanding the safeguards provided by the Ballot Act, and all the deterrent measures enacted against bribery and intimidation, and those peculiar tactics known as "getting up steam," the period of an election for Parliamentary representatives is a time of great excitement even in these days. ”