Part 12
_Poultry_ forms part of the Bingley Hall Exhibition, and numerically the largest portion thereof, as per the table of entries, which is well worth preserving also for showing when new classes of birds have been first penned:
1876 1'77 1'78 1'79 1'80 1'81 1'82 Brahma Pootras 407 258 366 376 362 439 429 Dorkings ...... 167 178 220 209 194 238 277 Cochin ........ 331 415 412 433 421 431 412 Langshans ..... -- -- -- 49 66 49 47 Malay ......... 63 38 49 47 48 36 43 Creve Coeur ... 93 117 94 38 28 33 24 Houdans ....... -- -- -- 56 65 54 71 La Fleche ..... -- -- -- -- -- -- 12 Spanish ....... 48 33 45 27 32 31 37 Andalusians ... -- -- -- 16 23 29 43 Leghorns ...... -- -- -- 25 12 20 17 Plymouth Rocks -- -- -- -- -- 17 20 Minorcas ...... -- -- 7 8 6 9 3 Polish ........ 78 76 98 91 83 98 63 Sultans ....... -- -- -- 6 7 8 6 Silkies ....... -- -- -- -- -- 11 7 Game .......... 351 341 314 241 267 287 353 Aseels ........ -- -- -- 27 28 20 11 Hamburghs ..... 148 175 145 159 129 141 153 Other Breeds .. 35 47 126 20 20 21 7 Selling Classes -- -- -- 66 90 93 102 Bantams ....... 95 63 82 70 105 96 105 Ducks ......... 100 102 115 137 163 144 141 Geese ......... 21 21 31 22 31 21 23 Turkeys ....... 95 96 52 82 67 81 60 Pigeons........ 670 629 715 702 815 903 838 Total ......--------------------------------- 2072 2569 2873 2899 3062 3316 3325
Fanciers give wonderfully strange prices sometimes. Cochin China fowls had but lately been introduced, and were therefore "the rage" in 1851-2. At the Poultry Show in the latter year a pair of these birds were sold for £30, and at a sale by auction afterwards two prize birds were knocked down at £40 each: it was said that the sellers crowed louder than the roosters.
_Fine Art_.--The first exhibition of pictures took place in 1814, and the second in 1827. In addition to the Spring and Autumn Exhibitions at the New Street Rooms, there is now a yearly show of pictures by the members of the "Art Circle," a society established in 1877, for promoting friendship among young local artists; their first opening was on Nov. 28, at 19, Temple Row. On Nov. 17, 1879, Mr. Thrupp commenced a yearly exhibition of China paintings, to which the lady artists contributed 243 specimens of their skill in decorating porcelain and china.
_Horses and hounds_.--The first exhibition of these took place at the Lower Grounds, Aug. 12, 1879. There had been a Horse Show at Bingley Hall for several years prior to 1876, but it had dropped out for want of support.
_Birds_.--An exhibition of canaries and other song birds, was held Aug. 18, 1874. Another was held in 1882, at the time of the Cattle Show.
_Pigeons_.--The first exhibition of pigeons in connection with the Birmingham Columbarian Society, took place in Dec., 1864. The annual Spring pigeon show at the Repository, opened March 20,1878. There have also been several at St. James' Hall, the first dating Sept. 24, 1874.
_Dogs_.--Like the Cattle Show, the original Birmingham Dog Show has extended its sphere, and is now known as the National Exhibition of Sporting and other Dogs. The show takes place in Curzon Hall, and the dates are always the same as for the agricultural show in Bingley Hall. There is yearly accommodation for 1,000 entries, and it is seldom that a less number is exhibited, the prizes being numerous, as well as valuable. At the meeting of the subscribers held July 19, 1883, it was resolved to form a new representative body, to be called the National Dog Club, having for its object the improvement of dogs, dog shows, and dog trials, and the formation of a national court of appeal on all matters in dispute. It was also resolved to publish a revised and correct stud book, to include all exhibitions where 400 dogs and upwards were shown, and to continue it annually, the Council having guaranteed £150, the estimated cost of the publication of the book. This step was taken in consequence of the action of certain members of the Kennel Club, who passed what had been called "The Boycotting Rules," calling upon its members to abstain from either exhibiting or judging at shows which were not under Kennel Club rules, and excluding winning dogs at such shows from being entered in the Kennel Club Stud Book, many of the principal exhibitors being dissatisfied with such arbitrary proceedings, evidently intended to injure the Birmingham shows. At each show there are classes for bloodhounds, deerhounds, greyhounds, otterhounds, beagles, fox terriers, pointers, English setters, black-and-tan setters, Irish setters, retrievers, Irish spaniels, water spaniels (best Irish), Clumber spaniels, Sussex spaniels, spaniels (black), ditto (other than black), dachshunds, bassett hounds, foreign sporting dogs, mastiffs, St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, sheep dogs, Dalmatians, bulldogs, bull-terriers, smooth-haired terriers, black-and-tan terriers (large), small ditto black-and-tan terriers with uncut ears, Skye-terriers, Dandie Dinmonts, Bedlington terriers, Irish terriers, Airedale or Waterside terriers, wire-haired terriers, Scotch terriers (hard haired), Yorkshire terriers, Pomeranians, pugs, Maltese, Italian greyhounds, Blenheim spaniels, King Charles spaniels, smooth-haired toy spaniels, broken-haired ditto, large and small sized foreign dogs.
