Yesterday I attended a meeting arranged by the Victorian Society entitled " From Town to City -the Victorian Streetscape in Birmingham" at the Midland Institute. the meeting was somewhat hampered by a laptop/projector going to sleep after every two or three slides, which lessened the time available to the speakers, but the presentations are described below (at least what I could read of my scrawled notes written in the dark) :
1. Richard Cross, the Chamberlain "clique" and the politics of development in Victorian Birmingham by Prof. Roger Ward.
The ninteenth century produced an enormous increase in the city population of the UK, from 20% of the population in 1800 to 54% in 1860. This caused great upheavals, particularly in London, and resulted in large numbers of people living in slums under awful conditions, with inadequate facilities. The Tory party, which was in power under Disraeli thought it in their best interests (politically) to do something about this. The leader, Disraeli, couldn't really care a damn, but his Home Secretary, Richard Cross, introduced the Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875, which gave local authorities the power (if they wanted it) to compulsorily purchase areas regarded as slums, with compensation to the owners aided by especially low-interest rates from the government. these areas could then be redeveloped. In fact, as it was voluntary, only 10 towns out of 87 in England and Wales implemented the Act. Where it was implimented areas were often demolished, but adequate wrokers housing was not built on the site, and it was either left barren or factories constructed on the site. The original occupants either moved into a similar area nearby, not being able to afford newer housing (where it was provided), or reluctant to live under the conditions of charitable providers ( no alcohol, no late night visitors, churchgoing etc).
The major development that did occur and was implemented was in Birmingham, where a large area in the centre of the city, containing notorious places such as the Froggery and the Gullet was completely demolished and rebuilt, centred on the "boulivard" of Corporation St. However no (what would now be called) "social" housing was provided in that area, which was almost entirely devoted to commercial developments, theatres, cafes, bars, high-class shops etc, which would enhance the image of the city. In fact the area was not completely rebuilt till 1902, though clearing began in the 1870s. With regard to housing, it was stated that if any housing was included it would have to be flats, though none were built here.
A few small groups of houses were provided by the council, the first (I believe) being Wright St, Small Heath (demolished 1970s), and slightly alter the area around Lawrence St (again demolished 1970s), but, as with other towns, working class housing was sadly neglected in the areas demolished.
2. A Perambulation from Georgian town to Victorian city, by Stephen Hartland.#
This comprised a large number of slides, with accompanying comments, illustrating the development of the city, particularly with regard to the street contents and furniture. It showed the introduction of street lighting by gas, though it was pointed out, in New st, that the majority of gas lamps originally were outside places such as the Theatre Royal, the Town Hall and prominent places. He particularly remarked on the enormous lamp in Old Square (there is a picture somewhere on the forum). The statues were also shown beginning with the Nelson one, resplendent in the open space of the Bull Ring, but also others. Many were surrounded by four bollards, to protect them. they often looked like upturned cannon, and indeed the earlier ones were, though later ones merely took the same form. The Nelson statue had the upturned cannon, but welded on the top was a gaslamp. Water troughs for horse and fountains for humans were also shown. At Fiveways a horse trough was one side of a monument to Joseph Sturge with a fountain on the other side.
Allins House of Curiosities, which sold everything from stationary to stuffed animals, on the corner of Ann St was featured. This crenelated, turreted building always flew the union flag and was colloquially known as "The Flag" , so people would meet "Down by the Flag". The Council House replaced it both in position, and possibly also as a direction pointer. Railings were a feature of the time and the town. Nowadays they are usually black, but Georgian ones were gray, while Victorian ones were usually a shade of green, possibly trying to imitate the colour of oxidised brass. Occasionally these early colours can be seen where the paint was partially worn. an example was given on the railings at the General Hospital.
3.Public Conveniences - a necessary development in an urban street scape by David Eveleigh.
David admitted that, although an expert of domestic sanitary developments, his knowledge of public convenmiences, especially with regard to Birmingham, was more limited, He recalled an incident while recently attempting to photograph local items for this talk, when a man approached him and said "You know you can be arrested for that !", to which, being somewhat flustered and confused, David's reply was "Yes I suppose I could".
The start of the public convenience was the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was realised that with hundreds of thousands of people visiting London, there would be certain needs. George Jennings, who already ran a firm manufacturing sanitary ware and invented the flushing toilet, installed his "Monkey Closets" in retirement rooms in the exhibition, one set for men, one set for women. A fee of 1 (old)penny was charged for their use, which gave use of a clean seat, a towel, a comb and a shoe shine. this obviously gave rise to the well kn own phrase. 827280 people used the facility, and when the exhibition was moved to Sydenham the service was continued and made £1000 a year. shortly after he constructed the first underground convenience at The Royal Exchange.
Soon manufacturers, mainly in Scotland, began to manufacture the cast iron toilet we (or at least the older of us) are familiar with. David suggested that they were mainly aimed at the poorer community, as the better off could be assumed to be able to visit a shop or cafe, and that a survey of the positions of them in relationship to the area would be interesting (though it would have to include all, not just remaining ones). Most were quite ornamental, at least on the outside. They were designed for a range of numbers, from one to, in the case of a late early 20th century one ion Caversham) for over 20 (this is saved at the Chilton museum). They were initially more often just urinals, and women had to wait a little, by which time more conventional facilities were available. Some of the very early ones with not just urinals were based on a trough with multiple seats (not necessarily with partitions), water being sloshed down the trough and out to the sewer. Designs are shown (and it is suggested that more miserly councils used), that were dry and necessitated frequent emptying by nightsoil men. (David apologised for bringing this up just before lunch) These troughs did not seem to last very long however . The talk finished with slides of local cast iron conveniences, both extant and gone, including the very ornate one from AB Row, which apparently has been saved, but not yet reinstalled. (it is either at the Ironbridge Gorge or Black country museum, not sure which, did not note, but one of these). Also displayed from out of this area was a very ornate one at Blackboy hill, Bristol, which has recently been thoroughly restored to almost new condition on its original site by a firm (Dorothea Restorations if I read my writing correctly). It is good to know that people are doing something to preserve our heritage.
