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Newspapers : From Birmingham Post 150 years ago

Hi Mike and Lyn, the newspaper report and the photo give a very graphic picture of the fire. Shows how incredibly densely packed these homes/workshops/businesses were, crammed in to every nook and cranny. (Georgian buildings were often poorly built to start with and there were many incidents of buildings simply falling down. Albeit 30 odd years later than the report, the one in the photo has pinning right across the front wall).Wonder why it took the fire engine 45 minutes to come to their aid? The cynic in me (!) thinks there's a hint of suspicious circumstances in the report. But then I expect the fire would have taken a hold pretty quickly in these conditions. As an aside, I like the advertiser's advertising on Lyn's photo (Sheffields) and the ad for 'Pay Day Tobacco'. Hope Mike agrees with adding relevant pictures to these posts, as I think they make a lovely addition, bit of icing on the cake! Many thanks to both. Very interesting. Viv.
 
24.11.1862
Very exuberant advert for Days Crystal Palace music Hall
Could they mean child's nurse ?

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I found this definition of "Nurse Child" on Rootschat. Sounds dreadful.
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Often, when transcribing 19th-century censuses, I would come across the phrase "Nurse Child" but would not know what was meant.

I have discovered that this phrase hides a very tragic story relating to illegitimate or unwanted children. Before the Elizabethan poorlaw was changed in the 19th-century care of illegitimate children and their mothers was haphazard. The 19th-century poor law changed this and placed the responsibility on the mother. Most times, she was unable to hold a job and to feed the infant.

One solution to her problem was the baby farmer. This person would for a small fee, offer to take care of the infant. As soon as the money stopped coming (or before), the infant would be starved to death or just dumped in a convenient place.

This procedure continued until the end of the century when horror stories in the newspapers, compelled the government to act
 
25.11.1862
Never thought of Brummies as hot house plants before
Trying to visualise a pleasure van capable of carrying 50 people at this time
Illegal detention of parish reciept book !

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26.11.1862
The Parks and Baths committee. At the end and it was too dark to easily continue one member suggested that some members "loved the darkness rather than the light as their deeds were evil". I wonder if that might be used in parliament today , or if it would be "unparliamentary language".
The Aston curate is obviously having trouble with his wife . He would probably have been against women bishops.
Skating at Soho Pool. Another item suggests that the day before 500 people were skating there.
Two omnibuses for sale.
The firm is offering an unusual prize. I wonder if it was taken up. I take it the statement that it "does not require any coal to preserve the flavour" means the product was dry and did not have to be dried.
This is not Birmingham , but does suggest some of the depravities that occurred then in large cities

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Thank God those conditions don't exist any more, no matter how bad things seem now, old people begging in the street for the most meager of rations, including used tea.
paul
 
The "stews" of Seven Dials (Covent Garden) were well known to be the very bed of iniquity!!! (So I believe)
 
27.11.1862
Extravagent language for Holders Music Hall.
Would this be a Ten pin bowling alley as we know it ?
Tea Round - At first i thought of small shops, but maybe "not less than quarters " means it was to individual householders.
Some Friends !! I like the term "shady side of 56"

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Like the practical joke re. the bride's hearse in #401. Had to check out what 'jarvies' were. A jarvey was a hackney coachman, so it must have applied to hearses too.

Viv.
 
I thought Jarvey was an Irish term. Val Doonican used to sing a song "The Jarvey was a Leprechaun"

THE JARVEY WAS A LEPRECHAUN
(Jimmy Kennedy )

A half a dozen tourists stood outside a Lim’rick bar,
And thought they’d like to take a trip by Irish jaunting car,
They jumped up on the side seats and it started down the street,
But they never saw the character upon the driver’s seat.



The Jarvey was a leprechaun and had some magic power,
He toured them thro’ the Em’rald Isle at a thousand miles an hour,
A phantom horse was in the shafts and no one was surprised,
For the Jarvey was a leprechaun and he had them hypnotised.



He showed them Connemara on the way to Ireland’s eye,
They heard him say that Galway Bay was frozen in July,
He had them kiss the Blarney Stone on Ballybunion Strand,
And a football team from Donegal was Macnamara’s band.