1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882.
No. of Visitors. 14981 17948 19500 14399 16796 16849 15901
Receipts at doors. £664 £740 £820 £580 £728 £714 £648
Sales of Dogs. £556 £367 £485 £554 £586 £474 £465
In 1879, the exhibition of guns and sporting implements was introduced, an additional attraction which made no difference financially, or in the number of visitors.
_Sporting_.--An exhibition of requisites and appliances in connection with sports and pastimes of all kinds was opened in Bingley Hall, Aug 28, 1882. In addition to guns and ammunition, bicycles and tricycles, there were exhibited boats, carriages, billiard tables, &c.
_Dairy Utensils_.--The first of these exhibitions, June, 1880, attracted considerable attention for its novelty. It is held yearly in Bingley Hall.
_Bees_.--An exhibition of bees, beehives, and other apiary appliances took place at the Botanical Gardens, in Aug., 1879.
_Food and Drinks_.--A week's exhibition of food, wines, spirits, temperance beverages, brewing utensils, machinery, fittings, stoves and appliances, was held in Bingley Hall, December 12-20, 1881.
_Building_.--A trades exhibition of all kinds of building material, machinery, &c., was held in 1882.
_Bicycles, &c._--The Speedwell Club began their annual exhibition of bicycles, tricycles, and their accessories in February, 1882, when about 300 machines were shown. In the following year the number was nearly 400; in 1884, more than 500; in 1885, 600.
_Roots_.--Messrs. Webb, of Wordsley, occupied Curzon Hall, November 20, 1878, with an exhibition of prize roots, grown by their customers.
_Fruit, Flowers, &c._--The first flower show we have note of was on June 19, 1833. The first chrysanthemum show was in 1860. The first Birmingham rose show in 1874 (at Aston); the second, five years later, at Bingley Hall. The Harborne gooseberry-growers have shown up every year since 1815, and the cultivators of _pommes de terre_ in the same neighbourhood first laid their tables in public in Sept., 1879.
~Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862.~--Even as Birmingham may be said to have given the first idea for the "Great Exhibition" of 1851, so it had most to do with the building thereof, the great palace in Hyde Park being commenced by Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co., July 26, 1850, and it was finished in nine months at a total cost of £176,031. In its erection there were used 4,000 tons of iron, 6,000,000 cubic feet of woodwork, and 31 acres of sheet glass, requiring the work of 1,800 men to put it together. 287 local exhibitors applied for space amounting to 22,070 sup. feet, namely, 10,183 feet of flooring, 4,932 feet of table area, and 6,255 feet of wall space. The "glory" of this exhibition was the great crystal fountain in the centre, manufactured by Messrs. Osler, of Broad Street, a work of art till then never surpassed in the world's history of glass-making and glass cutting, and which now pours forth its waters in one of the lily tanks in Sydenham Palace. Many rare specimens of Birmingham manufacture besides were there, and the metropolis of the Midlands had cause to be proud of the works of her sons thus exhibited. Fewer manufacturers sent their samples to the exhibition of 1862, but there was no falling off in their beauty or design. The Birmingham Small Arms trophy was a great attraction.
