Dictionary of Birmingham. (continued 3)

Deritend.—In some antique records the name has been spelt "Duratehend." For this and other reasons it has been thought to have had its origin rather from the ancient British, as "dur" is still the Welsh word for water, and its situation on the Rea (a Gaelic word signifying a running stream) seems to give a little foundation therefor. Mr. Tonlmin Smith, in whose family the "Old Crown House" has descended from the time it was built, and who, therefore, is no mean authority, was of opinion that the name was formerly "Der-yat-end," or "Deer-Gate-End," from the belief that in ancient days there was here an ancient deer forest. Leland said he entered the town by "Dirtey," so perhaps after all Deritend only means "the dirty end." Like the name of the town itself, as well as several other parts of it, we can only guess at the origin.

Deritend Bridge.—Old records show that some centuries back there was a bridge here of some sort, and occasionally we find notes of payments made for repairs to the roads leading to the gates of the bridge, or to the watchmen who had charge thereof, who appear to have been in the habit of locking the gates at night, a procedure which we fear our "Dirtyent" neighbours of to-day would be inclined to resent. The Act for building the present bridge was obtained in 1784; the work was commenced in 1789, but not completed till 1814.

Dickens, Charles, made his first appearance amongst us at a Polytechnic Conversazione held February 28, 1844, his last visit being to distribute prizes to students of the Midland Institute, January 6, 1870. In December, 1854, he gave the proceeds of three "Readings," amounting to £227, to the funds of the Institute, in which he always took great interest.—See also "Theatrical Notes," &c.

Digbeth, or Dyke Path, or Ducks' Bath, another puzzle to the antiquarians. It was evidently a watery place, and the pathway lay low, as may be seen at "Ye Olde Leather Bottel."

Dining Halls.—Our grandfathers were content to take their bread and cheese by the cosy fireside of a public-house kitchen; this was followed by sundry publicans reserving a better room, in which a joint was served up for their "topping customers." One who got into trouble and lost his license, conceived the idea of opposing his successor, and started dining-rooms, sending out for beer as it was required, but not to his old shop. This innovation took, and when the railways began bringing in their streams of strangers, these dining-rooms paid well (as several of the old ones do still). The next step was the opening of a large room in Slaney Street (June 8, 1863), and another in Cambridge Street, with the imposing title of "Dining Halls," wherein all who were hungry could be fed at wholesale prices—provided they had the necessary cash. Our people, however, are not sufficiently gregarious to relish this kind of feeding in flocks, barrackroom fashion, and though the provisions were good and cheap, the herding together of all sorts spoilt the speculation, and Dining Halls closed when "Restaurants" opened.—See "Luncheon Bars."

Diocese.—Birmingham is in the diocese of Worcester, and in the Archdeaconry of Coventry.

Directories.—The oldest Birmingham Directory known was printed in 1770, but there had been one advertised a few years earlier, and every now and then, after this date one or other of our few printers ventured to issue what they called a directory, but the procuring a complete list of all and every occupation carried on in Birmingham appears to have been a feat beyond their powers, even sixty years back. As far as they did go, however, the old directories are not uninteresting, as they give us glimpses of trade mutations and changes compared with the present time that appear strange now even to our oldest inhabitants. Place for instance the directory of 1824 by the side of White's directory for 1874 (one of the most valuable and carefully compiled works of the kind yet issued). In the former we find the names of 4,980 tradesmen, the different businesses under which they are allotted numbering only 141; in 1874 the trades and professions named tot up to 745, under which appears no less than 33,462 names. In 1824, if we are to believe the directory, there were no factors here, no fancy repositories, no gardeners or florists, no pearl button makers, no furniture brokers or pawnbrokers (!), no newsagents, and, strange to say, no printer. Photographers and electro-platers were unknown, though fifty years after showed 68 of the one, and 77 of the latter. On the other hand, in 1824, there were 78 auger, awlblade and gimlet makers, against 19 in 1874; 14 bellows makers, against 5; 36 buckle and 810 button makers, against 10 and 265; 52 edge tool makers and 176 locksmiths, against 18 of each in 1874; hinge-makers were reduced from 53 to 23; gilt toy makers, from 265 to 15. (Considering the immense quantity of gilt trifles now sent out yearly, we can only account for these figures by supposing the producers to have been entered under various other headings). Among the trades that have vanished altogether, are steelyard makers, of whom there were 19 in 1824; saw-makers, of whom there were 26; tool-makers, of whom there were 79, and similorers, whatever they might have been. Makers of the time-honoured snuffers numbered 46 in 1824, and there were even half-a-dozen manufacturers left at work in 1874. The introduction of gas-lighting only found employ, in the first-named year, for three gasfitters; in 1874, there were close upon 100. Pewterers and manufacturers of articles in Britannia metal numbered 75 in 1824, against 19 in 1874, wire-drawers in the same period coming down from 237 to 56. The Directories of the past ten years have degenerated into mere bulky tomes, cataloguing names certainly, but published almost solely for the benefit (?) of those tradesmen who can be coaxed into advertising in their pages. To such an extent has this been carried, that it is well for all advertisers to be careful when giving their orders, that they are dealing with an established and respectable firm, more than one bogus Directory having come under the notice of the writer during the past year or two. The issue of a real Post Office Directory for 1882, for which the names, trades, and addresses were to be gathered by the letter-carriers, and no body of men could be more suitable for the work, or be better trusted, was hailed by local tradesmen as a decided step in advance (though little fault could be found with the editions periodically issued by Kelly), but unfortunately the proposed plan was not successfully carried out, and in future years the volume will be principally valued as a curiosity, the wonderfully strange mistakes being made therein of placing the honoured name of Sir Josiah Mason under the head of "Next-of-Kin Enquiry Agents," and that, too, just previous to the exposure of the numerous frauds carried out by one of the so-called agents and its curiousness is considerably enhanced by the fact that a like error had been perpetrated in a recent edition of Kelly's Directory.

Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society in 1882 gave assistance to 642 persons, at an average cost of 9s. 9-1/2d. each—£315 19s. 4d. £161 16s. 5d. of this amount came from the convicts' gratuities, while the cost of aiding and helping them took £192 2s.

Dispensary.—Established in 1794; the first stone of the building in Union Street was laid December 23, 1806, and it was opened for the reception of patients early in 1808, the cost being about £3,000. It has been one of the most valuable institutions of the town, thousands receiving medical assistance every year, and is supported by voluntary subscriptions. A branch Dispensary was opened in Monument Road, Feb. 27, 1884. Provident Dispensaries, to which members pay a small monthly sum for medicine and attendance, were organised in 1878, the first branch being opened at Hockley in October of that year. In the first fifteen months 3,765 individuals, paid subscriptions, and about £577 was paid for drugs and doctors fees. There are also branches at Camp Hill and Small Heath.

Dissenters.—In 1836 there were 45 places of worship belonging to various denominations of Dissenters here; there are now about 145.—See "Places of Worship."

