Edgbaston Quoit Club had very large heads, and that this fact seemed
to bear out the phrenological theory, that size of head was indicative
of mental power. As a further proof I may mention here, that the late
Mr. Charles Geach had the largest head in Birmingham. I was told by
the tradesman who used to supply him with hats, that such was the
extraordinary size of his head, that his hats had always to be
specially made for him. The theory in his case certainly was fully
justified, for if ever a man lived who had powerful mental qualities,
it was the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch.
Mr. Geach was born in the county of Cornwall, in the year 1808; and at
a suitable age took a situation as junior clerk in the head office of
the Bank of England, in London. There, his quickness, accuracy, and
ready grasp of complicated matters, soon proved to his superiors that
he was no ordinary youth, and he was rapidly promoted. In 1826, when
the branch was established in Birmingham, Captain Nichols, the first
manager, who had noticed Geach at work, sought and obtained permission
from the directors to include him in the staff of clerks which he
brought down. Geach, accordingly, at the age of 18, came to the town
with which his whole future life was destined to be connected.
For ten years he worked assiduously as a clerk, rapidly rising in
position at the bank, quickly attaching to himself a large circle of
friends, and gradually securing amongst business men a character for
industry, perseverance, sagacity, and courtesy. In 1836 he was engaged
in the establishment of two of the local banks, and in August of that
year he became manager of the Birmingham and Midland Bank.
Mr. Geach, in the days of his great prosperity, often referred with
manly pride and becoming modesty to these early days. I remember some
twenty years ago his coming down specially from the House of Commons
one night to take the chair, at the Temperance Hall, at a meeting of
the Provident Clerks' Association. In the course of his remarks that
evening, he spoke of the mercantile clerks as a body for whom he
should always feel sympathy; a class to which he felt it to be an
honour to have once belonged, and from which he himself had only
so recently emerged. He mentioned then, that "when he first came to
Birmingham some twenty-five years before, he did not know a soul in
the place which had since elected him to be its Mayor, and in which he
had, by industry and prudence, gained the esteem of so many friends,
and achieved a position very far beyond his expectations and his
merits." Only a very few weeks before his death, he made some
observations of a similar character, at the annual dinner given by the
Midland Bank Directors. Indeed, it was his frequent habit to point out
to young men that, by the practice of habits of industry, prudence,
diligence, and observation, success such as his--in kind, if not in
degree--was open to them.
Soon after Mr. Geach came to live in Birmingham, he took apartments at
Handsworth. An attachment soon sprung up between him and the daughter
of a Mr. Skally, who kept a school at Villa Cross. After a short
courtship, the young couple were married, Mr. Geach then being about
24 years of age. The house in which he wooed and won his wife is
now an inn. It stands at the angle formed by the junction of the
Heathfield Road and the Lozells Lane; and is known by the sign of the
Villa Cross Tavern.
When the Midland Bank was opened, Mr. Geach went to reside on the
premises, and here he lived for about ten years. He removed, about
1846, to Wheeleys Hill, and from thence, a few years later, he went
to reside at a large mansion at Chad Hill. For the last two or three
years of his life he lived principally in London, occupying the house,
No. 9, Park Street, Westminster.
About the year 1840, the Park Gate Iron Manufacturing Company was in
active operation at Rotherham, near Sheffield. Most of the shares
were held in Birmingham, and the directors, with one exception, were
Birmingham men. They were Joshua Scholefield, Joseph Gibbins, Henry
Van Wart, Thomas Pemberton, Samuel A. Goddard, and Samuel Evans, of
Cradley. For a time the company was prosperous, but about 1842 came a
revulsion, and iron rapidly fell in price from L10 to L5 per ton. The
company became greatly embarrassed. Most of the directors became
sick of the concern, and lost all interest in it. The business was
neglected by all the directors except the two last named. At one
period the company was in such straits that their bills would have
been dishonoured had not Mr. Goddard given his private cheque on the
Bank of England for L3,000. At this period Mr. Geach was consulted,
and after some negotiations he bought the whole concern for an old
song. The nominal purchaser was Mr. Joshua Scholefield, but, somehow,
Mr. Geach had secured for himself the largest share. The business was
now carefully looked after, and began to recover itself. All at once
came the "railway mania" of 1844 and 1845, when all England went mad
for a time. George Hudson, the linen draper of York, from whom I once
took an order in his little shop near the Cathedral, was then the
most notable man in the country. He soon became known as the "Railway
King," and, as he was presumed to have the faculty of transforming
everything into gold, he was _feted_ and almost worshipped by all
classes of society. Under the excitement created by visions of untold
wealth derived from making railways, iron rapidly rose in price to
double its recent value. Mr. Geach at this time, I am able to state
upon competent living authority, "took three orders for 30,000 tons of
railroad iron, at L12, which did not cost over L6 per ton." This laid
the foundation of Mr. Geach's marvellous success, and from this period
he commenced to identify himself with large enterprises, until at
length he was associated with some of the most important mercantile
transactions of the period.
