Birmingham, a municipal and parliamentary borough, a county borough under the Local Government Act, and a city, in 52° 59' N lat., and 1° 18' W lon., distant from London 109 miles by road and 112 by railway, and situated Ki 1/2 on the Roman Icknield Street. When incorporated in 1838, and down to 1891, Birmingham was wholly in the county of Warwick. In 1891, by special Act of Parliament, it was extended to include parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire, making the municipal and parliamentary boundaries co-extensive. The area of the city is 12,705 acres, of which a considerable portion is land not yet built upon. The population of the original borough at the census of 1891 was 427,000; by the subsequent extension it is raised to 478,113. The number of inhabited houses is now 95,470. The poor-law divisions are—Birmingham parish, with its own board of guardians; Edgbaston parish, included in the union of Kingsnorton; and part of Aston parish, included in the Aston union. The town is built upon the New Red Sandstone formation, and has chiefly a gravelly soil, with occasional patches of marl and clay. The configuration of the ground is remarkably undulated: the lowest parts are 290 feet above sea-level, and the highest reach an altitude of 616 feet. The town is consequently one of the highest and also one of the healthiest in England—being placed upon the ridge which constitutes the backbone of the Midlands. To this elevated situation it owes its immunity from epidemics, as it stands high above the cholera line. The mean death-rate for the last decennial period is about twenty in the 1000. The appearance of the town is remarkably picturesque as viewed from a distance, and this impression is confirmed on inspection—the streets being usually curved to meet the necessities of the site, and the buildings, especially those in the centre of the city, being handsome and greatly diversified in style. New Street, Colmore Row, and Corporation Street, the principal thoroughfares, are among the finest in the kingdom.
History.—The first mention of the place occurs in Domesday Book as Bermingeham, but in various records there have been reckoned about 100 ways of spelling it. The most reasonable conclusion of the origin of the name is that it is derived from Beorm, the designation of perhaps the first possessor, "ing" signifying the family or tribe, and "ham" the home or dwelling-place. Thus Birmingham would stand for " the home of the Beorms." That there was a community here previous to the Conquest is shown by the Domesday entry, and further by the fact that in 1309 the then lord, William de Bermingham, gave proof that in Saxon days his ancestors had a market and levied tolls. The town, however, made no great figure on the larger stage of national affairs until comparatively modern days. The most notable incidents are these:—In 1265 William Bermingham led a body of his people to the support of Simon de Montfort at the battle of Evesham, and was killed there, his estates being forfeited for treason. They were restored to his son, and were held by the family until 1527, when Edward Bermingham was falsely accused of highway robbery by John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, the then owner of Dudley Castle, and superior lord of Birmingham, who obtained a grant of Edward's lands. On the fall of Dudley the manor of Birmingham passed to the crown, and was granted in 1555 to Thomas Marrow of Berkswell, from whose family it went in 1746 to Thomas Archer, afterwards Earl of Plymouth, and ultimately to the family of Musgrave, who still hold the manorial rights, excepting those of fairs and markets, which early in the present century were bought by the town commissioners, and now belong to the corporation. In the civil wars between Charles I. and the Parliament the town was strongly Parliamentarian. Its smiths and cutlers refused to supply sword blades to the Royalists, but made as many as 15,000 swords for the Commonwealth troopers. Clarendon speaks of the place as being " so generally wicked that it had risen upon small parties of the king's, and killed or taken them prisoners, and sent them to Coventry, declaring a more peremptory malice to his Majesty than any other place." Just before the battle of Edgehill (23 October, 1642), Charles lodged for two nights at Aston Hall, close to Birmingham. The townsmen seized part of his baggage, with much plate and money, and sent it to the Parliamentary garrison at Warwick; and so soon as the king had moved onwards they attacked Aston Hall, and compelled the owner, Sir Thomas Holte (who had a Royalist garrison), to surrender—Sir Thomas being also imprisoned and heavily fined for his loyalty. In April, 1643, the Royalists had their turn. Prince Rupert, passing through Birmingham on his way to Lichfield, cannonaded the town, sacked it, and levied upon it a fine of £20,000, equivalent to at least £100,000 at the present value of money. There is, however, no record that the fine was paid. The Royalists, however, did not escape without serious loss, some of their men being killed and injured— among the former being the Earl of Denbigh, one of Prince Rupert's officers. From this period until the Revolution of 1688 Birmingham was quiet; but on the flight of James II. the townspeople attacked the Roman Catholics, and destroyed a chapel and convent, for the building of which James had provided part of the materials. With the exception of somewhat serious bread riots in 1754, and again in 1766, there was no remarkable occurrence until 1791, when the famous Church-and-King riots broke out. This outbreak of popular fury was the result of a long and bitter conflict between Churchmen and Nonconformists, the latter guided chiefly by the Unitarians, who, under the leadership of Dr Priestley (then minister of the New Meeting), had striven with vigour to shake off the religious and political disabilities affecting them. The polemical warfare, which was carried on for several years, aroused strong partisanship on both sides, and this was brought to a head by the outbreak