Distances from Birmingham to neighbouring places, county towns, trade centres, watering places, &c. Being taken from the shortest railway routes, this list may be used as a guide to the third-class fares— Reckoned at 1d. per mile:—

Miles Aberdare 111 Aberdeen 437½ Abergavenny 79 Abergele 109 Aberystwith 123½ Acock's Green 4¼ Albrighton 20 Alcester 24 Aldershot 111½ Alnwick 52½ Alrewas 26 Alton Towers 52½ Alvechurch 13½ Arbroath 310 Ashbourne 56¼ Ashby-de-la-Zouch 41½ Ashton-under-Lyne 84½ Aylesbury 84 Bala 94 Banbury 42 Bangor 135 Barmouth 116 Barnsley 95½ Barnstaple 181 Barnt Green 12 Barrow-in-Furness 160 Basingstoke 108½ 118½ Bath 98½ Battersea 115½ Bedford 82 Beeston Castle 64½ Belper 50 Berkswell 13 Berwick 281 Bescot Junction 7½ Bettws-y-Coed 134 Bewdley 22½ Bilston 9½ Birkenhead 90 Blackburn 113 Blackpool 124 Bletchley 65½ Blisworth 49½ Bloxwich 10½ Bolton 95¼ Borth 113 Bournemouth 173 Bradford 120½ Brecon 95 Bredon 40½ Brettle Lane 12 Bridgnorth 20 Bridgewater 127 Brierley Hill 11½ Brighton 166 Bristol 94 Bromsgrove 16 Bromyard 41 Buckingham 70½ Builth Road 88 Burslem 49 Burton-on-Trent 32 Bury St Edmunds 133 Bushbury Jun'tion 13 Buxton 79 Cambridge 111½ Cannock 15½ Canterbury 175½ Cardiff 109 Carlisle 196 Carmarthen 187½ Carnarvon 143½ Castle Bromwich 5-3/4 Castle Douglas 248½ Chapel-en-le-Frith 89 Cheadle 77 Cheddar 115½ Chelsea 110 Cheltenham 49½ Chepstow 84 Chester 75 Chesterfield 65½ Chippenham 117 Chipping Norton 60 Chirk 62½ Church Stretton 54 Cinderford 83½ Cirencester 84½ Clapham Junction 113 Clay Cross 62 Cleobury Mortimer 29 Clifton Bridge 97 Coalbrookdale 30 Codsall 16½ Coleford 80 Coleshill 11½ Colwich 25½ Colwyn Bay 115 Congleton 58 Conway 120½ Coventry 18½ Cradley 9 Craven Arms 61½ Crewe Junction 54 Croydon 123 Crystal Palace 120 Darlaston 9½ Darlington 175½ Deepfields 9½ Denbigh 97 Derby 42½ Devizes 143½ Didcot 76 Dolgelly 106 Doncaster 96½ Dorchester 184 Dorking 133 Droitwich 23 Dublin 232 Dudley 8 Dumfries 229 Dundee 347 Dunstable 79 Durham 198 Edinburgh 297½ Elgin 450 Ely 127 Erdington 4½ Etruria 47 Evercreech Junct'n 121 Evesham 34 Exeter 170 Falmouth 286½ Farrington 87 Fearnall Heath 25 Fenny Compton 34½ Fenny Stratford 67 Festiniog 145 Filey 178 Miles Fleetwood 126 Flint 87½ Folkestone 202 Forfar 304 Forge Mills 9 Four Ashes 19 Frome 138 Furness Abbey 158½ Garstang 115 Glasgow 286 Glastonbury 140 Gloucester 56½ Gosport 150 Gravelly Hill 3 Great Barr 4½ Great Bridge 7 Grimsby 136½ Guildford 120 Hagley 13½ Halesowen 9 Halifax 122½ Hanley 47½ Harborne 4 Harlech 126 Harrowgate 133 Harrow 101 Hartlebury 22 Hartlepool 186 Hastings 192½ Hatton 17¼ Haverfordwest 218½ Heath Town 12 Hednesford 17½ Henley-on-Thames 103 Hereford 57 Hertford 108 Higham Ferrers 69½ High Wycombe 95 Hitchin 92 Holyhead 159¼ Holywell 91½ Huddersfield 105½ Hull 134 Ilfracombe 195 Inverness 490 Ipswich 167 Ironbridge 30 James Bridge 9 Jedburgh 263 Keighley 116½ Kendal 148 Kenilworth 21 Kidderminster 18½ Kilmarnock 278½ Kings Heath 5 Kings Norton 6 Kingstown 226 Kingswood 13 Knowle 10½ Lancaster 127½ Langley Green 5¼ Leamington 21 Ledbury 43 Leeds 115 Leicester 39½ Leominster 80 Lichfield 18 Lincoln 91½ Liverpool 97½ Llanberis 143 Llandudno 123 Llanelly 167½ Llangollen 72½ Llanrwst 131 Llanymynech 69 London 113 Longton 48 Loughborough 50 Lowestoft 201 Ludlow 69½ Lydney 79 Lye Waste 10½ Lynn 135 Macclesfield 66 Machynllyth 101 Maidenhead 105½ Maidstone 175½ Malvern (Great) 36½ Manchester 85 Margate 187 Market Bosworth 27-1 Market Drayton 48 Market Harboro' 46 Marlborough 133½ Marston Green 6½ Maryport 224 Matlock Bath 59 Menai Bridge 136 Merthyr 111½ Middlesbro' 176 Milford Haven 228 Milverton 21 Mold 87 Monmouth 96½ Montrose 401 Moreton-in-Marsh 46 Moseley 3-3/4 Much Wenlock 33 Nantwich 56 Neath 105½ Netherton 8 Newark 71½ Newcastle-on-Tyne 215 Nwcstle-udr-Lyme 47½ Newmarket 126 Newport (Salop) 39 Newport (Mon) 101 Newton Road 5 Newton Stewart 278 Northallerton 160 Northampton 49 Northfield 8-3/4 North Shields 216½ Norwich 181 Nottingham 58 Nuneaton 20 Oakengates 28½ Oldbury 5½ Oldham 85 Olton 5 Oswestry 62½ Oxford 66 Paisley 286 Pelsall 11 Pembroke Dock 175 Penkridge 22-3/4 Penmaenmawr 125 Penrith 178 Penzance 302 Miles Perry Barr 4 Pershore 43½ Perth 344 Peterborough 96½ Plymouth 222½ Pontypool 90 Port Dinorwic 139 Portishead 105½ Portmadoc 134 Portsmouth 162½ Prestatyn 101 Princes End 9½ Prollheli 138 Queen's Ferry 82 Ramsgate 192½ Reading 93 Redcar 189 Redditch 17 Reigate 138½ Rhyl 105 Rickmansworth 98 Rochdale 104½ Ross 70 Rotherham 88 Round Oak 10½ Rowsley 63½ Ruabon 67½ Rugby 80½ Rugeley 21½ Runcorn 75 Ruthin 116 Ryde 160 St Alban's 101 St Asaph 111 St Helens 85½ St Leonard's 190½ Salford Priors 28 Salisbury 157½ Saltburn 191 Sandbach 58½ Scarboro' 173 Selly Oak 2½ Sharpness 75 Sheffield 79 Shepton Mallett 152 Shifnal 25 Shrewsbury 42 Shustoke 12 Smethwick 3½ Solihull 6½ Southampton 139 Southport 107½ South Shields 209 Spon Lane 4½ Stafford 29 Stamford 72 Stechford 3½ Stirchley Street 3½ Stirling 336 Stockport 79 Stoke 45½ Stokes Bay 150 Stourbridge 13½ Stourport 22 Stranraer 301 Stratford-on-Avon 26 Stroud 70 Sunderland 208 Sutton Coldfield 7 Swansea 156½ Swan Village 5½ Swindon 100 Tamworth 18 Taunton 138½ Teignmouth 184 Tenbury 38 Tewkesbury 44½ Thirsk 151 Thrapstone 75½ Tipton 8 Torquay 195½ Towcester 54 Trefnant 113 Trentham 43 Trowbridge 128 Truro 275½ Tunbridge Wells 165 Tunstall 47 Tutbury 37 Ulverstone 152 Uppingham 61½ Upton-on-Severn 49 Uttoxeter 45¼ Uxbridge 118 Wakefield 101½ Wallingford 84¼ Walsall 8 Warminster 120 Warrington 78 Warwick 21½ Water Orton 7½ Wednesbury 8 Wednesfield 12 Weedon 42 Welshpool 61 Wellington 32 Wells 123 Wem 52 West Bromwich 4 Weston-supr-Mare 114 Weymouth 191 Whitacre Junction 10½ Whitby 187 Whitchurch 51 Whitehaven 193 Wigan 91 Willenhall 11 Willesden Junction 107 Wilnecote 16½ Wincanton 130 Winchester 127 Windermere 156 Windsor 113 Winson Green 2½ Wirksworth 56 Witton 3½ Woburn Sands 70 Wokingham 100 Wolverhampton 12 Wolverton 60 Worcester 27½ Worthington 50 Wrexham 72 Wylde Green 6 Yarmouth 201 Yeovil 152 York 130½

