Handbook Of Birmingham - free ebook by British Association for the Advancement of Science

HANDBOOK OF BIRMINGHAM.

PREPARED FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 1886. BIRMINGHAM: Hall and English, Printers, &amp;c., High Street. 1886. [ Entered at Stationers’ Hall. ] [ii] [iii] [iv]...

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CONTRIBUTORS.

(The figures show the pages of this work where the articles appear.)...

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INTRODUCTION.

BY G.J. JOHNSON. This Handbook, being prepared for the use of the members of the British Association, at their meeting in Birmingham, in 1886, it is deemed desirable to preface it by a very brief sketch of the progress of the town since the first meeting here of the Association in 1839, a period only three years short of half a century. The Corporation. [1] —When the Association met in Birmingham, on the 26th of August, 1839, the Borough had recently been incorporated—the first meeting of the To

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PART I. HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 1086—1800.

BY SAM: TIMMINS. Origin of Name. —Eight hundred years ago the name of Birmingham first appeared in history, and almost exactly with the present name of the town. In the famous Domesday Book (1083-1086), compiled for William the Norman, the name is spelled “Bermingeha’,” but the varieties of spelling, from the conquest, have been remarkable. Some curious collector has summed up one hundred and forty variations, but most of these may be resolved into two forms of pronunciation—either Birmingham or

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Chapter I. LOCAL GOVERNING BODIES.

BY J. THACKRAY BUNCE. The Local Government of Birmingham is administered by five sets of authorities:— 1. Justices of the Peace. 2. Town Council. 3. Drainage Board. 4. Boards of Guardians. 5. School Board. Justices of the Peace. —The first of these bodies was constituted by Royal Grant in 1838, when the town was incorporated as a municipal borough. A Court of Quarter Sessions was then next established, for the trial of prisoners, and a Recorder was appointed. The Court of Petty Sessions for the

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Chapter II. EDUCATION.

BY OSMUND AIRY, M.A., H.M. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS FOR BIRMINGHAM. It can fairly be said that there is probably no town in England which possesses a more complete educational system than Birmingham. This system has been no effect of a pre-conceived design, but has grown up, piece by piece, in the stress of the life of a great manufacturing centre, where people of leisure may be counted on the fingers of one hand. All the more, probably, it has been constantly and definitely adapting itself to the n

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Chapter III. LIBRARIES: PAST AND PRESENT.

BY J. D. MULLINS. The first Public Library, 1733 , was one which still exists, and was founded by the Rev. W. Higgs, first Rector of St. Philip’s, who left his Library and a sum of money for a Parochial Library “free to all Clergymen of the Church of England in the town and neighbourhood of Birmingham, and of all other students who shall be recommended either by the Rector of St. Philip’s, or the Rector of St. Martin’s, in Birmingham, or the Rector of Sheldon, near Birmingham,” and which was “de

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Chapter IV. LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC AND ARTISTIC SOCIETIES.

BY SAM: TIMMINS. The Chapter II., on “Education,” has included the more active and valuable societies which have developed into important organizations for the full and regular teaching of Literature, Science, and Art, but it has been thought desirable to give a brief summary of the local societies which for nearly a century have assisted in creating the demand which the larger institutions have been established to supply. Birmingham has not been so remarkable as some other towns for its societi

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Chapter V. CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

BY C.E. MATHEWS. The Birmingham General Hospital. —At the commencement of the second half of the last century, Birmingham was a small manufacturing town with a population but little in excess of 30,000 souls. At that time no medical or surgical relief could be obtained by its suffering poor except at the Infirmary attached to the Workhouse. But in November, 1765, Dr. Ash, an eminent member of the local medical profession, called a meeting of the principal inhabitants “to consider the advisabilit

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Chapter VI. ECCLESIASTICAL.

BY G. J. JOHNSON. The municipal borough of Birmingham comprises the whole of the parishes of Birmingham and Edgbaston, and part of the adjoining parish of Aston. All these parishes were formerly in the Archdeaconry of Coventry, as part of the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and are now in the same Archdeaconry as part of the diocese of Worcester. By an Order in Council, dated 22nd December, 1836, made in pursuance of the 6 &amp; 7 Will. IV., c. 77, the Archdeaconry of Coventry was taken a

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Chapter VII. ART.