~Explosions.~--That many deplorable accidents should occur during the course of manufacturing such dangerous articles as gun caps and cartridges cannot be matter of surprise, and, perhaps, on the whole, those named in the following list may be considered as not more than the average number to be expected:--Two lives were lost by explosion of fulminating powder in St. Mary's Square, Aug. 4. 1823.--Oct. 16, same year, there was a gunpowder explosion in Lionel Street.--Two were killed by fireworks at the Rocket Tavern, Little Charles Street, May 2, 1834.-- An explosion at Saltley Carriage Works, Dec. 20, 1849.--Two injured at the Proof House, Sept. 23, 1850.--Five by detonating powder in Cheapside, Feb 14, 1852.--Thirty-one were injured by gas explosion at Workhouse, Oct. 30, 1855.--Several from same cause at corner of Hope Street, March 11, 1856.--A cap explosion took place at Ludlow's, Legge Street, July 28, 1859.--Another at Phillips and Pursall's, Whittall Street, Sept. 27, 1852, when twenty-one persons lost their lives.-- Another in Graham Street June 21, 1862, with eight deaths.--Boiler burst at Spring Hill, Nov. 23, 1859, injuring seven.--An explosion in the Magazine at the Barracks, March 8, 1864, killed Quartermaster McBean.-- At Kynoch's, Witton, Nov. 17, 1870, resulting in 8 deaths and 28 injured.--At Ludlow's ammunition factory, Dec. 9, 1870, when 17 were killed and 53 injured, of whom 34 more died before Christmas.--At Witton, July 1, 1872, when Westley Richards' manager was killed.--At Hobb Lane, May 11, 1874.--Of gas, in great Lister Street, Dec. 9, 1874. --Of fulminate, in the Green Lane, May 4, 1876, a youth being killed.-- Of gas, at St. James's Hall, Snow Hill, Dec. 4, and at Avery's, Moat Row, Dec. 31, 1878.--At a match manufactory, Phillip Street, Oct. 28, 1879, when Mr. Bermingham and a workman were injured.
~Eye Hospital.~--See "_Hospitals_."
~Fairs.~--The officers of the Court Leet, whose duty it was to walk in procession and "proclaim" the fairs, went through their last performance of the kind at Michaelmas, 1851. It was proposed to abolish the fairs in 1860, but the final order was not given until June 8th, 1875. Of late years there have been fairs held on the open grounds on the Aston outskirts of the borough, but the "fun of the fair" is altogether different now to what it used to be. The original charters for the holding of fairs at Whitsuntide and Michaelmas were granted to William de Bermingham by Henry III. in 1251. These fairs were doubtless at one time of great importance, but the introduction of railways did away with seven-tenths of their utility and the remainder was more nuisance than profit. As a note of the trade done at one time we may just preserve the item that in 1782 there were 56 waggon loads of onions brought into the fair.
~Family Fortunes.~--Hutton in his "History," with that quaint prolixity which was his peculiar proclivity gives numerous instances of the rise and fall of families connected with Birmingham. In addition to the original family of De Birmingham, now utterly extinct he traced back many others then and now well-known names. For instance he tells us that a predecessor of the Colmores in Henry VIII.'s reign kept a mercer's shop at No. 1, High Street; that the founder of the Bowyer Adderley family began life in a small way in this his native town in the 14th century; that the Foxalls sprang from a Digbeth tanner some 480 years ago; and so of others. Had he lived till now he might have largely increased his roll of local millionaires with such names as Gillott, Muntz, Mason, Rylands, &c. On the other hand he relates how some of the old families, whose names were as household words among the ancient aristocracy, have come to nought; how that he had himself charitably relieved the descendants of the Norman Mountfourds, Middemores and Bracebridges, and how that the sole boast of a descendant of the Saxon Earls of Warwick was in his day the fact of his grandfather having "kept several cows and sold milk." It is but a few years back since the present writer saw the last direct descendant of the Holtes working as a compositor in one of the newspaper offices of this town, and almost any day there was to be seen in the streets a truck with the name painted on of "Charles Holte Bracebridge, Licensed Hawker!"
~Famines.~--In the year 310, it is said that 40,000 persons died in this country from famine. It is not known whether any "Brums" existed then. In 1195 wheat was so scarce that it sold for 20s. the quarter; ten years after it was only 12d. In 1438, the times were so hard that people ate bread made from fern roots. In 1565, a famine prevailed throughout the kingdom.
~Fashionable Quarter.~--Edgbaston is our "West End," of which Thomas Ragg (before he was ordained) thus wrote:--
--Glorious suburbs! long May ye remain to bless the ancient town Whose crown ye are; rewarder of the cares Of those who toil amid the din and smoke Of iron ribbed and hardy Birmingham. And may ye long be suburbs, keeping still Business at distance from your green retreats.