Dogs.—A 5s. duty on dogs came into force April 5, 1867; raised to 7s. 6d. in June, 1878; This was not the first tax of the kind, for a local note of the time says that in 1796 "the fields and waters near the town were covered with the dead carcases of dogs destroyed by their owners to avoid payment of the tax." The amount paid per year at present for "dog licenses" in Birmingham is about £1,800. The using of dogs as beasts of burden (common enough now abroad) was put a stop to in London at the end of Oct. 1840, though it was not until 1854 that the prohibition became general. Prior to the passing of the Act in that year, dogs were utilised as draught animals to a very great extent in this neighbourhood by the rag-and-bone gatherers, pedlars, and little merchants, as many as 180 of the poor brutes once being counted in five hours as passing a certain spot on the Westbromwich Road. There have been one or two "homes" for stray dogs opened, but it is best in case of a loss of this kind to give early information at the nearest police station, as the art of dog stealing has latterly been much cultivated in this town, and it should be considered a duty to one's neighbour to aid in putting a stop thereto.

Dog Shows.—The first local Dog Show was held in 1860, but it was not until the opening in Curzon Hall, December 4, 1865, that the Show took rank as one of the "yearly institutions" of the town.—See "Exhibitions."

Domesday Books.—The so-called Domesday Book, compiled by order of William the Norman Conqueror, has always been considered a wonderful work, and it must have taken some years compiling. Some extracts touching upon the holders of land in this neighbourhood have already been given, and in a sense they are very interesting, showing as they do the then barrenness of the land, and the paucity of inhabitants. Though in Henry VIII.'s reign an inventory of all properties in the hands of Churchmen was taken, it did not include the owners of land in general, and it was not till Mr. John Bright in 1873 moved for the Returns, that a complete register of the kind was made. It would not be easy, even if space could be given to it, to give the list of individuals, companies, and corporation who claim to be possessors of the land we live on in Birmingham and neighbourhood; but a summary including the owners in this and adjoining counties may be worth preserving. As will be seen by the annexed figures, Warwick and Stafford rank high in the list of counties having large numbers of small owners (small as to extent of ground, though often very valuable from the erections thereon). There can be no doubt that the Freehold Land and Building Societies have had much to do with this, and as Birmingham was for years the headquarters of these Societies, the fact of there being nearly 47,000 persons in the county (out of a total population of 634,189) who own small plots under one acre, speaks well for the steady perseverance of the Warwickshire lads. That we are not wrong in coming to this conclusion is shown by the fact that leaving out the Metropolitan Counties, Warwick heads, in this respect, all the shires in the kingdom.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Owners of Numbr. Acres Extent of lands. Gross estimated rental. £

Less than 1 acre 46894 5883 1808897

acre and under 10 1956 7727 93792

10 acres " " 50 1328 31485 114243

50 " " 100 447 31904 76178

100 " " 500 667 137372 398625

500 " " 1000 82 55542 134005

1000 " " 2000 47 67585 208718

2000 " " 5000 34 100185 275701

5000 " " 10000 8 53380 90848

10000 " " 20000 4 49953 74085

No areas given 49 -- 43205

Total 51516 541021 3318303

STAFFORDSHIRE.

Owners of Numbr. Acres Extent of lands. Gross estimated rental. £

Less than 1 acre 33672 4289 974133

1 acre and under 10 4062 14164 252714

10 acres " " 50 1891 44351 224505

50 " " 100 544 39015 124731

100 " " 500 557 111891 881083

500 " " 1000 90 62131 177372

1000 " " 2000 79 70637 278562

2000 " " 5000 28 90907 219792

5000 " " 10000 13 82560 136668

10000 " " 20000 7 96700 212526

20000 " " 50000 1 21433 41560

No areas given 2456 -- 606552

No rentals returned 1 2 --

Total 43371 638084 3630254

WORCESTERSHIRE.

