Part 47
_Mason's Scientific College_.--The foundation of this College, situated in Edmund Street, opposite the Free Library, was laid on the 23rd February, 1875, by Sir Josiah Mason, the founder, who in that manner celebrated his 80th birthday; and it was opened October 1, 1880. The College, which is estimated to have cost £100,000, was built entirely by the founder who also endowed it with an income of about £3,700 per annum, with the intention of providing instruction in mathematics, abstract and applied; physics, mathematical and experimental; chemistry, theoretical, practical, and applied; the natural sciences, geology, metallurgy and mineralogy; botany, zoology and physiology; English, French and German, to which have since been added Greek, Latin, English literature, civil and mechanical engineering; the chemistry, geology, theory and practice of coal mining, &c. The entire management is in the hands of eleven trustees, five of whom are appointed by the Town Council, and there is no restriction on their powers, save that they must be laymen and Protestants. The students may be male or female of any creed, or of any birthplace, though preference is given to candidates from Mason's Orphanage, and to persons born in Birmingham or Kdderminster, other things being equal. The site contains a little over an acre of land, extending through from Edmund Street, with a frontage of 149 feet, to Great Charles Street, with a frontage of 127 feet. About one half of the area is covered by the present buildings, which were erected from the designs of Mr. J.A. Cossins, who chose the 13th century style, with elaborations of a French character, its stone balconies, lofty gables, oriel and dormer windows, picturesque turrets, and numberless architectural enrichments, forming a contour quite unique in the Birmingham district, though much of its beauty is lost through the narrowness of the thoroughfare. The College is built in two blocks communicating by corridors, and contains several lecture and other large rooms, laboratories, class-rooms, &c., so arranged that the attendants on one department in no way interfere with others, there being about 100 apartments altogether, in addition to library, reading-rooms, private rooms, &c. The report for the year ending Founder's Day, February 23, 1884, showed the number of students in the day classes during the session to have been 366--viz., 229 male and 137 female students; while in the evening classes there were 118 male and 54 female students, 20 students attending some day as well as evening classes. The number of individual students registered during the session 1882-3, as attending day or evening classes, was 518, as against 462 in 1881-82, and 181 in 1880-81. The accounts showed an expenditure for the year of £8,095 12s. 2d., of which £4,258 7s. 9d. was in respect of the teaching staff. The expenditure exceeded the income by £764 0s. 8d., principally on account of additional buildings, repairs, &c. The trustees have lately made provision for nine scholarships, including two entrance scholarships of £30 each; one of £30, for students of one year's standing; two of £30 each, for two years' students; two of £20 each for honour students in the examinations of the University of London; and two technical scholarships of £30 each, one in the chemical and the other in the engineering department. The two last are known as the Tangye, Scholarships, having been given by Messrs. R. and G. Tangye, and funds are being raised for several others.
_Queen's College_.--Originally established in 1828 as the School of Medicine; being patronised afterwards by William IV., it being known as The Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, under which name it existed until incorporated by Royal Charter in 1843, when it was rechristened as The Queen's College. The first building erected for the use of the Royal School was located in Snow Hill, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the present handsome Gothic edifice in Paradise Street being performed August 18, 1843, the chapel being consecrated in the following year. At first there was but a medical department, but, at the incorporation, a theological department was added, and for many years, principally through the exertions of Dr. Warneford and Mr. W. Sands Cox, it was one of the most thriving and popular Colleges in the kingdom, the courses of study qualifying for degrees at the University of London, and for diplomas of the Society of Apothecaries, and the Royal College of Surgeons; while theological students, with the College certificate, could go up for their B.A. degree, with only a twelve months' residence at the University. A department in connection with the Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce was opened in May, 1853, and a High School of Trade and Commerce, for giving an education specially adapted for youths intended for mercantile pursuits, was commenced in the autumn of 1877. An attempt to extend the medical education to female students was made at one time, but the ladies were refused permission to attend the College June 27, 1873; they are still debarred from studying surgery here, and none have as yet entered their names on the list of theological students. In the other departments greater facilities have been allowed the fair sex, a Central High School for girls being opened at the College September 17, 1879, accommodation being provided for eighty pupils. The Museum of Natural History formed at the College soon after its opening, long one of the town attractions for visitors, was presented to the Corporation, and formed the nucleus of the heterogenous collection at Aston Hall. The medical students have the advantage of an extensive Anatomical Museum, and there is, besides, a library of about 6,000 volumes of the best works and books of reference that could be obtained.
