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Lennox Street

In 1906 there was a tremendous fire at the Fountain Works and I don't think John Beardmore and Co. recovered from it. Alarm was raised by a lady whose bedroom was joined to the works!
 

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The Fountain Inn was mentioned in the report of the fire at the Fountain Works. The Fountain Inn was No. 15 Lennox Street (old house numbering system). In the 1881 Census the publican was George Perkins, it is also mentioned in a newspaper report of 1872 with regard to theft of a cash-box.
Perhaps the Fountain Works got its name from the pub?
 

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brummy-lad said:
The Fountain Inn was mentioned in the report of the fire at the Fountain Works. The Fountain Inn was No. 15 Lennox Street (old house numbering system). In the 1881 Census the publican was Charles Perkins, it is also mentioned in a newspaper report of 1872 with regard to theft of a cash-box.
Perhaps the Fountain Works got its name from the pub?
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I think that unlikely, as the Fountain was there in 1872, but there is no evidence of a factory till the early 1880s. more likely that the factory got its name from the pub
 
thanks for that john i didnt realise there was a fountain inn in lennox st the only one i knew of up until now was the one in farm st...cheers

lyn
 
A few facts about the Fountain Inn (Beerhouse).
1872 George Perkins refused a music license.
1885 License transferred to Harriet Perkins.
1889 4 bedrooms for rent at 6s. 6d. a week.
 

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This is what I find so amazing when researching ancestors, a week ago I added images of Lennox Street to the interactive map, then yesterday by chance I discovered that in 1901 my gt. grandfather's brother was living at No. 99.
Can anybody decipher the profession listed next to Hilda Leroux (as she was only 2 years old I suspect it should be alongside Clara above), it looks like ????? linen buttons. Thank-you.
 

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I would say it was exactly the same as the sister below - Press worker, Pincer (??) buttons
 
Michael_Ingram said:
This is a photo of the Yob from C V Bull's, circa 1958. (Yob is backslang for boy - the name given to the youngest assistant in a butcher's shop)*. Here he is at home during his lunchtime. At the time the owner was Gordon Bull, son of Charlie. Those of you who remember Charlie will know that he had a distinctive scar on his chin. Gordon was now living in posh Sutton Coldfield. He worked in one of his other shops in the suburbs whose location I can't remember. He also had a shop at Hockley Brook. The manager of the Farm Street shop at the time was Bert Jones and the other assistant was Wally. Wally had no teeth but claimed he could eat any steak sold by Bulls if it was cooked properly.
That photo on page 2 of C V Bull, on the corner of Lennox Street and Farm Street was taken in the early to mid 60's, probably not long before the area was demolished.
*A Yob was always treated as an inferior. His own name was rareley used; if a name was used it would generally be the name of the previous Yob. This was universal. I had a friend who worked in his dad's shop and it was the same for him - his dad called him by the name of his predecesor.
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After all these years, I have just come across this post. My Dad Was Wally and, yes, he could eat almost anything. What a lovely memory.
 
Amazing - Wally's son! He was a lovely bloke. Me and a school friend stayed at Wally's mothers house for a holiday in the 50s in Ladbrooke Grove in Nottinghill, London. I left Bulls when I was about 19 and only saw Bert and Wally about once after that as me and my mom moved to West Heath after my father died.
The photo referred to was probably of me in my backyard at Guildford Street in my butchers apron. The photo mentioned as on page 2 I am sure is elsewhere on the forum.
What happened to Wally after C V Bulls was demolished in the 60s?
 
Michael_Ingram said:
Amazing - Wally's son! He was a lovely bloke. Me and a school friend stayed at Wally's mothers house for a holiday in the 50s in Ladbrooke Grove in Nottinghill, London. I left Bulls when I was about 19 and only saw Bert and Wally about once after that as me and my mom moved to West Heath after my father died.
The photo referred to was probably of me in my backyard at Guildford Street in my butchers apron. The photo mentioned as on page 2 I am sure is elsewhere on the forum.
What happened to Wally after C V Bulls was demolished in the 60s?
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I'm his eldest daughter! Fancy you staying at my Nan's place in Latimer Rd. We used to spend a lot of our holidays there. I may be wrong but didn't the Bulls have a shop in Erdington too? Because after Farm St he went there. I always thought it strange that Gordon Bull had hairdressing shops as well as butchers. I worked in both of them one school holidays. My sister was on holiday with them, babysitting, when my youngest brother was born in 1965. After we moved to Northfield in 1969, Dad got a job there. Sorry, the name of the shop escapes me. He ended up retiring early as he had his cataracts done and ended up with tunnel vision. I remember coming to the shop when I was doing eyes in Biology and got a bag of sheep's eyes. Noone would sit next to me on the bus.
 
