Liberal Birmingham made itself heard through its leaders was that of
Thomas Attwood. A native of Salop, born Oct. 6, 1783, he became a
resident here soon after coming of age, having joined Messrs. Spooner's
Bank, thence and afterwards known as Spooner and Attwood's. At the early
age of 28 he was chosen High Bailiff, and soon made his mark by opposing
the renewal of the East India Co.'s charter, and by his exertions to
obtain the withdrawal of the "Orders in Council," which in 1812, had
paralysed the trade of the country with America. The part he took in the
great Reform meetings, his triumphant reception after the passing of the
Bill, and his being sent to Parliament as one of the first
representatives for the borough, are matters which have been too many
times dilated upon to need recapitulation. Mr. Attwood had peculiar
views on the currency question, and pertinaciously pressing them on his
fellow members in the House of Commons he was not liked, and only held
his seat until the end of Dec., 1839, the last prominent act of his
political life being the presentation of a monster Chartist petition in
the previous June. He afterwards retired into private life, ultimately
dying at Malvern, March 6 1856, being then 73 years of age. Charles
Attwood, a brother, but who took less part in politics, retiring from
the Political Union when he thought Thomas and his friends were verging
on the precipice of revolution, was well known in the north of England
iron and steel trade. He died Feb. 24, 1875, in his 84th year. Another
brother Benjamin, who left politics alone, died Nov. 22, 1874, aged 80.
No greater contrast could possibly be drawn than that shown in the
career of these three gentlemen. The youngest brother who industriously
attended to his business till he had acquired a competent fortune, also
inherited enormous wealth from a nephew, and after his death he was
proved to have been the long un-known but much sought after anonymous
donor of the £1,000 notes so continuously acknowledged in the _Times_ as
having been sent to London hospitals and charities. It was said that
Benjamin Attwood distributed nearly £350,000 in this unostentatious
manner, and his name will be ever blessed. Charles Attwood was described
as a great and good man, and a benefactor to his race. His discoveries
in the manufacture of glass and steel, and his opening up of the
Cleveland iron district, has given employment to thousands, and as one
who knew him well said, "If he had cared more about money, and less
about science, he could have been one of the richest commoners in
England;" but he was unselfish, and let other reap the benefit of his
best patents. What the elder brother was, most Brums know; he worked
hard in the cause of Liberalism, he was almost idolised here, and his
statue stands not far from the site of the Bank with which his name was
unfortunately connected, and the failure of which is still a stain on
local commercial history.
_Baldwin_, James.--Born in the first month of the present century, came
here early in his teens, worked at a printer's, saved his money, an
employer at 25, made a speciality of "grocer's printing," fought hard in
the battle against the "taxes on knowledge," became Alderman and Mayor,
and ultimately settled down on a farm near his own paper mills at King's
Norton, where, Dec. 10, 1871, he finished a practically useful life,
regretted by many.
_Bayley_, C.H.--A Worcestershire man and a Staffordshire resident; a
persevering collector of past local and county records, and an active
member of the Archæological section of the Midland Institute. Mr. Bayley
was also a member of the Staffordshire Archæological Society, and took
special interest in the William Salt Library at Stafford, whose
treasures were familiar to him, and whose contents he was ever ready to
search and report on for any of his friends. In 1869 he issued the first
of some proposed reprints of some of his own rarities, in "A True
Relation of the Terrible Earthquake at West Brummidge, in
Staffordshire," &c., printed in 1676; and early in 1882 (the year of his
death) "The Rent Rolls of Lord Dudley and Ward in 1701"--a very curious
contribution to local history, and full of general interest also.
_Beale_, Samuel.--At one period a most prominent man among our local
worthies, one of the first Town Councillors, and Mayor in 1841. He was
Chairman of the Midland Railway, a director of the Birmingham and
Midland Bank, and sat as M.P. for Derby from 1857 to 1865. He died Sept
11 1876, aged 71.
_Beale_, W.J.--A member of the legal firm of Beale, Marigold, and Beale.