_Oscott College_.--The old Roman Catholic College of St. Mary's, at Oscott, was first used as such in 1808. The present building was commenced in 1835, and opened May 31, 1838, and is considered one of the chief English seminaries for Catholic students in theology. The chapel is 112 ft. long by 33 ft. wide, and is richly decorated, having side chapels and several handsome memorial windows. The College library is very extensive, and includes many very rare, valuable, and ancient works, some choice MSS., and a number of "old masters," the latter having been contributed by the late Earl of Shrewsbury.
_Saltley Training College_, which covers nearly seven acres of land, was instituted in 1847, and was opened at Easter, 1852, for the education of future schoolmasters in connection with the Established Church. The building cost nearly £18,000 and will accommodate 100 students who undergo a two years' training, the College being under the inspection of the Committee of Council on Education. Government grants amount to about two-thirds of the income, the balance being raised by public subscription and from fees. In addition to over fifty scholarships tenable by students who pass their examination, there are four exhibitions arising from a sum of £2,000 given in October, 1874, by the late Mr. Arthur Ryland (for a donor who desired to be anonymous) to the governing body of this College "to found a trust for promoting the teaching of teachers the laws of health, and inducing teachers to make that subject one of the things statedly taught in their own schools," and a further £1,000 for four exhibitions to students.
_Severn Street First Day Adult School_.--The name tells pretty well that this school was commenced by some members of the Society of Friends, though there is really nothing sectarian about it. Established in 1815, in a simple way and with but few classes, there is hardly an institution in the town that can be compared to it in the matter of practical usefulness, and certainly none at which there has been exhibited such an amount of unselfish devotedness on the part of teachers and superintendents. The report to the end of 1883 stated that during the year the progress of the school had been of an encouraging character. The following statistics were given of the total attendance at all the schools connected with the movement:--Number of teachers, 57 males, 25 females--total, 82, average attendance, 51 males, 23 females--total 74. Elementary teachers, 173 males, 21 females--total, 194; average attendance, 152 males, 19 females--total, 171. Number of scholars, 3,370 males, 653 females--total, 4,023; average attendance, 2,510 males, 510 females--total 3,080. The total number admitted since the men's school commenced in 1845, and the women's in 1848, had been 40,350. In connection with the school there are a number of organisations of great utility, such as sick societies, building societies, savings' funds, libraries, excursions clubs, &c. In the savings' fund the balance in hand reached £14,000, while over £18,000 had been paid into the building societies. There are a dozen other "adult schools" in the town which have sprung from Severn Street.
_Spring Hill College_.--For the education and training of Independent ministers, was first opened in 1838, in the mansion of Mr. George Storer Mansfield, at Spring Hill, that gentleman giving certain landed property towards its future support. The present edifice, near Moseley, to which the old name was given, was opened in June, 1857, the cost of the building, &c., nearly £18,000, being raised by voluntary contributions. It has room for 36 students.
