Birmingham Steam Buses 1824-1910.

[Aidan]

Great find. Symington must be turning in his foreign grave to see Bell's MI in Helensburgh https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/henrybell.html

 

[Thylacine]

They were fond of those "Cleopatra's Needle" obelisks in the 19th century, weren't they? (The one so called in London actually dates from 1450 BC, so is not Cleopatra's at all ).

 

[Aidan]

Wasn't sure whether to post this on the Pubs Thread, Music Hall or let the steam team do the sleuthing - I'm sure you'll let me know if I've boobed - but just came across the great Steam Clock of John Inshaw (pictured) and his Steam Clock Tavern that housed it on the corner of Morville Street and Sherborne Street (not much left now https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=52...F45_7MQS64TmmORGmJ5SyA&cbp=12,252.18,,0,-6.39 ), later a Music Hall. Another great story by Chris Upton on digital ladywood

What swung it for this thread is that wikipedia reckon he made a steam carriage too (who didn't ). It'd be great to find more info on him, his steam machines and his Pub/music hall, more than https://astonhistory.net/aston_brook_through_aston_manor8d.html

Oh and he was a leading light in steam narrow-boats too and in 1855 he won the £100 prize offered by the Regent's Canal for the most practical steam tug able to haul trains of boats on that waterway. Inshaw's Birmingham was a full-length tug of similar layout to his carrying craft and though of only 8hp was capable of hauling trains of barges weighing up to 600 tons. Two more tugs of the same design were purchased by the Regent's Canal and the trio remained in service until 1870.

As if that wasn't enough, PeterW suggests in https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32395&p=332981#post332981 that he was a Steam Tram Test-pilot and that he had also assisted Dr Church in his experiments with steam road carriages.

 

[Lloyd]

It has been mentioned before - here as well as on other boards. A fascinating story!

 

[Aidan]

A book was written on the Inshaw family by later members of the family called Philip Rodway and a tale of two theatres (1934) but only snippets on google books https://books.google.com/books?ei=C...dq=tale+of+two+theatres&q=steam#search_anchor.

Apparently he was also responsible for the electric clock on Aston Hall.

Berrow's Worcester Journal (Worcester, England), Saturday, December 06, 1873; pg. 3 Issue 9399 - penalty for taking a glass from the pub
Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Thursday, June 25, 1874 Issue 4976 - great fire at Phillips and Son Speedwell Works opposite
Birmingham Daily Post (Birmingham, England), Tuesday, August 28, 1860 - destruction of St Martin's hall by fire attended by steam fire engines

 

[Thylacine]

... John Inshaw ... assisted Dr Church in his experiments with steam road carriages.

I reckon this statement alone qualifies the remarkable John Inshaw for the full "BSB treatment" . BMD, censi, directories, the works! And can we find a better quality picture of his "inter-generational" steam carriage of the late 1870s / early 1880s?

 

[Thylacine]

Astonbrook-through-Astonmanor "The Inshaw Family" (link discovered by Molesworth in post #945) has done some of the work for us, but I can't read the obituary there.

 

[Thylacine]

This book:

L H Slingsby and P I Inshaw Rodway. Philip Rodway and a Tale of Two Theatres. Birmingham: Cornish, 1934.​

would be very useful for our research. As Molesworth has discovered (post #947) it is available in "snippet view" from Google Books, but I reckon "snippet view" is almost worse than "no view whatsoever"! Searching on "John Inshaw" yields only one "snippet".

The book is available on the second-hand market for £10-20, which is not bad for an octavo volume of some 670 pages. But I have already exceeded my book budget for the month!

 

[Aidan]

It would be good to establish when the Steam Carriage was built and where it ran and was it just an experiment or a service. A casual browse reveals many "snippets" but nothing substantial. I have seen dates for the machine from 1862-1881 with 1871 being most prevalent statistically. I have also seen mentions of a service between Birmingham and Saltley and also London (natch).

He seems such a prolific inventor, a sort of Church mkII but Birmingham through & through, as well as his pub/music hall sideline that there should be acres of info to find....

