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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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I wonder what was happening there? The conductor is looking across the road and it appears that the motorman might be looking at the same event - or someone coming down the car staircase. It could be that the man, with the unusual stance, is also looking at whoever is descending the staircase. I have an idea that this was another special run as the 3X tram route was abandoned on the last day of December 1949 and replaced by bus route 39 the next day (1/1/50). However the chalking on the car 692's body (64 bus) is curious as the 64 bus route replaced the tram route 2 to Erdington.
 
An apparent family enterprise caught in this photo of 11 Court, Coventry Street. Wonder what was in those large sacks ? Presumably they sold the contents and that small hand trolley on the left suggests the sacks are not heavy. It was a 'time exposure' photo and some people moved.
CoventryStCourt11.jpg
shoothill
 
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The sacks in post 1984 are probably full of old rags - as collected by the old 'rag and bone man'. ;) As commented they unlikely to be heavy - the world's strongest man would have been needed to lift anything heavy in sacks that size. :D
 
I wondered whether the sacks contained old rags but looking at the 'stuff' poking out of the tops of the sacks, it almost looks like stalks of plants. I remember from my childhood how clothes were handed down through families and they were well worn before they might be given to the 'rag and bone' men.

When I look at all the old courtyard pics I seem to be drawn to looking at the people in them and start thinking about their lives ... maybe easier if all the neighbours liked each other ... maybe not so good if they did not.
 
The war had been going for some months and night bombing was expected so someone decided to cover the windows of trams with blinds. The smart looking conductress poses in the pic ... wonder what she thought about it ?
The blinds look fixed on the outside, so in daytime she might have had to tell passengers where they were ! The Luftwaffe didn't really aim for trams etc, they had the 'Knickebein' beams to tell them when they were over Brum and generally most of the times they just dropped their bombs anywhere.
TramBlinds1.jpg
 
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Pedrocut said:
View attachment 108513

Javelin I'm in love with your sister, someday you will be mine. (1952)
Click to expand...
I was lucky enough to own two Javelins, the reason for changing, because they were brilliant cars, the second one was fitted with the Jupiter engine. My first cars. Were a Standard Vanguard, 1948 model, no rear wheel covers, then the two Javelins, then a 1948 split rear window VW beetle, three gears and a wheel accelerator, not a flat pedal. This was 1964/1966. Then I got a company car Viva HB, never looked back. However, yes the Javelin and Jupiter were superb cars.

Bob
 
A wartime No 84 tram at the Stetchford terminus and the ticket collector concentrates on positioning the little wheel on the overhead wire. He is not helped by the tram being slightly forward of that 'V' shaped guide on the wire and would have needed the guide at night time in the blackout. The advert 'Victory Will Be Sweeter With Mars' is interesting. Sweet rationing was introduced in 1942 and at one time the weekly allowance was as low as 2 oz (57 g) per person.
Tram84_wartime.jpg
 
Not often you'd see elephants along Lichfield Road. These were from Barnum and Bailey circus. Photo from the Shoothill site. Viv.
image.jpeg
 
Looks like the circus took the best part of a herd of elephants from Africa, I can see a least 9 ... must have required a large amount of hay ... but I suppose there was plenty available in those days ...:)
 
Hi VIV
Just wondering where would they would have been heading down lichfield road any ideas any info with the great picture
and more to the question do you have a date for this proccession
Is it possible they was going to the serpent grounds, or even going down and round to the Aston park
via victoria road and up to the Aston park that way or may be down the church lane exit and through the main gates of Aston hall
As it would have been known then, i say that because Aston park for centuries was holding shows of all discriptions
and of enterainment within the grounds when i was a little whipper snappper of a kid usaly summer months
there used to be big tents and other things twice every week and week ends
best wishes Alan,, Astonian,,,,,,,,,
 
oldMohawk said:
Looks like the circus took the best part of a herd of elephants from Africa, I can see a least 9 ... must have required a large amount of hay ... but I suppose there was plenty available in those days ...:)
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Circuses always used female Indian elephants as African elephants are not trainable and all male elephants can be dangerous at certain times.
 
Hi Alan. There are no other details on the Shoothill site about the photo. It might be about 1900s although not 100% sure. Viv.
 
Hi Viv
I Have been swatting up on a book and in this bok there is a page called Grounds for Amusements
It tells me that Villa park was built on the site of what they call lower grounds
Amusement park, a 31 acre development that was opened to the public in 1872,
Flowers and co, a Brewery from Stratford on Avon, Owned it
They still owned the ground for the first few years after villa moved in.
It contained flower beds, sports s pitches, pools, a bowling green, an aviary, a cycleing track and a thearter
So i am with a theory about the marching circus you have put on could be the possibilty of going down
To the Aston lower grounds to perform which in a case of either down lichfield road turning down the grosvenor road
which i think it was wider than church lane or even going down to Aston Hall road direct to the lower grounds
As i have said i suspect bearing in mind the serpent time grounds was a vast area
best wishes Alan,, Astonian.....
 