Architecture. —[By J. A. Cossins. ]—Although anciently possessing a Church, a Priory and a Castle, Birmingham now retains hardly a vestige of the work of the builders of the middle ages. When the old Parish Church of St. Martin was pulled down in 1872 to make way for its very fine successor, the indications of its history, hidden for nearly two centuries by a casing of brickwork, were revealed: traces were found of the work of the 12th and 13th centuries, and considerable remains of what must ha

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Chapter VIII. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES (Birmingham and District.)

BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.Sc. In the following pages an attempt is made to give to the reader some idea of the extent and variety of the manufactures of our town and neighbourhood. The method followed is to state at the outset the classes of material which come into the town, and to follow these in the mind’s eye through smelting furnace, forge, or workshop, until they come out in a wonderful variety of articles, one or more of which will ultimately be found in the possession of every nation of the e

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PHYSIOGRAPHY.

The town of Birmingham lies almost in the exact geographical centre of England and Wales, midway between sea and sea. Its distance in a straight line from the three nearest sea-ports on the opposite sides of the island, Liverpool, Boston, and Bristol, is about 85 miles in each case, while its distance from London and Southampton is only a few miles more. The main watershed of Southern Britain, which commences to the northward in the Pennine Range and divides the rivers which flow eastward into t

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GEOLOGY. (BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT).

BY PROF. C. LAPWORTH, LL.D., F.G.S. The Birmingham district, or that area of which Birmingham constitutes the natural capital and commercial centre, extends from Stafford on the north to Tewkesbury on the south, and from Wellington on the west to Leicester on the east, forming an area about 60 miles in length by 50 in breadth. In no single district in Britain is the relation of the physiography of the country seen to be more strikingly dependent upon its geological structure than within the limi

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PETROGRAPHY. Notes on the Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks of the Birmingham District.

BY S. ALLPORT, F.G.S. The space available for some account of the crystalline rocks being strictly limited, it would be useless to attempt anything more than a brief general description of the most important and interesting varieties. Fortunately there is abundance of material, for Birmingham, as a central point, affords unusual facilities for the study of this branch of petrology. Although the rocks here described appear to be scattered over a rather wide area, it will be found that every local

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Mining Statistics of the South Staffordshire Coalfield.

By PROFESSOR W. E. BENTON, A.R.S.M., F.G.S. Minerals Worked. —The principal minerals worked within the limits of the South Staffordshire Coalfield are coal, ironstone, and fireclay from the Carboniferous formations, and limestone from the underlying Silurian rocks. The Coal is bituminous, non-caking, and much of it contains a high percentage of water and oxygen. Some of the seams produce excellent house-coal, others manufacturing and steam coal. The Ironstone is an argillaceous carbonate of iron

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Introduction.

It is believed that this is the first attempt to give a connected account of the Zoology of the neighbourhood of Birmingham, although the Botany of the District has long attracted diligent and enthusiastic workers. The subject, however, has not been neglected, and past and present members of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, and other naturalists, have from time to time made public, in the Midland Naturalist and elsewhere, their observations on the more important classes

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Chapter I. Mammals and Reptiles.

BY E. DE HAMEL. The district around Birmingham is admirably suited for our native animals, abounding as it does with fertile and well-watered valleys, wild moorlands, and extensive woods; on the other hand, its large population renders the prolonged existence of individual and striking rarities well-nigh impossible. The value of the matter contained in this chapter has been much enhanced by the personal observations of many of the best Midland naturalists. Adopting the late Professor Bell’s clas

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Chapter II. Birds.

BY R. W. CHASE. The district surrounding Birmingham does not present any striking or special feature to the ornithologist; but owing to its varied character, comprising as it does hill and dale, with considerable stretches of moorland and a plentiful supply of water, in rivers, reservoirs and pools, it forms haunts particularly attractive to birds. The number of local species recorded is large, consisting of about sixty residents, forty-two migrants, and eighty occasional and rare visitors; maki

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Chapter III. Fishes and Mollusca.

BY G. SHERRIFF TYE. The waters within easy reach of Birmingham afford to those interested in the Natural History of Fishes excellent opportunities for study, and are much resorted to by anglers. To those who do not incline to the study of fish or fishing, it will probably be a matter of surprise to know the abundance and excellence of the individuals, and the variety of species occurring within an hour’s walk of the centre of our town. Of the river Tame, a well-known angler states: “In my opinio

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Chapter IV. Insects.