Mr. Beale's chief public service was rendered in connection with the
General Hospital and the Musical Festivals. He was for many years a
member of the Orchestral Committee of the Festivals, and in 1870 he
succeeded Mr. J.0. Mason as chairman; retaining this position until
after the Festival of 1876. His death took place in July, 1880, he then
being in his 76th year.
_Billing_, Martin.--Founder of the firm of Martin Billing, Sons, & Co.,
Livery Street, died July 17, 1883, at the age of 71. He commenced life
under his uncle, Alderman Baldwin, and was the first to introduce steam
printing machines into Birmingham. The colossal structure which faces
the Great Western Railway Station was erected about twenty-nine years
ago.
_Bisset_, James, was the publisher of the "Magnificent Directory" and
"Poetic Survey" of Birmingham, presented to the public, January 1, 1800.
_Bowly_ E.0.--A native, self-taught artist, whose pictures now fetch
rapidly-increasing sums, though for the best part of his long life
dealers and the general run of art patrons, while acknowledging the
excellence of the works, would not buy them. Mr. Bowly, however, lived
sufficiently long to know that the few gentlemen who honoured him in his
younger years, were well recompensed for their kind recognition of his
talent, though it came too late to be of service to himself. His death
occurred Feb. 1, 1876, in his 70th year.
_Briggs_.--Major W.B. Briggs, who was struck off the world's roster Jan.
25, 1877, was one of the earliest and most ardent supporters of the
Volunteer movement in Birmingham, being gazetted ensign of the 2nd
Company in November, 1859. He was a hearty kindly man, and much esteemed
in and out of the ranks.
_Burritt_ Elihu, the American "learned blacksmith," having made himself
proficient in fifteen different languages. He first addressed the
"Friends of Peace" in this town, Dec. 15, 1846, when on a tour through
the country. He afterwards returned, and resided in England for nearly
twenty-five years, being for a considerable time United States Consul at
Birmingham, which he left in 1868. During his residence here he took an
active share in the work of diffusing the principles of temperance and
peace, both by lecturing and by his writings.
_Bynner_, Henry.--A native of the town; forty-five years British Consul
at Trieste; returned here in 1842, and died in 1867. He learned
shorthand writing of Dr. Priestley, and was the first to use it in a law
court in this county.
_Cadbury_, Richard Tapper.--A draper and haberdasher, who started
business here in 1794. One of the Board of Guardians, and afterwards
Chairman (for 15 years) of the Commissioners of the Streets, until that
body was done away with. Mr. Cadbury was one of the most respected and
best known men of the town. He died March 13, 1860, in his 92nd year,
being buried in Bull Street, among his departed friends.
_Capers_, Edward.--Sometimes called the "poet-postman," is a Devonshire
man, but resided for a considerable time at Harborne. He deserves a
place among our noteworthy men, if only for his sweet lines on the old
Love lane at Edgbaston, now known as Richmond Hill.
"But no vestige of the bankside lingers now
or gate to show
The track of the old vanished lane of love's
sweet long ago."
_Carey_, Rev. Henry Francis, a native of this town (born in 1772),
vicar of Bromley Abbots, Staffordshire, himself a poet of no mean order,
translated in blank verse Dante's "Inferno," the "Divina Commedia," &c.,
his works running rapidly through several editions. For some time he was
assistant librarian at the British Museum, and afterwards received a
pension of £200 a year. Died in 1844, and lies in "Poet's Corner,"
Westminster Abbey.
_Chamberlain_, John Henry.--Came to Birmingham in 1856, and died
suddenly on the evening of Oct. 22, 1883, after delivering a lecture in
the Midland Institutes on "Exotic Art." An architect of most brilliant
talent, it is almost impossible to record the buildings with which (in
conjunction with his partner, Mr. Wm. Martin) he has adorned our town.
