Thomas Harman

“ We have all lived long, and must soon part. God have mercy upon us, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!"
This was probably nearly the last letter Johnson wrote, for on the 13th of the following month, just twenty-seven days after his arrival in London from Birmingham, oppressed with disease, he was numbered with the dead. ”

“ He was one of the directors of the London and Birmingham Railway when it was opened in 1836, but objecting to the running of Sunday trains, withdrew from the board. In 1838 he was elected Alderman for St. Thomas's Ward, but would not subscribe to the required declaration respecting the Established religion. At a very early date he took an active part in the Anti-slavery movement, and his visit to the West Indies and subsequent reports thereon had much to do with hastening the abolition of slavery. When the working-classes were struggling for electoral freedom and "the Charter," Mr. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It began swimmingly, but fish didn't swim to Birmingham, and though several other attempts have been made to form companies of similar character, the trade has been kept altogether in private, hands, and to judge from the sparkling rings to be seen on the hands of the ladies who condescend to sell us our matutinal bloaters in the Market Hall, the business is a pretty good one—and who dare say those dames de salle are not also pretty and good? ”

“ Nonconformists.—The so-called Act of Uniformity of 1662 deprived nearly 2,000 of the clergy of their livings, and a few of them came to Birmingham as a place of refuge, ministering among the Dissenters, who then had no buildings for regular worship. There were many documents in the lost Staunton Collection relating to some of these clergymen, who, however, did not find altogether comfortable quarters even here, one George Long, M.D., who had fled from his persecutors in Staffordshire, finding no peace in Birmingham, removed to Ireland ”

“ In the last scene of the play "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," wherein allusion is made to the marriage of a lady, "Take her," said Kean, "and the Birmingham audience into the bargain."
Garrick was visiting Lord Lytton at Hagley on one occasion when news was brought that a company of players were going to perform at Birmingham. His lordship suggested that Garrick should write an address to the audience for the players. "Suppose, then," said he, "I begin thus:
"Ye sons of iron, copper, brass and steel,
Who have not heads to think, nor hearts to feel." ”

“ He was supposed to be one of the heaviest men in the county, weighing over twenty-four stone. He died strongly protesting his innocence, On the 22nd Nov., 1780, Wilfrid Barwick, a butcher, was robbed and murdered near the four mile stone on the Coleshill Road. The culprits were two soldiers, named John Hammond (an American by birth) and Thomas Pitmore (a native of Cheshire) but well known as "Jack and Tom," drummer and fifer in the recruiting service here. They were brought before the magistrates at the old Public Office in Dale End; committed ”

“ 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. ”

“ There were 150 of the English societies whose accounts showed deficiencies amounting to £27,850; two Scotch societies minus £862, but no Irish short. It is a pity to have to record that there have been failures in Birmingham, foremost among them being that of the Victoria Land and Building Society, which came to grief in 1870, with liabilities amounting to £31,550. The assets, including £5,627 given by the directors and trustees, and £886 contributed by other persons, realised £27,972. ”

“ As it is, from the grand old days of Boulton and his wonderful Soho, down to to-day, there has been hardly a Prince or potentate, white, black, copper, or coffee coloured, who has visited England, but that have come to peep at our workshops, mayor after mayor having the "honour" to toady to them and trot them around the back streets and slums to where the men of the bench, the file, and the hammer have been diligently working generation after generation, for the fame and the name of our world-known town. ”

“ Birmingham, however, need not send abroad for specimens of this kind, "Robin Goodfellow" chronicling the death on Nov. 27, 1878, of a poor unfortunate named Thomas Field, otherwise the "Man-baby," who, though twenty-four years of age, was but 30 inches high and weighed little over 20lbs., and who had never walked or talked. The curious in such matters may, on warm, sunny mornings, occasionally meet, in the neighbourhood of Bromsgrove Street, a very intelligent little man not much if any bigger than the celebrated Tom Thumb, but who has never been made a show of. ”

“ Mr James has been called the first projector of railways, as there was none started previous to his laying out a line from here to Wolverhampton, which was given up in favour of the Canal Companies. The wharves in Newhall Street were constructed on the site of his proposed railway station. He afterwards projected and surveyed many other lines including Birmingham to Manchester through Derbyshire, the Birmingham and London, etc. West Bromwich owes no little of its prosperity to this gentleman, who opened many collieries in its neighbourhood. ”

