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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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Re. photo in post #1707.

And some 20 years later, people still milling around what looks like organised chaos! The photos of the bomb damaged street show clearly why re-development was necessary. Must have been easier to demolish and start again as well as people wanting a fresh start. Viv.

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The Poineer Corps were drafted in to help clear the roads of the city during the WW2 bombing and here they are clearing up bomb debris in John Bright street. Looks like they managed to prevent the citizens of Brum walking in the street until it was clear.
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Ice cream sales going well in this c1898 pic of the Bull Ring and that lady walking on the left might have decided to buy one. Not many people looking in the shops that day.
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oldMohawk said:
Ice cream sales going well in this c1898 pic of the Bull Ring and that lady walking on the left is might have decided to buy one. Not many people looking in the shops that day.
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I'm assuming this is a Sunday, with the awnings extended not for the benefit of sheltering shoppers, but to protect whatever stock inside from sun-fade over the weekend. Look at the assembled public-Sunday best maybe, having just left the main church in the BullRing?
 
Richie said:
I'm assuming this is a Sunday, with the awnings extended not for the benefit of sheltering shoppers, but to protect whatever stock inside from sun-fade over the weekend. Look at the assembled public-Sunday best maybe, having just left the main church in the BullRing?
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That seems a reasonable description of the scene Richie. Probably nothing better than enjoying an ice cream after church.
 
A photographer wanted to take a photo of some reconditioned housing showing the entrance to 18 Court, Clarkson Street but a crowd of kids from the street stood in the way so he made them stand each side of the court entrance and took the photo. Two lads in the photo had no shoes. The street name was for some reason changed to Adams Street in 1905.
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It seems in the 1890s the Bull Ring was the place to buy an ice cream and those two lads are enjoying theirs. They could be 'Telegram Boys' .... remember them ?
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oldMohawk said:
A photographer wanted to take a photo of some reconditioned housing showing the entrance to 18 Court, Clarkson Street but a crowd of kids from the street stood in the way so he made them stand each side of the court entrance and took the photo. Two lads in the photo had no shoes. The street name was for some reason changed to Adams Street in 1905.
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The name of Clarkson Street doesn't appear in Bill Dargue's extensive posting on B'ham street names.

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?18409-History-of-Birmingham-Street-names/page2
although if anyone has the time the name might appear buried in the thread somewhere.

My own inspired guess is the name refers to the Slavery Abolition campaigner William Clarkson. I understand there are connections in that area to missionary causes. In which case the 100th anniversary of the Abolition was about to occur two years later (1907) which would have highlighted the contemporary slavery conditions in the locality.
 
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oldMohawk said:
Hi Richie - that is an interesting theory about the origin of the name.
Before I posted the pic I did have a search of the forum and Clarkson St is mentioned and there are photos of it.
Three search results can be seen in the following links with photos in two of them and comments about the name in the third one.

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?18578-Bordesley-green&p=515709#post515709
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?38737-Old-street-pics&p=543571#post543571
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?38737-Old-street-pics&p=543596#post543596
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I will look through the links over the weekend and see if I can deduce anything further. Thanks everyone for the work in the feedback so far.
 
The photo of the ice cream queue in the Bullring is a cracker, I love it.

The 'awnings' we called blinds, they were pulled down in the morning and put back when the shop closed, come rain or shine. If it rained and you were unlucky you could get soaked, because if the blinds sagged the water ran over the sides.
 
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Almost certainly also 12/05/1937. Linton Road, Tyseley. Only 14 houses in the road so I guess some families from Tyseley Lane. The quality of the photograph/print is such that it is difficult to recognise many. I know that I could have two parents( not yet engaged) four grand parents and three uncles and an aunt in the shot. Fortunately with the exception of my father's father who died from natural causes they all survived WW11.
 
devonjim said:
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Almost certainly also 12/05/1937. Linton Road, Tyseley. Only 14 houses in the road so I guess some families from Tyseley Lane. The quality of the photograph/print is such that it is difficult to recognise many. I know that I could have two parents( not yet engaged) four grand parents and three uncles and an aunt in the shot. Fortunately with the exception of my father's father who died from natural causes they all survived WW11.
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Hi devonjim - great photo with story to go with it. Reminds me about four street parties I went to.
VE day ... wore fancy dress - we sat at the tables - tinned fruit and jelly - someone brought their piano out - singing and dancing.
VJ day ... also wore fancy dress - we sat at tables - nice food - again someone brought their piano out - good sing-song
Queen's Coronation 1953 ... I was a teenager did not wear fancy dress we had tables out and on night we went to a bonfire on Barr Beacon.
Queens Silver Jubilee 1977 ... I was a dad ... there were rain showers but the kids were not bothered.

Times have changed !
 
