Brummagems

07/07/2016

West Midlands Art & Industry in the Victorian Age - The 1851 Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace designed and built by Chance Glassworks of Smethwick to the west of Birmingham in The Black Country.

At the heart of the Great Exhibition of 1851 - A Marvel of the Victorian Age - Chance Brothers Glassworks were behind the magnificent Crystal Palace and their Lighthouse Glass Optics were also on display in the Great Hall of the Crystal Palace in London.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 was one of the most famous events of the Victorian age, providing a showcase for Britain's global leadership in art and industry.

The West Midlands was central to many facets of the Exhibition. The iconic Crystal Palace which came to symbolise the exhibition was designed by Joseph Paxton, the head gardener at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, the revolutionary glass came from Chance Brothers and the iron structure from Fox and Henderson - both in Smethwick.

Indeed, the very concept and idea for the Exhibition owed much to the Birmingham Exhibition of Manufacturer and Art which Prince Albert visited on 17th November 1849.

Throughout the Crystal Palace visitors saw the industrial innovation and importance of the West Midlands in exhibits of commodities from Birmingham, the Black Country, Ironbridge and the Potteries, and when they needed refreshment it was provided by the Malvern company of J. Schweppes and Co.

This beautifully illustrated issue of History West Midlands brings the Great Exhibition to life and highlights the major contribution of the people and technological innovations of the region.

15/06/2016

EDGBASTON – THE HOME OF TENNIS Edgbaston is the place Where they serve up many an Ace Invented by Major Harry Gem: A game for lithe athletic men At 8 Ampton Road: ‘Fairlight’ You’d see rubber balls in flight Men and women both They’d hit balls with all their might In clothing... Oh so bright! A game played in Lilywhites… [ 143 more words. ]

https://bearwoodbardwordpresscom.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/edgbaston-home-of-tennis

EDGBASTON – THE HOME OF TENNIS   Edgbaston is the place Where they serve up many an Ace   Invented by Major Harry Gem: A game for lithe athletic men   At 8 Ampton Road: ‘Fairlight’ Y…

08/05/2016

Southside Johnnies and Chinatown Jinks Down ‘Olloway ‘Ed To Wing Yip’s Pagoda Leading the Way To Chinatown’s lovely odour A tasty meal cooked in a Wok At Chung Ying Garden We’re ‘Ready to Rock’! Ming Moon Buffet All you can eat As you stroll down the Sidewalk To Brummagem’s Beat! The Fox, The Hip The Back to Backs All open their Doors to… [ 606 more words. ]

https://bearwoodbardwordpresscom.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/southside-johnnies-chinatown-jinks

Southside Johnnies and Chinatown Jinks   Down ‘Olloway ‘Ed   To Wing Yip’s Pagoda   Leading the Way   To Chinatown’s lovely odour   A tasty meal cooked in a Wok   At Chung …

30/01/2016

HISTORY OF THE ELECTRIC CINEMA IN BIRMINGHAM-THE OLDEST EXISTING CINEMA IN BRITAIN DATING FROM 1909

The Electric is a cinema and sound recording facility in Birmingham, England.

It opened in Station Street in 1909, showing its first silent film on 27 December of that year, and is now the oldest working cinema in the country. It predates its namesake, the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill, London, by around two months.

Originally called the Electric Theatre, the cinema has undergone a number of name changes since its opening, but returned as The Electric in October 1993.

History

In the 1920's, the cinema changed its name to the Select, showing a programme of silent movies. In the 1930's, tastes changed and in 1931 the cinema became an amusement arcade. In 1936 the cinema was bought by local entrepreneur Joseph Cohen. It was rebuilt by architect Cecil Filmore and reopened as the Tatler News Theatre, the second in the city.

Post-war

After World War II, with television becoming increasingly popular, attendance at news theatres declined. In the 1950s, the cinema changed its focus and became the Jacey Cartoon Theatre. This did not last for long and in the 1960s, it became the Jacey Film Theatre, mainly showing a programme of art house and continental pictures.