BY W. G. BLATCH. The neighbourhood of Birmingham, and in fact the Midland district generally, has never been considered particularly rich in either the number or variety of its insect productions, and it is a fact that a collection of Midland species, of whatever order, shows very wide gaps, both in genera and species, when compared with one formed in the east or south of England. Nevertheless, the Midland Counties are not entirely barren in this respect, and a catalogue of the insects known to

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Chapter V. Microscopic Fauna.

BY THOMAS BOLTON, F.R.M.S. The writer in drawing up the following summary of the local Microscopic Fauna, knowing how limited a space is allowed, has in several of the families given only the more rare and remarkable species which have come under his own observation. The organisms included in this division are abundant all round Birmingham; in the canals, reservoirs, and rivers, in the swags and catchpits, amongst the spoil heaps of the “Black Country,” and in the numerous clay-pits on the farm

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Introductory Remarks.

BY WM. MATHEWS, M.A. In attempting to describe the more interesting features of the indigenous Flora of the neighbourhood of Birmingham, it is necessary to define the limits of the district intended to be included. A circle of 20 miles radius, with the Town Hall as its centre, has been found convenient as an approximate boundary. This will enclose portions of the three counties of Warwick, Worcester, and Stafford, which meet at a point on the south-western edge of the Borough, and a small part o

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Chapter I. The Flowering Plants, Ferns, &c.

BY J. E. BAGNALL, A.L.S. The flowering plants, ferns, and fern allies of the Birmingham District will be described, as stated in the Introductory Remarks, under the heads of the three counties of Warwick, Worcester, and Stafford. The total flora of the district comprises upwards of 1,116 flowering plants and ferns; of these 844 are native, 143 are varieties, 14 aliens, 42 colonists, and 73 are denizens. The nomenclature adopted is that of the 7th edition of the “London Catalogue of British Plant

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Chapter II. The Mosses, Hepatics, and Lichens.

BY J. E. BAGNALL, A.L.S. In describing the rarer Mosses, Hepatics and Lichens, to be found within the district, the materials at command are not sufficient to admit of so minute an analysis of distribution as that given for the flowering plants in the preceding pages. For the mosses four sub-districts will be adopted: I. Warwick, Tame ; II. Warwick, Avon ; III. Worcester ; IV. Stafford . For the Hepatics and Lichens, the enumeration will be restricted to Warwick only; information for Worcester a

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Chapter III. The Algæ.

BY A. W. WILLS. The great class of Algæ includes the sea-weeds, together with a large number of plants, mostly of microscopic size and of simple cellular structure, which abound wherever fresh water is found, whether in the form of running streams or stagnant pools, or even as covering damp surfaces of ground. A broad subdivision of the Algæ into three groups has been generally accepted by botanists, these being the Rhodosporeæ (red-spored), Melanosporeæ (dark-spored), and Chlorosporeæ (green-sp

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Chapter IV. The Fungi.

BY W. B. GROVE, B.A. The district of which Birmingham is the centre is in some ways peculiarly interesting to a British Mycologist. It was the scene of the labours of two students of British Fungi who will always hold an honourable place in the history of the development of the science in this country—William Withering and Thomas Purton. Withering was in his time (1741-1799) the foremost physician of this town. He lived for many years at Edgbaston Hall, a residence still situated among picturesq

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APPENDIX TO GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY.

Part III., Pages 213 to 265. MINERALS. (OF THE BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT.) BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.SC., F.G.S. The crystalline minerals occurring within the limits of the Birmingham district may be most conveniently referred to under the titles of the several counties in which they actually occur. These counties are: Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. Derbyshire. —The mines in this count

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THE COVENTRY INDUSTRIES.

BY W. G. FRETTON, F.S.A. An exhaustive account of the ribbon and watch manufactures of Coventry, with technical descriptions of the various processes involved in the treatment of the raw material, in its progress of manufacture from its primitive condition to its finished state, having already appeared in the comprehensive series of articles in the midland industries, published on the occasion of the former visit of the Association in 1865, it only remains to note the changes and additions which

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GEOLOGICAL SKETCH-MAP OF THE BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT.

By CHAS. LAPWORTH, LL.D., F.G.S. J. Bartholomew, Edin r . HALL &amp; ENGLISH, LITH RS ., BIRMINGHAM. FOUNDED ON THE MAPS OF H.M. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, AND EMBODYING THE RESULTS OF THE RECENT RESEARCHES OF MIDLAND GEOLOGISTS....

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