Sorry - I know this is a reply to a relatively old thread, but I'm new to the Forum and I am very interested in "South Bank" in terms of its history (before, during and after the main mansion house). I'm only guessing, but I wonder if that 'fireplace' on the boundary wall is actually a 'nook' to hold a lantern - e.g. to show the coachman (coming back from the city) where the entrance to the Lodge/estate was when it was dark, given the street lighting in the mid to late 1800s was probably not the best. Just a thought. In terms of what I know about the South Bank estate, its most famous occupant was Abraham Follett Osler - he was renowned for glass and chandelier making (see other threads) but he was also a meteorologist, and he donated the bells and clock for the clock tower of the Arts Gallery/Council House. In terms of other occupants, in Kelly's Directory of 1835, John Yeend Bedford (solicitor and Justice of the Peace) was recorded as living at "South Bank, Harborne Road". I can't remember where I saw this, his daughter (Catherine Sarah Jenner Bedford) was apparently born in "South Bank, Edgbaston" in 1824. According to a Post Office Directory of 1854, there was a William Spencer (also a solicitor/attorney) living at "43 South Bank, Harborne Road" - John Yeend Bedford died in 1854 and I believe he had already moved to Abbey House in Pershore and had been there for some time. Obviously, its been found that Osler was in South Bank at least from 1868. I'm not sure whether John Yeend Bedford or William Spencer lived (or built) the South Bank mansion house or if this was replaced and built by Osler. The number for South Bank appears to be 43 'early on', but then by 1871 it was 86 Harborne Road, so there may have been a number change as property development and infill progressed along the city-centre side of Harborne Road (numbers start at Five Ways and move out from the city centre). I don't know much about what happened to South Bank after Osler died in 1903, but I have seen a photo from the 1920s/30s (no specific date) of a sign saying the estate was going to be built on with a number of houses - so it may be by that stage that the estate was chopped up for development, though whether the mansion house was demolished in the process, I'm not sure as yet. I know that there is a list of Botanical Garden members from 1938/39 on the internet somewhere showing that a William L Barber lived in "South Bank" but whether this is one of the newer developments or the original mansion house, I'm not sure. Hope this is useful. I'll keep looking! Thanks.