 

[Thylacine]

The text on this Astonbrook-through-Astonmanor webpage is worth quoting:

This same picture was published in 1904, in an American book by a William Fletcher English and American Steam Carriages and Traction Engines and he says that the Inshaw Steam Carriage "was well known in Birmingham and district". A couple of years ago I was in touch with a Mike Dyson of The Road Locomotive Society who kindly passed this information to me: "Mr J G Inshaw built a steam carriage in 1881 and The Engineer for 1 November 1895 carried a report by Mr Inshaw about his machine. He claimed that he discontinued his experiments because of the law prohibiting the use of steam propelled carriages. He said that he hoped to build a second one as soon as the law was repealed. The boiler was a water tube type and worked at 200 psi. Steam could be raised in 20 minutes. It has two cylinders of 4 in bore by 8 in stroke, three gears and double gear drive to the rear wheels. When loaded with ten passengers it weighed 35 cwt and averaged 8 to 12 mph." I have been told by another person that the large imposing man at the front of the engine is John Inshaw and that one of the other two men is his son.​

Now William Fletcher is of course the author of one of our "textbooks" (The History and Development of Steam Locomotion on Common Roads), which contains no mention of Inshaw. And I can only find his English and American Steam Carriages and Traction Engines (London: Longmans, 1904) in the dreaded Google Books "snippet view". As for The Engineer (1 November 1895): no luck whatsoever.

[The "large imposing" John Inshaw was clearly a man after my own build! ]

 

[Aidan]

Indeed - it is most frustrating

 

[Thylacine]

I've magnified the picture and played with the brightness and contrast. It hasn't imroved things much, but I like the Dalmatian "steam dog" and the young bus spotter leaning over the fence!

[Can anyone do a better job with the picture?]

 

[Thylacine]

Actually I don't think that's a bus spotter. He's not leaning over the fence, and might be part of the crew (stokerboy?).

 

[Aidan]

Wish we could read the signage....

 

[Aidan]

John Inshaw

Born 28 Oct 1807

Baptised 04 Jan 1808 St Philips Birmingham to Joseph Inshaw & Anne Bates https://pilot.familysearch.org/reco...=recordimage&c=fs:1473014&r=r_951066496&pn=p1

Marriage1 22 Sep 1828 to Sarah Maria Haughton Callow in St mary's Handsworth https://pilot.familysearch.org/reco...=recordimage&c=fs:1473015&r=r_854784262&pn=p4
(she dies 1835 after child Joseph 1829)

Marriage2 Anne [Reeve 28 Feb 1836 St Peter's Wolverhampton - maybe]

1861C at the Steam Clock Inn Ladywood age 52 as Practical Engineer employing 8 men
John Inshaw 52
Ann Inshaw 41
Mary Maria Inshaw 18
Lucy Ann Inshaw 12
Clara Elizth Inshaw 10
Rosa Adelude Inshaw 8
John George Inshaw 6
Anne Lousia Inshaw 3
William Richd Inshaw 1
Emilia S Reves 16
William Brown 54

1871C at 23A Moreville St age 63 Engineer with family (Joseph "Engine Fitter" next door at No.23 with family)
John Inshaw 63
Anne Inshaw 51
Lucy Inshaw 20
Ruth Inshaw 18
John Inshaw 16
Ann Inshaw 13
Racheal Sucob 21
Thos King 23

1891C - age 83 Widower, Mechanical Engineer at 63 Sutton Street Aston Manor with son John G and family, the paper manufacturer
John Inshaw 83
John G Inshaw 36
Marion H Inshaw 32
Edith M Inshaw 8
May B Inshaw 6
John Inshaw 5
George R Inshaw 3
Ralph Inshaw 6/12
Adelaide Grove 32
Eliza Phillip 47
Polly Page 17

Dies 13 Jan 1893 in Aston

 

[Thylacine]

:thumbsup::grin2::coolcheesy::222: "So rise the steam ..."

 

[Aidan]

1881C
Name: John Inshaw
Age: 73
Estimated birth year: abt 1808
Relation: Head
Gender: Male
Where born: St Marys B'ham
Civil parish: Aston
County/Island: Warwickshire
Country: England
Street Address: 188 Lichfield Rd.
Condition as to marriage: Widow
Occupation: Civil Engineer
Registration district: Aston
Sub-registration district: Aston Manor
ED, institution, or vessel: 46
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
John Inshaw 73
John G. Inshaw 26
Albert E. Inshaw 18
Mary Conley 49
John Smith 21

Probate - left £2720 2s 4d about £163,000 today or 280 cows or 8250 craftman's days then

 

[Thylacine]

"John Inshaw, This is Your Life!" :1309:

 

[Aidan]

The Steam Clock Tavern and the music Hall seems to have been an adjunct and latterly called Ladywood Picture Palace https://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/theatres/show/945-ladywood-palace