Owners of Numbr. Acres Extent of lands. Gross estimated rental. £

Less than 1 acre .......160[**] 8 4733 444945

1 acre and under 10 2790 10136 151922

10 acres " 50 1305 31391 138517

50 " " 100 457 32605 92257

100 " " 500 589 118187 258049

500 " " 1000 66 46420 122817

1000 " " 2000 34 46794 89267

2000 " " 5000 25 78993 131886

5000 " " 10000 5 33353 54611

10000 " " 20000 3 38343 88703

No areas given 522 -- 112107

Total 21804 441061 1685735

Duddeston Hall, and the Holte Family.—The first record of this family we have is towards the close of the thirteenth century when we find mention of Sir Henry Holte, whose son, Hugh del Holte, died in 1322. In 1331 Simon del Holte, styled of Birmingham, purchased the manor of Nechells "in consideration of xl li of silver." In 1365 John atte Holte purchased for "forty marks" the manor of Duddeston, and two years later he became possessed by gift of the manor of Aston. For many generations the family residence was at Duddeston, though their burial place was at Aston, in which church are many of their monuments, the oldest being that of Wm. Holte, who died September 28, 1514. That the Holtes, though untitled, were men of mark, may be seen by the brass in the North Aisle of Aston Church to the memory of Thomas Holte, "Justice of North Wales, and Lord of this town of Aston," who died March 23, 1545. His goods and chattels at his death were valued at £270 6s. 2d.—a very large sum in those days, and from the inventory we find that the Hall contained thirteen sleeping apartments, viz., "the chambur over the buttrie, the chappel chambur, the maydes' chambur, the great chambur, the inner chambur, to the great chambur, the yatehouse chambur, the inner chambur to the same, the geston chambur, the crosse chambur, the inner chambur to the same, the clark's chambur the yoemen's chambur, and the hyne's chambur." The other apartments were "the hawle, the plece, the storehouse, the galarye, the butterye, the ketchyn, the larderhowse, the dey-howse, the bakhowse, the bultinge howse, and the yeling howse," —the "chappell" being also part of the Hall. The principal bedrooms were hung with splendid hangings, those of the great chamber being "of gaye colors, blewe and redde," the other articles in accordance therewith, the contents of this one room being valued at xiij li. xiv. s. iiijd. (£13 14s. 4d.) The household linen comprised "22 damaske and two diapur table clothes" worth 4s.; ten dozen table napkins (40s.); a dozen "fyne towells," 20s.; a dozen "course towells" 6s. 8d.; thirty pair "fyne shetes" £5; twenty-three pair "course shetes" £3; and twenty-six "pillow beres" 20/-. The kitchen contained "potts, chafornes, skymmers, skellets, cressets, gredires, frying pannys, chfying dishes, a brazon morter with a pestell, stone morters, strykinge knives, broches, racks, brandards, cobberds, pot-hangings, hocks, a rack of iron, bowles, and payles." The live stock classed among the "moveable goods, consisted of 19 oxen, 28 kyne, 17 young beste, 24 young calves, 12 gots, 4 geldings, 2 mares, 2 naggs and a colte, 229 shepe, 12 swyne, a crane, a turkey cok, and a henne with 3 chekyns"—the lot being valued at £86 0s. 8d. Sir Thomas's marriage with a daughter of the Winnington's brought much property into the family, including lands, &c., "within the townes, villages, and fields of Aston, next Byrmyngham, and Wytton, Mellton Mowlberye (in Leicestershire), Hanseworthe (which lands did late belonge to the dissolved chambur of Aston), and also the Priory, or Free Chappell of Byrmyngham, with the lands and tenements belonging thereto, within Byrmyngham aforesaid, and the lordship or manor of the same, within the lordship of Dudeston, together with the lands and tenements, within the lordship of Nechells, Salteley, sometime belonging to the late dissolved Guild of Derytenne," as well as lands at "Horborne, Haleshowen, Norfielde and Smithewicke." His son Edward, who died in 1592, was succeeded by Sir Thomas Holte (born in 1571; died December, 1654), and the most prominent member of the family. Being one of the deputation to welcome James I. to England, in 1603, he received the honour of knighthood; in 1612 he purchased an "Ulster baronetcy," at a cost of £1,095 [this brought the "red hand" into his shield]; and in 1599 he purchased the rectory of Aston for nearly £2,000. In April, 1618, he commenced the erection of Aston Hall, taking up his abode there in 1631, though it was not finished till April, 1635. In 1642 he was honoured with the presence of Charles I., who stopped at the Hall Sunday and Monday, October 16 and 17. [At the battle of Edge Hill Edward Holt, the eldest son, was wounded—he died from fever on Aug. 28, 1643, during the siege of Oxford, aged 43] The day after Christmas, 1643, the old squire was besieged by about 1,200 Parliamentarians from Birmingham (with a few soldiers), but having procured forty musketeers from Dudley Castle, he held the Hall till the third day, when, having killed sixty of his assailants and lost twelve of his own men, he surrendered. The Hall was plundered and he was imprisoned, and what with fines, confiscations, and compounding, his loyalty appears to have cost him nearly £20,000. Sir Thomas had 15 children, but outlived them all save one. He was succeeded in his title by his grandson, Sir Robert, who lived in very straightened circumstances, occasioned by the family's losses during the Civil War, but by whose marriage with the daughter of Lord Brereton the Cheshire property came to his children. He died Oct. 3, 1679, aged 54, and was followed by Sir Charles, who had twelve children and lived till June 15, 1722, his son, Sir Clobery, dying in a few years after (Oct. 24, 1729). Sir Lister Holte, the next baronet, had no issue, though twice married, and he was succeeded (April 8, 1770), by his brother, Sir Charles, with whom the title expired (March 12, 1782), the principal estates going with his daughter and only child, to the Bracebridge family, as well as a dowry of £20,000. In 1817, an Act of Parliament was obtained for the settlement and part disposal of the whole of the property of this time-honoured and wealthy family—the total acreage being 8,914a. 2r. 23p, and the then annual rental £16,557 Os. 9d.—the Aston estate alone extending from Prospect Row to beyond Erdington Hall, and from Nechells and Saltley to the Custard House and Hay Mill Brook. Several claims have been put forward by collateral branches, both to the title and estates, but the latter were finally disposed of in 1849, when counsel's opinion was given in favour of the settlements made by Sir Lister Holte, which enabled the property to be disposed of. The claimants to the title have not yet proved their title thereto, sundry registers and certificates of ancient baptisms and marriages being still wanting.

Duddeston Ward Hall.—The name tells what it is for. The first stone was laid Dec. 15, 1877; it was opened June 1, 1878; will seat about 300, and cost £3,500, which was found by a limited Co.

Dungeon.—This very appropriate name was given to the old gaol formerly existing in Peck Lane. A writer, in 1802, described it as a shocking place, the establishment consisting of one day room, two underground dungeons (in which sometimes half-a-dozen persons had to sleep), and six or seven night-rooms, some of them constructed out of the Gaoler's stables. The prisoners were allowed 4d. per day for bread and cheese, which they had to buy from the keeper, who, having a beer license, allowed outsiders to drink with his lodgers. This, and the fact that there was but one day room for males and females alike, leaves but little to be imagined as to its horrible, filthy condition. Those who could afford to pay 2s. 6d. a week were allowed a bed in the gaoler's house, but had to put up with being chained by each wrist to the sides of the bedsteads all night, and thus forced to lie on their backs. The poor wretches pigged it in straw on the floors of the night rooms. See also "Gaols" and "Prisons."

Dwarfs.—The first note we have of the visit here of one of these curiosities of mankind is that of Count Borulawski, in 1783: though but 39 inches high it is recorded that he had a sister who could stand under his arm. The next little one, Manetta Stocker, a native of Austria, came here in 1819, and remained with us, there being a tombstone in St. Philip's churchyard bearing this inscription:—

In Memory of MANETTA STOCKER, Who quitted this life the fourth day of May, 1819, at the age of thirty-nine years. The smallest woman in this kingdom, and one of the most accomplished. She was not more than thirty-three inches high. She was a native of Austria.

General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) was exhibited at Dee's Royal Hotel, in September, 1844, when he was about ten years old, and several times after renewed the acquaintance. He was 31 inches high, and was married to Miss Warren, a lady of an extra inch. The couple had offspring, but the early death of the child put an end to Barnum's attempt to create a race of dwarfs. Tom Thumb died in June 1883. General Mite who was exhibited here last year, was even smaller than Tom Thumb, being but 21 inches in height. Birmingham, however, need not send abroad for specimens of this kind, "Robin Goodfellow" chronicling the death on Nov. 27, 1878, of a poor unfortunate named Thomas Field, otherwise the "Man-baby," who, though twenty-four years of age, was but 30 inches high and weighed little over 20lbs., and who had never walked or talked. The curious in such matters may, on warm, sunny mornings, occasionally meet, in the neighbourhood of Bromsgrove Street, a very intelligent little man not much if any bigger than the celebrated Tom Thumb, but who has never been made a show of.

Dynamite Manufacture.—See "Notable Offences."

Ear and Throat Infirmary.—See "Hospitals."

Earthquakes are not of such frequent occurrence in this country as to require much notice. The first we find recorded (said to be the greatest known here) took place in November, 1318; others were felt in this country in May, 1332; April, 1580; November, 1775; November, 1779; November, 1852, and October, 1863.

Easy Row, or Easy Hill, as Baskerville delighted to call the spot he had chosen for a residence. When Mr. Hanson was planning out the Town Hall, there were several large elm trees still standing in Easy Row, by the corner of Edmund Street, part of the trees which constituted Baskerville's Park, and in the top branches of which the rooks still built their nests. The entrance to Broad Street had been narrow, and bounded by a lawn enclosed with posts and chains, reaching to the elm trees, but the increase of traffic had necessitated the removal (in 1838) of the grassplots and the fencing, though the old trees were left until 1847, by which time they were little more than skeletons of trees, the smoky atmosphere having long since stopped all growth.