Among them are the new Free Libraries, the extension of the Midland
Institute, the Hospitals for Women and Children, the many Board Schools,
the Church of St. David, and that at Selly Hill the Rubery Asylum, the
Fire Brigade Station, the Constitution Hill Library, Monument Lane
Baths, the Chamberlain Memorial, the Canopy over Dawson's Statue,
several Police Stations, with shops and private houses innumerable. He
was a true artist in every sense of the word, an eloquent speaker, and
one of the most sincere, thoughtful, and lovingly-earnest men that
Birmingham has ever been blessed with.
_Clegg_.--Samuel Clegg was born at Manchester, March 2, 1781, but his
early years were passed at the Soho Works, where he was assistant to Mr.
Murdoch in the gradual introduction of lighting with gas. In 1807 Mr.
Clegg first used lime as a purifier and in 1815 he patented the water
meter. In addition to his many inventions connected with the manufacture
and supply of gas, Mr. Clegg must be credited with the introduction of
the atmospheric railways, which attracted so much attention some
five-and-forty years ago, and also with many improvements in steam
engines.
_Collins_.--Mr. John Collins, an exceedingly popular man in his day, and
quite a local author, made his first appearance here Jan. 16, 1793, at
"The Gentlemen's Private Theatre," in Livery Street, with an
entertainment called "Collins' New Embellished Evening Brush, for
Rubbing off the Rust of care." This became a great favourite, and we
find Collins for years after, giving similar performances, many of them
being for the purpose of paying for "soup for the poor" in the
distressful winters of 1799, 1800, and 1801. Not so much, however, on
account of his charity, or his unique entertainment, must Mr. Collins be
ranked among local worthies, as for "A Poetical History of Birmingham"
written (or rather partly written) by him, which was published in
_Swinney's Chronicle_. Six chapters in verse appeared (Feb. 25 to April
7, 17[**]6), when unfortunately the poet's muse seems to have failed
him. As a sample of the fun contained in the seven or eight dozen
verses, we quote the first--
"Of Birmingham's name, tho' a deal has been said,
Yet a little, we doubt, to the purpose,
As when "hocus pocus" was jargon'd instead
Of the Catholic text "_hoc est corpus_."
For it, doubtless, for ages was Bromwicham called,
But historians, their readers to bam,
Have Brom, Wich, and Ham so corrupted and maul'd,
That their strictures have all proved a sham.
That Brom implies Broom none will dare to deny,
And that Wich means a Village or Farm;
Or a Slope, or a Saltwork, the last may imply,
And to read Ham for Town is no harm.
But when jumbled together, like stones in a bag,
To make it a Broom-sloping town,
Credulity's pace at such juggling must flag,
And the critic indignant will frown.
Tis so much like the Gazetteer's riddle-my-ree,
Who, untwisting Antiquity's cable,
Makes Barnstaple's town with its name to agree,
Take its rise from a Barn and a Stable."
Collins' own comical notion gives the name as "Brimmingham," from the
brimming goblets so freely quaffed by our local sons of Vulcan. Digbeth
he makes out to be a "dug bath," or horsepond for the farriers;
Deritend, from _der_ (water).
"Took its name from the swamp where the hamlet was seated,
And imply'd 'twas the water-wet-end of the town."
_Cox_, David--On the 29th of April, 1783, this great painter--the man
whose works have made Birmingham famous in art--was born in a humble
dwelling in Heath Mill Lane, Deritend, where his father carried on the
trade of a smith. Some memorials of him we have--in the noble gift of a
number of his pictures in oil, presented to the town by the late Mr.