For much of the 1970's, the cinema was a shadow of its former-self, largely showing pornographic films.The early 1980's saw a revival, with the cinema taken over by Lord Grade's "Classic" chain and split into two screens. This incarnation did not last for long and in the mid-1980s it became the Tivoli. In 1993 it was bought by Bill Heine and managed by Steven Metcalf.They also reverted it to being called the Electric.

A contemporary work of art called Thatcher's Children by artist John Buckley was installed in the windows on the front of the building, with the intent to shock and attract publicity to the opening of an art cinema in Birmingham.

The Electric closed, however, on 12 December 2003

Renovation and reopening

The cinema was put up for sale and was quickly purchased by a local entrepreneur, Tom Lawes After a £250,000 refit and renovation, the cinema reopened on 17 December 2004. The building was restored to its original 1930s Art Deco look from photographs taken during that period; there being no plans of the earlier design surviving.

In recognition of its centenary in December 2009, local MPs Tom Watson, Khalid Mahmood and Richard Burden raised a motion in the House of Commons stating that the House:

recognises the value of independent cinemas to the cultural and social life of local communities; celebrates the continued success of Britain's oldest working cinema, The Electric in Birmingham; notes that on 2 December 2009 a centenary celebration is taking place for the cinema that started life as a silent movie theatre, became a news theatre during the Second World War and succumbed to dereliction in 2003.

Two doors to the east of the cinema is the Old Rep theatre.

24/12/2015

17th century: the English Civil War and Birmingham:

The and the by

By the early part of the 17th century Birmingham resembled a large sprawling smith's village. Aided by the abundance of nearby sources of coal and iron ore, many metal workers set up small foundries and workshops in

Birmingham was an important manufacturing town with a reputation for producing small arms, and the village's trade stretched far and wide. In 1637 a London cutler protested against the import of 'Bromedgham blades' which were often made of similar standard but at a lower cost.

Unlike nearby towns such as Tamworth, Dudley, Hartlebury, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Burton and Lichfield Birmingham had little or no military defences.

In 1642 unrest between the Royalist (Worcestershire) and the Parliamentarians (Warwickshire) led to many small battles and skirmishes taking place in the surrounding countryside. The allegiances around Birmingham were blurred with a mishmash of landowners, nobility and gentry all fighting for different sides.
The Royalists first passed through Birmingham proper in great force in 1642.

The town was mainly Puritan, and some looting took place. As an apology to the town King Charles ordered two of his captains to be hanged, this did not appease the town and some time later a baggage train of the king was captured and delivered to Warwick.
With further unrest both sides prepared for war, the smiths of Birmingham were called upon and over 15,000 sword blades were manufactured, these were supplied to Parliamentarian forces only.

Kings Norton and Hawksley both acted as battlefields during October, Prince Rupert's troops were ambushed with many casualties, although both sides claimed the upper hand.
A True Relation of Prince Ruperts Barbarous Cruelty against the Towne of Brumingham.

In March 1643 Prince Rupert in command of about 1,900 men requested entry to the unfortified town which was refused by about 200 towns folk and a company of Roundheads from the garrison at Lichfield under the command of Captain Richard Greaves.

The Battle of Camp Hill started with a direct assault by the Cavaliers on the earthworks at Camp Hill, after being twice repulsed the Cavaliers captured the earthworks by launching flanking attack with their cavalry.

The Cavaliers pursued the fleeing townsmen into Birmingham where they came under fire from some houses, which they torched.

At the far end of the town at at on the border between Warwickshire ( ) and at the Roundhead troopers charged and successfully checked the Cavaliers, killing their officer William, Earl of Denbigh, and allowing Greaves and his men to retreat unmolested back to Lichfield.

The laws of war at that time allowed for the burning of property in an undefended (unfortified) town of village if soldiers were shot at from those properties.

Those houses from which shooting was thought to originate were set on fire by the Royalists, the inhabitants of whom were not allowed to quench the fires or to recover their movable possessions.

About 80 houses were "burnt to ashes" (some of which belonged to Royalist sympathisers), and some 15 men, and two women were killed, with many more wounded and left destitute.