Eccentrics.—There are just a few now to be found, but in these days of heaven-sent artists and special-born politicians, it would be an invidious task to chronicle their doings, or dilate on their peculiar idiosyncracies, and we will only note a few of the queer characters of the past, leaving to the future historian the fun of laughing at our men of to-day. In 1828 the man of mark was "Dandie Parker," a well-to-do seedsman, who, aping Beau Brummel in gait and attire, sought to be the leader of fashion. He was rivalled, a little while after, by one Meyers, to see whom was a sight worth crossing the town, so firm and spruce was he in his favourite dress of white hat and white trousers, dark green or blue coat with gilt buttons, buff waistcoat, and stiff broad white neckcloth or stock, a gold-headed cane always in hand. By way of contrast to these worthies, at about the same period (1828-30) was one "Muddlepate Ward," the head of a family who had located themselves in a gravel pit at the Lozells, and who used to drive about the town with an old carriage drawn by pairs of donkeys and ponies, the harness being composed of odd pieces of old rope, and the whip a hedgestake with a bit of string, the whole turnout being as remarkable for dirt as the first-named "dandies" were for cleanliness.—"Billy Button" was another well-known but most inoffensive character, who died here May 3, 1838. His real name was never published, but he belonged to a good family, and early in life he had been an officer in the Navy (some of his biographers say "a commander"), but lost his senses when returning from a long voyage, on hearing of the sudden death of a young lady to whom he was to have been married, and he always answered to her name, Jessie. He went about singing, and the refrain of one of his favourite songs—

was for years after "Billy Button's" death the nightly "cry" of more than one peripatetic shellfishmonger. The peculiarity that obtained for the poor fellow his soubriquet of "Billy Button" arose from the habit he had of sticking every button he could get on to his coat, which at his death, was covered so thickly (and many buttons were of rare patterns), that it is said to have weighed over 30lbs.—"Jemmy the Rockman," who died here in September, 1866, in his 85th year, was another well-known figure in our streets for many years. His real name was James Guidney, and in the course of a soldier's life, he had seen strange countries, and possibly the climates had not in every case agreed with him, for, according to his own account, he had been favoured with a celestial vision, and had received angelic orders no longer to shave, &c. He obtained his living during the latter portion of his existence by retailing a medicinal sweet, which he averred was good for all sorts of coughs and colds.—Robert Sleath, in 1788, was collector at a turnpike gate near Worcester, and, 'tis said, made George III. and all his retinue pay toll. He died here in November, 1804, when the following appeared in print:—

Eclipses, more or less partial, are of periodical occurrence, though many are not observed in this country. Malmesbury wrote of one in 1410, when people were so frightened that they ran out of their houses. Jan. 12, 1679, there was an eclipse so complete that none could read at noonday when it occurred. May 3, 1715, gave another instance, it being stated that the stars could be seen, and that the birds went to roost at mid-day. The last total eclipse of the sun observed by our local astronomers (if Birmingham had such "plants") occurred on May 22, 1724. An account of the next one will be found in the Daily Mail, of August 12, 1999. On August 17, 1868, there was an eclipse of the sun (though not noticeable here) so perfect that its light was hidden for six minutes, almost the maximum possible interval, and it may be centuries before it occurs again.

Economy.—Our grandfathers, and their fathers, practised economy in every way possible, even to hiring out the able-bodied poor who had to earn the cost of their keep by spinning worsted, &c., and they thought so much of the bright moonlight that they warehoused the oil lamps intended for lighting the streets for a week at a time when the moon was at its full, and never left them burning after eleven o'clock at other times.

Edgbaston.—The name as written in the earliest known deeds, was at first Celbaldston, altered as time went on to Eggebaldston, Eggebaston, and Edgbaston. How long the family held the manor before the Conquest is unknown; but when Domesday Book was written (1086), the occupying tenant was one Drogo, who had two hides of land and half a mile of wood, worth 20s.; 325 acres were set down as being cultivated, though there were only ten residents. The Edgbastons held it from the lords of Birmingham, and they, in turn, from the lords of Dudley. Further than the family records the place has no history, only 100 years ago Calthorpe Road being nothing but a fieldpath, and Church Road, Vicarage Road, and Westbourne Road merely narrow lanes. After the opening up of these and other roads, building sites were eagerly sought by the more moneyed class of our local magnates, and the number of inhabitants now are sufficient to people a fair-sized town. In 1801 the population was under 1,000; in 1811, just over that number; in 1851, it was 9,269; in 1861, 12,900; in 1871, 17,442, and on last census day, 29,951; showing an increase of more than 1,000 a year at the present time; while what the rentals may amount to is only known inside "the estate office." Some writers say that the parish church dates from about the year 775. The earliest register book is that for 1635, which escaped the notice of Cromwell's soldiers, who nearly destroyed the church in 1648; and from an entry in the register of St. Sepulchre's Church, Northampton, for 1659, it would appear that there were collections made towards repairing the damage done by those worthies. This entry quaintly states that "seven shillings and sixpence" was received towards the repairs of the church of Edge Barston, in the county of Warwick, adding also that there was "never a minister in the said parish."

Edgbaston Hall.—The last of the Edgbastons was a lady by whose marriage the Middlemores came into possession, and for nearly three hundred years the old house echoed the footsteps of their descendants. In the troublous times of the Commonwealth, Edgbaston House and Church were seized by Colonel John Fox, the latter building being used as a stable for his horses, and the former garrisoned by the soldiers kept there to over-awe the gentry and loyal subjects of the country, to whom "Tinker Fox," as he was dubbed, was a continual terror. This worthy carried on so roughly that even the "Committee of Safety" (never particularly noted for kindness or even honesty) were ashamed of him, and restored the place to its owner, Robert Middlemore, the last of the name. By the marriages of his two grand-daughters the estate was divided, but the portion including the manor of Edgbaston was afterwards purchased by Sir Richard Gough, Knight, who gave £25,000 for it. In the meantime the old house had been destroyed by those peace-loving Brums, who, in December, 1688, razed to the ground the newly-built Catholic Church and Convent in Masshouse Lane, their excuse being that they feared the hated Papists would find refuge at Edgbaston. Sir Richard (who died February 9, 1727) rebuilt the Manor House and the Church in 1717-18, and enclosed the Park. His son Henry was created a Baronet, and had for his second wife the only daughter of Reginald Calthorpe, Esq., of Elvetham, in Hampshire. Sir Henry Gough died June 8, 1774, and his widow on the 13th of April, 1782, and on the latter event taking place, their son, who succeeded to the estates of both his parents, took his mother's family name of Calthorpe, and in 1796 was created a peer under the title of Baron Calthorpe, of Calthorpe, county Norfolk. Edgbaston Hall has not been occupied by any of the owners since the decease of Lady Gough, 1782.

Edgbaston Pool covers an area of twenty-two acres, three roods, and thirty-six poles.

Edgbaston Street.—One of the most ancient streets in the Borough, having been the original road from the parish church and the Manor-house of the Lords de Bermingham to their neighbours at Edgbaston. It was the first paved street of the town, and the chosen residence of the principal and most wealthy burgesses, a fact proved by its being known in King John's reign as "Egebaston Strete," the worde "strete" in those days meaning a paved way in cities or towns. This is further shown by the small plots into which the land was divided and the number of owners named from time to time in ancient deeds, the yearly rentals, even in Henry VIII's time being from 3s. to 5s. per year. At the back of the lower side of Edgbaston Street, were several tanneries, there being a stream of water running from the moat round the Parsonage-house to the Manor-house moat, the watercourse being now known as Dean Street and Smithfield Passage.

Electric Light.—The light of the future. The first public exhibition of lighting by electricity, was introduced by Maccabe, a ventriloquial entertainer of the public, at the entrance of Curzon Hall, September 30, 1878. On the 28th of the following month, the novelty appeared at the Lower Grounds, on the occasion of a football match at night, the kick-off and lighting-up taking place at seven o'clock. At the last Musical Festival, the Town Hall was lit up by Messrs. Whitfield, of Cambridge-street, and the novelty is no longer a rarity, a company having been formed to supply the houses, shops, and public buildings in the centre of the town.