_Sunday Schools_.--Sunday classes for the teaching of the Catechism, &c., date from a very early period of Church history, but Sunday Schools as they are now known seem to have been locally organised about a hundred years ago, the Sunday after Michaelmas Day in 1784 being marked as a red-letter-day on account of there being twenty-four schools then opened, though the course of instruction went no further than teaching the children to read. In 1789 some young men formed the "Sunday Society" as an addition thereto, the object being to teach writing and arithmetic to boys and youths of the artisan class. In 1796 the society was extended, other classes being formed, lectures delivered, &c., and it was then called the "Brotherly Society." Mr. James Luckcock and Mr. Thos. Carpenter were the leaders, and this is claimed to have been the origin of Mechanics' Institutes. The Unitarians date their Sunday Schools from 1787: the Baptists and Methodists from 1795. Deritend Sunday School was opened by Mr. Palmer in 1808, with but six scholars; in a month they were so numerous that part had to be taught in the street. The first prizes given to the children were new Boulton pennies. On Emancipation Day (August 1, 1838) there was a procession of over 3,000 scholars from the Baptist Sunday Schools. In 1812 the Birmingham Sunday School Union was organised. The medallists of this town sent out about 800,000 commemoration medals in 1880, when the Sunday School Centenary was kept. Nearly 2,000 teachers attend the Church schools and about 2,500 attend Dissenting and other schools, the number of children on the books of Sunday Schools in Birmingham being estimated at--
14 years and Under 14 over. years. Total. Church of England schools 5,500 16,500 22,000 Sunday School Union 7,312 13,660 20,972 Wesleyan and others 2,745 6,627 9,372 Roman Catholic 1,200 1,950 3,150 Unitarian 692 1,359 1,961 Other schools 550 750 1,250 ------- ------- ------- 17,859 40,846 58,705
_Wesleyan College_.--The five memorial stones of a College for training Wesleyan ministers, at the corner of Priory and College Roads, Handsworth, were laid June 8, 1880. The site includes 17-1/2 acres, and cost over £7,000, the total cost of the College when completed and furnished being estimated at £40,000. About fifty students are accommodated at present, but there is room for thirty more.
~Scraps of Local History.~--A foreign visitor here in the reign of James II., wrote that our tradesmen were in the habit of spending their evenings in public-houses, and were getting into lazy habits, so that their shops were often not opened before 7 a.m.
Another intelligent foreigner (_temp_ Charles II.) has left it on record that not only was smoking common among women here, but that the lads took a pipe and tobacco with them to school, instead of breakfast, the schoolmaster teaching them at the proper hour how to hold their pipes and puff genteelly.
Hutton believed that the scythe-blades attached to the wheels of Queen Boadicea's war chariots (A.D. 61), as well as the Britons' swords, were made in this neighbourhood.
When escaping from Boscobel, in the guise of Miss Lane's servant, Charles II. had to appeal to a blacksmith at Erdington to re-shoe his horse. The knight of the hammer was a republican, and his majesty chimed in with the man's views so readily, that the latter complimented his customer on "speaking like an honest man." Miss Lane afterwards married Sir Clement Fisher, of Packington, and her portrait may be still seen at the Hall.
During the battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington saw a little fellow in plain clothes riding about on a cob, and, beckoning him up, told him he was in danger. The litlle man, however, said he had come to see a fight, and meant to stop it out. Shortly after, the Duke wanting a messenger, employed the rider of the cob to take a message across the field, directing a certain regiment to charge the enemy. This was done, and the Duke took his messenger's card and saw no more of him at that time; but afterwards, finding that the little man was the traveller to a Birmingham button maker, he appointed him to a situation in the Mint, at £800 a year.
In 1766, it was necessary to have 25 constables ready to protect the farmers coming to market with their corn, the times were so hard with the poor. In the following year large quantities of rice were purchased by subscription, and one gentleman, it is said, himself gave away half-a-ton per day for ten days.
In 1853, a premium of £30 was offered for the best design of an illuminated clock, to be erected on the open space in front of Christ Church.
A Queen Anne's farthing of rare type was turned up in the Bull Ring, in July, 1879.
The body of William Woodward was found (March 21, 1878) in the branches of a tree in Little Green Lane, he having climbed up there previous to death.
The giving of free breakfasts on a Sunday morning to the poor children of the streets, was commenced July 4, 1875, at Park Street Ragged Schools. A system of supplying school-children with penny dinners is the latest philanthropic movement.
The hottest day recorded in our local history was June 23, 1868.