About this time there was living at Wednesbury an eccentric
Independent Minister named Hardy. He is still remembered there for
his extraordinary fancy for preaching about the "seven golden
candlesticks." When he took this topic for a sermon, his hearers knew
that for six or seven Sundays at least he would speak of nothing else.
And, lest his hearers should not be duly impressed with the subject,
his practice was never to go more than a year or two without going
over the whole ground anew. This worthy minister was somewhat of a
mechanic, and in connection with a coach-axle maker named Rollason,
the plan was conceived of "faggoting" bars of iron radially round
a centre-bar, so that the laminae of the iron should range like the
concentric rings in a tree. The chief difficulty was the necessity
of rolling the axles before they could be hammered. Mr. Dodd, of the
Horseley Works, showed how this could be done by a reversing action,
and Mr. Hardy patented both processes. Mr. H. Wright, who was
afterwards a partner in the works, tells me that he assisted to draw
up the specifications. Money being wanted to work the concern, a small
private company was formed with a capital of L2,000. Mr. Hardy was
manager, and Mr. T. Walker was clerk. This company was carried on for
about two years, when, becoming involved, and none of the partners
caring to invest more money in it, application was made to Mr. Geach.
This was in 1838.
Mr. Geach, perceiving the superiority of Hardy's method over any
other, induced some twelve or more gentlemen to join in the purchase
of the works and patents, Mr. Wright and Mr. Hardy being of the
number. The new company assumed the name of the "Patent Shaft and
Axletree Company." Mr. Wright was appointed general manager; Mr. Hardy
superintended the forge; and Mr. Walker assisted generally. Mr. Hardy
withdrew about 1840, when Mr. Walker took the management of the forge.
In 1841, Mr. Wright removed to Rotherham, to manage the Park Gate
Works, and Mr. Walker became sole manager of the Shaft and Axletree
business. In 1844, Mr. Geach bought out all the partners--Mr. Wright
being the last--and so became the sole proprietor. Up to this time
there had been no financial success, and no dividends had been paid.
About this time the sudden rise in prices, consequent upon the railway
enterprise of the period and the enormous demand for the manufactures
of the works, turned the fortunes of the concern, which then commenced
its career of marvellous success. It soon became one of the most
important concerns in Staffordshire. It was carried on by Mr. Geach,
as sole proprietor, until his death, when Mr. Walker purchased it. It
was soon afterwards converted into a limited liability company, and
it is now, under the chairmanship of Mr. Walker, who has been so
long connected with it, one of the best conducted and most prosperous
concerns in the district. The present number of people employed in the
establishment is about six thousands.
In addition to these two important concerns, Mr. Geach was a partner
in a large manufactory near Dudley. He was extensively engaged as a
contractor for several railway companies. He was an active promoter
and director of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, and
of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railways. He was also one of the
_concessionnaires_ of the Western Railway of France; and to his
wonderful administrative ability and power of organisation the success
of that company is mainly due.
Although so closely connected with the railway interest, and although,
as a proprietor in most of the leading railway companies, he was
constantly called upon to attend meetings, his great energies found
other spheres of action. He was a promoter, and one of the most active
directors, of the Crystal Palace Company, at Sydenham; and he was a
director of the Great Eastern Steam-ship Company.
Busy as his commercial life was, he found time to devote to duties
of a more public character. In 1843 or 1844 he was elected one of the
Aldermen of Birmingham. Here he was very active and useful. Up to his
time, the finances of the Borough had been managed with little skill
or system. His great financial knowledge, and his clear vision of the
right and the wrong, in public book-keeping, enabled him to suggest,
and to carry into operation, great improvements in the management of
the Corporation accounts. In 1847 he was Mayor, and in that office
won the goodwill of everyone by his suavity of manner and his untiring
industry. Two or three years afterwards, the pressure of other duties
compelled him to retire from municipal office.
It is needless to tell Birmingham men that in politics Mr. Geach was
a Liberal. His public political life commenced at the time of the
agitation for the repeal of the Corn Laws. During that exciting period
he was the guiding spirit of the local Association, and transacted
the whole of the business with the central body at Manchester. He was
active in promoting the elections of his friends, Joshua and William
Scholefield, with both of whom he was on terms of intimate friendship.
His political creed was very wide and eminently practical. He had
no abstract theories to which everything must bend. His eye saw at a
glance the right thing to do, and he set to work energetically to do
it, or to get it done.
In the year 1851 there was a vacancy in the representation of the city
of Coventry, and Mr. Geach was solicited to stand as a candidate. I
saw him on the platform of the old railway station, in Duddeston Row,
on his way to the nomination. He was very reliant, and spoke of the
certainty he felt that he should be successful. There was, however,
no excitement, and no undue elevation at the prospect of the crowning
honour of his life being so near his grasp. He was opposed by Mr.
