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Burbury Street

R

RayD

Guest
Burbury St. Lozells.

Lived at 223 ,till I got married in 1959.
Moved there from Unett St. Hockley about 1936 (I was 4 years old at this time) Attended Anglesey St Infants 'till being evacuated in 1939.
Spent my last 3 years schooling at Gower St. Sec. Mod. (1943-46)
Anybody out there :?: :)
 
Thanks for the picture, Moma P, :)

Guess that was taken from just up from Nursury Rd/Gerrard St. where Burbury St. now ends, (or starts!)
I lived at 223, which was about half way up, between Graham St, and Wills St. Left there in 1959.
I am advised it does not look quite the same now.......... :redface:

Do you have any connection with the street?
 
Hi Ray, yes you are right with the location. I took the photo for a lady in Australia who's gt grandparents lived next to the house where the demolition took place. My connection is my gt grandfather John Jennings lived at various adresses in the street from 1853 to 1881 he then owned a bakers shop at the top of the road on the corner of the Lozells Road the building is still there. I have attached an obituary which I think makes intresting reading of the early area.
 
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Moma P, I was very interested to see the pic of Burbury Street, although I don't know the street very much myself. My mum told me that she grew up there until she moved with her parents in 1928 (at the age of 18) to Grasmere Road in Handsworth. The thing I remember her saying that was that the houses were similar to what she was used to in Burbury Street, except that they had a little front garden (only about 3 feet of it). I notice that the bedrooms in the houses on the left have only one window, while the Grasmere Road houses had two, which makes me think they might have been that bit narrower. What I don't quite remember her saying is that the front door in Burbury Street opened directly into the front room. In Grasmere Road the front door opened into a corridor which led into the Middle Room (also known as 'The House'), then you had another passage past the stairs with tiny pantry beneath, into the kitchen, which is where the family lived. I would be interested to know if the houses in Burbury Street did have a front corridor or hallway by-passing the front room. I guess some did and some didn't. I can't ask her because she's been dead for 50 years now.
Anyway, it did me good to see so so many older houses still standing. I fear the standard of council housing collapsed from the 1950s, and it is wonderful that these house in Burbury Street survived the officially sponsored public vandalism of the 1960s and 1970s. Not that the later theories of "market forces" are the answer either, though.
Peter
 
306_Burbury_St_(b).jpg
This was John Jennings's bakery in 1891 at the top of Burbury Street. The photo was taken in 2004.
 
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Moma P said:
This was John Jennings's bakery in 1891 at the top of Burbury Street. The photo was taken in 2004.
Click to expand...

I remember the premises being there, but cannot remember if, or what type of shop it was.

Peter,
There were many types of houses in the original street which ran from the junction with Gt. King St. to Lozells Rd.
They ranged from back houses at the bottom end (by Lucas's) to, what was known to us at the time, the "posh ones" at the top!
We lived in one of a block of houses owned by the dairy, which ran at the back. The front door led directly from the pavement into the front room, as you mention, with a small garden at the rear, but there were other different types of houses towards Lozells Rd,
As you are probably aware, the bottom half of the street disappeared due to redevelopment, but the original properties remain in what is left.
As to their state.............
I went to Anglesey St Infants School before being evacuated at the age of 7, and attended Gower St Sec. Mod on my return, ages 11
As discussed elsewhere on the forum, I remember Burbury St. School as being in Farm St.!!
 
Hello,
I read the posts with interest, especially enjoyed the photo as I have
found my GtGrandmother on the 1861 Census, living as a 15 year old servant at 107 BURBURY STREET, with the Saw family...who were bakers by trade ! According to the census number 110 was the "Queens Head".
Please keep the photos coming......
Regards,
Margaret.
 
My mom went to Burbury street school i have her scholars leaving certificate dated 22nd July 1937.I think the name of the head teacher then was A C Locker
My mom was born in Tower Street Hockley on 5th july 1923 and the family lived in Hunters Vale until they were bombed during the war.
The family name was Thompson.


Lindy
 
hunters vale

hi lindy. just read your message. you said your parents lived in hunters vale during the war. so did my dad. he was born in 1929. after the bombings the family moved just round the corner at no 50 farm st they were maisonettes which are still lived in today. dads name is george harington. its a small world.
 