of the French Revolution, which excited a keen interest among the Liberal section of the population. On the 14th of July, 1791, a dinner was to be held at the Royal Hotel to celebrate the destruction of the Bastille. Inflammatory placards denouncing those who proposed to attend the dinner appeared upon the walls, and threats were freely used against them; but they persevered, and the dinner took place without disturbance. Scarcely, however, had the company separated when an organized attack was made upon the Unitarians. For that night and for the three following days the town was at the mercy of a drunken and ruffianly mob, composed of the lowest elements of the population, but secretly inspired and directed by persons of higher station. The watchword of the rioters was " Church and King," and the only chance of escape for suspected or obnoxious persons was to chalk this formula upon their doors. The first attack was aimed at the two Unitarian chapels, both of which were burned. Then Dr Priestley's house of Fairhill, in the suburb of Sparkbrook, was sacked and burnt—the whole of his library, philosophical instruments, and manuscripts (embodying the labour of years) perishing in the fire. The houses of Hutton the historian, of Baskerville the famous printer, and of many other leading Unitarians shared the same fate. At last a strong body of troops came to the help of the magistrates, and the riot was put down, but not until property to the value of ,£40,000 had been destroyed, or until many of the rioters themselves bad perished—some of them dying drunk in the cellars of the burning houses. Some of the ruffians were captured and tried at the next assizes at Warwick; four of them were hanged, and the rest sentenced to imprisonment. The loss of the sufferers was partly made good at the cost of the hundred. One result of the outbreak was that it drove Dr Priestley not only from Birmingham, but from England, and induced him to emigrate to the United States. Tardy honour was done to his memory seventy years later by the erection of a statue of him in front of the Town Hall. As if ashamed of these excesses, Birmingham afterwards distinguished itself by the vivacity and consistency of its Liberalism. From 1817 to 1829 various movements were conducted for the purpose of promoting religious and political freedom, and in the last-named year the Political Union was formed, under the leadership of Mr Thomas Attwood, to assist in carrying the first Reform Bill. Meetings 100,000 strong were held on Newhall Hill; there was talk of marching upon London, proposals were made to refuse payment of taxes, and many violent counsels were offered. The Reform Bill passed; the great towns received parliamentary representation, and the country agreed that the triumph of reform was largely due to the influence of Birmingham. On two occasions only in later years has the peace of the town been disturbed, though intense political activity has been the rule of the place. The Chartist agitation gave rise to one of these occurrences, several houses in the Bull Ring having been burned by Chartist rioters on the 15th of July, 1839. Again in 1867 (16th June), owing to the fury excited against the Roman Catholics by an ultra-Protestant lecturer named Murphy, one or two streets, Inhabited chiefly by Irish, were sacked, but the disturbance was quickly put down.
Government and Parliamentary Representation.—Birmingham had no regular municipal government until 1769, when an Act of Parliament was obtained appointing a body of commissioners for the purpose of lighting, cleansing, and improving the town; and this body (which filled vacancies in its number by self-election) continued in existence until 1851. Upon the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835, an application was made for a charter of incorporation as a municipal borough. In 1838 a charter was granted, the governing body being constituted of sixteen aldermen and forty-eight councillors, now raised to eighteen aldermen and fifty-eight councillors. The street commissioners still continued to exercise jurisdiction in the parish of Birmingham, and several other bodies of the same self-elected kind had control of other parts of the district included in the borough. In 1851 an Act of Parliament was passed abolishing all these governing bodies, and transferring their powers to the Town Council, whose authority was further extended by another private Act passed in 1862. A third Act, passed in 1882, and consolidating all previous Acts and private Acts and orders, and conferring extensive new powers upon the corporation, is the Act under which the local government of Birmingham is now conducted. A fourth Act, passed in 1890, as above stated, extended the boundaries and enlarged the number of the governing body. At the time the charter of incorporation was granted, the town also received a grant of a separate commission of the peace, and a grant of quarter sessions for the trial of prisoners. In 1839 a police force was instituted, but in consequence of the Chartist riots this was at first placed under the control of a government commissioner, and it was not until 1842 that it passed into the hands of the corporation. The present strength of the police force is 750 men. In 1875 the corporation, by purchase, authorized by special Acts of Parliament, acquired the property of the gas and water companies which had previously supplied the town. The cost of the gas-works was about £1,500,000, and of the water-works about £1,300,000. Large sums have since been expended in improving both undertakings. The water supply is derived from streams in the neighbourhood of the town, from deep wells sunk in the sandstone, and from storage reservoirs, one of which (90 acres in extent) is capable of holding 600,000,000 gallons. In 1892 the corporation obtained an Act of Parliament to provide for an entirely new water supply from the rivers Elan and Claerwen, the head waters of the river Wye, in Radnorshire. This new supply, expected to become available in about ten years, is calculated to serve for at