 

[mikejee]

John Inshaw
1841-45 Inshaw John, beer retailer, Morvllle at, Sherborne st
1849 Inshaw John, engineer,machinist,steamboat proprietor, & retail brewer,
23, Morville st
1855 Inshaw John, Steam Clock, & engineer, 23 Morville st.
1858 Inshaw John., engineer, and sole mfr and patentee of the double
sensitive pressure gauge, with register pointer, aud vict,Steam Clock Tavern, 23, Morville sfc
1862 Inshaw John, victualer & engineer, 51 Sherborne St & 23 Morville St
1867-72 Inshaw John, Steam Clock,23 Morville st & engineer & machinist & manufacturer of soda water,lemonade & aerating machines,steam vacuum gauges &.Morville St. Works,Morville st
1873 Inshaw John, consulting engineer, machinist and victualler, Steam
Clock Concert Hall, 23 Morville street
1876-78 Inshaw John, Steam Clock, & engineer, 23 Morville st
Inshaw John & Sons, paper ma. & engineers, Cheston road
1879 Inshaw John & Sons, paper ma. & engineers, Cheston road
Inshaw John, engineer, 188 Lichfield road
(Don’t know what has happened to the Steam Clock that year)
1880-82 Inshaw John & Sons, paper ma. & engineers, Cheston road
Inshaw John, engineer, 188 Lichfield road
Inshaw John, Steam Clock, & proprietor of Steam Clock music hall, 23 Morville street
1883-84 Inshaw John & Sons, paper ma. & engineers, Cheston road
Inshaw John, engineer, 52 Sutton St
Inshaw John, Steam Clock, & proprietor of Steam Clock music hall, 23 Morville street
1888 Inshaw John & Sons, paper makers & engineers, Cheston rd
Inshaw John, engineer, 52 Sutton street, Aston road
Inshaw John George, paper maker, see Inshaw John & Sons
Inshaw Joseph, paper maker, see Inshaw John & Sons
Steam Clock Music Hall, 23 Morville St Thomas Hall, proprietor
Steam Clock, 23 Morville St Thomas Hall
1890 Inshaw John & Sons, paper makers & engineers, Cheston rd
Inshaw John, engineer, 52 Sutton street, Aston road
1890-92 Inshaw John & Sons, paper makers & engineers, Cheston rd
Inshaw John, engineer, 64 Sutton street, Aston road
1895- Inshaw John & Sons, paper makers & engineers, Cheston rd
Inshaw John, engineer, ivy Mount The Drive, station road, erdington
No 52 and 64 Sutton St were the same house, but renumbered
Presumably the Son John R moved to Erdington after the death od his father in 1893.
Joseph Inshaw lived at Stratford house, only four doors away from 52/ 64 sutton St from about 1882-1892..From 1895 he is listed as 1, the retreat, sutton road, which is very possibly the same house, but am not sure.
Mike

 

[Thylacine]

[Thanks for your customary directory magic, Mike! :thumbsup:]

From Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885):

Baby Show. Let Mr Inshaw, of the "Steam Clock", have the honour of being recorded as the first to introduce the Yankee notion of a "baby show", which took place at his Music Hall, May 15, 1874.

Canals. ... Mr Inshaw, in 1853, built a steamboat for canals, with a screw on each side of the rudder. It was made to draw four boats with 40 tons of coal in each at two and a half miles an hour, and the twin screws were to negative the surge, ...

Circuses. ... The new building erected by Mr W R Inshaw, at foot of Snow Hill, for the purposes of a Concert Hall, will be adaptable as a Circus.

Exchange. ... The central tower is 110 feet high, the turret, in which there was placed a clock made by John Inshaw, to be moved by electro-magnetic power (but which is now only noted for its incorrectness), rising some 45 feet above the cornice.​

[Showell has a pithy summary of the Birmingham first generation steam carriage experiment, which I'll post tomorrow as I'm falling asleep now. Goodnight all! :sleepy:]

 

[Aidan]

Thanks both. Manufacturer of soda water,lemonade & aerating machines - dare someone mutter Coke! Did the Exchange buildings have a clock in the tower...I do hope so will check the Exchange threads.

 

[mikejee]

Below see an advert from Slaters 1852 directory.

 

[Aidan]

That's nice Mike - an advert is great to have. and from 1852. I cannot find a trace of him or his family in 1841 or 1851 census - can anyone else?