~Feasts, Feeds, and Tea-fights.~--Like other Englishmen, when we have a good opinion of people we ask them to dinner, and the number of public breakfasts, dinners, teas, and suppers on our record is wonderful. We give a few of the most interesting:--3,800 persons dined with our first M.P.'s., Attwood and Scholefield, at Beardsworth's Repository, Sept. 15, 1834.--A Reform banquet was the attraction in the Town Hall, Jan. 28, 1836.--Members and friends of the 'Chartist Church' kept their Christmas festival, by 'taking tea' in Town Hall, Dec.28, 1841.--1,700 Anti-Cornlawites (John Bright among them) did ditto Jan. 22, 1843.--The defeat of an obnoxious Police Bill led 900 persons to banquet together April 9, 1845.--A banquet in honour of Charles Dickens opened the year 1853--The first anniversary of the Loyal and Constitutional Association was celebrated by the dining of 848 loyal subjects, Dec. 17, 1855.-- dinner was given to 1,200 poor folks in Bingley Hall, Jan. 25, 1858, to make them remember the marriage of the Princess Royal. Those who were not poor kept the game alive at Dee's Hotel.--John Bright was dined in Town Hall, Oct. 29, 1858.--A party of New Zealand chiefs were stuffed at same place, March 16, 1864--To celebrate the opening of a Dining Hall in Cambridge Street, a public dinner was given on All Fools' Day, 1864.--On the 23rd April following, about 150 gentlemen breakfasted with the Mayor, in honour of the Shakespeare Library being presented to the town.--The purchase of Aston Park was celebrated by a banquet, Sept. 22, 1864.--Over a hundred bellringers, at Nock's Hotel, 1868, had their clappers set wagging by Blews and Sons, in honour of the first peal of bells cast by them, and now in Bishop Ryder's Church.--The Master Bakers, who have been baking dinners for the public so long, in December, 1874, commenced an annual series of dinners among themselves, at which neither baked meats, nor even baked potatoes, are allowed.--Of political and quasi-political banquets, there have been many of late years, but as the parties have, in most cases, simply been gathered for party purposes, their remembrance is not worth keeping.--To help pay for improvements at General Hospital, there was a dinner at the Great Western Hotel, June 4, 1868, and when the plate was sent round, it received £4,000. That was the best, and there the list must close.
~Females.~--The fairer portion of our local community number (census 1881) 210,050, as against 197,954 males, a preponderance of 12,096. In 1871 the ladies outnumbered us by 8,515, and it would be an interesting question how this extra ratio arises, though as one half of the super-abundant petticoats are to be found in Edgbaston it may possibly only be taken as a mark of local prosperity, and that more female servants are employed than formerly.--See "_Population" Tables_.
~Fenianism.~--It was deemed necessary in Jan., 1881, to place guards of soldiers at the Tower and Small Arms Factory, but the Fenians did not trouble us; though later on a very pretty manufactory of dynamite was discovered in Ledsam Street.--See "_Notable Offences_."
~Ferrars.~--The De Ferrars were at one time Lords of the Manor, Edmund de Ferrars dying in 1438. The ancient public-house sign of "The Three Horseshoes" was taken from their coat of arms.
~Festivals.~--Notes of the past Triennial Musical Festivals for which Birmingham is so famous, the performances, and the many great artistes who have taken part therein, will be found further on.
~Fetes~ were held in Aston Park July 27, and September 15, 1856, for the benefit of the Queen's and General Hospitals, realising therefore £2,330. The first to "Save Aston Hall" took place August 17, 1857, when a profit of £570 was made. There have been many since then, but more of the private speculation class, Sangers' so-called fête at Camp Hill, June 27, 1874, being the first of their outdoor hippodrome performances.
~Fires.~--When Prince Rupert's soldiers set fire to the town, in 1643, no less than 155 houses were burned.--Early in 1751 about £500 worth of wool was burned at Alcock's, in Edgbaston Street.--May 24, 1759, the stage waggon to Worcester was set on fire by the bursting of a bottle of aqua-fortis, and the contents of the waggon, valued at £5,000, were destroyed.--In November, 1772, Mr. Crowne's hop and cheese warehouse, top of Carr's Lane, was lessened £400 in value.--The Theatre Royal was burned August 24, 1791, and again January 6, 1820.--Jerusalem Temple, Newhall Hill, was burned March 10, 1793.--St. Peter's Church suffered January 24, 1831.--There was a great blaze at Bolton's timber yard, Broad Street, May 27, 1841.--At the Manor House, Balsall Heath, in 1848.--Among Onion's bellows, in March, 1853.--At the General Hospital, December 24, 1853.--At the Spread Eagle Concert Hall, May 5, 1855.--At a builder's in Alcester Street, October 4, 1858.--At Aston Brook Flour mill, June 1, 1862, with £10,000 damage.