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Great Russell Street

Hello Lyn. Brilliant, thanks ever so much, just as I remember it. In the distance on the next corner down is the Rose & Crown, brings back happy memories. Dave.
 
happy to help dave....yes the rose and crown corner of brearley st/hospital st....if you go to the hospital st thread there should be a pic of the rose and crown in a sorry state after being bombed and a one taken after repairs to it...far as i know demolished in the 60s..


lyn
 
I have loved looking at all the old photo's of Gt Russell St - they took me back to my childhood -- those steps up to the front doors I remember jumping off them with an umbrella pretending it was a parachute or something like that I was about 5yr I think --mom washing in the brew house in the yard on a Monday -- the row of shared loos and playing on the waste ground at the back that we knew as the bomb peck --the housed at the back of us had been knocked down and there was always big bonfires that everyone came to on Nov 5th chestnuts-baked spud-sparklers -dingle matches and toffee apples ---we lived at 236 Gt Russell st and our family name was Beresford not sure when we moved in there from Hospital St but we left in 1959 to Wheeler st - anyone out there remember us
 
I pinched this from our facebbook page. Great Russell Street
 

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hi wend i posted that pic some time back on the main gt russell st thread but it was only from a newspaper...this one of yours has far better clarity so is it ok if i post it on the main thread where all the photos are..

cheers

lyn
 
Great russell st.jpgwe already have this on this thread but this has more clarity...thanks to wendy for this one..
 
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Hi Beresford,do you or your family have any connection with Marston Green as my husband knew a Beresford family in Marston Green before he left there in 1968. My husband lived with his mum and grandmother in Elmdon Lane. His grandmothers maiden name was Brookes and the family were living at 218 Great Russell Street on the 1891 and 1901 censuses.
 
angela burley said:
Hi Beresford,do you or your family have any connection with Marston Green as my husband knew a Beresford family in Marston Green before he left there in 1968. My husband lived with his mum and grandmother in Elmdon Lane. His grandmothers maiden name was Brookes and the family were living at 218 Great Russell Street on the 1891 and 1901 censuses.
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Hi Angela

no sorry we have no connection with Marston Green apart from my Niece being born there - my parents came from Belfast about 1939/1940 and apart from a short stay in Liverpool I think-- they only lived in Birmingham --sorry I can't help x
 
hello been a while since I saw this was commented on my Great Grandparents and Great Great Grandparents used to live on Great Russell Street there Names were William Henry Butwell, William Thomas Butwell whom married Gertrude Butwell. W. Thomas after Gertrude died married his brother wife Beatrice Chinn (after he died in WW1 his name was W. Arthur Butwell)

be nice to see if you heard or know of them?
thank
stewart
 
Hi Beresford, although I didn't live in Gt Russell St a lot of my friends did and I also remember the bonfires. Did you know Alfie Wheeldon or Maurice Millard. Dave.
 
Astoness said:
hope you spot this post mike..i wonder could i have a map of the street showing where number 22 would have been please..trying to work out if pic 4 on post 66 is anywhere near but i think it may prove difficult...

thanks mike..
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My GG grandfather, William Rooney died at 22 in 1877 (previously lived at 14 & 24), his widow, Mary Ann Tibbetts went on to marry George Jennings. They were still at 22 in 1881, moving to Sandpits by 1901. Any connection?
 
Astoness said:
hard to believe isnt it lynne....and yes i know which i would prefer too...may not have had much but boy were we happy enough

lyn
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Hi Lyn thanks for the photos which certainly bring back some fond memories. My wife lived at 4 back of 193 and her mother was actually born there circa 1901/2. Mother used to drink in the snug in the pub just up the road but unfortunately it's been too long for Vi to remember the name. She does remember that mother was a dab hand at births and deaths and could always be called on to do the necessary when the time came, that's beside playing the arrcordian when everyone had a drop too much. Happy days.
 
Astoness said:
View attachment 94085we already have this on this thread but this has more clarity...thanks to wendy for this one..
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I have this postcard and, being as I am doing a little on Great Russell Street, I looked into this image. The bill posters on the walls of the buildings show the property details for an auction of the row, the sale being held on 27th March 1914. The sale did not mean that the occupiers were moving on. However, they would have to pay rent to a new leaseholder following the sale.

These buildings were back-to-backs so there were 12 households here rather than just the six fronting the street. Lot No.1 was for the lower of the properties on the right of this photograph, numbered 203, 204 and 205. The Lot also included eight houses at the rear, 3 being part of the main block and a further five up the yard, numbered 1-5 back of 204. The annual rental income from all the households amounted to £109.4s. The auction was for a lease of 54 years with a ground rent of £20. Armed with these figures it is possible to calculate how much these would realise at auction based purely on a calculated return-of-investment and an annual income that generated an interest rate more favourable than that offered by a savings account or bank. This is how most investors did their sums and wished to spend as little as possible on repairs and renovations. Consequently, the properties degenerated over the years and was partly responsible for the mass demolition in the 1960s.

Lot No.2 included Nos.206, 207 and 208, on the left of this photograph, along with another eight houses to the rear. The annual rents collected each year for these properties was slightly higher at £111. The term of lease and ground rent was the same as that in Lot 1. No.208 was occupied by the fruiterer Ernest Smith. That is possibly his wife Leah stood on the doorstep. In 1911 this couple lived at No.7 Court 35, which was part of Lot.1 and
would have been one of the houses to the rear of the main block on the right. They had three young sons, Alfred, Samuel and Ernest.
 
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brilliant info kieron...the 54 year lease falls in nicely with the 1960s demolision...as you say landlords back then were never happy to put their hands in their pockets even for essential repairs...i was bought up in house built around the 1840s which had quite a few problems but cant recall any repairs being done but dad was very handy and we were happy...i do however recall the landlord knocking every week for his rent :D thanks keiron

lyn
 
Astoness said:
brilliant info kieron...the 54 year lease falls in nicely with the 1960s demolision...as you say landlords back then were never happy to put their hands in their pockets even for essential repairs...i was bought up in house built around the 1840s which had quite a few problems but cant recall any repairs being done but dad was very handy and we were happy...i do however recall the landlord knocking every week for his rent :D thanks keiron

lyn
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Slight amendment .. a later map c.1950s shows Court 35 a bit lower but the 1889 map which is more accurate shows it was in fact the court to the rear of Lot 1. I have edited it accordingly.
 
Astoness said:
"I do however recall the landlord knocking every week for his rent" lyn
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Lyn, you will not be interested in reading all of the page as it is a bit like "Angela's Ashes," but I have linked to the bit where I describe my father collecting the weekly rents at :

History of the Off Licences of Reddal Hill at Cradley Heath

History and Information on the Off Licences of Reddal Hill at Cradley Heath in Staffordshire
www.midlandspubs.co.uk www.midlandspubs.co.uk

Cheers Kieron
 
great photo K to add to the ones i already have...its a total disaster at just how many pubs many of them strong buildings that we have lost not just in brum but all over the country..very sad

lyn
 
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