• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Search results

  1. A

    Curb Maker

    Curb chains are part of a couple of the bits for a horse's bridle. The bit is the metal part that goes in the horse's mouth, to which the reins are attached. In a sense, it provides the rider's brakes and the steering for the animal. There are different sorts of bits, such as snaffle, pelham...
  2. A

    Artists Who Painted Birmingham Landscapes

    Oooo, I am enjoying this thread! I am lucky enough to have inherited four Paul Braddons from my grandfather. I will try and link to them here: 1 South side of Old Square https://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t127/loiseau85/South%20side%20of%20Old%20Square_zpsgozbampt.jpg 2 Mr Winkle's house...
  3. A

    Book : "A century of Birmingham life: or, A chronicle of local events, from 1741 to 1841"

    I have just come across this book, "A century of Birmingham life: or, A chronicle of local events, from 1741 to 1841" readable online (if you can cope with some slightly wonky characters resulting from the scanning). It looks to have a wealth of stories. You can find it at...
  4. A

    St Asaph’s Church

    Wow, thanks for the fast reply, mikejee! I suspected the renumbering was the reason, and could indeed see that a double shopfront that had been consecutive adjacent numbers (196/197) had become "even" adjacent numbers, so thank you very much for confirming it! Angela
  5. A

    St Asaph’s Church

    Sorry to resurrect such an old thread (EDIT: Oooh, not as old as I thought; I hadn't noticed page 2!), but I was searching for information on St Asaph's church, where my husband's grandmother was baptised. Post No 10, above, mentions attaching a photograph of the church, but it doesn't seem to...
  6. A

    Dorridge

    Wonderful pix, Paul33! I had forgotten Gillooly's shop. What did they sell? Was it shoes? The second picture in the first batch must have been taken from opposite Cock and Thexton's, and shows the shrubbery still there next to the chemists, between which we had to wheel our bikes to get to...
  7. A

    Dorridge

    Yeah! That was my mother's car, the first on the left, outside the ironmonger's!! I learnt to drive in it. A Ford "Squire" with three gears, and a tendency for the starter-motor to jam. Thanks so much for the link. I have just sent e-cards of the pic from the Francis Frith site to my...
  8. A

    Dorridge

    Ah well, our mothers would definitely have known one another in C&Th then! Fancy you knowing the Wickets so well. Wrensons - I had forgotten that. Weren't they a bit lower down, in a double-fronted shop, between the Candy Shop and the post office (Tallises)? I remember the butcher's, one or...
  9. A

    Dorridge

    Oh, I remember the Tapster Valley. I used to ride round there. It was such a pretty spot. Don't recall either Tapster House or Lapworth House - though I do remember Lovelace Hill. I had a friend whose family lived opposite those grand gates. sometimes I used to cycle all the way to Solihull...
  10. A

    Dorridge

    Love the photos, Applet! So you had a builder and decorator next door - or was that your father's business? I remember the coal yard and gasometers, though not the cattle market. Philip A Carlyle's rings a bell too. My mother was living with her parents in Bentley Heath, not far from Dorridge...
  11. A

    Dorridge

    EDIT the 1950s my sister and I used to have to cycle to Dorridge from Packwood every morning to take the bus or train to school in Solihull, and the same journey back every afternoon (having visited "The Candy Shop" first of course, for something to top up our sugar levels). We left our bikes...
  12. A

    Verity's Limited

    Me again, Edward, I did come across the following information that might be of interest to you: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22965 Except for the small contracting side of the industry, electrical engineering has also always been on a relatively large scale. One large...
  13. A

    Verity's Limited

    Hi Edward (post No 9) I have found mention that Robert William Bill (who formed Bill Switchgear in 1906) worked at Verity's Limited, and also at the factory of my great-grandfather, JH Tucker, who had set up his own electrical manufacturing business in Birmingham in 1892. In the 1891 census...
  14. A

    Allan Line Steamers - Steamship travel in 1889

    This page about the Allan Line and its routes gives a table of fares. Steerage fare for the crossing from Liverpool to Canada was £6.6.0 whereas Saloon class was £18. Here's a link to a page about steerage passengers ons ailing and steamships; maybe it'll be helpful. Sounds as if they were...
  15. A

    Why are you a family historian?

    I started in the late 70s, after finding a little, privately-printed book of poems and essays by one of my grandfather's forebears. Most were about the writer's family, so I was able to piece together who they were and to draw out my first wobbly tree from that. The family turned out to have...
  16. A

    Items that have faded away

    Mmmmmmmmmmm. Horlicks Tablets! I remember wondering why they needed quite so much packaging. First the tin itself - which I think was sealed firmly round the middle with either green or blue sticky tape. Once you had got it open, you were faced with two long paper-wrapped rectangles each...
  17. A

    WWII Barrage Balloon Sites

    I think this phrase was what misled us, Alan! It must have been a scary sight for a small child. I have a theory that our earliest memories are of things that frightened us; certainly mine tend to be that way. For example, I remember going with my mum to meet my father from a train at...
  18. A

    WWII Barrage Balloon Sites

    I think Alan may have meant he was giving us a "word picture". (I, too, looked in vain for an image to start with!) Am I right in presuming that a base would be in a rural spot such as Wythall to be out of harm's way, but that the balloons themselves were taken on a daily basis to more...
  19. A

    St James Edgbaston Infant School, 1888

    Well, Mikejee, you are really something else! All those questions you have answered for me tonight has led me to some pinpointing of locations on GoogleEarth. And lots of stuff starts to fall into place. Thank you VERY much! Angela
  20. A

    Hugh Williams, chemist

    Maybe he didn't have his own business, then. I see he was a "lodger" in 1881, so not living over the shop. Thanks so much for checking. Angela
Back
Top