Wesleyan College Handsworth 1944

[ChrisM]

A little conundrum.

Can anyone please identify this building (not that one can see a lot of it)? It is the background of a 1944 Home Guard picture. The HG group is one operating in the Aston and Hockley area, although this location may or may not be in that immediate area of Birmingham. It is a panoramic photograph and so the perspective of the building may be askew.

I believe that Aston Hall and Oscott College have been ruled out.

Many thanks for any thoughts.

Chris

 

[Astoness]

is that all you have of the photo chris...my thoughts are nowhere in aston or hockley

lyn

 

[ChrisM]

Unfortunately, yes, Lyn. It's the top strip of a panoramic group photograph which otherwise is just a sea of faces. The top is also cropped so what we see is all we have.

It is a beautifully detailed image and individual bits of the background could easily be magnified, e.g. the door area or the chapel, which both look fairly distinctive. My gut feeling is that it all still exists, somewhere. A school, perhaps?

Chris

 

[Phil]

Chris

Could it not have been some course out of town that they attended?

 

[ChrisM]

It is a thought, Phil, but I think unlikely. It was almost certainly a getting together of everyone in the Company, on a Saturday or Sunday in October 1944, to commemorate the imminent stand-down which would take place in December. This was just one of four or five Companies in the Battalion. Similar images probably exist for all the other blokes although probably assembled on different days and even at different locations. (I have a similar image of one of the other Companies in 1941, photographed somewhere else entirely). I would think that the strong probability is that the location for this one is within the city boundary - and possibly on the northern side of the city, even if not in Aston/Hockley etc.

Thanks for the interest.

Chris

 

[pjmburns]

Birmingham University?

Janice

 

[anthea]

Definitely looks like the entrance to the Great Hall, Birmingham University.

Anthea

 

[wam]

This might not be what it looks like. I'd guess this is one of those rotating cameras used to take photos of large groups. That means you'd get some distortion away from the centre of the picture. Although the entrance to the building is shown to be closer and the rest of the building angles away, it's likely that you're looking at a single flat face of a building and the curve away is a product of the camera. That would also meant that the offshoot of the building at the left was actually at 90 degrees to the rest of the face and not the larger angle it appears to have in the photo.

 

[Astoness]

i have asked carl chinn to take a look at it..he may have some ideas if he does i will let you know

lyn

 

[oldMohawk]

The building looks like some sort of college or abbey, those ornamental windows on the left look like ones found on chapels. The canopy or maybe corbelled tower over the doorway is interesting and a large building with large chimneys on the left seems to indicate that the building is in some sort of grounds. I've had a look at army barracks, abbeys, stately homes as far out as Abbots Bromley but found nothing. I just get the feeling that the building is not in Birmingham ...

 

[ChrisM]

Many thanks for the ideas and suggestions made so far. I await further comment with bated breath!

Of the current suggestions, I haven't yet found anything which tallies exactly, in particular with the window design. And I think it is right to be cautious about the perspective – the main building could well be flat as has been suggested. On the question of it being outside Birmingham, yes, that has to be a possibility; but the whole group comprises some 200 men and I have to feel that some sort of away-day, especially at that time, is a bit unlikely. The buildings on the left-hand side, in the far background, do look a bit Edgbaston-ish to me.

I have blown up some parts of this background image. These are attached and I hope that they spark off further thoughts.

(I am doing a bit of work at the moment to put the main image online in my Home Guard website but I don't think there are any further bits of information on the background to come. The original, by the way is huge, about 1.1m in width, like a school photograph).

Chris

 

[ChrisM]

Think we are there, everyone.

Wesleyan Theological College, Friary Road, Handsworth. Now to see what its fate was - or does it still exist?

Chris

 

[oldMohawk]

You've got it Chris, I've just looked at it on Google Earth.

 

[oldMohawk]

An aerial photo from modern times .. it looks in good condition. How did you find it ?

 

[ChrisM]

Thanks, oldMohawk, a great picture! It seems to be known as Hamstead Hall now and is student accommodation for Aston University and other educational establishments. As there are commercial adverts for the accommodation, it may even be a private venture. A listed building, built in 1881 as the Wesleyan Theological College. Wonderful that it still survives.

Found it by thinking that, with the chapel there, it could be some sort of school. Looked at all the likely candidates in the Birmingham area; then thought again – how could those narrow windows be for classrooms? Looks more like residential accommodation. Residential/educational? Perhaps a theological college. Looked at a few others and then found this one. The entrance and its arrow slits are the giveaway.

Very many thanks to everyone for having had a go at this.

Chris

 

[Phil]

Yes it looks like the place to me as well. This is the entrance in 1970.

 

[Frothblower]

The Wesleyan College, Handsworth, 1920

 

[ChrisM]

Thanks, Frothie.

I don't know if anyone is interested in looking at it, but I have now put the entire group photograph up online here: https://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/DotherReminiscences13222ndWarks.htm. The scans I have published are of high definition and so further magnification is possible. They are best looked at on a proper PC with a decent sized screen.

When you get a group photograph of any sort, and especially of the Home Guard, you are reminded, when it's a good one, that every individual person shown is unique, a family man, a father, a son, a husband. There are 150 or so on this image. They are the more senior members of the Battalion which was responsible for parts of Aston and Hockley. Officers and NCOs. Behind them stand another 1500/1800 men, including all the young lads, the Private Pikes of the unit. Multiply them all up by 20 or 30 similar battalions in the city area and you can get some idea of the number of those serving in Dad's Army. Most for well over four years and active for many hours per week, every week.

I have pulled out just a few faces: the memorable, the mature, the good-looking, the long-and-the-short and those in between. Almost all Aston and Hockley blokes. I know it's over 70 years ago, but surely some can be recognised!

Chris

 

[ChrisM]

A few more.

 

[Di.Poppitt]

Hello Chris, my mother's family lived in Hamstead and I do recall names that my Mother talked about. One was Browns Green and another Hamstead Hall, and I have a faint recollection of seeing Friary Road from the top of a bus, probably the 16A which took us from Handsworth Wood to Hamstead village. Looking on my 1954 Bartholomew's the Weslyan College is shown with Friary Road running by, the entrance being on College Road.

I guess the College is now known by its old name.

 

[mikejee]

 

[A Sparks]

I used to live near the college, it's student's accommodation for Birmingham City University now (or was when I was last round there a few years ago!)