least fifty years, and its ultimate cost is estimated at over £6,000,000. The gas-works yield a revenue of £25,000 a year to the corporation, after paying the cost of interest on the purchase money and providing a sinking fund for the extinction of the capital outlay. The income of the corporation (exclusive of the sum paid by the gas-works, the yield of the market tolls, and some other minor receipts) is derived chiefly from rates levied on the town, the corporation having no landed property yielding income. The rates levied for municipal purposes amount to about 4s. 4d. in the pound, on an assessment of rateable property of £2,200,000. In addition to these a school-board rate of nearly lid. in the pound is levied, and also a poor rate, which varies in amount in the several parishes in the city. In the parish of Birmingham, which has the highest poor rate, the total local rates would amount to about 7s. in the pound; in the other two parishes the total would be about 6s. 4d. The total expenditure of the corporation for municipal purposes averages about £350,000. The debt of the city, including the cost of the gas and water works, is £7,000,000. This amount includes the debt incurred on account of an improvement scheme undertaken in 1876 under the provisions of the Artisans* Dwellings Act, and by which a sanitary and street improvement of great magnitude and value has been effected. The amount borrowed for this scheme is over £1,500,000, which is covered by property of equivalent value acquired by the corporation. Until the Reform Act of 1832 the parliamentary representation of Birmingham was included in that of the county of Warwick. By that Act two members were assigned to the town; and by the Reform Act of 1867 the number was increased to three, which was further increased to seven by the Redistribution Act of 1884. The town was then divided into seven electoral districts—viz., Central, Bordesley, Edgbaston, East, North, South, and West Divisions.
Education.—Elementary education is provided by board schools and schools connected with religious bodies, chiefly the Church of England and the Roman Catholic. The School Board (fifteen members) was first elected in 1870, and has already provided fifty-four schools, capable of receiving on an average 1000 children each. The denominational schools number fifty-seven, with accommodation for 30,000 children. The School Board has special science and drawing instructors, and much attention is given to teaching cookery and household economy to girls. The School Board has also a large system of specially advanced schools, and of evening classes for those who have left the day schools. A day training college for pupil teachers is also conducted by the School Board, most of the instruction being given in the classes of Mason College. Secondary education is provided by the great series of schools on the foundation of King Edward VI. The endowments of the trust consist of the rents of lands formerly belonging to the Gild of the Holy Cross, a semi-religious and semi-charitable foundation dating from the middle of the fourteenth century. These lands were confiscated by Henry VIII. at the suppression of the monasteries; but, on petition of the inhabitants, were in part regranted by Edward VI. (in 1652) for the provision of a grammar-school. The property was then valued at £31 2s. lOd. (about £400 yearly, according to the present value of money). The rentals now yield about £33,000 a year, and by fees received from a section of the scholars this is raised to £47,000 a year, with a prospect of considerable increase. The grammar-school was originally managed by a self-elected body of governors; but by a new scheme adopted in 1878, the governors were fixed at twenty-five in number, of whom eight are chosen by the Town Council, one by the school teachers, and one each by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, the rest being co-optative. The instruction was formerly free, the scholars being admitted by the governors' nomination. All scholars are now admitted only by competitive examination, and only a certain proportion (one-third) are received free, the remainder paying fees. The free scholarships are open (by competition) to scholars in the elementary schools of the town. There were formerly several elementary schools in connection with the foundation ; these are now abolished, and the group of schools is at present constituted ss follows:—(1) a high school for boys; (2) a high school for girls—these are in the centre of the town; (3) seven grammar (or middle) schools in various parts of the town, three of them for boys and four for girls, providing, in the total, for over 2500 pupils. There are numerous scholarships in connection with the foundation, tenable at Oxford, Cambridge, and London; and there are others tenable at Mason College, Birmingham. Mason Science College, which provides for higher education (on the plan of the Owens College, Manchester, and similar institutions), was opened in 1880. It is situated in Edmund Street, near the Town Hall. It was founded by the late Sir Josiah Mason, who realized great wealth by penmaking and electroplating, and who built the college at a cost of £60,000, and endowed it with properties valued at over £100,000. It is governed by eleven trustees, five of whom are chosen by the Town Council, and the others, originally appointed by the founder, are co-optative—the whole being appointed for life. The scheme of the college includes advanced instruction in all branches of science, languages, and literature. In these departments there are twelve professors—of chemistry and metallurgy, physics, physiology, biology, botany, geology and mining, mathematics, engineering, Latin and Greek, English language and literature, German, and French; and there are also numerous demonstrators and assistants. The college possesses a valuable library of 23,000 volumes; biological and geological museums; four lecture theatres; and admirably appointed laboratories and class-rooms, modelled upon the best German examples. The building, singularly