I hope nobody minds If I post this little tribute to Percy Shurmer. I do this because some time ago I tried to use the internet to find out some facts about his life and his times as a Councillor and M.P. for Sparkbrook and Birmingham South. I thought with such a well known Brummie it will be no problem. That is when my problem started I could find very few facts about him anywhere. Put his name into a search engine and it will throw up schools and parks named after him but nothing about the man himself. My next step was to get in touch with the library. No books have been written about him or were written by him.
The facts and items that are recorded here are just a few that I have been able to turn up from newspaper articles, this site and various books where he is mentioned. As I am no historian and no writer please forgive me if any of the facts are wrong as I didn’t check too deeply into anything. I thought it more important to get something down on papers so others looking for information may have a starting point. If anybody has any further information about (in my opinion) this great man, then please by all means add it to this.
Carl Chinn says in one of his books that in his opinion a statue of the man should be erected on the large traffic island at the head of Belgrave Road and Highgate Middleway as this is nearest you can now get to Percy’s once home. I can not agree more.
I do this also because Percy was a friend of my grandfather and he often popped round to see him. They had gone to school together and they were both called Percy. There are still certain facts I am unable to find. One of the main ones is I am unable to find where he was buried So if anyone who reads this knows please add the location. In fact please add any information or recollections that you may have.
I have decided to post now without managing to find everything I would have wished to find about this great local man, because I have just received a PM from a member of this forum who is having a similar problem to what I had in sourcing information.
Percy Shurmer MP Sparkbrook 1945-1959.
A much loved local man of the people and a man who was often described as a little man with a big heart.
Percy Lionel Edward Shurmer Was born in 1888 in Cheltenham his father Edward was a master tailor.
The family moved to Birmingham when Percy was quite young. He was educated at St AlbansSchool Highgate 1893 to 1895 and then St Pauls Worcester 1895 to 1901. As Balsall Heath was then part of Worcester I assume that this school was St Pauls,Vincent Street, Balsall Heath.
He was apprenticed into the merchant navy from1903 to 1912. He married in 1908 to Maud Taylor ,He started work for the Post Office telephone department in 1912 as an engineer. He served with the Birmingham Territorial’s during WW1, gassed and wounded in 1917 he was disabled and honourably discharged in 1919. He stood for election to BirminghamCity Council in 1921 and was elected . Later in 1926 for his part in the General Strike he was sacked from the Post Office due to the fact he was arrested and fined £10.00 for making an inflammatory speech.
During his years on the Council he served on many committee’s, The Markets & Fairs committee, The Public Assistance Committee, The Asylums Committee, The War Pensions Committee, The General Committee. He was also chairman of The Old Age Pensions Committee and The Emigration Committee.
He was often called the miskin king because of his campaign against landlords who instead of providing rubbish bins just erected a lean to shed like structure in back yards adjacent to the outside toilets and wash houses and all the rubbish from the houses was just dumped in these. He was often know to attack these miskins and demolish them.
During his years in office he fought tirelessly for the lower classes, never forgetting his working class upbringing and never moving from his home at 140 Belgrave Road. Every year he would hold a Christmas party at the Town Hall for up to a 1000 under privileged children, he also the prime mover in starting a fund to provide hobnail boots for those children who needed shoes, these children became known a Percy’s Sparrows. Another of his well known campaigns was having the automaton clock depicting The Earl & Countess of Warwick along with two other figures that used to be located in Birmingham Imperial Arcade Dale End moved to The Market Hall in the Old Bull ring. He eventually got this clock that was made by Potts & Sons of Leeds in 1883 moved into its new site above the market hall office in 1936 from then on it was known as Percy’s Clock. It was destroyed in the Bombing in 1940. He unsuccessfully tried to start another campaign after WWII saying as the Germans had destroyed it they should make us a new one.
In 1945 he stood as a labour candidate for Sparkbrook and won the seat from Leo Amery a Conservative government minister even then Percy remained on the Council as an Alderman. Percy won a three further elections one in 1950 one in 1951 and a further one in 1955.
During election campaigns Percy was well known for marching round the streets of Birmingham proceeded by his band The Saint Martins and Deritend Girls Band who would be dressed in their black and yellow uniforms and generally followed by a troop of children singing vote, vote, vote for Percy Shurmer. He’s the best man in the land.
Being small in stature he would often carry with him a chair or a stool to stand on to address the crowd when the procession stopped. His favourite place for speech making was Dymoke Street Highgate.
Percy was a powerful and charismatic speechmaker and could enthral a crowd he would often start a speech with one of his favourite openings “ Lets not lie to ourselves” or “Lets not try to fool ourselves”. Whenever he started to speak a crowd would soon gather to listen, they stood spellbound listening to every word.
Often the police would arrest him and drag him of to the local police station. If he didn’t get arrested and dragged off he would finish his address jump down and circulate amongst the crowd shaking hands and talking to old friends.
Throughout his years in politics Council and Government Percy never ceased to fight for the betterment of the working class the people that he belonged to. He fought for the replacement of miskins with proper bins, he campaigned for the old cooking ranges to be replaced by gas stoves, he got gas lighting in each terrace yard. He raised money for the Mariners Benevolent Society, Yardley Green Sanatorium, and not forgetting his sparrows days out.
Percy was a peoples champion all his life, which ended in 1959. On the day of his funeral the 4th of June 1959 the streets were lined with people from the town centre to his house at 140 Belgrave Road. The nearer his house the thicker the crowds all in all a sad day for Birmingham..
I have been unable to find where he was laid to rest, but I have to agree with Carl Chinn that a statue or monument should be erected to his memory.
When I wrote my piece on Percy, at the time I stated that I had been unable to ascertain the place where he was laid to rest. Since that date his Grandson Anthony has furnished me with some further information.
Percy was cremated on the 4th of June 1959 at Lodge Hill crematorium, Selly Oak. His ashes were scattered in the Gardens of Rest in the middle of section 1ETS.
I have thanked Anthony for his help on behalf of all those that the information he has given may be of interest.
I would also like to add that in my own humble opinion it will be a long time before Birmingham can boast another MP of Percy's stature and calibre.