The online newspaper archives (which don't include 1901-1913) show that Sanger circus seems to have made regular visits to Birmingham in the 1890s. Usually they seem to have been based off corporation st, but in october 1892 they were on waste land at Aston Cross
 
Viv, it must have been really exciting - for the kids especially. It's one thing seeing an elephant in a circus and another seeing one going down the road! I wonder what year it was and whether my family were watching? I bet all the children were playing elephant keepers after this. My first thought was 'where was it taken?' and the only building I think could be identified is the church - if it is a church. It looks like a Baptist chapel rather than C of E but it could be something else.

Astonian, I've always liked the idea of the Serpentine Grounds, just the place for a day out. Aston Park has been whittled down a lot since the Hall was first built hasn't it? I was reading somewhere, probably on a different thread on this forum, that the estate once extended to the Old Walsall Road. It must've been huge. Must see if I can find out.
 
I have found the following quote on the Picture from the Past website:

Barnum and Bailey's Circus toured Britain from December 1897 until November 1898, then touring the rest of Europe. The show returned to Britain for another run lasting from April to November 1899.

The site also says that the circus over-wintered in London between these two tours.
 
"After the close season at Olympia in London on April 1st (1899) Messrs Barnum and Bailey's Great Show moved to Handsworth, near Birmingham, where performances have been given daily, and have attracted thousands."
 
Pedrocut said:
"After the close season at Olympia in London on April 1st (1899) Messrs Barnum and Bailey's Great Show moved to Handsworth, near Birmingham, where performances have been given daily, and have attracted thousands."
Click to expand...

A few other details that may be of interest concerning the Greatest Show on Earth around 1898/9.

In August 1898 the show travelled from Southport to Bristol by four trains, one train had three elephant coaches. The coaches were 54 ft in length (twice the normal length) and 8ft wide. In June the procession in Leicester was said to have been a mile and a half in length,

Reported in the Manchester paper of May 1898 is an "amusing incident at Barnum and Bailey's Show in Birmingham."

"One of the spectators, after watching the fire eating of the dervishes, on the long platform devoted to the exhibition of human curiosities, made up his mind that no living man could take live coals into his mouth as two of the dervishes do while in a seemingly hypnotic state, and determined to expose the trick, as he regarded it, to the audience. So he jumped over the rope that fences of the platform from from the spectators, and picked up one of the coals. He immediately uttered a yell that made the crowd think one of the animals and got loose. His hand was badly burned, and he had have it dressed by a surgeon."
 
Vivienne14 said:
'Vast' is certainly the word. Plenty of space for a circus. I posted this mid-19th century image on the Aston Hall thread (post #99 https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/aston-hall.12015/page-5). They were once expansive grounds, but gradually whittled away over the years. Viv.

View attachment 111469
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If we take the date to be 1898/9 the area had been whittled away, and the Serpentine, although big enough for many circus shows, may have been too small for for the "Greatest Show on Earth."

Perhaps that is why it went to Hansworth? There seems to have been great interest in the movement or "parades" by the Show. As shown in the picture many would turn out to get a free glimpse of the spectacular. In Cheltenham it was said that there were nearly as many turned out as for the visit of the Prince of Wales.
 
A lot of detail about the Barnum and Bailey tours of Britain can be found on
https://www.picturethepast.org.uk/f...s=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;DCCC001392&prevUrl=

The idea of the circus parade started in America where large circuses traveled by rail and they had the logistics problem in many towns of getting from the railway to the show ground. The actual movement of the animals etc attracted much interest and the circuses realised that this was a good advertising event so the parades became more elaberate sometimes purely to drum up support for the show.
 
Astonian said:
Hi Viv
I Have been swatting up on a book and in this bok there is a page called Grounds for Amusements
It tells me that Villa park was built on the site of what they call lower grounds
Amusement park, a 31 acre development that was opened to the public in 1872,
Flowers and co, a Brewery from Stratford on Avon, Owned it
They still owned the ground for the first few years after villa moved in.
It contained flower beds, sports s pitches, pools, a bowling green, an aviary, a cycleing track and a thearter
So i am with a theory about the marching circus you have put on could be the possibilty of going down
To the Aston lower grounds to perform which in a case of either down lichfield road turning down the grosvenor road
which i think it was wider than church lane or even going down to Aston Hall road direct to the lower grounds
As i have said i suspect bearing in mind the serpent time grounds was a vast area
best wishes Alan,, Astonian.....
Click to expand...

The Barnum and Bailey Show of 1899 was held in Handsworth, where it was said that "the surrounding denizens of Whitehall Road were reaping the benefits, one way or another, of the Greatest show on Earth."

I believe, from the Whitehall Road Thread, that you have ancestors from the road!
 
I'm always fascinated by the prams in the old street photos and here is a nice one in Court 2, Darwin Street. All the women in the photo are looking at the baby in the pram and two of them seem slightly concerned and the one in the far doorway looking puzzled. There are actually two prams so maybe they are childminders! A nice collection of flower boxes and plants on two houses must have added a touch of greenery to the scene.
2_CrtDarwinSt.jpg

The full photo
full2_crtdarwinst.jpg
(from Shoothill)
 
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