Thomas Thalric Harman

“ Attempts have lately been made to revive the old sport, but the sooner the would-be adepts learn that their occupation is gone the better it will be for them, and all men.
Racing and Steeplechasing was not unknown to the Brums of the 18th century, as the Gentleman's Magazine makes note of the races at Birmingham, May 27 to 29, 1740, but where the old racecourse was situated it is impossible to tell. Indeed it is doubtful whether any special course has ever long been in existence, as at various dates we read of races being held at Aston, Bordesley, Deritend, Walmer Lane, and other places. ”

“ Schools and Colleges.—What with thirty board schools, about sixty church and chapel schools, and nearly 300 private enterprise schools, Birmingham cannot be said to be short of educational establishments, even for the 100,000 children we have amongst us. At the end of 1881 there were 93,776 children in the borough between the ages of three and thirteen. Next to the Free Grammar School, the oldest public school in the town must be the Lancasterian School, which was opened September 11, 1809, and was rebuilt in 1851. ”

“ E. P. Weston, the walker par excellence, was at Bingley Hall in April, 1876, and at the Lower Grounds in Jan., 1884, when on his walk of 5,000 miles in 100 days.—A six days "go-as-you-please" match came off at Bingley Hall in Sept., 1882, and a ridiculous exhibition of a similar nature occurred in the following year, when women were induced to walk for the sport of gaping idiots.
Pigeon-flying has been for several generations the favourite amusement of numbers of our workers, and the flyers have a club of their own, which dates from August, 1875. ”

“ The population is about 8,000, and the rateable value is put at £50,000, but as, through the attraction of the park, the town is a very popular resort, and is rapidly increasing, it may ultimately become a place of importance, worthy of municipal honours, which are even now being sought. ”

“ A Central Seventh Standard Technical School has been originated through the offer of Mr. George Dixon to give the use of premises in Bridge Street, rent free for five years, he making all structural alterations necessary to fit the same for the special teaching of boys from the Board Schools, who have passed the sixth standard, and whose parents are willing to keep their sons from the workshops a little longer than usual. ”

“ The respected owner of the Cambridge Street Works, like many other Conservatives, was one of the most liberal-minded men, and hundreds owe not only their education, but their present position in life to the care bestowed upon them at this school.—A Roman Catholic School was opened in Bartholomew Street, October 1, 1872 ”

“ A department in connection with the Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce was opened in May, 1853, and a High School of Trade and Commerce, for giving an education specially adapted for youths intended for mercantile pursuits, was commenced in the autumn of 1877. An attempt to extend the medical education to female students was made at one time, but the ladies were refused permission to attend the College June 27, 1873; they are still debarred from studying; surgery here, and none have as yet entered their names on the list of theological students. ”

“ The pollution of the river Tame in past years led to continuous litigation until the year 1877, when, as the result of an exhaustive inquiry, it was determined to form a United Drainage District Board, with powers to construct and maintain intercepting sewers sufficient for carrying the drainage of the whole district, comprising Aston, Aston Manor, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, Handsworth, Harborne, King's Norton, Northfield, Perry Barr, Saltley, and Smethwick. ”

“ Like the majority of so-called charily schools, this foundation was for many generations so managed that the funds went into almost any channel except the purpose for which it was designed—the free education of the poor—and even now it would be an interesting question to find out how many boys are receiving the advantages thereof whose parents are well able to pay for their learning elsewhere. ”

“ The New Street School is divided into a High School for boys, a High School for girls, and a Middle School, the other schools being respectively called Grammar Schools. The fees now payable at the Five Ways School (formerly the Proprietary School) , and at the new schools at Camp Hill and Albert Road, Aston are 2s. 6d. on admission, and £3 annually; to the High Schools the entrance fee is 10s., and the tuition fees £9 per annum; to the Middle Schools, 5s., and £6 per annum. The number of children in all the schools is about 2,000, and the fees amount to about £4,000 per annum. ”

“ During the three years' reign of this Board the religious question was a continual bone of contention, the payment of school fees for the teaching of the Bible in denominational schools being denounced in the strongest of terms in and out of the Board-room by the "Irreconcileables," as the Nonconforming minority were termed. The practical results of the Board's proceedings may be summed up thus: The Education Department decided that school accommodation was required for 15,000 children ”

“ These metallic salts absorb the sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia generated by decaying vegetable and animal matter, and doubtless so contributes to promote the health of the town, but nevertheless every precaution should be taken against the possible admission to the house of "sewer gas," which at all times is injurious to health. ”

“ There are a number of foundation scholarships, which entitle the successful competitors from the Grammar Schools to tree tuition at the High Schools, and ten exhibitions arising out of the Milward's, and Joanna Lench's Trusts, for the Universities, besides yearly class prizes of considerable value. ”

“ Football is again as old as the hills and there are hundreds of clubs in the town and district, the best meadow for the purpose (at the Lower Grounds) being about 12.t yards long by 75 yards broad. The Aston Villa is the chief club. ”

“ Cycling, though quite the rage at the present time, is by no means a modern amusement, as running a race with "dandy horses" was considered good sport in the days of the fourth Royal George. These vehicles consisted of two wheels united tandem fashion, the bar being fitted with saddle-shaped seat as in the first bicycles, but the motive power was applied through the contact of the riders' feet with the ground.—The "track" at the Lower Grounds measures 501 yards. ”

“ Athletics.—The Birmingham Athletic Club opened the Gymnasium in King Alfred's Place, in Aug 1866, and hold their annual display and assault-at-arms in the Town Hall in the month of March. Certain hours are allotted to the ladies' classes, and special terms are made for young men and schoolboys. ”