Chamberlain Sq, a place of true civic pride. Look closer at the centre bottom of the photo. A few lads playing in the fountain and one is determined to not to get his feet wet! Viv.

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Hockley Heath, 1900-1910. Postcard by Frederic Lewis, Gladstone Road, Sparkbrook.

Blokes looking curiously at the photographer, further down the road. Has the postman just cleared the postbox which looks as though it's set into the bridge parapet?

Tantalising glimpse of a fine house over the brow of the hill.

And we can almost read enough of the notices pasted on the pub wall to pin the date down - but not quite!

Does any of it still exist, apart from the pub which apparently does?

Chris
 

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Hi Chris - nice photos, I don't know the area but I've just had a look on Google Earth and can see what could be the large house which has signs saying Memorial Hall and a wall plaque showing date 1892.
 
Very nice photos Chris. And the house to the left in the last photo had something to do with 'China, Hardware' written on the horizontal board just below the roof. The owners have even clipped the hedge below the sign to ensure its still in view! That's very high up too. Viv.
 
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Indeed great pictures. I thought the memorial hall, the dates are right, but it is on the left hand side of the road. Good connection to Brum, as it was built by the Muntz family who lived in Umberslade Hall in Hockley Heath. The same family as connected with Selly Park. I worked at Umberslade Hall 1958-1962 when it was the R&D centre for Wilmot Breeden.
 
Well spotted, Viv! Very regrettably the other sign, on the front of the house at the other end of the building, can't be refined sufficiently to make it legible. At first sight it looks like an attractive, semi-rural private residence complete with well clipped hedges, but clearly commerce is already creeping into Hockley Heath! Perhaps the canal has something to do with it.

Chris
 
Below is a list of the towns where the Warwickshire Agricultural show was held up to WW1 (from online newspapers). A few are missing, either because show was not held or, perhaps, because relevant newspapers are not online. It can be seen that if date range given for photos is correct then it must be 1907. There would have been one in 1914, and posters would have been posted, but the vent was cancelled in early August.

Warwickshire Agricultural show (from British Newspaper Archive 1840-1914)

1849 Coleshill
1857 Coleshill
1860 Coleshill
1861 Stratford
1862 Birmingham
1863 Leamington
1864 Coventry
1865 Stratford
1867 Sutton Coldfield
1868 Warwick
1869 Coventry
1870 Leamington
1871 Rugby
1872 Warwick
1873 Birmingham
1874 Knowle
1875 Leamington
1877 Alcester
1878 Coventry
1879 Atherstone
1880 Leamington
1881 Rugby
1882 Warwick
1883 Rugby
1884 Coventry
1885 Leamington
1886 Nuneaton
1887 Sutton Coldfield
1888 Rugby
1889 Coventry
1890 Leamington
1891 Alcester
1893 Solihull
1894 Coventry
1895 Rugby
1896 Stratford
1897 Nuneaton
1899 Leamington
1900 Coventry
1901 Solihull
1902 Warwick
1903 Stratford
1904 Leamington
1905 Warwick
1906 Nuneaton
1907 Rugby
1908 Solihull
1909 Stratford
1910 Leamington
1911 Coventry
1912 Alcester
1913 Warwick
1914 Rugby, but postponed 7th August
 
Thanks, Mike. The range 1900-1910 is the best I can do. It's based on the fact that the postcard comes from a collection of 70/80, the vast majority of which were bought and sent between 1906 and 1914. This one was the only Brum scene amongst them and was also unusual in that it was bought but never sent. So on balance 1907 sounds a reasonable assumption although 1895 can't be wholly ruled out.

Chris
 
Chris

Drove over the canal bridge daily from 1962 until 1985. I don't remember the imposing looking property on the Stratford side of the bridge altho' Google shows several more modern looking buildings along that stretch (some of which I don't recognise!)

The one thing that did change was the hump was taken off the bridge, probably middle 1970's. It was implemented by filling in & raising the road surface. If you look at the bay window on the front of the pub on the photograph & compare it to Google you will see that the distance from the sill to the ground is about a foot different

John
 
In this Keith Berry photo it's the 1960s outside Grey's in Bull Street and newspaper sales are a bit slow so he decided to have a smoke. His shoes were nicely polished. Grey's canopy used to keep us out of the rain when we waited for buses there.
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I bet his hands were covered in newsprint. Remember how it used to come off the newspaper and make your hands look dirty. Has the Evening Mail now gone? Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
I bet his hands were covered in newsprint. Remember how it used to come off the newspaper and make your hands look dirty. Has the Evening Mail now gone? Viv.
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One edition a day now, comes out as an early morning paper. I remember when you had the dinner time edition the early evening edition late evening edition and on some occasions a "Special edition" like when Kennedy was shot.
 
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