The by 's forces became known as

The Historian Trevor Royal writing in 2004 stated "By laying waste to the town of and setting fire to many of its houses, Rupert's force provided parliament with a propaganda coup ...
King Charles rebuked Rupert for his men's behaviour — the prince had in fact done his best to curb his men ... but the damage was done: Birmingham had paid the price for supporting parliament and being seen to profit from it".

Birmingham, continued to manufacture weapons of all kinds during this period and was heavily relied upon by Parliamentary armies such as the for such wares.

It remained on the borders between the largely Cavalier garrisoned Worcestershire which still has its in the and Roundhead garrisoned Warwickshire.

Colonel Tinker Fox operated from Edgbaston House close to Birmingham and probably took place in the attack on on 28 December 1643, removing the main royalist base in Birmingham under

He and his garrison actively raided into Worcestershire during the First Civil War. Perhaps his most famous exploit was a commando style raid on which resulted in the capture of Sir Thomas Lyttelton its Governor.

By the last quarter of the 1600's the population of was somewhere between 4,000 and 15,000.

Birmingham's small arms manufacture continued during the mid-to-late 17th century.

Birmingham smiths were renowned for their manufacture of quality weapons.

Alexander Missen in his Travels on visiting Milan noted that "fine works of rock-crystal, swords, heads of canes, snuffboxes, and other fine works of steel" could be purchased in Milan but that "they can be had better and cheaper in Birmingham".

There is no evidence that fi****ms were manufactured in Birmingham until the 1690s when the Office of Ordinance issued a warrant to "pay John Smart for Thomas Hadley, and the rest of the Gunmakers of Birmingham, one debenture of four-score and sixteen pounds eight shillings, dated ye 14th of July 1690".

It is unlikely that guns were manufactured in Birmingham before that date

It is more likely that Sir Richard Newdigate approached manufacturers in the town in 1689 with the notion of supplying the British Government with small arms, it was important that these would need to be of high enough calibre to equal the small arms that were imported from abroad.

After a successful trial order in 1692, the Government placed its first contract.

On 5 January 1693 the "Officers of Ordnance" chose five local fi****ms manufacturers in to initially produce 200 "snaphance musquets" per month over the period of one year, paying 17 shillings per musket, plus 3 shillings per hundredweight for delivery to London.

Keith Bracey, Historian

Birmingham: The City of Enlightenment

19/11/2015

's Best......" A Little Doggerel-Type Ditty, In Praise of The Second City"

BRUMMAGEM’S SONG

If you’ve never been to Birmingham then you ought ta……….
It’s a grand city made up of many a quarter………
There is jewellery to be sold, diamonds, platinum and gold
Boulton’s silver to assay, precious gems from far away.
Guns were made nearby, helping soldiers fight and die
In the English Civil War we made musket, cannon and ball
A more powerful Lewis gun helped the British beat the Hun.
Mr Webley made a revolver fired by many a pitiful soldier
On a lighter note in The Theatre Quarter
The stage is set for talented daughters
The Rep, the Alex and Hippodrome…..
Encourage performers to make Birmingham their own
Chaplin, Burton and Olivier
Travelled here to perform their plays
Musicals, ballets and pantomime
Ensure cultural visitors have a good time
The NEC and NIA have changed their names along the way
The Good Food Show, Crufts and fashion galore
Ensure our visitors come back for more
In the Symphony Hall there was often a battle
Between the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle
The Chinese Quarter is colourful and bright
A fantastic place to go out at night
Stir-fried noodles, a tantalising odour
A grand Dragon Parade from Wing Yip’s Pagoda.
The Balti Belt, full of saris and spices
Tasty Asian food cooked with different rices
An area to visit to sample a curry,
At Adil’s or Imran’s there’s no need to hurry
Bring your own beer, share various starters
Poppadoms, Pakoras, Aloo with tomatoes
A ‘curry in a bucket’ naan size of a table
Mild, medium or hot, eat it all, if you’re able.
Our City has Cadbury, Jaguar Land Rover too,
Speedway, rugby, and cricket for you
A passion for sport, you can hear the roar
For a goal scored by Blues or Villa football.
Indoor and outdoor, The Bull Ring Markets
Sell everything from cheese to carpets
The Germans come at Christmas time
Bringing Bratwurst, Schnitzel and Gluhwein
Birmingham has ‘More Canals than Venice’
We also invented the game of lawn tennis.
The Botanical Gardens and Cannon Hill Park
Have flowers and lawns, hosting shows: ‘What a lark!’
An airport, coach and New Street Station
Make us the “Centre of our Nation”
To travel by car to any function
You may have to negotiate Spaghetti Junction!!!!!
The ‘Stroll from St Philip’s to St Paul’s’
Where Boulton and Watt occupied the pew stalls
Pugin’s St Chad’s, the Roman Catholic Cathedral
Anglican St Martin’s, on the steps to the bronze Bull
The Kennedy Memorial near Digbeth’s Custard Factory,
Healed the wounds of the Irish after the Birmingham atrocity
The Rotunda stood proud, tall and round
Blown to pieces with ‘The Tavern in the Town.’
The City recovered, no flags at half mast
Brummies look FORWARD, don’t dwell on the past
Our mixture of cultures live well together
Our heritage, our history will go on forever.