Hubbard, the eminent London financier, and by Mr. Strutt, who was
afterwards created Lord Belper; but he was returned by a considerable
majority, and at a subsequent election he was unopposed. He held the
seat until his death.
In a very short time after his election, he began to take part in the
debates. He was not a fluent speaker; indeed he was hesitating, and
sometimes his sentences were much involved; but, as he never spoke
except upon topics with which he was perfectly familiar, he was
listened to with the respect and attention which are always, in the
House of Commons, accorded to those who have "something to say." Upon
financial topics he soon was looked upon as an authority, and there
were many who looked upon him as a possible future Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
Soon after his return to Parliament he became the host of the
illustrious Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth. It was in Mr. Geach's
carriage that the great exile rode triumphantly through the crowded
streets of Birmingham, amid the plaudits of the entire population. Few
who saw it can forget how Geach's face was lighted up with smiles of
delight, as he sat beside Kossuth in his progress, with George Dawson
on the box. Kossuth, albeit not unused to the applause and ovations
of his grateful countrymen, said that he had never before received
himself, or seen in the case of others, so magnificent and
enthusiastic a reception.
In person, Mr. Geach was tall, and stoutly built. His height was,
probably, two or three inches beyond six feet. He had a bright,
clear, fair complexion, and an ample brow. His face would have been
strikingly handsome but for an undue preponderance of the under jaw,
which gave the lower part of the face too massive an appearance. He
had singularly agreeable manners. His grasp of the hand was firm and
cordial. He was entirely free from the "airs" which some self-made men
put on. In his appearance there was evidence of power and influence
that rendered any assumption superfluous. He was always ready to
listen, and to give his friends the benefit of his large knowledge and
experience. He was very generous, even to those who had in early
life crossed his path. Only the other day I was told that one of his
greatest opponents having died in straitened circumstances, Geach took
charge of his sons, and placed them in positions to raise themselves
to opulence. In private life he was greatly beloved. A lady, who had
ample opportunities of forming a correct judgment, tells me that "as
a husband and father his excellence could not be exceeded; and
altogether he was the _very best_ man I have ever known."
Soon after his retirement from the management of the Midland Bank, the
shareholders and directors, to mark their sense of his services, and
their esteem for him as a man, voted him a magnificent service of
plate. A fine full-length portrait was about the same time placed in
the board room of the bank. The painting is by Partridge, and is a
very excellent characteristic likeness of Mr. Geach in the prime of
his life.
In the autumn of 1854 he was somewhat enfeebled by the pressure of
Parliamentary and commercial duties, and took a trip to Scotland to
recruit his strength. Soon after his return to London, he was seized
with an internal disorder, which reduced his strength very much. He
was recovering from this attack, when a return of an old affection
of one of his legs took place. From this time his ultimate recovery
seemed doubtful. It was at one time contemplated to amputate the left
foot, but in his prostrate condition this was considered unsafe and
hopeless. He gradually became weaker, and on Wednesday, November 1st,
1854, he died, in his 46th year. He left a widow and four children
to mourn his loss, and a larger circle than most men possess, of
warmly-attached friends to honour and respect his memory.
WILLIAM SANDS COX, F.R.S., &c.
Rather more than thirty years ago, I was very desirous to obtain an
influential introduction to Dr. Jephson. I mentioned my wish to an old
friend in Birmingham, who undertook to obtain one for me, and in a
few days told me that if I called upon Mr. Sands Cox, at his house in
Temple Row, some morning early, that gentleman would give me a letter
introducing me to the great Leamington physician. I accordingly
presented myself as directed, and was shown, by a somewhat
seedy-looking old woman--who evidently looked upon me with
considerable suspicion--into a small room in the front of the house,
where, seated at a writing-table, I found the subject of this sketch.
I had expected to see a man of commanding appearance, with some
outward indication of mental power, and with the intelligent
brightness of eye and face which generally distinguishes men of
the consummate skill and extensive knowledge which I was told
he possessed. I was, however, greatly surprised to see only a
heavy-looking, middle-aged, rather bulky man, with a miser-like
expression of face. There was no fire in the room, and, for a cold
morning, he seemed to be rather thinly clad, his only attire being a
pair of trousers, without braces, and a night-shirt. The wearer
had evidently hurried from his bed-room to his study, without the
customary ablutions, and his tangled hair and scrubby beard were
innocent of comb and razor. On being invited to be seated, I with some
difficulty found a chair, for almost every square foot of surface in
the place--floor, chairs, tables, shelves, and every other "coign
of vantage"--was piled up with books, reports, law papers, printers'
proofs, and other literary matter, begrimed with dust, and apparently
in the most hopeless condition of muddle. On the table itself was
the opened correspondence of the day, and although it was very
early morning, a separated portion, consisting of fifteen or twenty
documents, and an equal number of letters already written, folded,
and neatly addressed, showed that he had been early at work; whilst
a large quantity of manuscript, thrown, sheet upon sheet, upon the
floor, and the stump of a candle, that had burnt very low in a very
dirty candlestick, proved conclusively that he had been hard at work
until late on the previous night.
