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Chamberlain family

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Wendy

Guest
Oh wow Brian what a great find I had no idea she was buried there.
 
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DavidGrain

master brummie
mikejee said:
Paul
You may be right about Neville's feelings, but i don't think he served in WW1. He was Birmingham lord Mayor for at least part of the war, and , at 45 when the war started, would probably have been a bit old to take part .
mike
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Neville Chamberlain was Lord Mayor in 1916 but did not complete his year of office. The story goes that he was sitting on a train at Euston returning to Birmingham when the railway police boarded the train and told him that the prime minister, David Lloyd George, wished to see him urgently in Downing Street. He was then offered the post of a minister in the war cabinet and this started his national political career.

A favourite quiz question I ask, and no one has ever got it right. Name the only man to have held those two great offices of state, Lord Mayor of Birmingham and Prime Minister?
 
ellbrown

ellbrown

ell brown on Flickr
Sad news about a vandalism attack at Highbury Hall

Parents egged on gang of vandals to smash up Birmingham's Highbury Park



A GANG of young boys seemingly amazingly egged on by their parents smashed a Victorian viewing platform used by Joseph Chamberlain causing at least £50,000 damage.
The attack in broad daylight at Birmingham’s Highbury Park was witnessed by onlookers who were shocked when adults encouraged the vandals.
City council culture cabinet member Martin Mullaney said he was “sickened” by the wanton destruction, which is part of a pattern of vandalism in city parks.

He has vowed to restore the 120-year-old structure, which was built in the shadow of Highbury Hall, the Chamberlain family’s ancestral mansion.
The stone-built platform was completely destroyed at about four o’clock in the afternoon when a small number of boys tore the ornate stonework apart and pushed the blocks over the edge of a rocky outcrop, where they smashed into pieces.
Coun Mullaney (Lib Dem Moseley & Kings Heath) said: “The historic feature which was completely demolished was created in 1890.
“It was from this platform that Joseph Chamberlain was able to view his ornate gardens of Highbury Hall, looking down to the main pond that still exists today.
“A member of the Friends of Highbury Park witnessed this vandalism and described the group as all male, containing a small number of 40 to 50-year-old men, who were encouraging teenage boys to smash up the stonework.
“When the member of the Friends approached the group, he was sworn at and threatened.
“The timing of this vandalism has been terrible, since I was busy finding money to fully restore this viewing platform this autumn and this has significantly increased that cost. Some of the stone blocks are re-usable, but there are lot that will require complete replacing.”
Although the platform was not in a good state of repair before the attack, it will now require major and expensive restoration work, Coun Mullaney said.
The attack is a blow to plans to restore the Highbury gardens in time for the 100th anniversary of Joseph Chamberlain’s death in 2014.
Coun Mullaney is working on a £5 million bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to pay for the work, which would re-create formal Victorian gardens at Highbury.
He said a spate of recent attacks in parks included extensive damage to a toilet block at Cannon Hill Park, caused by an unknown assailant armed with a sledgehammer, and the destruction of a wall dating from the 1780s at Highbury Park, again with a sledgehammer.
Coun Mullaney added: “It seems there are people who like to smash things up, and unfortunately they don’t get caught.”
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ellbrown

ellbrown

ell brown on Flickr
These youths have no respect for history, and it took place in broad daylight according to the article.

They need to be caught. Is there no CCTV of them in or near the park or hall?
 
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DavidGrain

master brummie
Actually I think they need to be transported back further to the Birmingham that it was before Joseph Chamberlain made it the best governed city in the world a it was then described
 
ellbrown

ellbrown

ell brown on Flickr
There's different images of the smashed Victorian platform on the Birmingham Post site


Vandalism of the Victorian viewing platform at Highbury Hall
 
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Wendy

Guest
DavidGrain said:
Actually I think they need to be transported back further to the Birmingham that it was before Joseph Chamberlain made it the best governed city in the world a it was then described
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Very well said David. I just despair at some of our youth today. I know it's a minority but it seems to be getting worse!

Lovely pictures Topsey and very poignant!
 
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Wendy

Guest
You will find these families mentioned on their own threads on the forum. The Kenricks married into the Chamberlain family they along with the Martineau's are all buried in Key Hill cemetery.
 
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Stitcher

Guest
img414.jpg
July 7th. 1906, the eve of Mr. Joseph Chamberlains seventieth birthday and here he is with Mrs. Chamberlain arriving at the Council House for the Lord Mayors reception and luncheon to honour the occasion.
 
S

Stitcher

Guest
img413.jpg
Another day but the birthday celebrations continue in the form of a procession of motor cars in Small Heath, Victoria and Ward End Parks.
 
jennyann

jennyann

master brummie
Staff member
Hope this will come about and that the awful neglect of this handsome building won't have gone too far and the cost to renovate the place won't prove to be too expensive.
 
paul stacey

paul stacey

master brummie
Birmingham's most famous family & son's, problem is perhaps there isn't many born, and bred Brummie's, in the council any more???????????????.
paul
 
Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
this is good news indeed we have lost too many historical buildings as it is...would like a look round when work is completed...

lyn
 
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