Keith and Mary Bracey, Brummies.

26/10/2015

MP's who changed the world

William Attwood MP laid the groundwork for the First Reform Act of 1832 and was responsible for the setting up of the first Trade Unions at the time of The Tolpuddle Martyrs who were transported for Trade Union activity in the 1830's. Attwood held a political meeting of the Birmingham Political Union on Newhall Hill overlooking Birmingham in 1832 which was attended by over 30000 people. The Government of the day feared that 'Revolution was in the air' and decided to allow limited reform and the abolition of 'Rotton Boroughs' thanks to the words and political actions of Birmingham MP William Attwood whose statue once reclined next to the Chamberlain Memorial in Chamberlain Square.

John Bright MP who was instrumental in both the Abolition of Slavery and the 1867 Reform Act which gave the working man the vote......his statue is at the top of the stairs on the first floor of Museum & Art Gallery. Bright's bust was once on display in The White House of President Bill Clinton.Hillary Clinton found a dusty old statue in a store cupboard in The White House. Bright had written to his friend and fellow Abolitionist President Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln was wavering about continuing the American Civil War against slavery. This letter was found in the coat pocket of Lincoln when he was assassinated in 1865 it had meant that much to him to have the support of his friend. The Clinton's researched the letter and bust and found out about its great importance to a previous President. Imagine a Birmingham MP in The White House.

Joseph Chamberlain: The 'Modern Municipal Father of Birmingham' was the first of the Chamberlain family to become an MP. Chamberlain was both a Liberal and a Conservative and a Former Colonial Secretary and President of the Board of Trade and the man behind the creation of the University of Birmingham when Mason College was transformed to create the first of the 'Redbrick' Universities. The Clock Tower, the tallest free-standing campanile in the world at 350 feet is named after Chamberlain and called 'Old Joe'. At his funeral in 1913 over 30000 Brummies lined the streets to pay tribute to 'The Father of Birmingham'.

Sir Austen Chamberlain MP was Birmingham's first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for his work on the 1920's Locarno Pact. He was Joseph Chamberlain's son and Neville's brother. Austen Chamberlain held the post of Foreign Secretary. His brother Neville Chamberlain MP held the post of Chancellor of The Exchequer and Prime Minister. He helped set up the Birmingham Municipal Bank, whose headquarters stands at 301 Broad Street. He is probably better remembered for returning from Munich in 1939 with his ' little piece of paper' after meeting Herr Hi**er and proclaiming 'Peace in our time'. The result was the Second World War.