fine in character, is of brick and stone; the architect was Mr J. A. Cossins, Birmingham. The original scheme of the 166 College has now been completed by the addition of a Medical Faculty, the medical instruction previously given at Queen's College having, in 1892, been transferred to Mason College under the authority of an order in Chancery. The medical department, at a cost of about £20,000 for site and buildings, has its own theatres, museums, and class-rooms separately from the Arts and Science department, but is under the same general administration. The total income of the conjoint college is about £12,000 a year, the expenditure is somewhat higher. Queen's College (Paradise Street), founded in 1828 and incorporated in 1867, had formerly an almost university character, under royal charter, and was empowered to grant degrees in engineering; but, by the removal of the Medical Faculty, and the gradual decay of others, has become solely a theological college of the Church of England. The number of students is about 20. The Birmingham and Midland Institute was founded in 1854, under authority of an Act of Parliament. The foundation stone of the original building, which cost £15,000 (architect, Mr E. M. Barry), was laid by the late Prince Consort, 22 November, 1854. The building has been since largely extended, at a cost of £30,000 (architects, Messrs Martin and Chamberlain, Birmingham), and includes one of the finest lecture halls in England. The institute is divided into two departments— one general, including weekly lectures, reading-rooms, &c.:the other evening classes in languages, literature, music, &c., for artisan and other students. There are also morning classes for ladies, and subsidiary classes are held at some of the board schools. There are about 2000 annual subscribers, by whose contributions and the class fees the institution is maintained. The science classes formerly conducted by the Institute have now been transferred to the Technical School established and maintained by the corporation, under the Technical Instruction Act of 1890. This school is governed by a committee of the corporation, including experts not members of the City Council. The School of Art, formerly conducted by a committee of subscribers, is also transferred to the corporation. It consists of a central school, for which a site worth £15,000 was given by a local landowner, two sums of £11,000 and £10,000 being given by other donors for the erection of the building. The sum of £16,000 has been since expended by the corporation on an extension of the school. Besides the central school there is a second school for the instruction of jewellers, silversmiths, &c., and there are thirteen other branch schools of art in various parts of the city. The total number of students is nearly 4000, and in addition the School of Art committee, by means of inspecting teachers, supervises the drawing teaching in all Board schools. There are several colleges for special purposes in or near the town. The Congregationalists (Independents) had one for the training of ministers at Spring Hill, Moseley, but this was transferred four years ago to Oxford, where it is now located as Mansfield College; the Wesleyans have one for the same purpose at Handsworth; there is a training college for schoolmasters (for the dioceses of Worcester, Lichfield, and Hereford) at Saltley; and the Roman Catholics have an extensive school in connection with the Oratory at Edgbaston, established by the late Cardinal Newman, and a college at Oscott for theological students only. Closely associated with the educational institutions are the public and other libraries of the town. The chief of these is the Free Reference Library belonging to the corporation, and supported by the library rate. This was destroyed by fire, llth January, 1879, together with the whole of its contents, including the famous Shakespeare library. It is now, however, restored on a much larger scale. The architects were Messrs Martin and Chamberlain, and the cost of the new library was about £50,000. The restored collection of books at present amounts to about 120,000 volumes, and the new Shakespeare library is making great progress; the committee were aided in the general work of restoration by numerous valuable gifts of books, and by a subscription of £15,000 raised by the townspeople. The principal room of the new reference library measures 100 feet by 64. In the same building is a lending library, containing 60,000 volumes, and a free news-room of the same size as the reference library. There are also eight branch lending libraries and news-rooms in various parts of the town. The next largest library (subscribers only) is called the Birmingham Library, in Union Street. It was established in 1780 by Dr Priestley, and now contains over 60,000 volumes. The Mason College (already mentioned) has a fine library of scientific books; and the Medical Institute, Edmund Street, established as a meeting-place for members of the medical profession, has also a large collection of professional works. The Art Gallery, established by the corporation, was opened by the Prince of Wales in December, 1885. It occupies a fine suite of rooms erected as part of the council-house, and contains large collections of valuable pictures and works of industrial art, including special collections of the works of David Cox, of the pottery of Josiah Wedgwood, and of arms of all kinds. Other means of art instruction and recreation are afforded by the classes and exhibitions of the Royal Society of Artists, which receives students in painting, &c., provides for art lectures by a staff of professors, and holds two exhibitions annually—one of water colours in the spring, and one of oil pictures in the autumn. There are other societies of an educational character, such as the Archaeological Society, a branch of the Institute; and the Natural History Society, the Philosophical Society, and the Athletic Institute (opened 1892), besides many minor associations of a scientific or literary character, and numerous musical societies.
