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James Street, Aston / New Town

Paulo76

master brummie
Hello,
Can anyone tell me where James Street was in Aston or New Town as detailed the link below? I can't find it on modern mapping and wondered if it was lost during redelopment in the 1960's.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205198720

My great grandparents are listed as living at an address on James Street on their marriage certificate, well I think they are, it's difficult to read! They lived in the Aston Manor and Lozells area.

James St.PNG
 
james st was off the lozells road almost parallel with wheeler st...houses demolished and the street did not retain its name..new houses there and its now call sandhill farm close

lyn
 
just as an aside after looking at that photo you posted james st took a heavy battering during the ww2 air raid 20 men women and children lost their lives..so very sad


Name Aged Injured on Injured at Died On Died At
Firth, Annie 26 19/11/1940 2/13 James Street 19/11/1940 2/13 James Street
Firth, John Alfred 28 19/11/1942 2/13 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1942 2/13 James Street, Lozells
Firth, Sheila 0 19/11/1940 2/13 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 2/13 James Street, Lozells
Harris, Ivy Priscalla 35 19/11/1940 1/11 James Street 19/11/1940 1/11 James Street
Harris, Margaret Rose 6 19/11/1940 1/11 James Street 19/11/1940 1/11 James Street
Houlson, Harold 41 19/11/1940 42 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 42 James Street, Lozells
Houlson, Violet Hilda 39 19/11/1940 42 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 42 James Street, Lozells
Hughes, Maud 48 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells
James, Phoebe Harriett 66 19/11/1940 42 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 42 James Street, Lozells
Jones, Thomas Isaac 27 19/11/1940 James Street 19/11/1940 James Street
Mitchell, Albert Edward 39 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells
Mitchell, Amy 32 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells
Mitchell, Diana Winifred 0 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 James Street, Lozells
Mitchell, Patricia Margaret 5 19/11/1940 James Street 19/11/1940 James Street
Trull, Gladys Bertha 26 19/11/1940 46 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 46 James Street, Lozells
Williams, Mary Ann 70 19/11/1940 James Street, Aston 19/11/1940 James Street, Aston
Woodbridge, Alice Lilla 28 19/11/1940 11 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 11 James Street, Lozells
Woodbridge, David Leonard 30 19/11/1940 11 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 11 James Street, Lozells
Woodbridge, Leonard 5 09/04/1941 11 James Street, Lozells 09/04/1941 11 James Street, Lozells
Yates, Mary 75 19/11/1940 3/11 James Street, Lozells 19/11/1940 3/11 James Street, Lozells
From Our Archive
We Remember....

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But in fact the back no 6 houses were not destroyed, though I guess they would have been damaged. the map c 1950 shows all 4 back houses ( marked in red) still there, though yht estreet, which used to extend further, was then just a "stump"

map c 1950 showing back no 6 James St.jpg
 
This was the description given by Carl Chinn in the Birmingham Mail on 13/11/2010. Warning contains some unpleasant graphic details. Viv.

At about 9.46pm on November 19 a high explosive bomb demolished four houses in James Street, Lozells. A number of people were trapped and as the rescue workers strove to free them another high explosive bomb fell, as did a parachute mine.

Every house in James Street was damaged. Wardens and police officers saved several people before two rescue parties and a first aid party arrived from Sidcup Road, Kingstanding. They were led by Fireman Pond and saved four Brummies.

The difficult work had to stop at 2.15am because there was not enough light. Early the next morning two dead children were found in part of an Anderson Shelter which had been blasted to the junction of Johnson Street and Leonard Street.

Then at 10.15am on November 20 a rescue party from Sidcup Road came back to the horrific scene and the bodies of three children were uncovered as were a femur and a hand.

All were taken by ambulance to Scott’s Mortuary.

In the afternoon two dead women were found along with parts of the bodies of a woman and child.

They were in a section of an Anderson Shelter which had been blown from ‘the direction of James Street’ and into the front bedroom of 75 Carlyle Road. Another eight people had been in that shelter. All of them were blown to pieces.

The rescue work resumed on the morning of November 21 and three more bodies were recovered. It continued for the next ten days and the foot of a child and that of a woman were found.

Seven people from the neighbourhood were still unaccounted for but on December 1 ‘it was felt that no useful purpose could be served by the continuance of the search’.
 
horrific viv but words such as that should be read...we should never ever forget the horrors of war both in battle and at home...i have said this many times in the past but how on earth people coped and carried on will always remain a mystery to me...they have my total admiration

lyn
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. My great grandparents lived there around 1908 and had long since moved by the time of the dreadful bombing raid.
 
But in fact the back no 6 houses were not destroyed, though I guess they would have been damaged. the map c 1950 shows all 4 back houses ( marked in red) still there, though yht estreet, which used to extend further, was then just a "stump"

View attachment 111934

Thanks for this, it's particularly interesting as it's highlighted to me the nearby church is called St Pauls. I got the James Street address from my great grandparents wedding certificate which states they got married in St Pauls Church, Aston. I thought that was the church on Witton Lane near Villa Park however, the one on Lozells Road was extremely close to where they lived so perhaps that was where the ceremony took place?
 
My mother lived in James St at the time of the raid during the raid she was at her nans house in Witton rd but her Dad Frank Preston got buried when the house was hit and had to be dug out of the rubble I was told he was never the same after that they lived next door to the Mitchells who sadly perished the little girl of that family was my Mums friend
This is all from my memory as I recall my Mum telling me sadly no longer with us
They were rehoused in Witton Rd only to have all the windows blown out in a future raid when a bomb landed in the opening across the rd
It was very sad to read about the people who lost there lives but also good to have all this info on this site.
 
hi paulo the church near the villa ground is st peter and st pauls (aston parish church) i would definately say your grandparents married at st pauls lozells road..two of my sisters were christened there..its still standing and has recently undergone some refurb and general tidy up..

hi donbogen what an awful experience for your grandad its no wonder he suffered after it...trouble was folk had to grin and bare it...you either sunk or you swam...there was no help or treatment given in those days to help those traumatised by war either from the battlefields or at home this is why i have so much admiration for those that came out the other end...one thought occured to me...if your mom had not been visiting her nan on the day the bombs dropped you may not be here now:) a very sobering thought

lyn
 
hi paulo the church near the villa ground is st peter and st pauls (aston parish church) i would definately say your grandparents married at st pauls lozells road..two of my sisters were christened there..its still standing and has recently undergone some refurb and general tidy up..

hi donbogen what an awful experience for your grandad its no wonder he suffered after it...trouble was folk had to grin and bare it...you either sunk or you swam...there was no help or treatment given in those days to help those traumatised by war either from the battlefields or at home this is why i have so much admiration for those that came out the other end...one thought occured to me...if your mom had not been visiting her nan on the day the bombs dropped you may not be here now:) a very sobering thought

lyn
Hi lyn
Yes after I posted I thought the same
the reason my Mum was not at home was because there was a shelter in the garden of Witton rd
or they went and used the shelters in Aston park
Don
 
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