• 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

Licensed Victuallers Asylum

G

glaciermint

Guest
I can't see reference on the site to the Licensed Victuallers Asylum so thought it was worth mentioning, it may be of particular interest to any members who have been in the Licensed Trade.

At the anniversary dinner of the Licensed Victuallers Society in 1845 it was proposed that an asylum be founded. The dinner was presided over by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Phillips, and it was agreed that an asylum be founded for decayed members of the trade and their widows. Mr Phillips started the fund with a £50 donation, subsequently increased to £100, and other members subscribed a further £600 at the dinner towards the project.

Land was purchased on Bristol Road at a cost of £1,118 3s, Mr D R Hill designed the building in Elizabethan style, and the first stone was laid by Mr Phillips on 30 August 1848. It was opened shortly afterwards in 1849 to accomodate ten families. A widow or widower was granted 7 shillings a week and a married couple 10 shillings, in addition to which all medical attention was provided.

Claims for admission greatly exceeded the accomodation available so payments were extended to include 'outdoor allowances' for those who could reside with relatives.

I don't know if the greatest risk to ex publicans was poverty or ill health but clearly it was a problem, though apparently demand for help fell towards the end of the century. Perhaps somebody can take the thread forward and pinpoint the exact site and advise when both the building and the institution disappeared.

Bob
 
Hi Glaciermint:
Sadly, I do not know when the Licensed Victuallers Asylum on Bristol Road closed down. The Birmingham Library would have details I would think.
Other LVA Asylums in Britain are featured on web sites but not Birmingham's it seems.

I know the LVA are going strong and have a great history of helping
publicans and their families which was their mandate when they opened
the Asylum's in the mid l8th century which later changed to LVA National Homes.

My cousin and her husband were in the pub trade for two decades going from small London pubs to running larger establishments in the late l950's in Hertfordshire. The husband died of cancer at this time and my cousin had three children to raise. She got out of the pub trade and the LVA paid for her children to attend their boarding school near Ascot in Berkshire. They flourished at this school and my cousin was very grateful for the LVA's support of the children's education.
 
Glaciermint
A bit late, but below is a 1890 map showing the position of the licensed victuallers asylum. As you can see the position on Bristol street was between the end of Hope St and Bristol st , so it would correspond to the piece of grass with a path over it close to the middleway. As to when it disappeared, it was still in Kellys in 1940, but not in 1950
Mike



map_c_1890__showing_licensed_victuallers_asylum.jpg
 
I think there are present day LVA homes at the old Lickey tram terminus at Rednal. Reckon someone here will know for sure.
 
Glaciermint
A bit late, but below is a 1890 map showing the position of the licensed victuallers asylum. As you can see the position on Bristol street was between the end of Hope St and Bristol st , so it would correspond to the piece of grass with a path over it close to the middleway. As to when it disappeared, it was still in Kellys in 1940, but not in 1950
Mike


Mike according to the info given with my photo the LVA stood from 1840 to 1960,,I don't know how accurate that would be.
 
Though there again Mike after checking on my last post, it's seems that once again the wrong information has been tagged to a photo. This photo dated 1949 (supposedly) taken from almost the same spot as my previous photo shows no sign of the LVA.

Edgbaston Bristol Street 1949.jpg
 
Well, Phil, below are two maps for c1937 and c1951 with the position of the asylum marked with a marker. The 1937 one actually gives the name on the map, but by 1951 it is a motor dealers. I think a lot of bomb damage occurred around there in the war, so maybe it was destroyed then.

map c1889 showing licensed victuallers asylum.jpgmap c1937 showing licensed victuallers asylum.jpg
 
Phil
I wonder if I have found the source of the 1960s quote. "Lost Buildings of Birmingham" states that the residents were evacuated in WW2 and never returned. Then "After the war the front of the building was removed and the site became a motor car showroom, a use that continued till the mid 1960s"
I wonder if someone had misread that to mean that the asylum continued till the 1960s?
 
Well Mike and pedrocut it seems that the dates that came with my photo were definitely wrong. It also seems that by 1941 the buildings were deemed unfit for habitation. It as I always say never put your trust in dates that come with photos unless you know them to be true.
 
Back
Top