Stories Behind The Pictures

[Lady Penelope]

I know there probably wasn't much choice or fashion for the youngsters pictured in Northwood St but they've all managed to look virtually the same. Was it wearing what was available or were they in a gang?

 

[Bob Davis]

Presumably it was placed there for photographic reasons (was in the way beforehand) or that is where it was usually kept, when not in use, and I guess secured to the wall.
I believe I saw this before and noted how reluctant the little boy was to be photographed. I think that today, with half the world wandering around with mobile phones being used as cameras it is difficult to appreciate how rare photographers, outside of their studios, were and how reluctant many were to be photographed.

Of course there were religious beliefs amongst the non conformists that the camera was a thing to avoid and there were those who believed that the camera would see into your soul, well that is my excuse for avoiding cameras!! No who wants a fat ugly old pensioner on their film. I make them scan in my photoshopped Poldark with the Calvin Klein underpants and with the miracles of modern computers a pensioner with a Chippendales body....or is that just the legs?
Bob

 

[Radiorails]

I know there probably wasn't much choice or fashion for the youngsters pictured in Northwood St but they've all managed to look virtually the same. Was it wearing what was available or were they in a gang?

I thought, when initially seeing this photo, that they were working. I know some are young but maybe it was Saturday and they were able to do work. Maybe the wheeled basket has a clue - laundry? or some other easily carted items. Maybe they were washerwomen? It was once, until fairly recent times, quite common, for women, often widows, to take in laundry.

 

[oldMohawk]

There were a few theories about her and the group of similarly dressed lads when the pic was originally put on. See them with a click on the link here
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...our-old-street-pics.41947/page-99#post-580529

 

[sospiri]

Bob,

There are still a few people in Crete today who are reluctant to let someone take a photograph of their children - they regard the camera as the evil eye - so always advisable to ask before doing so. It is not a case that they regard you as a possible 'perv'. Old beliefs still persist in some of the more remote villages.

Maurice

 

[Pedrocut]

I have took the liberty of reproducing OldM’s picture of Dartmouth Street from the Old Street pictures thread as it could produce a few stories. The clips are from Birmingham Daily Post March 1939, a Nursery School in the “good old days.”

[The clips are reversed, so read the second one first]

 

[Astoness]

thanks pedro ..we are looking for any pics of this street so i will post it on the dartmouth st thread

lyn

 

[Pedrocut]

In 1850 there is an advert for metal workers, to apply to Warehouse, 80 Dartmouth Street. And in 1869 for tin plate workers to apply to that number.

 

[Astoness]

thanks pedro ive copied that info to the dartmouth st thread as there are a few of us who have an interest in it

 

[Pedrocut]

In Pigot’s Directory of 1841 there is a wire drawer named John Cornforth at 155 Dartmouth Street. His warehouse man features in the clip above, when in 1839, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time amid the Birmingham riots.

Later, between at least 1866-1883, the company Cornforth Brothers is found up before the Beak and fined for several nuisances due to smoke and sanitation.

 

[Pedrocut]

The picture was posted by OldMohawk in the Courtyards Thread...Children in 1 Court, Brewery Street, Newtown, stand as still as they can for the cameraman.

In April 1901 the Birmingham Gazette, in its series "Scenes in Slum-land" reported that a question frequently put to the paper was, "How many Aldermen, Councillors, Sanitary officers, other public men, and officials, are interested directly or indirectly in slum property?..... the task of earnest reformers would be a hundred times easier if the law compelled the registration of property owners, but at the present time a man may own most disreputable property, for the condition of which he is directly responsible, and yet by means of agents, and by resorting to various subterfuges, his actual connection to the property may be effectually concealed or never even suspected..."

However at the Police Court of December 1904 Mr Prideaux applied for a closing order against EH Stringer of Norwich Union Chambers, Congreve Street, in respect of seven houses in Number One Court Brewery Street.

So just who was the EH Stringer who seems to be the Landlord of these properties?

Norwich Union Chambers was the name given to the building that was built in 1887 as the Liberal Club. It became a Girls School and was eventually renamed in 1898. The 1903 Kelly’s Directory shows that the building was occupied by several offices including Stringer Brothers, iron and steel merchants. The EH Stringer associated with Stringer Brothers would be Edwin Henry Stringer who died at the age of 83 in 1918. In his obituaries it says that he had founded, and was for 50 years the head of Stringer Bros, of West Bromwich.

He was Councillor for Edgbaston and at that time lived in Edgbason at The Dales, 42 Augustus Road. He was a magistrate in Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. He was a member of several committees including Gas, Finance, Baths and Parks, and the Tame and Rea Drainage Board. He was also one of the founders of the Skin and Urinary Hospital.

EH Stringer's name appears many times as magistrate at the Aston Police Courts in the 1890- and early 1900s. In fact in 1904 the Dunlop Rubber Company of Salford St were fined £3 3s and costs for permitting dense smoke from the factory chimney. The chairman of the Court, EH Stringer asked Mr Purnell, assistant inspector, whether he was the moving power in the prosecution. Mr Purnell answered that he reported to the Cheif Inspector, who in turn reported to the Health Committee.

Mr Stringer: “We ask the question because we have noticed many chimneys smoking when we come to this Court, but never heard of the firms to which these places belong being fined. We should like to know how it is you do not summon everybody.”

 

[Pedrocut]

Picture taken from the shoothill site. Slum housing 1 to 8 in Number 6 Court, Bartholomew Street.

