I'm investigate my mother's side of our family and discovered from where I get my love of books. My Great Great Great Grandfather was Charles Lowe who set up a bookshop selling old books sometime around the mid 1850's (he was a clock case maker in the 1851 census, old bookseller in 1861) His shop was next to the Grammar School in New Street and was in business until around 1903 then being run by his son, another Charles Lowe, who hung himself in the shop because of a property dispute! I would love to know if anyone has an information of either of the Charles Lowes and even better a photo showing the shop which was called 'The Great Book Mart' in the 1890's.
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Charles Lowe Bookseller 'the Great Book Mart'
- Thread starter Tikitnet
- Start date
Cannot find Charles on Ancestry for 1852 or 1861. Presumably miss-transcribed. However local directories give (date is publication date and probably refers to a year or possibly 18 months earlier):
No mention of appropriate Charles Lowe in directories before 1862
1862 Charles Lowe old bookseller 8 Summer Row (Corporation directory)
1863 Charles Lowe old bookseller 8 Summer Row (Slaters directory)
1867 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller,1 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
1868 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, 34 Congreve St, 1 Ann St & Rann St ( Post Office Directory)
1872 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, 1 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
1873 Charles Lowe old bookseller, 1 Ann St; home St Mary St (White's directory)
1876 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller,1 & 3 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
1878-84 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, 7 Broad St corner (Post Office Directory)
1888 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, Exchange buildings, New St.
The Exchange buildings would be the address you mentioned next to the Grammar School. No 1 Ann st would have been on the site of the western corner of the junction of Newhall St with what is now Colmore Row
No mention of appropriate Charles Lowe in directories before 1862
1862 Charles Lowe old bookseller 8 Summer Row (Corporation directory)
1863 Charles Lowe old bookseller 8 Summer Row (Slaters directory)
1867 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller,1 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
1868 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, 34 Congreve St, 1 Ann St & Rann St ( Post Office Directory)
1872 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, 1 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
1873 Charles Lowe old bookseller, 1 Ann St; home St Mary St (White's directory)
1876 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller,1 & 3 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
1878-84 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, 7 Broad St corner (Post Office Directory)
1888 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller, Exchange buildings, New St.
The Exchange buildings would be the address you mentioned next to the Grammar School. No 1 Ann st would have been on the site of the western corner of the junction of Newhall St with what is now Colmore Row
Thanks for taking so much time and trouble to compile the list. It will really help to track him around Birmingham and possibly find an image from one of the other locations as I didn't have Congreave and Rann down on my list He is in the 1851 Census but living in London and you are right, he is down as Charles LOW in the 1861 Census (doesn't look miss-transcribed more misspelt) but living up here and working as an old book seller. I'll look for images of the Exchange Building rather than hoping for a bit tacked on to the end of one of the Grammar School.
Here is a distant view on a postcard supposedly 1905. The grammar school is the building partly shown on the far left, with the exchange building next along.to the right.Doesn;t show any detail though. Date might hav ebeen date of postmark , so actually coiu;ld be earlier.
Thank you again for your posting. That is a much better view of where the shop must have been from the one I have. As you say it is disappointing we can't really see any detail but on mine, with my vivid imagination, I can believe it says C Lowe Esq over the door! Funnily enough my postcard is dated (26th May) 1905 as well.
pjmburns
master brummie
They are on Ancestry and just give the bare details. For some reason there are 2 for the elder Charles.
Wills can be searched for (to see the detail) and ordered at £10 a copy here: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/searching-for-probate-records
Janice
Wills can be searched for (to see the detail) and ordered at £10 a copy here: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/searching-for-probate-records
Janice
Janice, Thank you so much for the information as the one thing I couldn't find was the date of death of Charles Lowe Snr. I'll certainly get copies of the wills especially Jnr as he hung himself over a property dispute but I can find no record of what that might be. I know he owned 19 house in Ladywood as he was trying to raise a mortgage for £400 and offered them as surety.
pjmburns
master brummie
The other thing is to check local newspapers - I know some people on here have subscriptions to newspaper archives so they might be able to help. I can't access papers after 1900 and I would have thought a suicide would be news. You could also check with Birmingham library as I think there would have been an inquest and they possibly have records.