 

[mikejee]

Found him in `1851: birmingham ladywood dist 11 p 1 (HG 107 2051)
No number, just morville st
John Inshaw head 40 inn keeper & engineer employing 6 men
Ann Inshaw wife 32
Joseph Inshaw son 21 emgineer
Mary Maria daught. 8
Lucy Ann daught 2
Clara elizabeth daught 6 months
Mary Bread servant 24 house servant born kidderminster
Hannah Jones (thought it said Penis at first) 13 house servant born birmingham
George jones 20, Brewer born Birmingham
Thomas Standish visitor 54 woolstapler born Bathhampton, devon
Ann Standish, visitor, 52 woolstaplers wife born bathhampton devon

mike

 

[Aidan]

Inn Keeper & Engineer - a winning combination, shurley? Thanks Mike.

Would be nice if anyone can track down the 1841C and see how far that combination goes back.

 

[Aidan]

...
Exchange. ... The central tower is 110 feet high, the turret, in which there was placed a clock made by John Inshaw, to be moved by electro-magnetic power (but which is now only noted for its incorrectness), rising some 45 feet above the cornice.

[Showell has a pithy summary of the Birmingham first generation steam carriage experiment, which I'll post tomorrow as I'm falling asleep now. Goodnight all! :sleepy:

The Exchange Buildings Tower did have a clock (see picture 1 on https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31473&p=319654#post319654 ) which was not on the original plan at https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32696&p=337527#post337527 That's a good thing.

 

[Aidan]

LADYWOOD PICTURE PALACE / LADYWOOD PALACE OF VARIETIES / Steam Clock Music Hall - 23 Morville Street, Ladywood. Opened as 1st-floor concert room of Steam Clock Inn c.1868 [tavern obviously much older as Mikejee now proved]. Prop. John Inshaw. Cap. 900. 1894 re-named. Closed c.1904. 1910 licensed as cinema & re-opened Monday 27th June 1910. Lessees, Walter Evans & George Dew. Mgr Charles Pendley. Operator Sid Duff. Vaudeville & pictures. Twice nightly. Two changes weekly. Prices 2d, 3d 4d. 1914: Prop., Wlater Evans. Cap. 500. Closed 1914 as Ledsham opened. Demolished 1920. From the now defunct Mercia Cinema Society https://merciacinema.org

 

[mikejee]

Have been through the schedules for ladywood for 1841 and districts 5-8 are missing on ancestry (and presumably elsewhere). It looks like Morville st would be in the missing schedules.
I don’t think it has previouly been mentioned, but apparently there was a steam coach Tavern in Newton St from 1833, named after Heaton’s steam carriage. I can find no mention of it by name in directories , and it is stated to be long gone, but by a process of elimination, if it lasted till 1841 , then it must have been no 34 Newton St, which ceased being a pub in the 1860s. the censuses merely list the occupant as a retail brewer.

Mike

 

[Thylacine]

[Well, John Inshaw is (quite rightly) generating plenty of steam in the BSB classroom! Thanks everyone. As promised, here's Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885) on the Birmingham steam carriage experiment 1832-1835. The author of this pithy summary is presumably the compiler Thomas T Harman (author of "The Local Book of Dates", "Notes and Records" etc). My emphasis.]

Coaches. ... The introduction of railways set many persons to work on the making of "steam coaches" to travel on the highways, Captain Ogle coming here on one of his own inventing September 8th, 1832, direct from Oxford, having travelled at from ten to fourteen miles per hour. Our local geniuses were not behindhand, and Messrs Heaton Bros, and the well-known Dr Church brought out machines for the purpose. Both parties started joint-stock companies to carry out their inventions, and in that respect both parties succeeded, for such was the run for shares, that in June, 1833, when Heatons' prospectus came out, offering to the public 2,000 £10 shares, no less than 3,000 were asked for in one day. There was also a third company in the field, the "London, Birmingham, and Liverpool", with a nominal capital of £300,000; but none of them prospered; for though they could construct the engines and the coaches, they could not make receipts cover expenses. Heatons' ran theirs for some little time to Wolverhampton and back, and even to the Lickey; the Doctor came out every month with something new; and even the big Co managed to bring one carriage all the way from London (August 28th, 1835). Others besides Captain Ogle also came here on their iron horses, and there was plenty of fun and interest for the lookers-on generally — but no trade and no interest for the speculators. For steam coaches of the present day, see "Tramways".