Electro Plate.—As early as 1838, Messrs. Elkington were in the habit of coating ornaments with gold and silver by dipping them in various solutions of those metals, and the first patent taken out for the electro process appears to be that of July 6, 1838, for covering copper and brass with zinc. Mr. John Wright, a surgeon, of this town, was the first to use the alkaline cyanides, and the process was included in Elkington's patent of March 25, 1840. The use of electricity from magnets instead of the voltaic battery was patented by J.S. Wolrich, in August, 1842. His father was probably the first person who deposited metals for any practical purpose by means of the galvanic battery. Mr. Elkington applied the electro-deposit process to gilding and silverplating in 1840.—See "Trades," &c.

Electoral Returns.—See "Parliamentary."

Emigration.—In August, 1794, Mr. Russell, of Moor Green, and a magistrate for the counties of Warwick and Worcester, with his two brothers and their families, Mr. Humphries, of Camp Hill Villa, with a number of his relatives, and over a hundred other Birmingham families emigrated to America. Previous to this date we have no record of anything like an emigration movement from this town, though it is a matter of history how strenuously Matthew Boulton and other manufacturers exerted themselves to prevent the emigration of artisans and workpeople, fearing that our colonies would be enriched at the expense of the mother country. How sadly the times were changed in 1840, may be imagined from the fact that when free passages to Australia were first being offered, no less than 10,000 persons applied unsuccessfully from this town and neighbourhood alone. At the present time it is calculated that passages to America, Canada, Australia, &c., are being taken up here at an average of 3,000 a year.

Erdington.—Another of the ancient places (named in the Domesday Book as Hardingtone) surrounding Birmingham and which ranked as high in those days of old, though now but like one of our suburbs, four miles on the road to Sutton Coldfield. Erdington Hall, in the reign of Henry II., was the moated and fortified abode of the family of that name, and their intermarriages with the De Berminghams, &c., connected them with our local history in many ways. Though the family, according to Dugdale and others, had a chapel of their own, the hamlet appertained to the parish of Aston, to the mother church of which one Henry de Erdington added an isle, and the family arms long appeared in the heraldic tracery of its windows. Erdington Church (St. Barnabas) was built in 1823, as a chapel of ease to Aston, and it was not until 1858 that the district was formed into a separate and distinct ecclesiastical parish, the vicar of Aston being the patron of the living. In addition to the chapel at Oscott, the Catholics have here one of the most handsome places of worship in the district, erected in 1850 at a cost of over £20,000, a Monastery, &c., being connected therewith. Erdington, which has doubled its population within the last twenty years, has its Public Hall and Literary Institute, erected in 1864, Police Station, Post Office, and several chapels, in addition to the almshouses and orphanage, erected by Sir Josiah Mason, noticed in another part of this work. See also "Population Tables," &c.

Estate Agents.—For the purposes of general business, Kelly's Directory will be found the best reference. The office for the Calthorpe estate is at 65 Hagley Road; for the William Dudley Trust estates, at Imperial Chambers B, Colmore Row; for the Great Western Railway properties at 103, Great Charles Street; for the Heathfield Estate in Heathfield Road, Handsworth; for the Horton (Isaac) properties at 41, Colmore Row; Sir Joseph Mason's estate at the Orphanage, Erdington.

Exchange.—Corner of Stephenson Place and New Street, having a frontage of 64 feet to the latter, and 186 feet to the former. The foundation stone was laid January 2, 1863, the architect being Mr. Edward Holmes, and the building was opened January 2, 1865, the original cost being a little under £20,000. It has since been enlarged (1876-78) to nearly twice the original size, under the direction of Mr. J.A. Chatwin. The property and speculation of a private company, it was (December 2, 1880) incorporated, under the Joint Stock Companies' Act, and returns a fair dividend on the capital expended. In addition to the Exchange and Chamber of Commerce proper, with the usual secretarial and committee rooms appertaining thereto, refreshment, billiard, and retiring rooms, &c., there is a large assembly-room, frequently used for balls, concerts, and entertainments of a public character. The dimensions of the principal hall are 70 feet length, 40 feet width, with a height of 23 feet, the assembly-room above being same size, but loftier. The central tower is 110 feet high, the turret, in which there was placed a clock made by John Inshaw, to be moved by electro-magnetic power (but which is now only noted for its incorrectness), rising some 45 feet above the cornice. Other portions of the building are let off in offices.

Excise.—It is but rarely the Inland Revenue authorities give the public any information showing the amount of taxes gathered in by the officials, and the return, therefore, for the year ending March 31, 1879, laid before the House of Commons, is worth preserving, so far as the Birmingham collection goes. The total sum which passed through the local office amounted to £89,321, the various headings under which the payments were entered, being:—Beer dealers, £2,245; beer retailers, £7,161; spirit dealers, £1,617; spirit retailers, £8,901; wine dealers, £874; wine retailers, £2,392; brewers, £9,518; maltsters, £408; dealers in roasted malt, £17; manufacturers of tobacco, £147; dealers in tobacco, £1,462; rectifiers of spirits, £11; makers of methylated spirits, £10; retailers of methylated spirits, £33; vinegar makers, £26; chemists and others using stills, £4; male servants, £1,094; dogs, £1,786; carriages, £4,613; armorial bearings, £374; guns, £116; to kill game, £1,523; to deal in game, £136; refreshment houses, £366; makers and dealers in sweets, £18; retailers of sweets, £42; hawkers and pedlars, £68; appraisers and house agents, £132; auctioneers, £1,210; pawnbrokers, £1,958; dealers in plate, £1,749; gold and silver plate duty, £17,691; medicine vendors, £66; inhabited house duty, £21,533.

The Excise (or Inland Revenue) Offices are in Waterloo Street, and are open daily from 10 to 4.

Excursions.—The annual trip to the seaside, or the continent, or some other attractive spot, which has come to be considered almost an essential necessary for the due preservation of health and the sweetening of temper, was a thing altogether unknown to the old folks of our town, who, if by chance they could get as far as Lichfield, Worcester, or Coventry once in their lives, never ceased to talk about it as something wonderful. The "outing" of a lot of factory hands was an event to be chronicled in Aris's Gazette, whose scribes duly noted the horses and vehicles (not forgetting the master of the band, without whom the "gipsy party" could not be complete), and the destination was seldom indeed further than the Lickey, or Marston Green, or at rarer intervals, Sutton Coldfield or Hagley. Well-to-do tradesmen and employers of labour were satisfied with a few hours spent at some of the old-style Tea Gardens, or the Crown and Cushion, at Perry Barr, Aston Cross or Tavern, Kirby's, or the New Inn, at Handsworth, &c. The Saturday half-holiday movement, which came soon after the introduction of the railways, may be reckoned as starting the excursion era proper, and the first Saturday afternoon trip (in 1854) to the Earl of Bradford's, at Castle Bromwich, was an eventful episode even in the life of George Dawson, who accompanied the trippites. The railway trips of the late past and present seasons are beyond enumeration, and it needs not to be said that anyone with a little spare cash can now be whisked where'er he wills, from John-o'-Groats to the Land's End, for a less sum than our fathers paid to see the Shrewsbury Show, or Lady Godiva's ride at Coventry. As it was "a new departure," and for future reference, we will note that the first five-shilling Saturday-night-to-Monday-morning trip to Llandudno came off on August 14, 1880. The railway companies do not fail to give ample notice of all long excursions, and for those who prefer the pleasant places in our own district, there is a most interesting publication to be had for 6d., entitled "The Birmingham Saturday Half-holiday Guide," wherein much valuable information is given respecting the nooks and corners of Warwick and Worcester, and their hills and dales.