The Orsini bombs used in Paris, January 15, 1858, were made in this town.
A hundred years back, meetings of the inhabitants were called by the tolling of one of St. Martin's bells.
The declaration of war, or cessation thereof, used to be proclaimed in the market by the High Bailiff.
The 7th Earl of Stirling officiated in this town as a Nonconformist minister, simply styling himself the Rev. John Alexander; he died Dec. 29, 1765, and was buried in the Old Meeting grave-yards. His sister, who became Countess in her own right, was married to a local manufacturer, William Humphrys.
~Sessions.~--The first of the Borough Quarter Sessions was held July 5, 1839, M.D. Bill, Esq., Recorder. On the 25th of November following the magistrates began to sit daily at Petty Sessions.
~Secular Club and Institute.~--The members having bought the remainder of lease (32 years) of No. 18, Crescent, for £340, have fitted it up for the purposes of their club and on June 1, 1877, the foundation-stone was laid of a lecture hall at the rear, 70ft. long by 19ft. wide. St. George's Hall, Upper Dean Street, was their former meeting place.
~Sewerage and Sanitary Works.~--The disposal of the sewage of a large town away from the sea or tidal rivers has at all times been a source of difficulty, and Birmingham forms no exception to the rule. When it was in reality but the little "hardware village" it has so often been called, the Rea was sufficient to carry off the surface waters taken to its channel by the many little rills and brooks of the neighbourhood, but as the town increased, and house drainage defiled that limped stream, it became necessary to construct culverts, so as to take the most offensive portion of the sewage to a distance from inhabited houses. A great improvement was looked for after the introduction of the Waterworks, allowing the use of water-flushed closets in the better class of houses, instead of the old style of accommodation usually provided at the end of the garden, but even this system became a nuisance, especially to residents near the river Tame, the receptacle of all liquid filth from our streets, closets, middens, and manufactories, and legal as well as sanitary reasons forced upon the Corporation the adoption of other plans. Our present sanitary system comprises the exclusion, as far as possible, of closet refuse and animal and vegetable matters from the sewers, and secondly, the purification by filtration, &c., of the outpourings of the sewers, after the partial separation therefrom of the more solid constituents. In 1871, when the real sanitary work of the borough may be said to have practically commenced, out of about 73,200 houses only 3,884 were provided with water-closets, the remainder being served by middens, drained and undrained, the greater part uncovered and polluting the atmosphere, while the soakage fouled the earth and contaminated the wells. From these places in 1873 there were removed 160,142 loads of ashes, &c., the number of men employed being 146, and the cost, allowing for sales, over £20,000, or £55 10s. per 1,000 of the Population. In the following year the Council approved of "the Rochdale system," closet-pans and ash-tubs taking the place of the old style with middens, the contents being removed weekly instead of being left to accumulate for months. At first the new system was far from perfect, and met with much opposition, notwithstanding the certainty of its being a more healthy plan than the old one; but improvements have been made, and it is now generally confessed that the pans and tubs are the right things in the right places. The number of pans in use in 1874 was 3,845; in 1875, 7,674; in 1876, 15,992; in 1877, 22,668; in 1883, 37,287, equal to a collection of 1,900,000 pans per year. The sanitary force now numbers 622 men, who, in addition to the above, removed in 1883, from tubs, middens, &c., 128,966 loads of ashes. The chief depot for this accumulation of refuse and rubbish is at the Corporation's wharf, in Montague Street, where over £52,000 has been laid out in buildings and machinery for its due disposal. At first, nearly two thirds of the mass had to be taken by canal into the country, where it was "tipped," the expense being so heavy that it entailed a loss of about 6s. 6d. per ton on the whole after allowing for that part which could be sold as manure. Now, however, the case is different. Extensive machinery has been introduced, and the contents of the pans are dried to a powder, which finds a good market; the ashes, &c., are used in the furnaces for the drying process, and the residue therefrom, or