Religion.—Birmingham is an archdeaconry and a rural deanery, in the diocese of Worcester. In the city there are seventy-one churches and licensed rooms belonging to the Church of England. The principal church is St Martin's, the parish church, and until 1715 the only one. The original building was erected about the middle of the 13th century, but owing to its dilapidated state this was wholly removed in 1878, and a new church (14th century Gothic) built at a cost of £30,000 (architect, Mr J. A. Chatwin, Birmingham). The next important church is St Philip's (Italian), built in 1715 by Archer, a pupil of Wren. Another church of note is St Alban's, built in 1880 (architect, Mr Pearson). The rest of the churches of Birmingham are not remarkable for architectural qualities; nor can the Nonconformist edifices make any particular boast, though of late years more attention has been paid by them to the artistic enrichment of their places of worship. Birmingham is very strong in its Nonconformist character. As far back as the Commonwealth it was marked in this respect, and in 1662 it gave refuge to several of the ministers ejected from neighbouring places under the Act of Uniformity. These ministers conducted their services at the Old Meeting, where a Presbyterian congregation was gathered, but the Old Meeting afterwards passed into the hands of the Unitarians. The chapel itself was removed in 1882, to make way for the enlargement of the Central Railway Station ; but a new one, to perpetuate its name, is erected in Bristol Street, a singularly noble Gothic building (architect, Mr J. A. Cossins). Another Unitarian chapel of note was the New Meeting, in Moor Street, of which Dr Priestley was the minister; in 1862 this place was sold to the Roman Catholics, and the Unitarian congregation migrated to a new Gothic building in Broad Street. They have several other chapels in Birmingham. The Society of Friends have one meeting-house, and also conduct extensive Sunday schools in Severn Street, with about 3000 scholars (almost all of them adults) in the various classes. The Friends' Meeting was first opened in 1690. The Independents (or Congregationalists) have nine chapels in the city ; the chief of them is that in Carr's Lane, for many years under the pastorate of the Rev J. Angell James, and now under that of his immediate successor, Dr. R. W. Dale. The Wesleyans, planted in Birmingham in 1745 by John Wesley himself, have seventeen chapels, and the other branches of the Methodist denomination bring up their total to nearly fifty. The first Baptist chapel was built in 1738; there are now fourteen places of worship of this denomination. The Presbyterians have three churches, the Jews have a synagogue, and there are several places of worship which must be classed as miscellaneous. The Roman Catholics make Birmingham the centre of a diocese, and have a bishop here. They have altogether ten churches and chapels, and several conventual establishments. Their principal church is the Cathedral of St Chad, in Bath Street, which, with the bishop's house opposite to it, was built from the designs of the late Mr A. Welby Pugin, and was one of the earliest examples of his revival of Gothic art. An endeavour was made recently to obtain the creation of a bishopric of Birmingham in connection with the Church of England, and a private bill for this purpose was introduced into Parliament, but the funds subscribed proving inadequate the bill was withdrawn, and the bishopric project, though not abandoned, remains in abeyance.
