Thomas Thalric Harman

“ The introduction of register offices was a great improvement, the first opened in Birmingham being at 26, St. John Street (then a respectable neighbourhood) , in January 1777, the fee being 6d. for registering and 3d. for an enquiry. There are a number of respectable offices of this kind now, but it cannot be hidden that there have been establishments so called which have been little better than dens of thievery, the proprietors caring only to net all the half-crowns and eighteen-pences they could extract from the poor people who were foolish enough to go to them. ”

“ Railways: London and North Western.—The first proposal for connecting Birmingham with the outer world by means of a railway seems to have originated in 1824, as we read of the share-book for a Birmingham and London line being opened here on December 14 of that year. ”

“ The day the Grand Junction line was opened was kept as a general holiday between here and Wolverhampton, hundreds of tents and picnic parties being seen along the line.
The directors of the Birmingham and Gloucester line ordered eleven locomotives from Philadelphia at a cost of 85,000 dollars, and it was these engines that brought their trains to Camp Hill at first. In comparison with the engines now in use, these Americans were very small ones. ”

“ The Assizes, held in the following July, may be called "the Roughs' Reprisals," as one was sentenced to death, four to penal servitude for life, six to fifteen years each (three of them were flogged as well) , one to ten years, one to seven years, and four to five years each.—A Conservative "demonstration" held at the Lower Grounds, October 13th, 1884, was broken into and disturbed by Liberals, who held a meeting outside and then breached the walls, spoilt the fireworks, and added another to the long list of Birmingham riots. ”

“ The Jabet Riots in 1816 were primarily caused by the proprietor of Jabet's Herald publishing an address showing that "a man, wife, and six children could live on 6s a week." Some cheap food was presented to the printer ill the shape of potatoes, with which his windows were smashed.—Claims for damages arising out of the Chartist riots of 1839 were made to the amount of £16,283, of which £15,027 were allowed, and rates were made on the Hundred of Hemlingford for £20,000 to cover the same and the expenses attendant thereon. ”

“ Liverpool, is also much larger, being 410ft wide, but it is in two spins. The station has been since greatly enlarged, extending as tar as Hill Street, on which side are the Midland Booking Offices. The tunnels have been partially widened or thrown into open cuttings, additional platforms constructed, and miles of new rails laid down, one whole street (Great Queen Street) being taken bodily into the station for a carriage drive. The station now covers nearly 12 acres, the length of platforms exceeding 11⁄2 miles. ”

“ The trains were pulled up the incline at the Lickey by powerful stationary engines.
On the completion of the London line, the engineers who had been employed presented George Stephenson at a dinner held here with a silver tureen and stand worth 130 guineas. This celebrated engineer made his last public appearance at a meeting in this town of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. July 16, 1848, his death taking place on the 12th of the following month.
The L.N.W.R. Co. have 46,000 men in their employ.
The G.W.R, has the longest mileage of any railway in England, 2,2761⁄2 miles ”

“ Of late years there have been introduced amongst us several other curiosities in the way of religious bodies, like the Theists, the Polytheists, the Positivists, the Secularists, the Latter-day Saints, and others. ”

“ Ravenhurst.—The old house at Camp Hill, which gave names to Hurst Street and Ravenhurst Street, leading in the direction of the mansion, where in 1810 there were found a number of coins and tokens of the period of Queen Elizabeth and Charles I., as well as sundry Scotch "bawbees." ”

“ The answer was Bird, Mint, G, and Ham—Birmingham, the scribe who poetically replied, winding-up by saying that it was
"A town that in trading excels half the nation,
Because, Jove be thanked, there is no Corporation!"
Recorders.—The first Recorder appointed for the borough was Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill, whose name is so intimately connected with the history of Reformatory and Industrial Schools. Mr. Arthur Robarts Adams, Q.C., who succeeded Mr. M. D. Hill on his resignation in January, 1866, was a native of the county, and had acted as Deputy-Recorder for some years. ”

“ The fares first charged between Birmingham and London were 30s. by first class, and 20s. second class (open carriages) by day trains; 32s. 6d, first class and 25s, second class, by night. In 1841 the fares were 30.s, first, 25s. second, and 20s. 3d, third glass; they are now 17s. 4d., 13s. 6d, and 9s. 5d.
"Booking" was a perfectly correct term when the lines were first used, as when passengers went for their tickets they had to give their names and addresses, to be written on the tickets and in the book containing the counterfoils of the tickets. ”

“ On February 28, 1881, the ringers achieved a true peal of Stedman cinques, containing 9,238 change, in 63⁄4 hours, being the longest peal ever rung in that method, and noteworthy as the composition of H. Johnson, senr., and rung in honour of his 72nd birthday. In former days the local ringers were also famed for their skill with handbells, one celebrated performer being Elijah Roberts, an extraordinary adept, who died in 1865. One of this worthy's feats was the ringing (at Liverpool. March 23, 1837) a peal comprising 19,440 changes of Kent treble bob maximus, taking 133⁄4 hours.—See "Bells." ”

“ Riots.—In times past the Brums had a bad name for rioting, and when the list is looked over many may think it not undeserved.—In July, 1715, the Old Meeting House was destroyed in a riot.—In 1737 the naiimakers from Worcestershire marched into this town and forced the ironmongers to sign a paper allowing an advance in prices.—Some bigoted brutes got up an anti-Methodist movement in 1751, which culminated in a general riot on Oct. ”