Denis Howell MP was the 'Minister for Drought' in 1976. He was also the first proper Sports Minister as a former FA Cup Final referee. Howell was MP for Small Heath and a Minister in Harold Wilson's 1974 government. In the summer of 1976 there was a long drought after one of the best summers of the twentieth century. Denis Howell was brought into the Cabinet as 'Minister for Drought' and advocated the sharing of baths to save water.....soon after he was appointed the summer broke and it started to rain.......and Denis was credited with the change in the weather by the Wilson government. Who says 'spin' is new...? Denis Howell's real impact was as the first proper Sports Minister as befits a former FA Cup Final referee. He also led Birmingham's Olympic bid for the 1988 Olympics which were eventually held in Barcelona.

17/08/2014

Where are the next generation of Leaders like Joseph Chamberlain?

Yes Sir Albert Bore is effective and you have to admire him for his longevity, beginning his political career as Chair of the Economic Development Committee at Birmingham City Council in 1984
Bore’s capable BCC Officers included the great Richard Green, the man behind ‘Eastside’, my old boss at Locate in Birmingham, Nigel Peardon, Assistant Director, Jim Beeston and Economic Analyst Sandy Taylor who left Birmingham City Council after 30 years this week after re-inventing himself as some kind of environmentalist and ‘Green Guru’ at BCC over the last 15 years, as ‘Head of Environment and Climate Change’….whatever that is?

They were known as the original ‘Birmingham Gang of Four’.

It was Economist Sandy Taylor who wrote the very first Birmingham Economic Development Strategy, which created the Birmingham City Council ‘Economic Development Department where Local Authorities and Councils intervened to create ‘Economic Development’ in their cities and towns and which spawned ‘Economic Development Departments in Councils all over the UK

This whole area of Local Authority intervention is now known as ‘Regeneration’….
This whole movement came out of Sandy’s strategy and the Economic Development Committee at Birmingham as BCC led the way in local government with far-sighted political leaders like the ‘Two Sirs’ on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Union organiser Sir Dick Knowles and well-spoken ‘Churchillian’ figure Sir Neville Bosworth…
Both led opposing Labour and Conservative councils in Birmingham in the 1980′s after Clive Wilkinson and Sir Stan Yapp had led largely-Labour administrations in the 1970′s……..

Sir Albert Bore is in the tradition of these Labour Leaders of Birmingham City Council, like Wilkinson and Yapp, whereas the penultimate Conservative Leader of BCC now Lord Mike Whitby was very definitely to the left of Sir Neville Bosworth……
We need a new generation of Birmingham Leaders like Knowles and Bosworth, pragmatic, realists, not mere survivors and ‘The Best of a Bad Lot’ as Bore and Whitby have been…..

Come on ’s political class, where are you….? To quote Delia Andrew Smith

Step up to the plate and let us judge you….
Sir Albert looks tired and in need of a rest after being constantly worn down by the ‘Jaws of Doom’ scenario and the ‘Death of Local Government’, this coalition government’s austerity programme and Mike Whitby has moved to the Lords…

Where are the next generation of leaders…..?

29/03/2014

Some MORE Brill things about BRUM.... I have called them BRUMMAGEMS

Nigel Mansell, World Motor Racing Champion

Murray Walker the octogenarian Motor Racing commentator & Nigel's mate

Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham where 40% of UK jewellery is still made

The University of Birmingham where Rutherford split the atom

Joseph Chamberlain, the modern Municipal father of Birmingham

UB40 the Birmingham band exemplified disenfranchised youth in the Thatcher Crisis Years of the 1980's

Dexys and Dexys Midnight Runners

Brian Moore who was born in Birmingham and adopted and brought up as a Yorkshireman, a dangerous combination

Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Bob Carolgees, John Gorman, Trevor East et al

Lenny Henry he's from Dudley in The Black Country but he WAS TISWAS

Birmingham's Balti.....often imitated by Bradford but never bettered

Sir Michael Balcon, founder of The Ealing Studios and maker of marvellous films like Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers and Passport to Pimlico and the creator of PC George Dixon: 'Evenin' All' named by Balcon after my old school: George Dixon Grammar in Edgbaston

Cardinal John Henry Newman & his marvellous Baroque ChurchThe Oratory
Pope Benedict came to Birmingham in 2010 to beatify Newman Alumni