clinkers, forms a valuable substance for roadmaking or building purposes, &c., in the shape of concrete, paving flags, mantelpieces, tabletops, and even sepulchral monuments being constructed with it, so that in a short time the receipts will, it is expected, more than balance the expenditure in this department of local sanitary work. The pollution of the river Tame in past years led to continuous litigation until the year 1877, when, as the result of an exhaustive inquiry, it was determined to form a United Drainage District Board, with powers to construct and maintain intercepting sewers sufficient for carrying the drainage of the whole district, comprising Aston, Aston Manor, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, Handsworth, Harborne, King's Norton, Northfield, Perry Barr, Saltley, and Smethwick. The first meeting of this Board was held December 6, 1877, when it took over the sewage farm at Saltley belonging to the Corporation (about 262 acres), the plant and stock, &c. Up to the present time (end of 1884), nearly half a million sterling has been spent by the Board, whose "farm" of 1,500 acres, extends from Saltley to Tyburn, two and a half miles, and who have now to deal with the sewage brought there from 188 miles of main sewers, extending as far as King's Norton and Selly Oak, Harborne, Smethwick, &c. The whole of the black and turgid stream of liquid filth brought down by the sewers is utilised upon the farm, some 200 cubic yards of mud being lifted daily from the settling tanks, to be dug in, while the overflow is taken by carriers to the most distant parts, and allowed to filtrate through the soil, until the resulting effluent is as clear as crystal, while immense crops are gathered yearly from the land so treated. An analysis made a little time back of a natural deposit from the town sewerage, formed near the embouchure of several sewers emptying into one of the great arterial mains, showed the absence of all ammoniacal salts and a scarcity of phosphates, particularly alkaline phosphates, and at the same time the presence of a large quantity of protoxide of iron, also of zinc, copper, and other metals in the state of oxides and sulphurets. These metallic salts absorb the sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia generated by decaying vegetable, and animal matter, and doubtless so contributes to promote the health of the town, but nevertheless every precaution should be taken against the possible admission to the house of "sewer gas," which at all times is injurious to health. The analysed deposit contained when dried only 1.4 per cent. of nitrogen (not as ammonia) and 3.5 of earthy phosphates; but about 11.7 of protoxide of iron, besides zinc, copper, and other metals to the extent of 2 or 3 per cent. The latter-named proportions may in some measure account for "what becomes of the pins?" as in the deposit named (which was nearly solid) those useful little articles were exceedingly conspicuous.
~Shambles.~--The name given to the meat market in Jamaica Row. In the map of 1731, "The Shambles" are marked as a long block of buildings, a little higher than opposite the end of Bell Street, and in 1765 they still remained there, forming a kind of "middle row," among the incongruous collection of tenements, stallages, &c., that encumbered our Bull Ring, down to the gates of the church itself.
~Ship Inn.~--The old Ship Inn, at Camp Hill, where Prince Rupert had his headquarters in 1643, was pulled down in 1867; the present Ship Hotel being opened February 6, 1868. It was sold in July, 1882, for £12,050.
~Shirley.~--Situated in the parish of Solihull, though but a village with some half hundred cottages, has of late become a favorite spot for those fond of a Sunday drive.
~Shoeblacks.~--An attempt was made in 1875 to form a shoeblack brigade, but only ten gentlemen attended the meeting (called June 21), and the business was left to the irregulars.
~Smallbrook Street.~--A small stream, formerly ran its course along part of this site, proceeding by way of Smithfield Passage to the moat, and thence through the mill-pool, back of Bradford Street, to the Rea. The ancient family of the Smallbrokes held considerable lands in the neighbourhood, but whether the street's name came from the small brook or the Smallbrokes is a matter of doubt.
~Smallpox.~--From the opening of the Smallpox Hospital in May, 1882, to July 10, 1884, the duration of the late epidemic, there were 1,591 cases admitted. Among the 1,384 patients who had been vaccinated there occurred 59 deaths; among the 207 unvaccinated, 90 deaths. No re-vaccinated person died.