Sorry made a mistake with you gender and it was Latimer Road not Ladbrooke Grove (long time ago). I didn't.t know about the hairdressers or the Erdington Shop (I had a friend from school who had his own butchers business in Slade Road, Erdington. The other shop that Gordon Bull had when I knew him was in Sutton Coldfield. I had to remove sheep's eyes from sheep's heads on Mondays to prepare the heads for sale, 9 pence each; mmmh.
 
Astoness said:
back of 49 to 51..dated 1965

Lennox_Street_Back_of_49-51_Newtownlyn_-_15-11-1965.jpg
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Would this be behind the brook Tavern ?
If so , my grandfather was born there in 1875
3 friends lived there at about the time of this picture
Alan Wickham , Ray Davis and Leo Veitch
 
ozrum if one of our kind members can look up what number the brook tavern was at or provide a map it should answer your question

lyn
 
Brummy lad ,
Fantastic....thanks so much
Will drag out my g/f birth certificate. See what the house number is.

A coincidence is , the position of the photographer would have been in or close to the house of my friend Alan ( floss) Wickham.

Astoness...you are a gem !
 
Ozbrum said:
Brummy lad ,
Fantastic....thanks so much
Will drag out my g/f birth certificate. See what the house number is.

A coincidence is , the position of the photographer would have been in or close to the house of my friend Alan ( floss) Wickham.

Astoness...you are a gem !
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When I consider the location for these images I always like to imagine where the photographer was standing and how he avoided obstacles like outside toilets, wash-houses and trees (very rare features) etc. Britain from above images and 1950s maps are invaluable. Would love to identify this photographer, he/she did so much to record a Birmingham that has been lost forever.
 
sparks said:
This fantastic site has 201 streets named, but I can’t find Lennox Street, so I will go back 70+ years and see what I can remember. Hopefully, some of your members may be able to fill the gaps.
Starting from the Farm Street end the first grocery shop was on the right, and shortly after, on the left, was a second grocery shop with the Brook Tavern a couple of doors away.
I am sorry that I can’t remember the names of these shops, but I can name the third grocery shop on the right because it was ours, Sparlings at number 72.
In those days all the butter and lard came in large blocks, which was cut and weighed to your requirements, and wrapped in brown paper. Woodbine cigarettes came in open packets of five that we sold singly.
Two doors up from the shop was a coal yard and yet another shop two doors up from that. How did we all ever make a living?
Half way upon the right was a small factory dealing in metal plating and creating a stink and opposite was a yard where they kept the large dray horses for delivering beer. Finally, on the corner of Clifford Street, our local Fish and Chip shop and on the other corner my favourite shop. One a week, on a Tuesday, they had a delivery of ice cream from Midland Counties, and they would be sold out within an hour, so on our lunch break from Lozells Junior School, we would rush to the shop for our weekly treat.
There does seem to have been a lot of businesses in such a short street, I hope my memory has not let me down.
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Hi i lived at no 74 lennox street as a young boy late fifties early sixties i knew annie and Arthur sparling i used to take their dog for a walk annie would give me a free ice cream.
 
I have just found out that my Great Grandmother Florence & Great Grandfather Harry lived in Lennox Street - but are showing 2 addresses in 1930 -18 Fountain Inn & 1957 no 16 Lennox St. their name was Gosling & their son my Grandfather was a marine his name was Henry but I think he was also called Harry - he married Margaret Kenny & moved to Gosport. I don't have much information but have only just started looking -long road ahead!
 