Charities.—The medical charities consist of twelve hospitals and a sanatorium. The principal of these is the General Hospital (Summer Lane), begun in 1765 and opened in 1779, which affords relief to about 3000 in-patients and nearly 30,000 out-patients annually, and expends about £13,000 a year. This hospital is now (1893) about to be rebuilt on a new site, at a cost of ,£100,000; it is to contain over 300 beds. In connection with this hospital the triennial musical festivals were commenced in 1768, when Handel's " Messiah " was performed in St Philip's Church. The second festival took place in 1771, and then came an interval until 1784, when the regular succession of triennial music meetings began. Until 1834 the festivals were held in St Philip's Church for sacred music, and in the theatre for secular performances. In 1834 they were wholly transferred to the Town-hall, where they have since been conducted. These meetings have been marked by the first production of many works of the highest importance; Mendelssohn's " Elijah," for example, was produced here in 1846, and Gounod's " Redemption " in 1882. The fine organ in the Town-hall, built by Messrs Hill of London, formerly the property of the General Hospital Committee, is now transferred to the corporation as the town organ. The Queen's Hospital (wholly free) was opened in 1840. It receives about 1200 in-patients and about 15,000 out-patients annually. The Jaffray Suburban Hospital, which was founded by Sir John Jaffray, Bart., was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1885. The other hospitals are the Children's (free), the Eye Hospital, the Ear and Throat Infirmary, the Orthopaedic, the Hospital for Women's Diseases, the Skin and Lock Hospital, the Homoeopathic Hospital, a dental hospital, a lying-in charity, a city hospital for cases of infectious disease, and a large infirmary belonging to the parish of Birmingham. There is also a general dispensary, the officers of which visit patients at their own homes. The Sanatorium is at Black-well, on the slopes of the Lickey Hills. There are also training institutions for nurses, and several minor charities, connected in various ways with the work of the hospitals. All these charities are mainly supported by subscriptions and donations. An important portion of their income is derived from the Sunday hospital collection and the Saturday hospital collection. The former, begun in 1859, is a collection made on one Sunday in October in the churches and chapels. The produce of one year is given to the General Hospital, of the next to the Queen's Hospital, and that of the third is divided (in proportion to the work done by them) amongst the other medical charities. This collection has yielded about £160,000 since its commencement. The Saturday hospital collection is made in the manufactories and workshops, usually in March, and is conducted by a committee on which workmen are largely represented. Its produce is divided among all the medical charities, according to the amount of their work. The total yield since its establishment in 1873 has been about ,£106,000. The Saturday Hospital Committee maintains a sanatorium of its own at Llandudno. Other charities, not medical, include a deaf and dumb school for boys and girls, and an institution for the blind, both at Edgbaston; a great series of alms-houses for aged women, directed by the trustees of Lench's Trust; similar almshouses for ladies, the Evans' Homes, at Selly, near Birmingham; and the William Dudley Trust, consisting of a capital sum of £100,000 bequeathed by Mr William Dudley, formerly a jeweller in Birmingham, the produce of which gives annuities to decayed tradesmen, loans to young men starting in business, and annual donations to some one or more of the public charities. The great charitable institution of the town is Sir Josiah Mason's charity at Erdington. This consists of almshouses for thirty women, a servants' home for girls who have been trained in the Orphanage, and an Orphanage for 300 girls, 150 boys, and 50 infants. The Orphanage building was completed in 1869 at a cost of £60,000, defrayed entirely by Sir Josiah Mason, 167In addition to which he endowed the charity with estates valued at £200,000.
Manufactures.—Birmingham is essentially a metal-working town. Other manufactures have been tried—the first cotton-spinning mill, for example, was erected here by John Wyatt and Lewis Paul in 1730—hut they have never taken root, and the place has now settled down steadily to metal working. Leland and Camden described its iron-work in the 16th century; in the 17th century travellers found Birmingham steel-work dispersed over the Continent; in the 18th century Burke spoke of the town as " the toy-shop of Europe." But since Burke's time the industries of Birmingham have developed enormously, until there is no conceivable use of metal, from the most precious kinds downwards, which is not represented in the thousands of factories and workshops scattered throughout the town. The earliest manufactures were smiths' work of all descriptions, including cutlery (a trade which has now migrated almost wholly to Sheffield). Then came the making of arms—in the first instance swords, and next, towards the close of the 17th century, gunmaking, both military and sporting, was introduced, and Birmingham became the home of the gun trade. This business grew so rapidly that between 1804 and 1815 the vast number of 1,743,382 fire-arms (guns, carbines, and pistols) were supplied to the government. Again, between the end of 1854 and the beginning of 1857, the Birmingham gunmakers produced over 1,000,000 stand of arms for the British and other governments. These were the flourishing days of the military arms trade, and two large factories, each capable of turning out 2000 stand of arms weekly, and furnished with automatic gunmaking machinery, were set up to meet the demand. Owing, however, to the development of the Government factory at Enfield, to the establishment of factories by foreign governments, and to the competition of the United States and Belgium, the military arms trade in Birmingham had practically died out. The government, however, have purchased one of these factories, and are using it for making and repairing arms, and the other (the Small Arms Co., Small Heath) is now occupied in making the new military rifle. Birmingham still keeps the sporting gun trade and the manufacture of cheap fire-arms for Africa. The extent of this trade may be inferred from the fact that nearly 500,000 gun and pistol barrels are proved yearly at the proof-house—all guns being required to pass this test before they can be legally sold. Brass and copper working is another trade of great extent, giving employment to 10,000 or 12,000 persons. The trade is divided into several branches—the chief of them being cabinet brass-founding, including all kinds of house-fittings, chandelier making, bedstead making, ecclesiastical brass-work, wire-drawing, tubemaking, ships' sheathing, plumbers' and naval brass-founding, ornamental work in cast, wrought, and pierced brass-founding, known by its French name of cuivre poll. Iron-working of various