Sir Thomas Vere Sherlock Gooch (1881-1946)

In February 1907, at the Birmingham Police Court, there was an application for a closing order against Sir Thomas for 8 houses in No 3 Court, Barthomomew Street. Roofs had sunk, slates were loose and broken, ceilings cracked, walls damp, one in a dangerous condition had foundations settled causing gable wall to crack. He was ordered to pay 27s costs.

Also in February 1907 Sir Thomas was summoned concerning 8 houses in 55 Court, Bell Barn Road. Of course Sir Thomas was only a "nominal" defendant. The lease had more than 21 years to run and the property was in the hands of his lesse. (He may have owned another 8 houses in Court 54.)
In April 1904 there were several summonses against Sir Thomas in respect of houses in Allison and Meriden Streets. He asked that the matter be adjourned for negotiations with his lesses.

The Gooch family must have had interests in Birmingham since at least 1791 when 2 dwellings were under lease in Bordesley St. one known by the sign of the Dog. Sir Thomas Sherlock Gooch in 1828 advertised for Rents to be paid at the Bell Inn Bristol St.
Sir Tomas Vere Sherlock Gooch was the 10th Baronet of Benacre Hall in the County of Suffolk, and not short of a bob or two...
http://www.benacre.com/10.html

 

[mw0njm.]

In another thread we wondered about this lady standing with the group of lads by No 42, Northwood Street. Were there any stories in old newspapers about that street ?

from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...our-old-street-pics.41947/page-99#post-580529

from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/old-street-pics.38737/page-242#post-580577

woo its like fagans gang.

 

[Pedrocut]

The two pictures were posted by old Mohawk in the Thread "Old Street Pictures." They add to the first post in this Thread concerning Rea Street up to 1901. There are a few more stories to tell.

In October 1901 John Francis Albutt was described by the magistrates as a large farmer in these houses. He was charged concerning several houses including two in Rea Street. It was one of the low districts of the city, and Albutt sublet 15 houses as "furnished rooms." He also kept a large Grocers shop in Moseley St and made the tenents use it. The prices charged for these "furnished rooms” was from 3s 6d to 5s 6d per week . Fined 10s and costs in 4 cases.

In February 1903 a registered keeper of lodging houses in Rea Street was charged with permitting houses to be occupied by a greater number of adults than was permitted by law. Albutt was also charged in respect to 45 Rea Street and was described as keeping 12 lodging houses in respect of which there were 7 previous convictions. The magistrate said that Albutt did not care how many were huddled together as long as the rents came in. Fined £2 plus costs or one month.

In October 1904 the same two persons again appeared. Albutt was summoned for allowing overcrowding at 41 and 46 Rea Street. At number 41 two adults and 3 children were found in one bed, in a room registered for 2 adults. In number 46 there were 5 adults and a child all in one bed. A husband, wife and 3 daughters age 16, 13, and10, and a boy aged 3. Fined 10 shillings and costs, and costs for N°46.

The other person, Julia Hancocks, was summoned in respect of N°67 which can be seen in Old Mohawk's picture. Parents and 2 children in the bed, and 2 young men on a sofa. Fined 10 shillings plus costs.

In May 1906 a man was sent to prison for GBH, having hit another man over the right eye with a shovel. This was at the Model Lodging House in Rea Street. A similar house featured in the Summer Lane Thread.

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/model/

 

[Pedrocut]

The pictures above were posted by Phil under the Thread “Then and Now” and show the corner of Coventry Road and Gladys Road. Phil also posed the question as to why such a nice substantial house had been vandalised in such a way. The reason has not yet been found, but a few bits of interesting information can be unearthed about its past and one of the owners. The old picture shows a man and woman standing behind the garden wall, could this be David Worrall and his wife?

The thumbnails show Kelly’s from 1900 and the 1903 OS Map. It can be seen that the house in question was A.B. House and the owner being a David Worrall. There are also four villas, A B villas, at the side of the house. Looking at the 1901 census shows David (58) and his wife living at the house with eight children of 12 years old and above, his occupation is given as lacquer manufacturer. David died in 1908, and the head of the household in the 1911 census was his wife.

The house, and other property came up for sale around 1918, and was described as 213 Coventry Road, 5 bedrooms, bathroom, dining and drawing rooms, kitchen, scullery and usual outbuildings, together with a first class motor house and stabling, with double-door gate entrance from Gladys Road. The house was double-fronted and stood well back from the road. The Villas are described in twos as a pair of 7 roomed freehold villas.
In 1891 David was at Green Lane and would have taken possession of the house sometime before 1901. He was the main man in the firm D Worrall and Sons Ltd, established in 1874, and situated in 1939 at AB Lacquer Works, 30a Garrison Lane. It was still going in 1972.

The house existed before David’s occupation, but did he bring the name A B House?
The site, Solihull Life, says that his son William John Worrall was killed in action in the Great War. He followed his father into the lacquer business....David Worrall married in 1862 had 14 children. Business listed in 1884 and 1888 Directories at 1 AB Row. The site also gives link to a Birmingham Live article with picture of children in AB Row, being reputably the shortest street name in Birmingham. On this picture is also a stone set in a building showing A+B with date 1764

11th October 1917

Two local men from Shirley were killed in action in Belgium on 11th October 1917. Private James Edwards, aged 41, died serving with the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards and Private William John Wor…

solihulllife.wordpress.com

David was born around 1848 and in 1861 was living with his father William, who was a pearl button maker, and was one of at least 10 children living in Hawkes Street, Aston. Later he is recorded as a pear button maker, a brass founder and a lacquer manufacturer.