Joseph Nettlefold; in the portrait by Mr. J. Watson Gordon, and the bust
by Mr. Peter Hollins; in the two biographies of him--both of them
Birmingham works--the earlier by Mr. Neal Solly, and the more recent one
by the late Mr. William Hall; besides the memorial window put up by
loving friends in the Parish Church of Harborne, where the latter part
of the artist's life was passed, and in the churchyard of which his
remains were laid. He bade his pictures and the world good-bye on the
9th of June, 1859. A sale of some of "dear old David's" works, in
London, May, 1873, realised for the owners over £25,000, but what the
artist himself originally had for them may be gathered from the instance
of his "Lancaster Castle," otherwise known as "Peace and War," a
harvest-field scene, with troops marching by, only 24in. by 18in. in
size. This picture he gave to a friend at first, but bought it back for
£20, at a time when his friend wanted cash; he sold it for the same
amount, and it afterwards got into the possession of Joseph Gillot, the
pen maker, at the sale of whose collection "Lancaster Castle" was
knocked down for £3,601 10s. The highest price Cox ever received for a
picture, and that on one single occasion only, was £100; in another case
he had £95; his average prices for large pictures were rather under than
over £50 a piece in his best days. "The Sea Shore at Rhyl," for which he
received £100, has been since sold for £2,300; "The Vale of Clwyd," for
which he accepted £95, brought £2,500. Two pictures for which he
received £40 each in 1847, were sold in 1872 for £1,575 and £1,550
respectively. Two others at £40 each have sold since for £2,300 and
£2,315 5s. respectively. His church at "Bettws-y-Coed" one of the finest
of his paintings, fetched £2,500 at a sale in London, in March, 1884. In
the hall of the Royal Oak Inn, Bettws-y-Coed (David's favourite place),
there is fixed a famous signboard which Cox painted for the house in
1847, and which gave rise to considerable litigation as to its ownership
being vested in the tenant or the owner, the decision being in the
latter's favour.
_Cox_, William Sands, F.R.S. and F.R.C.S., the son of a local surgeon,
was born in 1801. After "walking the hospitals" in London and Paris, he
settled here in 1825, being appointed surgeon to the Dispensary, and in
1828, with the co-operation of the late Doctors Johnstone and Booth, and
other influential friends, succeeded in organising the Birmingham Royal
School of Medicine and Surgery, which proved eminently successful until,
by the munificent aid of the Rev. Dr. Warneford, it was converted into
Queen's College by a charter of incorporation, which was granted in
1843. The Queen's Hospital was also founded mainly through the exertions
of Mr. Sands Cox, for the education of the medical students of the
College. In 1863 Mr. Cox retired from practice, and went to reside near
Tamworth, afterwards removing to Leamington and Kenilworth, at which
latter place he died, December 23rd, 1875. He was buried in the family
vault at Aston, the coffin being carried to the grave by six old
students at the College, funeral scarfs, hatbands, and "other such
pieces of mummery" being dispensed with, according to the deceased's
wish. He left many charitable legacies, among them being £15,000, to be
dealt with in the following manner:--£3,000 to be applied in building
and endowing a church then in course of erection at Balsall Heath, and
to be known as St. Thomas-in-the-Moors, and the remaining £12,000 to be
devoted to the erection and endowment of three dispensaries--one at
Balsall Heath, one at Aston, and the other at Hockley. Two sums of
£3,000 were left to found dispensaries at Tamworth and Kenilworth, and a
cottage hospital at Moreton-in-the-Marsh; his medical library and a
number of other articles being also left for the last-named institution.
_Davies_, Dr. Birt.--By birth a Hampshire man, by descent a Welshman,
coming to Birmingham in 1823, Dr. Davies soon became a man of local
note. As a politician in the pre-Reform days, as a physician of
eminence, and as Borough Coroner for three dozen years, he occupied a
prominent position, well justified by his capacity and force of
character. He took an active part in the founding of the Birmingham
School of Medicine, the forerunner of the Queen's College, and was
elected one of the three first physicians to the Queen's Hospital, being
its senior physician for sixteen years. When the Charter of
Incorporation was granted, Dr. Davies was chosen by the Town Council as
the first Coroner, which office he held until June 8th, 1875, when he
resigned, having, as he wrote to the Council, on the 29th of May
terminated his 36th year of office, and 76th year of his age. Though an
ardent politician, it is from his Coronership that he will be remembered
most, having held about 30,000 inquests in his long term of office,
during the whole of which time, it has been said, he never took a
holiday, appointed a deputy, or slept out of the borough. His official
dignity sat heavily upon him, his temper of late years often led him
into conflict with jurors and medical witnesses, but he was well
respected by all who knew the quiet unpretending benevolence of his
character, never better exhibited than at the time of the cholera panic
in 1832. The doctor had established a Fever Hospital in Bath Row, and
here he received and treated, by himself, the only cases of Asiatic
cholera imported into the town. He died December 11th, 1878.
