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Birmingham in 1930s

ChrisM

ChrisM

Super Moderator
Staff member
Monday 14th March 1938

Today Herr Hitler makes a triumphal entry, to wild acclaim, into Vienna. The union of Germany and Austria, brought about by clever political manoeuvring and calculated violence and intimidation, finally occurred yesterday, Sunday, simultaneously with the arrival of some 100,000 German soldiers. A proportion of the population seems happy with all this, the remainder far less so, especially the Jewish people who are already being grievously ill-treated. Great concern is voiced in the House of Commons and Mr. Amery, M.P. for Sparkbrook, appeals for more attention to be paid to potential allies in any future conflict. He tells the House, to loud cheers, that they all know that Czechoslovakia will stand up and fight if necessary. The Communist Party organises a large rally in London to protest at the takeover in Austria, but, strangely, it doesn’t seem to make any difference.

The other major fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, sits secure in Rome and surveys his growing North African empire, acquired by force. In Spain where civil war still rages, the army of General Franco, a dictator-in-waiting, has taken Alcaniz and threatens to drive towards the coast, separating the Republican Government in Barcelona from Valencia and dividing its forces. And the Imperial Japanese Army continues to murder and rape its way through eastern China. The world is not a happy place.

The Home Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare, appeals for volunteers for the Air Raid Precautions force. One million people will be needed. And, less ominous news, it is announced that the “Cutty Sark” will soon be moored in the Thames where, it is stated separately, it is just as safe to bathe as it was 50 years ago.

In Birmingham, the Moseley three-quarter back (and Warwickshire county cricketer) Peter Cranmer has been recalled to the England rugby squad for their match against Scotland next weekend. Birmingham City drew 2-2 with Manchester City at St. Andrews last Saturday and Villa (in the 2nd Division) won away at Coventry, 0-1. Four Birmingham men were convicted of perjury on Friday and were sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour. Mr. Thomas Parrott, Chairman and M.D. of Bellis & Morcom, died last Saturday, the 12th.

And here on the outskirts of Brum, my dad is about to go off to the USA. He’s leaving tomorrow. He’s going on a business trip for the company he works for, ICI at Kynoch Works in Witton. He’s booked on the “Queen Mary” and is sailing from Southampton. The ship is less than two years old and this is only about its 45th round trip to New York. Eventually it will do over a thousand voyages. He’ll be away for over a month, so he’ll miss my birthday in April. I’ll be two. Happily I have so far no idea what is happening in the world around me. I leave my mum and dad to do all the worrying.

This is what they’ll be giving my dad to eat on Wednesday evening. Better than what we’ll be having.

Chris
 
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This is a photo of my Dad on his way to America on board the Queen Mary in 1950. He was on a buisness trip to the first world trade fair in Chicargo. The second photo he took on deck.
 
Thanks for those pics, Wendy.

Here are a couple more, taken a year after your father's trip, in March 1951 when the ship was berthed at Southampton for a quick turnaround. It had been late arriving from New York due to heavy seas and there is probable evidence of the damage to paintwork on these pictures.

My father also encountered dreadful conditions on his crossing. Here also is a view he took, almost certainly out over the stern, this week in 1938.

Chris
 
Thanks for the photo's Chris. My Dad was lucky I think, he didn't suffer the bad weather your Dad did.
 
Thursday 7th April 1938

Spain appears in the newspapers every day. Not the headlines though – the Civil War has been going on for so long and in any case it is a faraway country and not one which any Brummie would dream of going to. But we know that yesterday General Franco’s forces were in sight of the Mediterranean, south of Barcelona which has been heavily bombed by German planes over the last three weeks.

The main news is still all about Austria, or Ostmark as it’s now being called, another faraway country but one which everyone still seems very excited about. The USA acknowledges the fact of its having been absorbed into Greater Germany. In Vienna yesterday, a number of Jewish men were again plucked from the streets and forced to scrub pavements for four hours. This does not happen as regularly now for Jewish women – they are still liable for such work and the suitability of their dress is no excuse, but it is normally performed away from the public gaze. Doctors carry papers which exempt them and in theory men over 40 are not supposed to be subjected to this treatment – and so who can possibly claim that this is not a civilised and humane regime? But theory is not the same as practice and Jews, young and old, only venture out in case of absolute necessity. Herr Hitler today wields a spade to inaugurate the building of the Austrian motorway system. Just over three weeks ago my later friend H., aged four, saw him make his triumphal entry into Vienna; and some time during the last few nights she and her parents have crept out of their apartment, leaving behind everything which they cannot carry, and have made their way to the railway station, their route to sanctuary and survival.