The Beat including founder members Rankin Roger and Dave Wakelin

Kash The Flash Gill, the first Asian World Champion in a Contact Sport

The very first Transatlantic telecommunications cable laid in 1865 by Webster & Horsfall of Small

John Bright MP who was instrumental in both the Abolition of Slavery and the 1870 Reform Act which gave the working man the vote

William Attwood MP laid the groundwork for the First Reform Act of 1832

Sir Edward Elgar, the first Professor of Music at Birmingham University and the composer of 'Land of Hope and Glory' and 'The Enigma Variations'

Denis Howell MP, the 'Minister for Drought' in 1976 & the first proper Sports Minister as a former FA Cup Final referee

Sir Austen Chamberlain MP Birmingham's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for his work on the 1930's Abyssinian Crisis

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani Edgbaston School Girl who defied The Taliban and is the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Viscount William 'Bill' Slim, leader of The Forgotten Army of mostly Birmingham men and Indian Army regulars who fought the Burma Campaign to prevent the Japanese annexing India

Brilliant Brummagems all of 'em......We Are Brummies

Keith Bracey.....Professional Brummies

09/03/2014

And a Birmingham man, the Lunar Society member Joseph Priestley was the first scientist to isolate the chemical element Oxygen.

Joseph Priestley's statue can be found overlooking Chamberlain Square in Birmingham near the Central Library

Priestley was known, as ‘Gunpowder Joe’ harking back to the Roman Catholic revolutionary times of the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ of 1605 where Catholic plotters led by Sir Thomas Catesby of Coughton Court near Alcester in Warwickshire tried to blow up Parliament and King James I.

The ‘Gunpowder Plot’ was largely West Midlands-based which has been forgotten over time.

The conspirators were hunted down and slaughtered at Holbeche House in Dudley after the Catholic plot was uncovered.

Priestley advocated ‘Revolution’ but not a Catholic revolution as those before him had done

He wanted ‘freedom of religious expression’ and advocated this religious freedom from his Unitarian preacher’s pulpit which he could do as Birmingham was a ‘Free City’ ……free for religion to be practised and free from the restrictive Guilds and arcane practices of the City of London, where Freemasonry, secrecy and corruption were rife at that time

These ‘Revolutions’ that Priestley promoted were just like those that had taken place in America and France at that time in the later eighteenth century, the time of ‘The Enlightenment’ of which Birmingham was a leader with those Lunar Men, Boulton and Watt, Wedgwood and Priestley, Withering and Benjamin Franklin , the American revolutionary thinker.

Priestley and his ‘incendiary ideas’ were driven from Birmingham in ‘The Priestley Riots’ of 1791…….

‘Gunpowder Joe’ fled to America and made his home in Maine where he continued to foment revolution in his home country from afar by writing pamphlets and encouraging revolutionary ideas and thought……He was no ‘Royalist’ as Birmingham was no ‘Royalist City’ being on the side of a Puritan Parliament during the English Civil War of the 1640′s which led to King Charles I being executed in 1649, over 100 years before the American and French Revolutions

A ‘Revolution’ did happen in Birmingham……. produced by his fellow ‘Lunartick James Watt….’Watt’s Revolution’……the Industrial Revolution based on the harnessing of steam power to drive machinery from those Watt engines made at Smethwick’s Soho Foundry, where Avery Weightronix is now….

Birmingham and Handsworth where the Lunar Society’s members met at Matthew Boulton’s home Soho House is the ‘Home of the Industrial Revolution’

Brilliant Birmingham and The Black Country…..where the Modern World was created

07/03/2014

SOME OF THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS IN BIRMINGHAM BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LUNAR SOCIETY WHICH MET IN HANDSWORTH AT THE HOME OF MATTHEW BOULTON: SOHO HOUSE. HERE THESE GREAT SCIENTISTS< THINKERS, INVENTORS AND ENTREPRENEURS CREATED THE MODERN WORLD IN INGENIOUS BIRMINGHAM WHERE THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF UK PATENTS BY THE YEAR 2000 WERE TAKEN OUT WITHIN 35 MILES OF BIRMINGHAM, THE 'CRUCIBLE' OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION........BRILLIANT BIRMINGHAM........'A GEM OF A CITY'!