Do you remember Bosworth the Fish Shop on the corner of Burgury Street and Wills Street, then there was the Paper Shop (Newsagents) can't remember the name of the family in the newsagents, they were Irish.The Grocery Shop next door was owned by a Mrs Cavell or Caverel it was the purchased by a black family called Smith, Mrs Smith used to run the shop. On the same side of Burbury Street going towards Lozells Road, about 3 or 4 houses from the corner of Wills Street, an undertaker used to live there a Mr Stamper.Accross the road on the opposite corner of wills Street a large Family used to live named the Duffeys. There was also another large family living accross from the shops in a 2 storey house, called the Pembertons.
All this was in 1966, 7or 8.
 
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Re: Burbury Street Lozells

Hi all,
My Grandfather was born in 29 burbury street in the year 1923, would be great to get some pictures of the street from this time:)

His parents were William and Louisa Kirby.

Thanks for the thread, these forums are amazing!;)
 
Re: Burbury Street Lozells

In 1881 I had an ancestor who lived at 33 Burbury St. In the early 1950's my wife and her parents lived at 33 Burbury St. Coincidence or what

Hanco
 
Re: Burbury Street Lozells

Hi everyone. I am new to this but have been reading your posts with interest. I lived in Burbury Street at 280 for some 24 years. My family have had connections with this street for a much longer period. Indeed my brother still lives there.

Our house was the first bay window house going up the street from Wills Street. We had a front garden, once you went through the front door you were in the vestibule, you went through another door and were in the hall. As you went down the hall, the first door on the right was the front room, the second door the middle room (or sitting room). You then came to the stairs. You turned a corner past the stairs and there was a door out into the back yard on your right and a door to the cellar on your left. There was a door in front of you which lead to the kitchen. You went through the kitchen, through another door into the scullery where there was another door into the back garden. Once in the garden there was a couple of outhouses, one being an outside loo and the other a coal shed.

My grandparents lived in the house next door No. 282. My nan who lived to be 100 had some great memories of living in Lozells.
 
Hi Madge. Read your post with interest. I lived in Burbury Street at No. 280 which was next door to the undertaker Mr. Stamper. I remember that he drove a small black car which he gave me and mom a lift to hospital in when I had fallen and hurt my head. I think he sublet some rooms in his house to an irish family. The mother's name was Irene and she had two girls. I can only remember the name of the younger one which was Christine.

I remember the Smith family. I used to buy icecream from their shop - Raspberry Ripple! They had a daugher Pauline who I used to go to school with.

I remember the name Mrs. Pemberton - I think she was a friend of my mom.

I remember buying my dad's woodbine cigarettes for him from the shop next door to the Smith's. It was an old man who used to serve me. I am sure he had either part of his finger missing. A great source of fascination to a young girl.

I did play occassionally with the Duffy children. Their mother I am sure was called Vera - the same as my mom.

Further down Burbury Street were the Wheeldon family and also the Benbows.

Your post has certainly bought back a few memories.
 
Re: Burbury Street Lozells

hi jules 65. what a good description you posted of your house in burbury st. im the same with the house where i lived in villa street. i can remember the exact layout. i had a mate who lived in burbury st. think it was num 168. it was more the nursery road end. robin lyndon is his name. think he had a sister named barbara. anyway a few of us from the old end have managed to get in contact with each other and we are hoping to be able to arrange a get together. should be good fun. all the best wales
 
I lived at 223 up 'till 1959, at that time Bosworth's were greengrocers.
The street and the shops are still there but look a bit different now......
 
I was born in 1965 but you may remember my family as they lived in Burbury Street for a great many years. My brother still lives there.

I remember there being a greengrocer's but can't recall the name.

I clearly remember though a bootmakers/shoe repairers at the bottom of Burbury Street on the right hand side of the street as you go down the hill. Can't for the life of me remember the old guy's name. But the shop had a brown frontage and smelt of leather and had a small serving hatch.

I also recall their being a snooker shop at the top of Burbury Street opposite the bakers. I think it was called Padmores.
 
Re: Burbury Street Lozells

Hi Wales, the name Lyndon does ring a bell but it's on the tip of my tongue for a first name. Probably were friends of either my much elder sister or brothers. My parents knew loads of people in the area having worked and lived there for many years.

I used to work in Naden Road which is off Hunters Road and my Aunt used to own a shop in Barkers Street next to the hairdressers.

I also remember going to the Villa Cross picture house. My brother took me to see Jungle Book there.

My dad for a time worked for a taxi firm in Soho Road.

I'm glad I found this forum as it really does bring memories back. Living in Lozells back then was great.
 