--At Lowden & Beeton's, High Street, January 3, 1863; the firm were prosecuted as incendiaries.--At Gameson's Tavern, Hill Street, December 25, 1863; six lives lost.--On the stage at Holder's, July 3, 1865; two ballet dancers died from fright and injuries.--At Baskerville Sawmills, September 7, 1867.--In Sutton Park, August 4, 1868.--In a menagerie in Carr's Lane, January 25, 1870. --At Dowler's Plume Works, March 16.--In Denmark Street, May 23; two children burned.--At Worcester Wharf, June 2, 1870; two men burnt.--At Warwick Castle, Dec. 3, 1871.--At Smith's hay and straw yard, Crescent, through lightning, July 25, 1872.--In Sherbourne Street, June 25, 1874, and same day in Friston Street; two men burned.--At the hatter's shop in Temple Street, Nov. 25, 1875.--At Tipper's Mystery Works, May 16, and at Holford Mill, Perry Barr, August 3, 1876.--At Icke and Co.'s, Lawley Street, May 17, 1877; £2,500 damage.--At Adam's colour warehouse, Suffolk Street, October 13, 1877; £10,000 damage.--In Bloomsbury Street, September 29, 1877; an old man burned.--In Lichfield Road, November 26, 1877; two horses, a cow, and 25 pigs roasted.--January 25, 1878, was a hot day, there being four fires in 15 hours.--At Hayne's flour mill, Icknield Port Road, Feb. 2, 1878, with £10,000 damage; first time steam fire engine was used.--At Baker Bros'., match manufactory, Freeth Street, February 11.--At Grew's and at Cund's printers, March 16, 1878; both places being set on fire by a vengeful thief; £2,000 joint damage. --At corner of Bow Street, July 29, 1878.--At Dennison's shop, opposite Museum Concert Hall, August 26, 1878, when Mrs. Dennison, her baby, her sister, and a servant girl lost their lives. The inquest terminated on September 30 (or rather at one o'clock next morning), when a verdict of "accidental death" was given in the case of the infant, who had been dropped during an attempted rescue, and with respect to the others that they had died from suffocation caused by a five designedly lighted, but by whom the jury had not sufficient evidence to say. Great fault was found with the management of the fire brigade, a conflict of authority between them and the police giving rise to very unpleasant feelings. At Cadbury's cocoa manufactory, November 23, 1878. In Legge Street, at a gun implement maker's, December 14, 1878; £600 damage.--And same day at a gun maker's, Whittall Street; £300 damage.--At Hawkes's looking-glass manufactory, Bromsgrove Street, January 8, 1879; £20,000 damage.--The Reference Library, January 11, 1879 (a most rueful day); damage incalculable and irreparable.--At Hinks and Sons' lamp works, January 30, 1879; £15,000 damage.--At the Small Arms Factory, Adderley Road, November 11, 1879; a fireman injured.--At Grimsell and Sons', Tower Street, May 5, 1880; over £5,000 damage.--Ward's cabinet manufactory, Bissell Street, April 11, 1885.
~Firearms.~--See "_Trades_."
~Fire Brigades.~--A volunteer brigade, to help at fires, was organised here in February 1836, but as the several companies, after introducing their engines, found it best to pay a regular staff to work them, the volunteers, for the time, went to the "right about." In 1863 a more pretentious attempt to constitute a public or volunteer brigade of firemen, was made, the members assembling for duty on the 21st of February, the Norwich Union engine house being the headquarters; but the novelty wore off as the uniforms got shabby, and the work was left to the old hands, until the Corporation took the matter in hand. A Volunteer Fire Brigade for Aston was formed at the close of 1878, and its rules approved by the Local Board on Jan. 7, 1879. They attended and did good service at the burning of the Reference Library on the following Saturday. August 23, 1879 the Aston boys, with three and twenty other brigades from various parts of the country, held a kind of efficiency competition at the Lower Grounds, and being something new in it attracted many. The Birmingham brigade were kept at home, possibly on account of the anniversary of the Digbeth fire. Balsall Heath and Harborne are also supplied with their own brigades, and an Association of Midland Brigades has lately been formed which held their first drill in the Priory, April 28, 1883.
~Fire Engines.~--In 1839 the Birmingham Fire Office had two engines, very handsome specimens of the article too, being profusely decorated with wooden battle axes, iron scroll-work, &c. One of these engines was painted in many colours; but the other a plain drab, the latter it was laughingly said, being kept for the Society of Friends, the former for society at large. The first time a "portable" or hand engine was used here was on the occurrence of a fire in a tobacconist's shop in Cheapside Oct. 29, 1850. The steam fire engine was brought here in Oct. 1877.--See "_Fire Engine Stations_" under "_Public Buildings_."
~Fire Grates.~--The first oven grate used in this district was introduced in a house at "the City of Nineveh" about the year 1818, and created quite a sensation.