1767: a number of prominent Birmingham businessmen, including Matthew Boulton and others from the Lunar Society hold a public meeting in the White Swan, High Street to consider the possibility of building a canal from Birmingham to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Wolverhampton, taking in the coalfields of the Black Country.

They commission the canal engineer James Brindley to propose a route.

Brindley comes back with a largely level route via Smethwick, Oldbury, Tipton, Bilston and Wolverhampton to Aldersley.This kick starts what is to become the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

1770: James Watt applies the first screw propeller to an early steam engine at his Birmingham works, thus beginning the use of an hydrodynamic screw for propulsion.

1775: Ketley's Building Society is founded and becomes the world's first building society. Midland Bank (now owned by HSBC) and Lloyds Bank are also founded in Birmingham.

1777: Boulton and Watt build 'Old Bess', as described by the London science museums 'an engine that stands at a crossroads in history'.

1779: James Keir takes out a patent for a compound metal which is capable of being forged when hot or cold more fit for the making of bolts, nails, and sheathing for ships prior to anything before. This metal uses the same compounds and similar quantities of metals as the patent of Muntz metal which appear at the same time.

Birmingham became a town of commerce with two of the big four banks founded in the town.

Lloyds bank was founded in 1765, the world's first Building Society Ketley's was founded in 1775, and Midland Bank (now owned by HSBC) was founded in Birmingham in 1836.

1779: Matthew Wansbrough designs and builds the Pickard Engine (the first crank engine) for James Pickard of Snow Hill.
This is defined as 'the first atmospheric engine in the world to directly achieve rotary motion by the use of a crank and flywheel.'

1779: James Watt patents a copying press or 'letter copying machine' to deal with the mass of paper work at his business; he also invents an ink to work with it. This is the first widely used copy machine for offices and is a commercial success, being used for over a century. This letter copying press is considered to be the original photocopier.

1788: Boulton & Watt engine. The 'sun and planet gear' (also called the 'planet and sun gear') was a method of converting reciprocal motion to rotary motion and was utilised in a reciprocating steam engine.

1781: James Watt markets his rotary-motion steam engine. The earlier steam engine's vertical movement was ideal for operating water pumps but the new engine can be adapted to drive all sorts of machinery.

Richard Arkwright pioneers its use in his cotton mills and within 15 years there are 500+ Boulton & Watt steam engines in British factories and mines.

1775: Boulton also arranges an Act of Parliament extending the term of Watt's 1769 patent to 1799.

1784: James Watt, refers to a two-speed transmission in patent No.1432, which relates to steam carriages: The concept of changing speed (or a variable velocity) in gearing which could arguably be the seed of thought for all subsequent gearing systems.

"Motion [from a steam engine] is communicated to the axle-tree of one or more wheels of the carriage by means of the "circulating rotative to machinery" formerly patented by the inventor. Two or more loose wheels of different diameters are placed to be locked on the axle and impart extra power for bad roads or steep ascents."

1785: William Withering publishes 'An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses', pioneering its use as a cardiac drug, Digitalis.

1785: James Watt and William Murdoch invent the oscillating cylinder and double action engine. Around this time James Watt creates a governor and throttle valve for automatically regulating the supply of steam to an engine although no patents for this are taken out by Watt.

The first steam powered Cotton Mills such as this Murrays' Mill in Greater Manchester were powered by 40 hp Boulton and Watt beam engines.

Richard Arkwright pioneered Watt's rotary-motion steam engine in his cotton mills and within 15 years there were 500+ Boulton & Watt steam engines in British factories and mines.

1788: Boulton and Watt build the rotative steam engine also known as a piston engine, an improved steam engine whose smooth reciprocating action enable it to drive a variety of rotary machinery.

1790: W.Richardson publishes "The Chemical Principles of the Metallic Arts: designed chiefly for the use of Manufacturers" which is used to help with diseases associated with the metal working industry.