The Jarvey was a leprechaun and really took them round,
They went thro’’ Tipperary town at twice the speed of sound,
He told them it was Mullingar when passing by Clonmel,
For the Jarvey was a leprechaun and the truth he couldn’t tell!



He told them it was Cromwell lost the battle of Clontarf
He said the famous Finn Mac’coul was nothing but a dwarf,
He swore the Giant’s Causeway had been in the Phoenix Park,
And it was by Killarney’s lakes that Noah built the ark!



The Jarvey was a leprechaun and did the trip so fast,
Although the horse had spouted wings the pace just couldn’t last,
He drove them up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen,
And the Jarvey and the passengers were never seen again.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Like the practical joke re. the bride's hearse in #401. Had to check out what 'jarvies' were. A jarvey was a hackney coachman, so it must have applied to hearses too.

Viv.
Click to expand...

I have already posted the song, "The Jarvey was a Leprechaun". On a separate note, when I had to arrange a funeral some years ago, the undertaker told me that he had to have all his cars registered as hackney carrages.
 
In the dim and distant past when I was a jointers mate on the Post Office Telephones, during a trench digging job in the jewelery quarter, we found the remains of a pneumatic message system. That was an iron pipe roughly 4" in diameter, we weighed it in at the scrapyard.:untroubled:

Barrie.
 
So interesting Mike - round St.Giles has all been rebuilt with a big modern office's - but Drury Lane is quite narrow and it's easy to imagine what it was like many years ago - not 'stews' now.
Sheri
 
Think there's still one of these, or something similar, still in use in London. Seem to remember it on our local news. Must be cost effective again. Viv
 
1.12.1862
The advert shows how buying a property could gain one an extra vote, and that this was presumably a desirable addition to the sale
I presume this is a clip that held the plate.

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2.12.1862
Riot at Worcester railway station was refreshment room ex-leasee tries to force entry.
Afraid I would expect to be let down by a papier mache bedsted.

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3.12.1862
Not sure exactly what this is, unless they add pure oxygen to coal gas to give a brighter light.
The Circus, Lichfield St. I have not come accross before. there is no travelling circus advertised in this week, though there were several a few weeks ago. I assume this was a permanent affair in Lichfield st
Cod liver oil is good for you (though revolting and probably no good against consumption (TB)). Ozonizing it, in the way likely to be used then, would probably remove all its beneficial effects. Bit like today when cereals and fruit juice are good for you, but the manufacturers then add loads of sugar to rot kids teeth

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Love reading these articles from 150 years ago, my thanks to Mikejee, and what amazing grammar, and spelling! (Todays newspaper English is hardly up to scratch).
 
4.12.1862
The little riot at Worcester station , reported on 2nd, seems to have caused the chairman of the rialway company to go into a huff and say he will have nothing more to do with the city at the moment , even though he is also the mayor (at least I read it as he being the mayor)
The Birmingham branch of the RSPCA founded in 1862
Ladies Seminary for sale, apply at the Bricklayers Arms !
Everything found but for tea and sugar - they must be afraid at the amount of tea they will drink
Land monitors proposed by Americans, 55 years before British tanks appear in WW1

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5.12.1862
Bit embarrasing to not have water for demonstration
Walsall magistrates dismiss case of assault as wife's omitting sending husband meal to work was justifiable provocation
Trouble is horse drawn vehicles do not have registrations one can note if necessary

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Some good ones to Paul, my Dad was a carter on the GWR, he worked mainly out of Moor Street station, conveying fruit and veg to Smithfield Market. I have many of his Birmingham Safe Driving Awards medals, Bernard
 
6.12.1862
The story of the "riot" at worcester station continues. One letter from one whom obviously is a supporter of the railway company and seems to think that any thing written in a newspaper or stated in court by a barrister for one side must be true - a sad and unfortunate misconception which we today are fortunately free from . The other letter is from a disinterested party whose passage through the station was interrupted by the events, and who certainly seems to think the place had been invaded by thugs of one side or the other

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