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    Does anyone remember the Bacchus Bar?

    The Bacchus Bar is very much a going concern, but perhaps because of its location can be easy to miss. I was taken there by a work colleague about five years ago otherwise I wouldn't have been aware of it.https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/eastandwestmidlands/bacchusbarbirmingham#/
  2. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    Good question. A family member, but there is a supporting document which is the page from the Portsmouth custody book. JA is the last entry on the page. I hope it can be read. There is a record of a Jean Antoine being held as a prisoner of war in Portsmouth. He was captured in 1797 whilst on...
  3. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    Thank you Janice. I appreciate your comment, I'd thought to discount it, but I have little experience of genealogy having taken it up in the last two years. It is so easy to jump to assumptions. Derek
  4. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    Thank you Janice. My JA married Mary Dennick in Evesham in 1808. Derek
  5. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    A John Antoine with spouse Mary baptised Sophia Antoine in Jamaica All Parishes 1847. According to Ancestry but there's no original document in the collection. Looks to be microfilm.
  6. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    London Gazette Tues Sept 11 - Sat Sept 23 1797
  7. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    Thank you! That appears to be the ship and there is a report of the action in which she was taken by the British in 1797.
  8. S

    John (Jean) Antoine from privateer to dancing master.

    I hit a brick wall. Jean Antoine was born in France before 1780. He was my 2nd great grandfather. Oct 1798 Portsmouth Hampshire. There is a record of a Jean Antoine being held as a prisoner of war in Portsmouth. He was captured in 1797 on board a French privateer called 'Le Cerf Volant’...
  9. S

    Aston Hall

    Currently opening is Friday - Sunday, 11am – 4pm. Things can only get better, we hope. In 1989-1991 I lived in Davey Road, so was able to get to know Aston Hall and its grounds very well. A beautiful and atmospheric building.
  10. S

    Coin counterfeiting, fraud or forgery Birmingham

    Excellent! Be good to find evidence that Birmingham was notorious for coining before and after 1650 as in the Wikipedia account of William Chaloner. I didn't know about him. Newton's work at the mint has been getting attention. I'm guessing "Birmingham Groat" means a counterfeit one. Popular...
  11. S

    William Booth (forger)‬

    A readable transcription of The Trial of William Booth and his Associates which was published after his execution. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Trial,_at_Large,_of_William_Booth_and_his_Associates And an account of his execution...
  12. S

    The Smethwick Telephone Newspaper.

    Essential reading in our house! Older editions can be read in the British Newspaper Archive: 1884-1896, 1898-1909, 1911-1931. Harry Harrison had a Black Country dialect poem in the 1960s -1970s.
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    Coin counterfeiting, fraud or forgery Birmingham

    Heather Shore at Leeds Beckett looks at policing and coining. https://crimeinthecommunity.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/i-am-now-in-the-service-of-the-mint-police-coiners-and-utterers-in-the-nineteenth-century-old-bailey/
  14. S

    Coin counterfeiting, fraud or forgery Birmingham

    The Barber Institute has a fine coin collection. They may know someone who could discuss the possibilities. BMAG also has a coin collection, but I think there's no access until at least October. William Booth is infamous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Booth_(forger) You probably know...
  15. S

    ‘The Game’ - now on I player

    Lyn, 'Slow Horses' is based at Slough House, the idea being that agents who screw up are sent there until they resign. It is self- deprecating bit like Brummie humour. But I imagine that a lot of hard work continues to be done in Birmingham to protect us. Just not glamorous. Derek
  16. S

    ‘The Game’ - now on I player

    Lyn, the conversion to flats was apparently in 2011, so before then and after the time it was workshops? Ever read Mick Herron's 'Slow Horses' ! Derek
  17. S

    ‘The Game’ - now on I player

    Viceroy House in Water Street, Jewellery Quarter was apparently used by MI5 formerly as offices. https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/19/birmingham-flat-in-former-mi5-office-goes-on-sale-for-950000-16134100/
  18. S

    Smethwick

    Lyn, this appears to be a darker print of a picture which was taken Summer 1961 and reprinted in 2 Feb 2022 Black Country Bugle. The accompanying text says the shops were demolished shortly after the photo. I have Press Reader, I think it is free if this link doesn't load. Hardware shops are...
  19. S

    Canals of Birmingham

    I'm afraid that lots of photos on older threads are missing. I gather the site was hacked some time ago. There's nothing you can do, unless you have a photo either digitally or physically.
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