Soho mint mark on a cartwheel twopence. The Soho Mint pioneered mass production methods of coin manufacture around the world, with eight machines, driven by a steam engine, each capable of striking 70 to 84 coins per minute and worked by children.

1794: Ralph Heaton patents a steam powered machine for mass-producing button shanks. This is one of the earliest forms of mechanical mass production and steam powered machine tool operation.

Around this time William Futrell (a well known Birmingham pugilist) becomes publisher of possibly the first British boxing paper.

1797: Matthew Boulton erects at Soho a complete coining plant with which he strikes coins for the Sierra Leone and East India companies and for Russia, and produces a new copper coinage for Britain.

Also in 1797, he takes out a British patent in connection with raising water on the principle of the hydraulic ram although one of a similar nature appears in France at around the same time.

1799: The first Bellcrank engine is patented by William Murdoch while working for Boulton and Watt. It is the first compact, self-contained engine.

Among the products Matthew Boulton seeks to make in his new facility 'The Soho Manufactory' are sterling silver plate for those able to afford it, and Sheffield plate, silver-plated copper, for those less well off.

Boulton and his father make small silver items throughout the 18th century, and there are no record of large items in either silver or Sheffield plate being made in Birmingham before Boulton does so.

To make items such as candlesticks more cheaply than the London competition, the firm makes many items out of thin, die-stamped sections, which are shaped and joined together.

Birmingham Assay Office was fought for by Boulton and it changed the fortunes of silver making in the town and can still be visited today.

One impediment to Boulton's work is the lack of an assay office in Birmingham. The silver toys long made by the family firm are generally too light to require assaying, but silver plate has to be sent over 70 miles (110 km) to the nearest assay office, at Chester, to be assayed and hallmarked, with the attendant risks of damage and loss. Alternatively they can be sent to London, but this exposes them to the risk of being copied by competitors.

1766: Wedgwood button with Boulton cut steels, depicting a mermaid & family, England
1771: Boulton writes "I am very desirous of becoming a great silversmith, yet I am determined not to take up that branch in the large way I intended, unless powers can be obtained to have a marking hall [assay office] at Birmingham."

Boulton petitions Parliament for the establishment of an assay office in Birmingham. Though the petition is bitterly opposed by London goldsmiths, he is successful in getting Parliament to pass an act establishing assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, whose silversmiths face similar difficulties in transporting their wares.

1773: The act is passed in March to allow Birmingham and Sheffield the right to assay silver.

1773: The Birmingham Assay Office opens on 31 August and the town becomes a leading manufacturer of all types of silver ware spanning three centuries. The Assay office can still be visited today by appointment and is situated near to the city's well renowned Jewellery Quarter.

1793: A gentleman of the name of Hand" in Birmingham, obtains a patent for preparing flexible leather having a glaze and polish that renders it impervious to water and need only be wiped with a sponge to restore it to its original luster. This is later recognised as patent leather and is further improved by other inventors.

At some time around the late 18th or early 19th century a stand-alone cooking range or stove is invented by John Heard (joiner), capable of roasting, boiling, baking and of course heating a room.

The products of combustion are carried off by means of a flue leading to the chimney, the inventor mentions it is particularly suitable for use on board ships.

This is possibly the first of its kind, as earlier stoves such as the Franklin stove do not appear to have flues attached and require a hearth and chimney to function.

It is not until the turn of the 19th century that other stoves begin appearing to cook in as well as heat a room.
19th century.

Gas lighting was pioneered in Birmingham, and subsequently spread around the world.

Gas lamps were later replaced with electric fittings.

1802: the exterior of the Soho Foundry is lit with gas lighting by William Murdoch.

Murdoch, its developer, worked for Matthew Boulton and James Watt at Soho.

This becomes the basis for Birmingham's immense Gas Industry which incorporates many products and trades that rely on Gas to work.

The 'Gas Retort House' where Murdoch originally made coal gas to light his gas street lamps remains in Gas Street just off Broad Street behind the Hyatt Regency Birmingham (4 photos)