descriptions also gives employment to a large number of persons in the production of grates, gas and other stoves, engines of various kinds, bedsteads, which are made by the million and constitute a great export trade, tin goods, enamelled iron goods (known as hollow ware), &c. A very large cycle-making trade has been developed within the last few years. Cut nails are made by machinery in enormous quantities; machine-made screws for carpenters' use are largely produced—Birmingham having a practical monopoly of this trade; pins are also made by automatic machinery; and steel pens (first produced by Gillott & Mason in 1830) are now made at the extraordinary rate of about 20,000,000 weekly, and as low in price as l 1/2d. per gross. Jewellery is one of the staple trades of the town, the productions vary from the highest class of art-work in gold and gems down to the very cheapest stamped gilt jewellery. The trade employs about 10,000 persons. Closely connected with this branch is the electro-plated trade, due to the patents of Messrs Elkington, taken out from 1838 to 1842, and now constituting one of the largest branches of industry in the production of works of fine and ornamental art and of domestic use. Button-making of all kinds—cloth, silk, wood, metal, and pearl—is still an important trade, though German competition has interfered seriously with it. Papier-mache making, in trays, furniture, work-boxes, panels for decoration, &c., is extensively practised in Birmingham, and 168 the town is also noted for the excellence of its manufacture of the best kinds of table glass (the common pressed kinds are not made here), and for its ecclesiastical stained-glass work. Some of the other trades which may be reckoned amongst leading branches of industry are coming, die-sinking, wire and other rope making, nickel and copper refining, whip-making, saddlery and harness-making, rule-making, weighing machine and scale making, edge tools (excluding ordinary table cutlery), sewing-machine making. Indeed it is impossible to mention any form of metal-working, or any combination of metal with other materials, that is not practised in Birmingham.
Railways, Canals, &c.—Birmingham is the centre of a great railway and canal system—the London and North-Western, the Midland, and the Great Western connecting the town with all parts of the country. The two first-named unite in the Central Station in New Street—a vast building originally covered with a single-span roof. It was enlarged in 1883-84 at a cost of more than £250,000, now covers an area of 11 acres, and is believed to be the largest passenger station in the United Kingdom, or perhaps in any other country. It is approached by long tunnels, north and south, through which more than 600 trains pass in the course of the day of twenty-four hours. The Great Western Railway has its own station in Snow Hill, and all three companies have separate stations for goods traffic. The canal system, begun so far back as 1767, was greatly extended by Telford and others down to 1820, and now gives facilities for the carriage of heavy goods, coal, &c., to and from all the principal districts of the kingdom. (See articles under the names of the respective canals.) The tramway lines, extending throughout the city, are made by the corporation, and leased to private companies for terms of twenty-one years. One of them is worked on the cable system; on another electricity is used as the motive power; the rest are mainly worked by steam.
Public Buildings.—In addition to Mason College, the Midland Institute, and the Free Libraries, already mentioned, the chief public buildings are:—The Town-hall, built in 1834, classic design, of the Corinthian order. The material is gray Anglesey marble, left unpolished. The chief exterior feature is a range of columns going round the building, resting on an arcaded plinth, and supporting a boldly-designed pediment. The extreme (exterior) length is 16 6 feet; breadth, 104; height, 83. The principal room (capable of seating 3000 persons) is 140 feet long and 65 feet in breadth and height; architects, Messrs Hansom & Welsh (Mr Hansom was the inventor of the " Hansom" cab). The Council House (near the Town-hall) provides accommodation for the municipal offices; the council chamber is a very noble room, and there are extensive suites of reception rooms for use in municipal entertainments. The principal front (to Colmore Row) is 296 feet long; the height to the central pediment, 90 feet; and the total height to the top of the dome, 162 feet. The other fronts are (Congreve Street) 122 feet and (Eden Place) 153 feet. The architect was Mr Yeoville Thomason, Birmingham. the building is now completed by the erection, on the Edmund Street front, of offices for the corporation gas department, with a lofty clock-tower at the Congreve Street angle. Above these offices provision is made for a free art gallery, already mentioned, 300 feet in length and upwards of 60 feet wide. The General Post Office, built in 1890, is a very extensive building. It stands on an " island," with streets all round; the New Street front is of Horsley Castle stone, with a bold arcade on the ground storey. The Market Hall, High Street, opened in 1835, cost nearly £70,000 ; dimensions—length, 365 feet; breadth, 108 feet; height, 60 feet. It contains 600 stalls for vendors of fruit, flowers, vegetables, meat, fish, &c. The Exchange has a frontage of 63 feet to New Street, and of 180 feet to Stephenson Place; the ground floor is let in shops, and the upper floors for offices. The great room used for the Exchange is 80 feet long by 70 wide and 23 high. The building also contains a large assembly-room, used for concerts, &c., a restaurant, and the offices and meeting-room of the Chamber of Commerce. The design is Gothic, the principal fabric being a central tower 100 feet high. The Exchange was opened in January, 1865; architect, Mr E. Holmes. The Great Western Arcade, constructed in 1875 (architect, Mr W. H. Ward), is 400 feet long and 40 feet high, rising in the central dome to 75 feat. It contains forty-two shops on the ground floor and the same number in the galleries. Another arcade, of almost equal extent (called the North-Western) continues the Great Western into Corporation Street, the two forming a covered range unequalled by any other buildings of the kind. The Law Courts (police, sessions, and assizes) are now concentrated in the superb Victoria Courts, Corporation Street, the foundation stone of which was laid by the Queen in 1887, the buildings being opened in 1891 by the Prince and Princess of Wales. The cost was over £100,000 (architects, Messrs Webb & Bell). The Gaol, erected by the town council, but now transferred to the government, is at Winson Green; it is capable of receiving 500 prisoners on the separate system. The Lunatic Asylum is also at Winson Green; another asylum for chronic cases has been erected at Rubery on the Lickey Hills. The workhouse, at Birmingham Heath, is capable of containing nearly 2000 inmates; separate schools, arranged as cottage homes (about thirty children in each), are provided at Marston Green for the pauper children.
