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Newspapers : From Birmingham Post 150 years ago

Can you forward the report to me please Lyn would like to read it. I have an interest in Burbury Street as it's where great granddads bakery was. It also states in his obituary that he bought the last stack of bricks from Lewis's brick works. What an awful thing to happen as well....
 
7.9.1864
% of married people in various towns who could sign their name in 1862 from marriage registers. Birmingham in the middle range, but Wolverhampton right down the list

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The sad fact about the stats is that, although a person might be able to write their name, they may not have been able to read or write, just simply write their name. So describing it in terms of "education" in the article is misleading. Viv.


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8.9.1864.
An appeal for money for a new infants school. This was before the 1870 Education Act stated that councils should provide elementary schooling for normal people.
an interesting case where a shorter jail sentence was imposed as it was more harsh !

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St. Mathias's School in Wheeler Street (from the astonbrook-through-astonmanor site). The original building seems to have had extensions at several points in time. I at first thought the tallest building would be the original talked about in the article. But given the earlier small number of pupils it seems very spacious. Maybe it originally housed other church functions too. Also wondered if the new room for girls was the single storey building to the left. Viv.

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10.9.1864
How farmers lived in the Midlands, or really should be titled how farmers eat in the Midlends

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12.9.1864

The triennial Birmingham music festival a success.
The gaol in cleanliness is unexceptionable (I think they mean exceptional).
Mason's Orphanage erects new building.
It may be me, but I find a pub named the Noahs Ark inn, with landlord a noah who is a cow keeper rather quaint. Unfortunately he seems to have hit a rock in his craft and gone bankrupt.

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Some interesting monetary costing's reported, not knowing the difference between the cost in 1864, and now, I would estimate that we do not expend as much in monetary value now as then, and as for 377 police officers in one borough, well I know that in this borough, we are lucky to see one in a car. Paul
 
13.9.1864
The purchase of Aston Hall by the city has finally been completed.
Wonder what sort of commissions they execute. I presumeits not the services of a hit man !

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thanks for the snippet about aston hall mike...i think the mayor would be very pleased to know that his hopes for aston hall to be enjoyed for generations to come is still ongoing...

lyn
 
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And it was a good thing Aston Hall was acquired by the Council. It seems to have been in financial difficulties by this time, hence the liquidator mentioned in the article. I also hadn't appreciated that, in the 1920s, it was a toss up to save either Aston Hall or Perry Hall. Always felt sad that Perry Hall had to go, but given the choice I suppose you'd have to choose Aston Hall with it's history, architecture etc.. According to Wikipedia Aston Hall was the first historic country house to go into municipal ownership. Viv.


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And it could be argued , according to the papers of the time , that this might not have happened if the mayor, also connected to the company owning the park, had not asked Queen Victoria to open it. His invitation was sent, apparently, though it seems the actual letter was "lost", implying (or lying) that he was asking as mayor not as a company official. This caused the Queen to believe that the park was to be a people's park owned by the council, and she accepted the invitation. Later, when this became clear, it was considered necessary for the honour of the city for the city to buy the park (with some help from benefactors). So for once (out of millions of cases) a council's lies did produce a good result
 
14.9.1864

Subscription for new public rooms in Erdington. Anyone any ideas what became of them ?
New fire escape demonstrated. As the piece implies, it might be as dangerous to use as not to use.
Evidence of a parrot in court. But this was only hearsay - the bird should have been sworn in (as I understand it many parrots can swear quite well).

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Mike, I think the Public Rooms stood where the Palace cinema was in Erdington High Street. It was at one time called
the Public Hall. In 1923 the building was converted to the Palace Cinema. Hopefully, this is the place since I recall there were some meeting rooms in Harrison Road at one time but not called the Public Hall. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/27273
 
Thanks Jennyann, I see that on the c1890 map it is labelled "Public Hall". On the same map there is a hall in harrison road, but a slightly earlier map shows harrison road does not exist, so the one you mention must be t eones referred to.
 
Blimey, that parrot's worth a few bob! Stick him in a room instead of CCTV and he could name the thieves and probably do a citizens arrest as well.
 
15.9.1864
Must be for a travelling preacher, though it can't be all that portable if it can accomodate 130 people

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16.9.1864
When motor cars came then they were condemned for frightening the horses. It looks like trains, when q new thing, were accused of causing over exertion

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17.9.1864

I guess they redesigned the police uniform after this.

Wonder what the mysterious danger was. Perhaps it was just anti-german stirring, though rather a long time before WW1, and albert had only recently died, so I think this unlikely


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I had a look at the link given by Brummie Nick and apparently German Yeast was made up of one third pipe clay. What was interesting was the article below that about smoking and heart disease published as long ago as 1864.
 
Wouldn't have thought that adulteration with clay would have any effect other than that of not putting enough yeast in the bread. this would result in it not rising as much, which commercially would have given stodgy loaves. but these would have been smaller, as they hadn't risen enough. I doubt that bread was sold by weight then, but probably by size, so this should have meant less profit.
 
I think bakers back in those days were notorious for adding stuff to the flour, even sawdust was known to be used.
On a recent WDYTYR program Merry Berrys ancestors made bread so bad even the inmates of the workhouse complaind about it.:stupid:
 
The most common adulterant was alum, which made bread white without using expensive top quality white flour and also made the bread lighter. It was not good for the consumer even at in the levels that were reported to give these "benefits", but often it was added by the miller, then by the baker , which meant twice the levels were added . Less common additives were chalk and gypsum (plaster of paris) (very cheap and easily obtained) in addition to the sawdust already mentioned. These were not even claimed to have any benefits, but were just bulking agents, enabling less flour to be used, and producing a heavy loaf (not surprising if you have plaster of paris sitting in your stomach)
 
19.9.1864

Second anniversary of opening of Crystal Palace concert Hall. It is now complete and sounds very impressive.
Big fire at mill in Bradford St.
Miners dispute gets violent.

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20.9.1864

This would have been one of the very old type £5 notes covered with text , no pictures and number only in one corner. could one torn in half actually be used as tender, or in this case donation, without the other half?
Interesting point relevant in principal today. Paupers were made to pick 3lbs of oakham a day in the workhouse, whereas criminals only had to pick 2 lbs.
Burglar injured by ramrod. Today the police would probably want to charge Mr Grice with causing harm to the burglar.
Stamping of parcel caused explosion. Surprised it didn't explode while being chucked around in the sorting office.

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