Janice
Janice
pjmburns
master brummie
Since you mentioned property I checked the Rate Books and found his name.
Here are the entries. Some relate to the property mentioned in his probate - 18 the Crescent part of which he let to an oil company as it was a wharf on the canal. The rest are in Clark Street part of Rotten Park. He also seems to have owned 3 properties in Harborne (York Road).
Janice
Here are the entries. Some relate to the property mentioned in his probate - 18 the Crescent part of which he let to an oil company as it was a wharf on the canal. The rest are in Clark Street part of Rotten Park. He also seems to have owned 3 properties in Harborne (York Road).
Janice
Janice, What can I say but thank you so much again for all your research. I did take out a month's trial with Genes Reunited just to get access to the newspaper archives but I always seem to get side tracked with other things I find there when times were hard - seven years of penal servitude for stealing a book from Lowe's!
Patrick Walcot
New Member
I have a watercolour painting of Charles Lowe's bookshop at No.1 Ann Street which you would be welcome to photograph if you wished. Ann street is now the end of Colmore Row nearest to the Council House.
Patrick
Hi Patrick, Sorry for not replying sooner but as I though this thread had come to an end I'd gone off in other directions. I would love to take you up on your offer of a photograph. Did you mean you would take the photograph or that I was welcome to come and take one? Thank you again and hope to hear from you soon, Regards, Tim Kitchen.
Lyn
Cannot give you an exact size of the premises on a map , as the buildings were demolished before the first large scale OS map was available. However it was on the corner of what is now Colmore row and Newhall St , as shown on the c 1889 map in red. Not sure how big the premises were.
Cannot give you an exact size of the premises on a map , as the buildings were demolished before the first large scale OS map was available. However it was on the corner of what is now Colmore row and Newhall St , as shown on the c 1889 map in red. Not sure how big the premises were.
cheers mike i was hoping the numbering started at the council house end but looking at your map the building with scaffolding up in this photo shows the union club (still there) in which case lowes shop would be showing in the distance on the left top corner..photo taken 1870 when charles lowe was in ann st... for those interested there are more photos of ann st on the ann st threadlyn
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Is it to the right on this 1867 photo of Ann Street ? Viv.
yes viv lowes shop would be on the right on your photo but as mikes map shows no 1 was on a corner not sure if its showing on your photo..was trying for ages last night to make out the name of shop with all the ads plastered on it and the shop next to it as it may help with numbering
lyn
lyn
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Hi Lyn. I think the building on the extreme right is probably where the book shop would have been (red dot). I think this building might have been demolished before the rest of Ann Street. The buildings where I've marked green dots in both photos seem to match up. If the red dot building is the last building before Newhall Street maybe it was demolished to widen Newhall Street - as it is now quite a wide road.
For reference too, the lampost in the first image must be the left-hand lampost in the second image. Viv.
For reference too, the lampost in the first image must be the left-hand lampost in the second image. Viv.
hi viv the shop at no 1 was still there in 1876 in fact by then the lowes had also taken over no 3 so at least we know that no 1 was still there in the photo i posted dated 1870..think its another camera angle that distorts so many old photos making them look as though some buildings are not there...im not sure about the lampost in pic 1 and 2 being the same viv..there are 2 lamposts in the 2nd image at the congreve st end .. i think that because you zoomed in on it so much it made them seem higher up ann st..anyhow see what you think...keeping me busy
..posted pic 2 below
1876 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller,1 & 3 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
..posted pic 2 below1876 Charles Lowe secondhand bookseller,1 & 3 Ann St (Post Office Directory)
Attachments
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Have found this very poor photo (not sure from where it came of the junction of Ann St with Newhall St. I also have the earlier discussed photo labelled with two houses. That would indicate that the building with the coat of arms is the RSPCA local offices (which would explain the coat of arms), and make the postered buildings nos 25 & 24.
I was way off then Mike ! Quite a few more buildings would lead off from the right then before reaching Newhall Street. First pic is a great addition. Thanks. Should like to copy it to the Ann Street thread? Viv.
Lowe's were advertising in the Wellington Journal (Shropshire) in 1876 - see below. So they'd have been known outside Birmingham and probably had a good reputation for their range of books. Maybe they advertised in other newspapers/journals outside Birmingham. Viv.