And we learn that the British Consul-General in occupied Shanghai has been seriously assaulted by Japanese soldiers.

Nearer home, in the House of Commons today, Mr Lloyd (Ladywood, Unionist) feels it inappropriate that a specific training class should be arranged for those MPs who have volunteered to become ARP wardens. To celebrate Empire Air Day next month, so it is reported today, 58 RAF stations and 23 civil airfields will host displays which will include the new Hurricanes and Blenheims and other well-established aircraft such as Wellesleys, Harrows, Whitleys and Battles. At Cardington some of the balloons destined for the London balloon barrage will be seen. The formation of an Air Defence Cadet Corps is announced today for boys of 14-18. Seventeen acres of land adjacent to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage at Shottery have been gifted to the Shakespeare trustees by the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, to safeguard the rural character of the area and prevent building development. The miners are making their minds up as to whether to accept the owners’ offer of an annual week’s holiday with pay. C.S. Forrester’s new book, “A Ship of the Line” is published today; this deals with Capt. Hornblower’s promotion. And the Governor-General of India is coming home on leave for up to four months which is useful information for us all.

Back in Brum life has been going on as normal. HP Sauce Ltd. has held its 13th AGM at the Grand Hotel. Sales are excellent, the dividend is increased, a pension scheme is introduced for all staff and obviously the Company is secure far into the future. For ever, perhaps? The new Corporation Street branch of the Maples furniture chain is now well established and doing well. Some members of Warwickshire County Cricket Club are protesting at the replacement as captain of Mr. R.E.S Wyatt by Mr. P. Cranmer but the appointment is upheld at the AGM. Last Saturday Villa had a resounding victory at Villa Park over Man. United, 3-1, to establish a clear lead at the top of Division 2. Broom, Maund and Houghton were the scorers. Birmingham were however beaten away 3-2 by Wolves and languish in the bottom four of the First Division, two places behind WBA. The top five places are held by Arsenal, Wolves, Middlesborough, Preston and Brentford. Last Monday an outbreak of foot and mouth occurred in cattle at Birmingham, affecting neighbouring counties. Miss A.M. Taylor of KEHS for Girls has been awarded an Open Scholarship to St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. Mr. W.H. Bidlake died in retirement yesterday; he had been Special Lecturer at the Municipal School of Art from 1893 and had his own architectural practice. His work included Bishop Latimer Memorial Church and St. Emmanuel Church, Wylde Green and St. Agatha’s, Sparkbrook. It’s Easter next week. The GWR say that double the normal number of express trains will leave Paddington on Thursday; there will be 28 to Birmingham including those for the Cambrian Coast.

Today’s my birthday. I’m two. To my later surprise I shall remember the event. I’m sitting at one end of our dining room table, at one corner. I’m in my wooden high chair, sitting with one leg curled underneath me to give me extra height. The view down the table is of other infants and their mothers, all scoffing bread and jam and my mother’s home-made cakes. You must be there, Rosemary B. but I’m sorry, I can’t visualise your face. My dad isn’t though. He’s still in America, flying around in DC 2s and being driven at 100 mph along broad, concrete turnpikes. It’s a country, he’ll tell me later, which is not very good at getting its telegraph poles all exactly upright, as ours always are. A week today, the 14th, he’ll board m.v. Britannic in New York, another Cunard White Star liner, for the journey home. He’ll reach Southampton on Saturday the 23rd. I wonder what he will bring back for me.

Chris
 
What a misleading title THAT is, I thought it was the day you got married.
 
ChrisM,

Just read your posting about 'feedback'. There are only so many hours in a day so necessitating making a choice of what I read on the net, and seeing your heading of '70 years ago' didn't attract me enough to read it as my first thought was "that's before my time".