Kazlar said:
I have just found out that my Great Grandmother Florence & Great Grandfather Harry lived in Lennox Street - but are showing 2 addresses in 1930 -18 Fountain Inn & 1957 no 16 Lennox St. their name was Gosling & their son my Grandfather was a marine his name was Henry but I think he was also called Harry - he married Margaret Kenny & moved to Gosport. I don't have much information but have only just started looking -long road ahead!
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Hi Kazlar, welcome to the forum. Interesting this (see attachment) in 1930 as you say they were at No. 18 and in 1957 at No. 16. Another name on those records was Sarah Jane Sylvester who was at No. 1 back of 18 in 1930 BUT 1 back 16 in 1957. That suggests that the house numbers changed, I don't think it was likely that 2 families would move like that.
Incidentally on the 1930 electoral role The Fountain Inn is listed as No. 30.
In 1906 there was a serious fire at the Fountain Works which would have been in this part of the street but would be surprised if that had any bearing on the number change.
We have a member Mike Jee who is more of an expert than me who may be able to shed some light on this.

EDIT: Also William Henry Brookes 1 bk 22 (1930), 1 bk 20 (1957)
 

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I have checked the 1921 and 1957 Kellys for Lennox St. Neither 16 or 18 are included in either edition, being presumably residential accommodation. A number of the buildings listed in the 1921 edition are not listed in the 1957 edition, probably destroyed or changed to residential accommodation, but all the numbering appears to be in the same position in both editions, so there is no evidence of a renumbering.

However the "x back YY" numbering in back courts is not always entirely fixed. Usually the "YY" is taken as the number of the house before the entry to the court. Thus if an steet went 1,2,3, Entrance , 4,5,6, then the address would be "x back 3 " though this is not always so. In this case, as can be seen in the c 1950 map below (house in red) the court is the same, and both the addresses are the same house, but. for some reason in one case they have said back 16 and in the other back 18.
I hope that rather complicated explanation is clear to you
Map c1950 showing 1 back 16 or 1 back 18.jpg
 
Kazlar said:
I have just found out that my Great Grandmother Florence & Great Grandfather Harry lived in Lennox Street - but are showing 2 addresses in 1930 -18 Fountain Inn & 1957 no 16 Lennox St. their name was Gosling & their son my Grandfather was a marine his name was Henry but I think he was also called Harry - he married Margaret Kenny & moved to Gosport. I don't have much information but have only just started looking -long road ahead!
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Just to complete the picture for Harry Gosling at Lennox Street:
1891 Aged 4 @ No. 15
1901 Aged 15 @ No. 15
1911 Aged 25 @ No. 18
1920, 22, 25 &27 @ No. 18
1932-1939 @ No. 18 (absent voters list)
1945 & 1950 @ No. 18
1957 @ No. 16 (probably an error in the records).
 
mikejee said:
I have checked the 1921 and 1957 Kellys for Lennox St. Neither 16 or 18 are included in either edition, being presumably residential accommodation. A number of the buildings listed in the 1921 edition are not listed in the 1957 edition, probably destroyed or changed to residential accommodation, but all the numbering appears to be in the same position in both editions, so there is no evidence of a renumbering.

However the "x back YY" numbering in back courts is not always entirely fixed. Usually the "YY" is taken as the number of the house before the entry to the court. Thus if an steet went 1,2,3, Entrance , 4,5,6, then the address would be "x back 3 " though this is not always so. In this case, as can be seen in the c 1950 map below (house in red) the court is the same, and both the addresses are the same house, but. for some reason in one case they have said back 16 and in the other back 18.
I hope that rather complicated explanation is clear to you
View attachment 166677
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Thanks for posting! It shows the location of No. 41, where my cousin William Thomas Langman lived (actually 1C1R). He was born there in 1911 (his dad moved there from William St a couple of years prior when he married) and William was the last one to be living there when they came down.
 
No27 said:
Thanks for posting! It shows the location of No. 41, where my cousin William Thomas Langman lived (actually 1C1R). He was born there in 1911 (his dad moved there from William St a couple of years prior when he married) and William was the last one to be living there when they came down.
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Have you seen this image which shows No. 41, not a brilliant shot of it admittedly.

More images of Lennox Street at

www.leroux.co.uk/aston
 

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