Executions.—In 1729 a man was hung on Gibbett Hill, site of Oscott College, for murder and highway robbery. Catherine Evans was hung February 8, 1742, for the murder of her husband in this town. At the Summer Assizes in 1773, James Duckworth, hopfactor and grocer, of this town, was sentenced to death for counterfeiting and diminishing the gold coin. He was supposed to be one of the heaviest men in the county, weighing over twenty-four stone. He died strongly protesting his innocence, On the 22nd Nov., 1780, Wilfrid Barwick, a butcher, was robbed and murdered near the four mile stone on the Coleshill Road. The culprits were two soldiers, named John Hammond (an American by birth) and Thomas Pitmore (a native of Cheshire) but well known as "Jack and Tom," drummer and fifer in the recruiting service here. They were brought before the magistrates at the old Public Office in Dale End; committed; and in due course tried and sentenced at Warwick to be hanged and gibbeted on Washwood Heath, near the scene of the murder. The sentence was carried out April 2, 1781, the bodies hanging on the gibbet in chains a short time, until they were surreptitiously removed by some humanitarian friends who did not approve of the exhibition. What became of the bodies was not known until the morning of Thursday, Jan. 20, 1842, when the navvies employed on the Birmingham and Derby (now Midland) railway came upon the two skeletons still environed in chains when they were removing a quantity of earth for the embankment. The skeletons were afterwards reinterred under an apple-tree in the garden of the Adderley Arms, Saltley, and the gibbet-irons were taken as rarities to the Aston Tavern, where, possibly, inquisitive relic-mongers may now see them. Four persons were hung for highway robbery near Aston Park, April 2, 1790. Seven men were hung at Warwick, in 1800, for forgery, and one for sheep-stealing. They hung people at that time for crimes which are now punished by imprisonment or short periods of penal servitude, but there was little mercy combined with the justice then, and what small portion there happened to be was never doled out in cases where the heinous offence of forgery had been proved. On Easter Monday (April 19), 1802, there was another hanging match at Washwood Heath, no less than eight unfortunate wretches suffering the penalty of the law for committing forgeries and other crimes in this neighbourhood. There would seem to have been some little excitement in respect to this wholesale slaughter, and perhaps fears of a rescue were entertained, for there were on guard 240 of the King's Dragoon Guards, then stationed at our Barracks, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Toovey Hawley, besides a detachment sent from Coventry as escort with the prisoners. The last public execution here under the old laws was that of Philip Matsell, who was sentenced to be hanged for shooting a watchman named Twyford, on the night of July 22, 1806. An alibi was set up in defence, and though it was unsuccessful, circumstances afterwards came to light tending to prove that though Matsell was a desperado of the worst kind, who had long kept clear of the punishments he had deserved, in this instance he suffered for another. There was a disreputable gang with one of whom, Kate Pedley, Matsell had formed an intimate connection, who had a grudge against Twyford on account of his interfering and preventing several robberies they had planned, and it is said that it was his paramour, Kit Pedley, who really shot Twyford, having dressed herself in Matsell's clothes while he was in a state of drunkenness. However, he was convicted and brought here (Aug. 23), from Warwick, sitting on his coffin in an open cart, to be executed at the bottom of Great Charles Street. The scaffold was a rough platform about ten feet high, the gallows rising from the centre thereof, Matsell having to stand upon some steps while the rope was adjusted round his neck. During this operation he managed to kick his shoes off among the crowd, having sworn that he would never die with his shoes on, as he had been many a time told would be his fate. The first execution at Winson Green Gaol was that of Henry Kimberley (March 17, 1885) for the murder of Mrs. Palmer.

Exhibitions.—It has long been matter of wonder to intelligent foreigners that the "Toyshop of the World" ("Workshop of the World" would be nearer the mark) has never organised a permanent exhibition of its myriad manufactures. There is not a city, or town, and hardly a country in the universe that could better build, fit up, or furnish such a place than Birmingham; and unless it is from the short-sighted policy of keeping samples and patterns from the view of rivals in trade—a fallacious idea in these days of commercial travellers and town agencies—it must be acknowledged our merchants and manufacturers are not keeping up with the times in this respect. Why should Birmingham be without its Crystal Palace of Industry when there is hardly an article used by man or woman (save food and dress materials) but what is made in her workshops? We have the men, we have the iron, and we have the money, too! And it is to be hoped that ere many years are over, some of our great guns will see their way to construct a local Exhibition that shall attract people from the very ends of the earth to this "Mecca" of ours. As it is, from the grand old days of Boulton and his wonderful Soho, down to to-day, there has been hardly a Prince or potentate, white, black, copper, or coffee coloured, who has visited England, but that have come to peep at our workshops, mayor after mayor having the "honour" to toady to them and trot them round the back streets and slums to where the men of the bench, the file, and the hammer have been diligently working generation after generation, for the fame and the name of our world-known town. As a mere money speculation such a show-room must pay, and the first cost, though it might be heavy, would soon be recouped by the influx of visitors, the increase of orders, and the advancement of trade that would result. There have been a few exhibitions held here of one sort and another, but nothing on the plan suggested above. The first on our file is that held at the Shakespeare rooms early in 1839, when a few good pictures and sundry specimens of manufactures were shown. This was followed by the comprehensive Mechanics' Institute Exhibition opened in Newhall Street, December 19th, same year, which was a success in every way, the collection of mechanical models, machinery, chemical and scientific productions, curiosities, &c., being extensive and valuable; it remained open thirteen weeks. In the following year this exhibition was revived (August 11, 1840), but so far as the Institute, for whose benefit it was intended, was concerned, it had been better if never held, for it proved a loss, and only helped towards the collapse of the Institute, which closed in 1841. Railway carriages and tramcars propelled by electricity are the latest wonders of 1883; but just three-and-forty years back, one of our townsmen, Mr. Henry Shaw, had invented an "electro-galvanic railway carriage and tender," which formed one of the attractions of this Exhibition. It went very well until injured by (it is supposed) some spiteful nincompoop who, not having the brain to invent anything himself, tried to prevent others doing so. The next Exhibition, or, to be more strictly correct, "Exposition of Art and Manufactures," was held in the old residence of the Lloyd's family, known as Bingley House, standing in its own grounds a little back from Broad Street, and on the site of the present Bingley Hall. This was in 1849, and from the fact of its being visited (Nov. 12) by Prince Albert, who is generally credited with being the originator of International Exhibitions, it is believed that here he obtained the first ideas which led to the great "World's Fair" of 1851, in Hyde Park.—Following the opening of Aston Hall by Her Majesty in 1858, many gentlemen of position placed their treasures of art and art manufacture at the disposal of the Committee for a time, and the result was the collecting together of so rich a store that the London papers pronounced it to be after the "Great Exhibition" and the Manchester one, the most successful, both as regarded contents and attendance, of any Exhibition therebefore held out of the Metropolis. There were specimens of some of the greatest achievements in the arts of painting, sculpture, porcelain and pottery, carving and enamelling; ancient and modern metalwork, rich old furniture, armour, &c, that had ever been gathered together, and there can be little doubt that the advance which has since taken place in the scientific and artistic trade circles of the town spring in great measure from this Exhibition.—On the 28th of August, 1865, an Industrial Exhibition was opened at Bingley Hall, and so far as attendance went, it must take first rank, 160,645 visitors having passed the doors.