I will now go through all you have said and if I have anything to say or add I'll let you know.
 
Please continue with your '70 years...' posts Chris. I for one find them fascinating. Bit before my time (I was born in 1941...unless anyone asks, then it was 1951...;)) but fascinating non the less. A lot of the Birmingham History of factories, places and people has already been covered here, so it's lovely to read about national and personal events. Thankyou.
 
I agree, a facinating read (now I've found it)

I'm a mere whippersnapper born in '46 :P
 
I passed you by too ChrisM, (The first time) but glad to say, not the second. Lovely...Cat:)
 
I have not seen this post before Chris, it surely has brought back memories for me of a time when so much was happening in the world around us.

Sometimes I think we should think outside the box for 'No man is an island, entire of itself'. . . . John Donne

Excerpt taken from my story:

'There were some children still away in the countryside when the war had ended. Now a big problem was immerging because the bombing had taken a major toll on cities children now 4 to 6 years older came flooding back – more housing was needed and as a result resettlement wasn’t completed till 1946.

Some children enjoyed the countryside others hated it. Mine was mixed. Religious beliefs were tempered, so was attitudes towards authority, because as evacuees we suffered the humiliation of being picked out treated like cattle and taken away by strangers!

Parents who listened to calls of help from their children brought them home again I wish it been me! Dad serving in the Middles East and mom in the British Red Cross attached to the army at Whitten Barracks. I didn’t come home till two years before the war ended. For better or worse evacuation had the effect of splitting up families that may never again were reunited, some children returning home, were not always welcome and for them it was traumatic- unable to cope with life they ran away back to the homes were they had been shown affection. Others sent to Australia for safety it was even worse, thinking their parents were killed in the bombing were placed in orphanages only to find years later they had been lied to - just terrible! There’s one thing for sure no matter what I would never send my children away! '
 
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Thank you, Beryl. Just doing a search within the forum it does look to me, unless I have missed something, that there has never been a proper thread on the subject of the evacuation of children from Birmingham in 1939 and 1940. There must be forum members who like you have memories of this. Why don't you start a new thread? It's an important subject in the city's history - and in the lives of the children concerned - which ought to be properly covered. (I should have a minor contribution to make myself).

Thanks for your kind words, Charlie, Catkin and badger.

Chris
 
Chris, many's the time I sat in my father's coal lorry on Witton Wharf listening to the machine guns being checked, wondering if the Germans would come back tonight and would we be killed. Memories son, memories. Kind regards, David
ChrisM said:
Monday 14th March 1938

Today Herr Hitler makes a triumphal entry, to wild acclaim, into Vienna.............
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Yes . . Chris - David as little children we remember - and my we grew up very fast-

You are right Chris I will think about what you have said - Thank you
 
Chris, you may be able to help me. When I was a child in the thirties there were some strange stories circulating about the original owner of Aston Hall, I spent all my spare time playing in the park surrounding it. Were they old stories from way back taken out of context, or was there a grain of truth in them? 1. Thomas Holte bricked his daughter up in a room for thirty years, until her death, because she wouldn't marry a local landowner thus joining two estates. 2. He also murdered a serving boy who made a mistake at laying his table. 3. Killed a friend after a bad bet and placed his bloodied hand near the alter in Aston Church. Supposedly still visible, but my searches never found it. There is also said to be a tunnel from the hall to Aston Church discovered when the tram tracks were put down to Whitton. Still in good condition. I also remember a double decker tram tipping over at Aston Church when I was very young. The stories of Thomas Holte may seem to be rather strange, but I assure you they were part of my folklore and I'm interested to know if other people have heard them. Kind regards, David Weaver.
]
 