_De Lys_, Dr.--One of the physicians to the General Hospital, and the
proposer of the Deaf and Dumb Institution. A native of Brittany, and one
of several French refugees who settled here when driven from their own
country, at the time of the Revolution, Dr. De Lys remained with us till
his death, August 24th, 1831, being then in his 48th year.
_Digby_, John, made Lord Digby in 1618, and Earl of Bristol in 1622, was
born at Coleshill in 1580. He was sent Ambassador to Spain by James I.
to negotiate a marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta. He went
abroad when the Civil War broke out, and died at Paris in 1653.
_Edmonds_.--George Edmonds, was a son of the Baptist minister of Bond
Street Chapel, and was born in 1788. For many years after he grew up
George kept a school, but afterwards devoted himself to the Law, and was
appointed Clerk of the Peace on the incorporation of the borough. For
taking part in what Government chose to consider an illegal meeting Mr.
Edmonds had to suffer 12 months' imprisonment, but it only increased his
popularity and made him recognised as leader of the Radical party.
During the great Reform movements he was always to the fore, and there
can be little doubt that it was to his untiring energy that the
Political Union owed much of its success. In his later years he printed
(partly with his own hands) one of the strangest works ever issued from
the press, being nothing less than an alphabet, grammar, and dictionary
of a new and universal language. On this he must have spent an immense
amount of philosophical and philological research during the busiest
years of his active life, but like other schemes of a similar character
it came into the world some scores of generations too soon. His death
took place (hastened by his own hand) July 1, 1868.
_Everitt_, Allen Edward.--Artist, antiquarian, and archæologist. It is
reported that his portfolio contained more than a thousand sketches of
his own taking, of old churches, mansions, cottages, or barns in the
Midland Counties. Born here in 1824 Mr. Everitt had reached his 55th
year before taking to himself a wife, whom he left a widow June 11,
1882, through catching a cold while on a sketching tour. He was much
loved in all artistic circles, having been (for twenty-four years) hon.
sec. to the Society of Artists, a most zealous coadjutor of the Free
Libraries Committee, and honorary curator of tha Art Gallery; in private
or public life he spoke ill of no man, nor could any speak of him with
aught but affection and respect.
_Fletcher_, George.--Author of the "Provincialist" and other poems, a
journeyman printer, and much respected for his genial character and
honest kind-heartedness. Died Feb. 20, 1874, aged 64.
_Fothergill_, John.--Taken into partnership by Matthew Boulton in 1762,
devoting himself principally to the foreign agencies. Many of the
branches of trade in which he was connected proved failures, and he died
insolvent in 1782, while Boulton breasted the storm, and secured fortune
by means of his steam engines. He did not, however, forget his first
partner's widow and children.
_Fox_, Charles Fox, of the firm of Fox, Henderson and Co., was born at
Derby, March 11, 1810. His first connection with this town arose from
his being engaged with Stephenson on the construction of the Birmingham
and Liverpool line. He was knighted in 1851, in recognition of his
wonderful skill as shown in the erection of the International Exhibition
of that year, and we have a local monument to his fame in the roof which
spans the New Street Station. He died in 1874, and was buried at Nunhead
Cemetery, London. The firm of Fox, Henderson and Co., was originally
Bramah and Fox, Mr. Henderson not coming in till the death of Mr.
Bramah, a well-known ironmaster of this neighbourhood, and whose name is
world-famous for his celebrated locks.