“ Philip's Church for securing the necessary land required for the school for a term of 1,000 years at 10s. per year. The first cost of the building was about £3,000, but many alterations and extensions have since been made thereto, the quaint little statues in the front being put up in 1770; they are the work of Mr. Edward Grubb, and are said to have been portraits of two of the children then actually in the school. The first bequest recorded is that of Mrs. Elizabeth White, who in 1722 left nearly 30 acres of land worth about £250 per year for the support of the school. ”

“ Priestley.—The statue of the discoverer of oxygen, near the Town Hall, was uncovered August 1, 1884. The amount subscribed as a Priestley memorial fund was £1,820, of which £972 went for the philosopher's stone effigy, about £10 for a tablet on the site of his house at Fair Hill, and £653 to the Midland Institute to found a scholarship in chemistry. ”

“ In 1882 the School was rebuilt, at a cost of about £5,700, and its endowments, some of which were given in the reign of Richard II., are yearly becoming of greater value as building progresses. The present population is nearly 6,000, the rateable value of property being £45,202, from an area of 12,000 acres. The parishes in the Union comprise Baddesley, Balsall, Barston, Bushwood, Elmdon, Knowle, Lapworth, Nuthurst, Packwood, Solihull, Tanworth, and Yardley, including an area of 46,302 acres, a population of 21,000, with a rateable value amounting to £157,000. ”

“ This was done, and the Duke took his messenger's card and saw no more of him at that time; but afterwards, finding that the little man was the traveller to a Birmingham button maker, he appointed him to a situation in the Mint, at £800 a year.
In 1766, it was necessary to have 25 constables ready to protect the farmers coming to market with their corn, the times were so hard with the poor. In the following year large quantities of rice were purchased by subscription and one gentleman, it is said, himself gave away half-a-ton per day for ten days. ”

“ Nearly 2,000 teachers attend the Church schools and about 2,500 attend Dissenting and other schools, the number of children on the books of Sunday Schools in Birmingham being estimated at—
Wesleyan College.—The five memorial stones of a College for training Wesleyan ministers, at the corner of Priory and College Roads, Handsworth, were laid June 8, 1880. The site includes 171⁄2 acres, and cost over £7,000, the total cost of the College when completed and furnished being estimated at £40,000. About fifty students are accommodated at present, but there is room for thirty more. ”

“ Sir Edward employed the best of talent and spared no pains to turn out a splendid work of art, but he never found a customer for it. The statue is 6ft. high, weighing 21⁄2 tons, and costing over £1.500, but was sold in November, 1880, to a gentleman in the neighbourhood for £150, little more than the value of that metal.
Goldsmith.—The statue of Goldsmith, in the hall of the Reference Library, is a plaster cast of the bronze statue manufactured by Messrs. Elkington for the City of Dublin. ”

“ In the other departments greater facilities have been allowed the fair sex. a Central High School for girls being opened at the College September 17, 1879, accommodation being provided For eighty pupils. The Museum of Natural History formed at the College soon after its opening, long one of the town attraction for visitors, was presented to the Corporation, and formed the nucleus of the heterogenous collection at Aston Hall. ”

“ Our present sanitary system comprises the exclusion, as far as possible, of closet refuse and animal and vegetable matters from the sewers, and secondly, the purification by filtration, &c., of the outpourings of the sewers, after the partial separation therefrom of the more solid constituents. ”

“ In 1789 some young men formed the "Sunday Society" as an addition thereto, the object being to teach writing and arithmetic to boys and youths of the artisan class. In 1796 the society was extended, other classes being formed, lectures delivered, &c., and it was then called the "Brotherly Society." Mr. James Luckcock and Mr. Thos. Carpenter were the leaders, and this is claimed to have been the origin of Mechanics' Institutes. The Unitarians date their Sunday Schools from: the Baptists and Methodists from 1795. Deritend Sunday School was opened by Mr. ”

“ The first meeting of this Board was held December 6, 1877, when it took over the sewage farm at Saltley belonging to the Corporation (about 262 acres) , the plant and stock, &c. Up to the present time (end of 1884) , nearly half a million sterling has been spent by the Board, whose "farm" of 1,500 acres, extends from Saltley to Tyburn, two and a half miles, and who have now to deal with the sewage brought there from 188 miles of main sewers, extending as far as King's Norton and Selly Oak, Harborne, Smethwick, &c. ”

“ Elementary teachers, 173 males, 21 females—total, 194; average attendance, 152 males, 19 females—total, 171. Number of scholars, 3,370 males, 653 females—total, 4,023; average attendance, 2,510 males, 510 females—total 3,080. The total number admitted since the men's school commenced in 1845, and the women's in 1848, had been 40,350. In connection with the school there are a number of organisations of great utility, such as sick societies, building societies, savings' funds, libraries, excursions clubs, &c. ”

“ Sam. Timmins was placed in the Reference Library, April 26, 1876. It was destroyed in the fire, but has been replaced, and few could tell the present bust is not the original one.
Tyndale.—The Londoners have honoured themselves by erecting on the Thames Embankment a statue to the memory of the Reformer Tyndale, whom we have partly to thank for the English version of the Bible. To help pay for their ornament it was decided that the names of all towns subscribing £100 or more should be inscribed on the pedestal, and the Bible-lovers of Birmingham scraped together £86 15s. 3d. ”

“ The students may be male or female of any creed, or of any birthplace, though preference is given to candidates from Mason's Orphanage, and to poisons born in Birmingham or Kidderminster, other things being equal. The site contains a little over an acre of land, extending through from Edmund Street, with a frontage of 149 feet, to Great Charles Street, with a frontage of 127 feet. About one half of the area is covered by the present buildings, which were erected from the designs of Mr. ”