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This thread brings back a lot of memories for me to.In 1938 we moved from Vauxhall to Kingstanding and I was 11yrs old. I helped my Dad dig the hole in the back garden to install the airaid shelter. When the sirens went off in the night we had to get up and go into the shelter and wait for the all clear. I remember I used to get earwigs crawl into my ear while I was laying on the bunk bed in there. Next morning on the way to school I would pickup peices of shrapnel from the anti-aircraft shells they would shoot at the German bombers. I remember a family on the Kingstanding Rd all got killed from a direct hit by a bomb on the airaid shelter and Two doors up from our house they had a incendary bomb drop through the roof into the atic and my dad went to help put the fire out. My Wife, who lived on the same street back then was evacuated to a farm in Ludlow for the duration of the war and I only noticed her when she came home and was rideing her bike up and down the street,Maybe she was just trying to get my attention which she did, and in 1948 we were married after I got back from the RAF. When I was 13yrs old I contracted Diptherea and was in Little Bromwich Hospital for 3mths while the war was going on. At night the nurses would come around the ward and put thick red blankets on our beds to protect from broken glass in the event any of the windows got blown out from the bombs. But all the local kids got used to the blackout and we used to play outside in the dark, the favorite game then was Kick the Can. I could go on, but I won't Have a nice Day, Wally.
 
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Hey Wally, I collected shrapnel too and was stuck down the air raid shelter when an incendary bomb bounced into it. Mum picked it up in my brother's jacket and threw it outside. She saved our lives for sure. There was a Freer family that all died from a direct hit on their shelter. All except the father Freddie. He went out to help dig a neighbour's family free that were buried alive. Freddie's shelter took a direct hit. They'd all been around to my house the day before. Very sad. David Weaver.

wallyb71 said:
I would pickup peices of shrapnel from the anti-aircraft shells they would shoot at the German bombers.
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David...

No, sorry, I know very little about Aston Hall. I think you should start a new thread on the subject and I'm sure you'll get some reaction. Do a search of the forum first, though, to make sure it hasn't been covered before.


David and Wally.....

You are probably both aware of the Swanshurst/BARRA website which provides a searchable database of the victims of the Birmingham blitz. https://www.swanshurst.org/barra/default.asp?section=aboutbarra

Chris
 
In one of the last boxes to go back up in the loft, I've just found all my Grandad's and my Dad's Radio and TV licences from 1930 to 1970 put inside one of my early money boxes. The 1930 one cost 10 shillings, not a small amount then for a family who weren't exactly flush! In 1970 it had gone up to £6.
Incidentally, they've given me confirmation of all their addresses from 1930. Great bonus!
 
Hi my grandmother received a Widows Pension with a 15/- a week supplement for one child in 1930 but, although her husband did volunteer and serve in WWI, she wasn't a war widow. Does anyone know what her weekly pension would have been? Thank you.
 
Jane,

The Widows Pension in 1952, when my father died, was a mere ten shillings a week - 50 pence using today's coinage. Mom & Dad had a small mortgage on the house in Kings Heath that they, my younger brother and I lived in, and the mortgage was not insured because Dad's wages of £2. 12s 6d a week as a packing case maker were so low. Mom then took on three jobs until the mortgage was paid off and the house was her own. I always remember that she was so proud that on making the final payment, the manager of the building society called her into his office and congratulated her on her efforts. He never thought that she would manage it, but that was the way things were done in those days.

Maurice. :cool:
 
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My Nan didn't get any widows pension at all as she was under 60 when my grandad died in the late 40's. She had no dependant children though.

She had to sell the house in Perry Barr and she moved out to a small cottage (which had no running water at that time) in a Worcestershire village with the money she received after the mortgage was paid off.
 
A Sparks said:
My Nan didn't get any widows pension at all as she was under 60 when my grandad died in the late 40's. She had no dependant children though.

She had to sell the house in Perry Barr and she moved out to a small cottage (which had no running water at that time) in a Worcestershire village with the money she received after the mortgage was paid off.
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They did it hard didnt they ? I hope she lived a happy life in her cottage even though it would have been hard with no running water.
Wendy
 
wendylee said:
They did it hard didnt they ? I hope she lived a happy life in her cottage even though it would have been hard with no running water.
Wendy
Click to expand...

Yes, she certainly did, it was a whole new life for her. She made friends, joined the Women's Institute, made a few pennies going out pea picking and onion tying.
She lived there for over 40 years before she passed away.

Of course we benefited too, used to spend holidays enjoying the countryside :-)

The cottages did have water installed after a couple of years, we had to go to the well in the garden of another cottage just down the lane at first!
 
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