_Geach_.--Charles Geach was a Cornishman, born in 1808, and came to
Birmingham in 1826 as one of the clerks in the Branch Bank of England,
then opened. In 1836 he was instrumental in the formation of two of our
local banks, and became the manager of one of them, the Birmingham and
Midland. In 1842 he made a fortunate speculation in the purchase of some
extensive ironworks at Rotherham just previous to the days of "the
railway mania." The profits on iron at that time were something
wonderful; as a proof of which it has been stated that on one occasion
Mr. Geach took orders for 30,000 tons at £12, the cost to him not being
more than half that sum! The Patent Shaft Works may be said to have owed
its origin also to this gentleman. Mr. Geach was chosen mayor for 1847,
and in 1851 was returned to Parliament for Coventry. His death occurred
Nov. 1, 1854. A full-length portrait hangs in the board-room of the
bank, of which he retained the managing-directorship for many years.
_Gem_, Major Thomas Henry.--The well-known Clerk to the Magistrates,
born May 21, 1819, was the pioneer of the Volunteer movement in this
town, as well as the originator of the fashionable game of lawn tennis.
A splendid horseman, and an adept at all manly games, he also ranked
high as a dramatic author, and no amateur theatricals could be got
through without his aid and presence. His death, November 4, 1881,
resulted from an accident which occurred on June 25 previous, at the
camp in Sutton Park.
_Gillott_.--Joseph Gillott was born at Sheffield in 1799, but through
want of work found his way here in 1822, spending his last penny in
refreshments at the old publichouse then standing at corner of Park
Street, where the Museum Concert Hall exists. His first employment was
buckle making, and being steady he soon took a garret in Bread Street
and became his own master in the manufacture of buckles and other "steel
toys." The merchant who used to buy of him said "Gillott made very
excellent goods, and came for his money every week." It was that making
of excellent goods and his untiring perseverance that secured him
success. His sweetheart was sister to William and John Mitchell, and it
is questionable whether Gillott's first efforts at making steel pens did
not spring from the knowledge he gained from her as to what the
Mitchells were doing in that line. The Sheffield blade, however, was the
first to bring the "press" into the proeess of making the pens, and that
secret he must have kept pretty closely from all but his lass, as Mr. J.
Gillott often told, in after life, how, on the morning of his marriage,
he began and finished a gross of pens, and sold them for £7 4s. before
they went to church. The accumulation of his fortune began from that
day, the name of Gillott in a very few years being known the wide world
over. The penmaker was a great patron of the artists, gathering a famous
collection which at his death realised £170,000. His first interview
with Turner was described in an American journal a few years back.
Gillott having rudely pushed his way into the studio and turning the
pictures about without the artist deigning to notice the intruder, tried
to attract attention by asking the prices of three paintings. Turner
carelessly answered "4,000 guineas," "£3,000," and "1,500 guineas."
"I'll take the three," said Gillott. Then Turner rose, with "Who the
devil are you to intrude here against my orders? You must be a queer
sort of a beggar, I fancy." "You're another queer beggar" was the reply.
"I am Gillott, the penmaker. My banker tells me you are clever, and I
have come to buy some pictures." "By George!" quoth Turner, "you are a
droll fellow, I must say." "You're another," said Gillott. "But do you
really want to purchase those pictures," asked Turner. "Yes, in course I
do, or I would not have climbed those blessed stairs this morning," was
the answer. Turner marvelled at the man, and explained that he had fixed
the prices named under the idea that he had only got an impertinent
intruder to deal with, that two of the pictures were already sold, but
that his visitor could have the first for £1,000. "I'll take it," said
the prince of penmakers, "and you must make me three or four more at
your own price." If other artists did as well with Mr. Gillott they
could have had but little cause of complaint. Another hobby of Mr.
Gillott's was collecting fiddles, his specimens, of which he once said
he had a "boat load," realising £4,000; while his cabinet of precious
stones was of immense value. The millionaire died Jan. 5, 1872, leaving
£3,000 to local charities.