Could anyone do a look up for me please. I don't know if this is possible but could I find out who was living at 282 and 280 Burbury Street in 1881 and 1891. I have this information for 1901 but would love to know who lived in these two houses when they were first built and what their occupations were. I was always told they were built for master jewellers working in Hockley but this has not been proven.

Was this the "posh" end of the street?
 
1891 Census

282 Burbury Street

Samuel Perry aged 60 Commercial Traveller Born Bewdley Worc. His wife Catherine age 60 Born Stratford
Samuel Fengrieve age 7 nephew born Jedburgh Roxburghshire
Kate do age 5 niece do do do
Living next door at 280 is William Perry age 38 Hardware Traveller Born Birmingham His wife Mary A age 38 born Settle in Yorkshire
Gertrude daughter 11
Samuel son 9
William F son 5 all born Birmingham
Fanny Jackson Domestic Serv born Walsall Wood.

I think it was the 'posh' end, there was a burnisher living a couple of doors away,a teacher, and an independant living on own means with a housekeeper.
 
This is my great grandfather's obituary from Aris's gazette. I am not sure when he moved to Burbury Street it was between 1861 and 1871. It's interesting how he described the area.

A Handsworth Octogenarian’s Death

The late Mr. Jennings, of Lozells Road, who died on Sunday in his 88th year, was one of the oldest inhabitants of Handsworth, and his recollections of that portion of Greater Birmingham were very interesting. He was by business a baker, and at one time was known as the largest buyer of flour in Birmingham. He was also a large buyer of house property, and was considered as great an expert in this class of speculation that many people used to go to the old gentleman or advice and information on prospective purchases. In the early days the populous and busy street now known as Burbury Street was a large clayhole on a piece of waste ground, where the only dwellers were a few squatters in ramshackle huts. Mr. Jennings bought the last stack of bricks from Lewis, the owner o the brick works, when the work of building on the land was begun. It is a matter of regret that three old residents of the district- Mr. Jennings, Mr. H .H. Hartshorne (the first president o the Aston Villa) and Mrs. Alfred Taylor(the widow of the late Alderman Taylor)- have all passed away within a few days of each other.

Aris’s Gazette, January 25th 1913
 
Thank you so much Di.Poppit. I wonder if the two families were related. It would be funny if they were as these two houses are where my parents and grandparents lived.
 
Hi Wendy, what a wonderful piece. I cannot imagine what the street would have looked like before construction of the houses began. Your g grandfather was obviously an important man in the area. I remember seeing somewhere (not sure if it was on this site or not) pictures of the top of Burbury Street where he had his premises. I remember the building but could not tell you what they were used for when I lived in the street. My nan lived in the street for a good number of years. I know she married by grandad at the Weslyan Church on Lozells Road in approx. 1925 and I think they lived in Burbury Street all of their married life though not in 282 but futher down the street. They were definetely there though in 1945 because thats when my parents married and shared the house next door with her sister and brother-in-law.

I believe my dad worked for a time at the garage at the top of Burbury Street, which I believe was probably next door to your g grandfather's bakery. Did the business continue after your g grandfather's demise?

Thanks again for your post - it certainly makes interesting reading.
 
I saw the census entry for your G.Grandfather, Wendy. As soon as I saw Jennings, Baker I knew it was your family. The piece from Aris's is interesting, I wouldn't mind betting that my grannie who lived in Chain Walk would have bought bread from him.:)

Jules, I had the same thought about the two families, I wonder if William was Samuels son.
 
Di thats another aspect I find so interesting, that our families may have known each other and some must have been friends.
 
Here's the famlies in 1881 at numbers 28 & 30:
Dwelling 30 Burbury St
Census PlaceAston, Warwick, England
William B. PERRY Head M Male 28 Birm, Warwick, England Commercial Traveller (Ironmongery)
Mary A. PERRY Wife M Female 28 Birm, Warwick, England
Gertrude PERRY Daur Female 1 Birm, Warwick, England
Fann STEER Serv U Female 21 Birm, Warwick, England Domestic Servant

Dwelling 28 Burbury St
Census PlaceAston, Warwick, England

Catherine PERRY Wife (Head) M Female 54 Stratford On Avon, Warwick, England Travellers Wife
Martha MIDDLE Visitor U Female 20 Stechford, Worcester, England Farmers Daur
Elizabeth MATTHEWS Serv U Female 19 Stourbridge, Worcester, England Domestic


I'l now look who is at the other two address' :)



Pom
 
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