Parks, &c.—Means of open-air recreation are afforded by numerous parks and gardens belonging to the corporation. These are—Aston Park, 49 acres, in the centre of which stands Aston Hall, built by Sir Thomas Holte in the reign of James I. The park and hall were acquired by the corporation in 1858, and were opened by the Queen on the 15th of June in that year. Nine other parks and gardens, chiefly donations, are placed in various parts of the town, with an aggregate area of 221 acres; and the corporation is also the owner of a large tract of recreation ground on the Lickey Hills in Worcestershire, about 9 miles distant. Sutton Chase (about 2000 acres) belonging to the town of Sutton Coldfield, about 8 miles distant, is largely used by the Birmingham people, there being cheap and speedy railway communication with it. The Borough Cemetery at Witton, 105 acres, is also open to visitors. Numerous plots of ground, at street corners and other open spaces, are arranged as public gardens, and trees are planted along many of the streets and roads, seats and drinking fountains being placed at intervals. The corporation has four sets of baths, each having large swimming-baths. At Edgbaston there is a subscription Botanic Garden of 16 acres. In the city there are four theatres, the Royal, the Prince of Wales, the Grand, and the Queen's. There are also three large music-halls and several smaller ones. Musical societies are numerous, some of them having 200 to 300 members, all trained vocalists or instrumental performers, from whom the band and chorus of the triennial festivals are largely derived. Cheap concerts of a high order are given each Saturday in the Town-hall.
The daily newspapers are, The Daily Post (Liberal-Unionist) and The Daily Gazette (Conservative), both of which are morning papers; and there are also two evening papers. There are two weekly papers, Weekly Post (Saturday), Liberal, and Herald (Thursday), neutral. Three ' satirical' papers are also published weekly. There are two monthly magazines, one in connection with Mason College, and one with the Institute; and one quarterly, issued by the Central Literary Association. There are six principal clubs, two Liberal, two Conservative, and two non-political; besides numerous minor clubs, both social and political. There are many masonic lodges in the town. The public statues are numerous; they commemorate Nelson (Westmacott), Peel (Hollins), Priestley (Williamson), Thomas Attwood (Thomas), James Watt (Munro), George Dawson (Woolner, and a second of the same subject by Williamson), Joseph Sturge (Thomas), Sir Rowland Hill (Hollins), the late Prince Consort (Foley), and her Majesty the Queen (Woolner). The town also possesses Foley's original models of the statues of Goldsmith and Burke, cast by Messrs Elkington for erection at Dublin. At the rear of the Town-hall there is a handsome memorial fountain, with portrait medallion, erected to commemorate the municipal services of Mr Joseph Chamberlain; and in the hall is a fine bust of Mendelssohn by Hollins, placed there in commemoration of the production of the ' Elijah' in 1846. The government offices and buildings in Birmingham are the County Court, the Probate Registry for Warwickshire, the Inland Revenue Office, the small-arms proof-house of the war department, the assay office for gold and silver plate, the post office, the gaol, and barracks for cavalry. There is also a volunteer rifle corps (the 1st Warwickshire), 1800 strong, which has its special armoury and drill-hall. Cattle and dog shows are held annually, the former in Bingley Hall, which covers an area of 1 1/2 acre, and the latter in Curzon Hall, the main exhibition room of which is 103 feet by 91 feet.
