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Newspapers : From Birmingham Post 150 years ago

According to the Act of Uniformity 1558 the penalty for not going to church on a Sunday was a fine of 12 pence. I think this law was repealed by the Religious Disabilities Act of 1846. The magistrates were therefore exceeding their jurisdiction.
 
All religion's, were very conservative in the past, right up to the end of the 18th C, you could be dragged before a Christian, "Proctorial court" , were you were tried by clergymen and it carried some hefty penalty's including imprisonment, for such things as "Blasphemy , swearing on Sunday, failing to go to church, failing to pay church tithes, and any other sundry religious malpractices, its just that some culturers have moved on. Paul
 
10.10.1894

It is not just today that people complain about the dangers of railways crossing roads.
Demonstation of new proposed railway braking system


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11.10.1864
A case where a good deed did not receive its just reward. The informant for a fire was given a lift back on the engine, fell off and was run over.might have been a Monty Python sketch.

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Twenty Five pounds, not an inconsiderable sum in those days, seems "black legs", have been despised for longer than thought.Paul
 
14.10.1864
Am wondering what the writer meant by digging out the chapel. It is a long time since I visited Aston Hall.

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very strange snippet about aston hall mike...seems someone wants the chapel dug out and certain people buried beneath it.. strange wording when he says that the world may take its revenge...cant work it out...

lyn
 
My guess is that the "Hater of Vulgarity" is criticising the previous company that owned Aston Hall. It was taken over by the Corporation in 1864 by which time it was under serious financial strain. He mentions all the stuff that should be in Madam Tussuads etc. So my guess is he was trying to bring home the fact that the house was full of rubbish (in his view). I presume the Chapel was inside the House (but not sure about that). If it was, maybe it had been used to store things and you'd literally have to dig it out to get into it. The writer seems a bit venomous, so maybe it was to put pressure on the Corporation to take action. Just a suggestion. Viv.


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15.10.1864
Rather tongue in cheek comment quoted from The Grocer magazine, which is still going strong

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17.10.1864
Funeral of Father Ignatious (Rev. George Spencer), ancestor of Winston Churchill and Lady Diana Spencer

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18.19.1864
Never heard of anyone having a triple-barrelled surname, and anyway Harvey is a christian name as well as a surname. That said the tax office seem to have been as useless then as it is today.
Water slide chandeliers still going dry and causing explosions.


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19.10.1864
Handsworth omnibus presentation. Can understand the whip for the driver, but not quite sure why the conductor got a horn

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Hi mike its a bit bizarre ain't it why would the company give the driver a silver mounted whip and the conductor an horn
May be because there was not much available around that time and as for the horn what do you say ,not a lot I surprise
I wondered if that was silver or not I surprise this is how the future employers came around to thinking of the gold watch presation
What used to happen I don't think this practice happen end anymore do you know
Oh well you know the saying curiousotiy killed the cat and I do not surprise we will ever find out to this mystry
Have a nice day mike ,today I am off to look at and possibly buy a new car down in cheltam best wishes Alan Astonian,,,,,
 
Bit different to days public transport, one instance in Cambridge a bus driver refused a blind women to come on his bus with a guide dog in horrendous weather, a 7 year old school girl forced to walk 3 miles home because she was 2p short of the fare, a disabled man thrown off a bus because he complained that the disabled seats were all occupied by non disabled people. !!! What a world we now live in.Paul
 
Presenting the conductor of the omnibus with a horn to me seems to be looking back to the stage coach era when the guard sounded a horn to announce the coach's arrival. Midland Red conductors always had a whistle as part of their equipment.
 
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Horn blowers would sit on the back of the coach to announce the arrival and departure of the coach. A conductor on modern buses (do any still have these?!!) would have a similar role in ringing the bell to start the bus or to stop the bus, albeit more to let the driver know rather than the passengers. I also like the fact that they made a practical gift of a waterproof coat, something the driver would have greatly appreciated being outside the coach in all weathers. Viv.


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An earlier London mail coach, but here they both are, one with whip, one with horn. Apparently there was a revival of coaches in the 1860s. Viv.

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will put tomorrows on also tonight , as won't be around tomorow.

The prerogative of mercy was not dead, just not very obvious.

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I believe that local "Watch Committee's" had the right to impose local by-laws in those days #1767, and I think that "Home Secretaries", had more say on sentencing protocol then as well, #1768. Paul
 
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