“ The day after Christmas, 1643, the old squire was besieged by about 1,200 Parliamentarians from Birmingham (with a few soldiers) , but having procured forty musketeers from Dudley Castle, he held the Hall till the third day, when, having killed sixty of his assailants and lost twelve of his own men, he surrendered. The Hall was plundered and he was imprisoned, and what with fines, confiscations, and compounding, his loyalty appears to have cost him nearly £20,000. Sir Thomas had 15 children, but outlived them all save one. ”

“ Circumstances instantly, and most naturally, fastened suspicion of foul play upon Abraham Thornton, he was tried at Warwick, at the Autumn Assizes of the same year, and acquitted. The trial was a very remarkable one Facts were proved with unusual clearness and precision, which put it beyond the bounds of physical possibility that he could have murdered Mary Ashford. Those facts hinged on the time shown by several different clocks, compared with the standard time kept at Birmingham, but the public feeling on the matter was intense. ”

“ John Bright in 1873 moved for the Returns, that a complete register of the kind was made. It would not be easy, even if space could be given to it, to give the list of individuals, companies, and corporation who claim to be possessors of the land we live on in Birmingham and neighbourhood ”

“ The Friendly Benefit Building Society was organised in 1859, and up to Mid-summer, 1883, the sums paid in amounted to £340,000. The year's receipts were £21,834 19s. 6d., of which £10,037 came from borrowers, whose whole indebtedness would be cleared in about 51⁄2 years. The members on the books numbered 827, of whom 684 were investors and 143 borrowers. The reserve fund stood at £5,704 5s. 9d. There is a branch of this Society connected with Severn Street Schools, and in a flourishing condition, 32 members having joined during the year, and £2,800 having been received as contributions. ”

“ Hiring a Husband.—In 1815, a Birmingham carpenter, after ill-treating his wife, leased himself to another woman by a document which an unscrupulous attorney had the hardihood to draw up, and for while he charged thirty-five shillings. This precious document bound the man and the woman to live together permanently, and to support and succour each other to the utmost of their power. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ By way of contrast to these worthies, at about the same period (1828-30) was one "Muddlepate Ward," the head of a family who had located themselves in a gravel pit at the Lozells, and who used to drive about the town with an old carriage drawn by pairs of donkeys and ponies, the harness being composed of odd pieces of old rope, and the whip a hedgestake with a bit of string, the whole turnout being as remarkable for dirt as the first-named "dandies" were for cleanliness.—"Billy Button" was another well-known but most inoffensive character, who died here May 3, 1838. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Godfrey, Robt., for nearly fifty years a minister of the Catholic Apostolic Church, died Jan. 12, 1883, aged 75.
Gough, John, an old churchwarden of St. Martin's, died November 30, 1877, aged 63.
Hammond, Rev. Joseph, Congregational Minister, Handsworth, died March, 30, 1870.
Hanman, William, for twenty-one vears Market Superintendent, died Dec. 1, 1877, aged 51.
Hill, M. D., first Borough Recorder, died June 7, 1872, aged 79.
Hill, Rev. Micaiah, director of the Town Mission, founder of the Female Refuge, and Cabmen's Mission, &c., died September 24, 1884, aged 60. ”

“ There are half-a-dozen makers of "eyes," human and otherwise, the chief being Messrs. Pache and Son, Bristol Street, and Mr. Edward Hooper, Suffolk Street, who hold the almost unique position of being the sole known makers of artificial human eyes anywhere. Few people would imagine it, lint it is said that there are at least 1,500 persons in Birmingham who carry glass eyes in their head ; while the demand from foreign countries is some- ting enormous, the United States taking the lead as they fain would do in everything. ”

“ Sturge was one of the few found willing to help them, though his peace-loving disposition failed to induce them lo give up the idea of "forcing" their rights. Having a wish to take part in the making of the laws, he issued an address to the electors of Birmingham in 1840, but was induced to retire; in August, 1842, he contested Nottingham, receiving 1,801 votes against his opponent's 1885; in 1844 he put up for Birmingham, but only 364 votes were given him ”

“ 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. ”

“ At first an open space, as the market granted by the early Norman Kings grew in extent, the custom arose of setting up stalls, the right to do which was doubtless bought of the Lords of the Manor. These grew into permanent tenements, and stallages, "freeboards," shambles, and even houses (some with small gardens abutting on the unfenced churchyard) , gradually covered the whole ground, and it ultimately cost the town a large sum to clear it, the Commissioners, in 1806-7, paying nearly £25,000 for the purpose. ”