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Albion Factory Upper Highgate Street

rewdco

knowlegable brummie
Hello,

I’m doing a research job on the Royal Enfield motorcycles that were built during WW2. Since the early 1930’s Royal Enfield had always used Albion gearboxes. These gearboxes were produced by the Albion Engineering Company, Tower Works, Upper Highgate Street 48-56 in Birmingham.



But in 1942 Enfield introduced a new Army model, the prototype of this model having a Burman gearbox. The early production models still used an Albion gearbox, but very soon Enfield also made a contract with Burman equipped bikes.

It is currently unclear why Enfield suddenly opted for the Burman gearboxes. The rumour goes that the Albion factory had been bombed during the Blitz, so Albion couldn’t produce any gearboxes anymore. I have my doubts about this theory, and I’m trying to find out if this could be true…

The “Demand Date” for the contract for which Enfield built the Burman equipped prototype was July 3rd 1941. Question is: was the Albion Engineering Company bombed shortly before this date?

I have studied the Birmingham Bomb Census map that is available on the Internet (https://drlqq8xn694xu.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20093826/IMG_7180.jpg) . I have made an overlay in Google Earth, but have come to the conclusion that due to redevelopment work in that area, Upper Highgate Street has been “moved a few yards”, see the red Google Earth symbol in the images below. This red symbol shows the approximate current position of Upper Highgate Street 48 - 56, but I’m not sure if the current house numbering corresponds with the wartime house numbering… You will also notice that the red symbol doesn’t match with the position of Upper Highgate Street in the old maps and aerial photograph.

This is the situation “today”:



Thanks to Google Earth, we also have an aerial photograph that was taken in 1945:



This is a fragment of a 1939 map, used as an overlay on Google Earth:



And this is a fragment of the Birmingham Bomb Census map as an overlay on Google Earth:



We can see that incendiary bombs (red dots) fell on these places:
- on the corner of Upper Highgate Street and Highgate Street,
- on the corner of Emily Street and Upper Highgate Street,
- opposite Emily Street,
- two incendiary bombs fell at the North East end of Upper Highgate Street.

One black X (an unexploded bomb) fell on the corner of Angelina Street and Upper Highgate Street.

The Albion factory was at 48 – 56 Upper Highgate Street. But I have no idea where these numbers are situated… Did the numbering start at the South West end or at the North East end? Odd numbers on the left and even numbers on the right or vice versa? How many houses were there in this street?

I did find something on this forum that may give us a clue:

First hand info.
run downstairs to ask hubbie.


Hubbie lived at 37 upperhighgate street.
In the entry next to his back garden was Millars. his house and then the girls school plus entrance then continuation of houses down the street.
The Albion was demolished many years later.
The opposite corner got bombed.
He said that as he was young it was called a
landmine ??? it cleared the whole area on the opposite side all arond the cromwell passage area to the corner.
He said some of it may have got damaged but not that much, it continued production for many years.
His family lived at no. 17 upperhighagate street before he was born (1936)


When I compare this story with the 1945 dated aerial photograph, I think we can come to some conclusions. Hubbie lived at number 37, same side as the girls’ school. So the Albion factory must have been on the other side of the street (even numbers). Halfway Upper Highgate Street, at the side of the odd numbers, I can see an area that looks as if it has been bombed. Cromwell passage is nearby. Does this mean that the Albion factory was at the area that I highlighted in green? In that case, according to the Bomb Census Map, it may have been hit by the unexploded bomb (on the corner of Angelina Street and Upper Highgate Street) and an incendiary bomb (on the corner of Emily Street and Upper Highgate Street) mentioned above...



If anybody here would have information leading to the exact location of the Albion factory, this would really make my day! Any information that could confirm the bombing of this factory would also be greatly appreciated! Does the Bomb Census Map that I used as an overlay contain all the bombs that fell on Birmingham? It certainly doesn’t contain the bomb location that was described by Hubbie, and that I may have found on the aerial photograph (outlined in blue). Some maps only show the bombs that fell during a specific period (e.g. this one that unfortunately doesn’t show the Upper Highgate area, in which only the bombs that fell from 19/20 November 1940 until 11/12 December 1940 are listed… https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/5333867878)

Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Jan V.
Bruges,
Belgium
 
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In the "redevelopment" of Birmingham in the 1960s-70s a number of streets were altered or slightly moved. however, this had not been done immediately after the war. The map c 1950 below shows in pink what is then called Tower Works at 48-56 Upper Highgate st., and this numbering would have been the same as before the war I cannot say that no bomb damage occurred at the works, but it is still listed there in the 1943 Kellys directory, and other destroyed premises are missing in that directory when no longer there.

map c 1950 showing 48-56 Upper Highgate st.jpg
 
hi jan you may already have been on the BARRA site but if not here is a list of those injured and the addresses..there were no fatalities in upper highgate street

lyn


NameAgedInjured onInjured atDied OnDied AtCarney, Kathleen 22/11/1940 3/3 Upper Highgate Street, Balsall Heath Cooper, John 22/11/1940 11 Upper Highgate Street, Balsall Heath Morris, Reginald 22/11/1940 23 Upper Highgate Street, Balsall Heath Parsons, Sidney 22/11/1940 9 Upper Highgate Street, Balsall Heath Startin, Arthur 22/11/1940 5/11 Upper Highgate Street, Highgate
 
Hi Jan. Thank you for sharing your research with us. An interesting piece to read. Viv.
 
Thank you very much Mikejee and Lyn, this is really helpful!

So now we know exactly where the Albion factory was located: on the corner of Angelina Street and Upper Highgate Street.



Exactly on this spot there is an X in my bomb census map, meaning that this place was hit by an unexploded bomb.



But I found cropped version of another bomb census map on this forum, on which Upper Highgate Street is just visible. When I compare both maps, they are 99% identical, biggest difference being that the cropped map only shows red and black spots, no crosses. And the black spot on the corner of Angelina Street and Upper Highgate Street is now positioned in the middle of the street. It looks as if both maps show ALL the bombs that fell on Birmingham, not only those bombs that fell during a specific period.



I am starting to have my doubts about the fact that the bomb that fell on the corner of Angelina Street and Upper Highgate Street didn’t explode:
- Hubbie’s testimony describes that “The opposite corner got bombed. … It cleared the whole area on the opposite side all around the cromwell passage area to the corner.
- Ten years ago, when I first started this research, somebody from the Birmingham Public Library told me that “Incendiary bombs fell close to the factory (48 – 56 Upper Highgate Street) during German air raids on 25/10/1940, 22- 23/11/1940 and 3/12/1940. The bombs of 22-23/11/1940 fell so close that they may have actually hit the Albion factory. High explosive bombs fell close to the factory on 15- 16/6/1940 and 26/10/1940. The air raid maps only record bomb falls so I’m unable to tell the exact damage that was caused by those bombs.” My contact didn’t mention the UXB, but a bomb “that fell so close that it may have actually hit the Albion factory”.
- And on the aerial photograph the area on the opposite side of the Albion factory clearly looks as if it has been destroyed by bombs.
- The date of the bombs that fell so close that they may have actually hit the Albion factory (22-23/11/1940) corresponds with the date of all the Upper Highgate Street injuries on the Barra website.

Assuming that a bomb did effectively explode on the corner of Angelina Street and Upper Highgate Street, we can also be quite sure that the Albion factory may have been hit, but clearly wasn’t damaged:
- I know from my Royal Enfield research that Albion kept on building gearboxes during this period, as there are no “gaps” in the Royal Enfield factory ledgers around that time.
- Eye witness Hubbie said “Some of it may have got damaged but not that much, it continued production for many years.”

Any further comments or additional information is still gratefully received!

Regards,
Jan
 
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So... According to the "urban legend", the Albion factory had been bombed, and Burman had to help making gearboxes for Royal Enfield in 1942. The research above shows that this can't have been the case... so the search goes on. I recently received this scan from a friend of mine. Maybe the urban legend was based on the fact that Burman had been bombed...? Do we have proof of that? Burman had two factories during WW2: Ryland Road and Wychall Lane. Neither of these premises is within the reach of the well known bomb census map...

page256.jpg
 
This week I've been in Birmingham. (Not so special for most of you, but I live in Bruges, Belgium.) I've researched the old Burman Archives in the Birmingham Library, and in the old factory ledger, I found the illustrations below:
DSCN2036.jpegDSCN2035.jpeg
 
Looks as if one UXB fell on the Burman factory in Ryland Road on October 28th 1940. I assume that there were no other incidents...

The question about why Enfield started using Burman gearboxes in 1942 remains unanswered... :(

Merry Christmas to all of you! :)
Jan
 
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