He received me with courteous politeness, read my note, and said how
happy he should be to comply with the request it contained; "but,"
said he, "you must excuse me now. I have to finish my correspondence,
get my breakfast, and make myself a little more presentable. Will you
call again in an hour?"
Of course I was punctual. I found him completely metamorphosed, and
he now--in a soberly-cut coat of black, a brilliant black satin
waistcoat, and white necktie--looked, as he always did in this dress,
like a well-to-do English country clergyman. He was quite ready for
me; handed me a very cordial recommendation to Dr. Jephson; and asked
if he might trouble me with a small parcel for the doctor. I found
afterwards that, in order to secure attention from a man whose time
was so fully occupied, he had entrusted me with a presentation copy of
a work he had just published, on "The Amputation of a Leg at the Hip
Joint," an operation which, he had recently, I believe for the first
time in English surgery, successfully performed.
Such was my introduction to William Sands Cox, and such the
commencement of an acquaintance which resulted in intimacy of many
years' duration, in the course of which I had frequent opportunities
of studying his character, and becoming acquainted with his many
peculiarities.
The family to which he belonged was one of the oldest in Warwickshire.
His ancestors for many generations resided in the neighbourhood of
Stratford-on-Avon. His father, the late Edward Townsend Cox, came
to Birmingham in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He was
articled to Mr. Kennedy of Steelhouse Lane--father of Rann Kennedy. He
afterwards practised, with great success, as a surgeon, for more than
half a century, dying at a very advanced age, only a very few years
ago. His quaint figure, as he drove about the town in an antiquated
phaeton, drawn by a patriarchal pony, must be familiar to the memory
of all but the most juvenile readers.
William Sands Cox was born in 1802, in the house now occupied as
offices by Mr. Barrows, No. 38, Cannon Street. Being intended by his
father for the medical profession, he had a most liberal education;
and, after passing a few years as assistant to his father, he was sent
(a most unusual course at that time) to complete his studies at the
very best medical schools in London and on the continent.
Upon his return to Birmingham, his foreign experiences enabled him to
see that the greater number of country practitioners of that time were
sadly deficient in medical and surgical knowledge; were lamentably
ignorant of anatomy, pathology, and general science; and were greatly
wanting in general culture. With rare self-denial he, instead of
acquiring, as he easily might, a lucrative private practice, resolved
to devote his life to the elevation of the character, and to the
more regular and scientific education and instruction, of the future
members of the profession to which he belonged.
With this view, he started a modest medical and surgical class-room
in Snow Hill. He soon collected a number of pupils, and, in order to
secure greater accommodation, he, about the year 1830, removed to an
old chapel in Paradise Street. This, having been properly fitted up,
was named the "School of Medicine," and it soon became a recognised
institution. Being enriched from time to time by collections of
medical and surgical preparations and appliances, it gradually grew in
size and importance, and, being generously and very largely endowed by
many benevolent persons, was eventually incorporated by Royal Charter
as the "Queen's College." From this time the indefatigable founder
determined that it should be worthy of the illustrious name it bore.
From his own resources; by his father's assistance; by the aid of many
influential inhabitants of the town; and by persistent appeals to the
rich and benevolent of all ranks, money was rapidly accumulated. At
length, with the princely and munificent assistance of Dr. Warneford,
he had the satisfaction of seeing the noble buildings that adorn
Paradise Street completed, and the kindred institution, the Queen's
Hospital, in full and successful operation.
There was something marvellous in the power he possessed of
influencing others. He was by no means fluent of speech; his manners
were shy, awkward, and retiring. He had little grace of person or ease
in conversation, yet he somehow was more successful than most men of
his time in winning friends, and obtaining aid for the great work he
had set himself to accomplish. Probably his indomitable perseverance
lay at the root of the secret. How he influenced the good Dr.
Warneford has long been matter of record. From first to last, I
believe I am within the mark when I mention L25,000 as the sum which
he induced Dr. Warneford to bestow upon the two institutions. As I
write, I have before me a letter written from the Doctor's house to a
member of the College Council, of which the following is a transcript:
"Bourton-on-the Hill, January 9th, 1852.
"My dear Sir,--I had the pleasure of submitting our supplemental
charter this morning to Dr. Warneford. I have the gratification to
announce a donation of L10,000.
"I remain, my dear Sir, yours faithfully,
"WILLIAM SANDS COX."