Agricultural Exhibitions.—The Birmingham Agricultural Exhibition Society, who own Bingley Hall, is the same body as the old Cattle Show Society, the modern name being adopted in 1871. As stated elsewhere, the first Cattle Show was held in Kent Street, Dec. 10, 1849; the second in Bingley Hall, which was erected almost solely for the purposes of this Society, and here they have acquired the name of being the best in the kingdom. To give the statistics of entries, sales, admissions, and receipts at all the Shows since 1849, would take more space than can be afforded, and though the totals would give an idea of the immense influence such Exhibitions must have on the welfare and prosperity of the agricultural community, the figures themselves would be but dry reading, and those for the past few years will suffice.

1887 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883.

Cattle 113 125 152 108 161 150 101

Sheep 69 91 64 47 88 85 75

Pigs 64 73 52 60 58 67 69

Corn 27 58 29 36 55 67 66

Roots 94 112 175 182 124 131 117

Potatoes 76 116 138 88 104 96 187

Poultry 2077 2149 2197 2247 2409 2489 2816

Pigeons 629 715 702 815 902 838 1332

3149 3439 3505 3583 3901 3923 4763

1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883.

No. of Visitors 53,501 65,830 38,536 47,321 55,361 50,226

Receipts £1,673 £1,997 £1,206 £1,585 £1,815 £1,665

[Transcriber's note: No figures are given in the original for 1883 in this table.]

In addition to the Christmas Cattle Show, the Society commenced in March, 1869, a separate exhibition and sale of pure-bred shorthorns, more than 400 beasts of this class being sent every year. Indeed, the last show is said to have been the largest ever held in any country. The value of the medals, cups, and prizes awarded at these cattle shows averages nearly £2,400 per year, many of them being either subscribed for or given by local firms and gentlemen interested in the breeding or rearing of live stock. One of the principal of these prizes is the Elkington Challenge Cup, valued at 100 guineas, which, after being won by various exhibitors during the past ten years, was secured at the last show by Mr. John Price, who had fulfilled the requirements of the donors by winning it three times. Messrs. Elkington & Co. have most liberally given another cup of the same value. In 1876, for the first time since its establishment in 1839, the Royal Agricultural Society held its exhibition here, the ground allotted for its use being seventy acres at the rear of Aston Hall, twenty-five acres being part of the Park itself. That it was most successful may be gathered from the fact that over 265,000 persons visited the show, which lasted from July 19th to 24th.

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 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882

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:—

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.

Fire Insurance Companies.—The Birmingham dates its establishment from March 1805. All the companies now in existence are more or less represented here by agents, and no one need be uninsured long, as their offices are so thick on the ground round Bennet's Hill and Colmore Row, that it has been seriously suggested the latter thoroughfare should he rechristened and be called Insurance Street. It was an agent who had the assurance to propose the change.

Fish.—In April, 1838, a local company was floated for the purpose of bringing fish from London and Liverpool. It began swimmingly, but fish didn't swim to Birmingham, and though several other attempts have been made to form companies of similar character, the trade has been kept altogether in private hands, and to judge from the sparkling rings to be seen on the hands of the ladies who condescend to sell us our matutinal bloaters in the Market Hall, the business is a pretty good one—and who dare say those dames de salle are not also pretty and good? The supply of fish to this town, as given by the late Mr. Hanman, averaged from 50 to 200 tons per day (one day in June, 1879, 238 tons came from Grimsby alone) or, each in its proper season, nearly as follows:—Mackerel, 2,000 boxes of about 2 cwt. each; herrings, 2,000 barrels of 1-1/2 cwt. each; salmon, 400 boxes of 2-1/2 cwt. each; lobsters, 15 to 20 barrels of 1 cwt. each; crabs, 50 to 60 barrels of 1-1/4 cwt. each; plaice, 1,500 packages of 2 cwt. each; codfish, 200 barrels of 2 cwt. each; conger eels, 20 barrels of 2 cwt. each; skate, 10 to 20 barrels of 2 cwt. each.—See "Markets."

Fishing.—There is very little scope for the practice of Isaac Walton's craft near to Birmingham, and lovers of the gentle art must go farther afield to meet with good sport. The only spots within walking distance are the pools at Aston Park and Lower Grounds, at Aston Tavern, at Bournbrook Hotel (or, as it is better known, Kirby's), and at Pebble Mill, in most of which may be found perch, roach, carp, and pike. At Pebble Mill, March 20, last year, a pike was captured 40 inches long, and weighing 22 lbs., but that was a finny rarity, and not likely to be met with there again, as the pool (so long the last resort of suicidally inclined mortals) is to be filled up. A little farther off are waters at Sarehole, at Yardley Wood, and the reservoir at King's Norton, but with these exceptions anglers must travel to their destinations by rail. There is good fishing at Sutton Coldfield, Barnt Green (for reservoir at Tardebigge), Alcester, Shustoke, Salford Priors, and other places within a score of miles, but free fishing nowhere. Anyone desirous of real sport should join the Birmingham and Midland Piscatorial Association (established June, 1878), which rents portions of the river Trent and other waters. This society early in 1880, tried their hands at artificial salmon-hatching, one of the tanks of the aquarium at Aston Lower Grounds being placed at their disposal. They were successful in bringing some thousand or more of their interesting protegees from the ova into fish shape, but we cannot find the market prices for salmon or trout at all reduced.

Fishmongers' Hall.—Not being satisfied with the accommodation provided for them in the Fish Market, the Fish and Game Dealers' Association, at their first annual meeting (Feb. 13, 1878), proposed to erect a Fishmongers' Hall, but they did not carry out their intention.

Flogging.—In "the good old days," when George the Third was King, it was not very uncommon for malefactors to be flogged through the streets, tied to the tail end of a cart. In 1786 several persons, who had been sentenced at the Assizes, were brought back here and so whipped through the town; and in one instance, where a young man had been caught filching from the Mint, the culprit was taken to Soho works, and in the factory yard, there stripped and flogged by "Black Jack" of the Dungeon, as a warning to his fellow-workmen. This style of punishment would hardly do now, but if some few of the present race of "roughs" could be treated to a dose of "the cat" now and then, it might add considerably to the peace and comfort of the borough. Flogging by proxy was not unknown in some of the old scholastic establishments, but whipping a scarecrow seems to have been the amusement on February 26th. 1842, when Sir Robert Peel, at that day a sad delinquent politically, was publicly flogged in elligy.

Floods—The milldams at Sutton burst their banks, July 24, 1668, and many houses were swept away.—On the 24th November, 1703, a three days' storm arose which extended over the whole kingdom; many parts of the Midlands being flooded and immense damage caused, farmers' live stock especially suffering. 15,000 sheep were drowned in one pan of Gloucestershire; several men and hundreds of sheep near to Worcester; the losses in Leicestershire and Staffordshire being also enormous. Though there is no local record respecting it here, there can be little doubt that the inhabitants had their share of the miseries.—July 2, 1759, a man and several horses were drowned in a flood near Meriden.— Heavy rains caused great floods here in January, 1764.—On April 13, 1792, a waterspout, at the Lickey Hills, turned the Rea into a torrent. —The lower parts of the town were flooded through the heavy rain of June 26, 1830.—There were floods in Deritend and Bordesley, Nov. 11, 1852.—June 23, 1861, parts of Aston, Digbeth, and the Parade were swamped.—Feb. 8, 1865, Hockley was flooded through the bursting of the Canal banks; and a simmilar accident to the Worcester Canal, May 25, 1872, laid the roads and gardens about Wheeley's Road under water.— There were very heavy rains in July and October, 1875, causing much damage in the lower parts of the town.—Aug. 2 and 3, 1879, many parts of the outskirts were flooded, in comparatively the shortest time in memory.

Flour Mills.—The Union Mill Co. (now known as the Old Union, &c.) was formed early in 1796, with a capital of £7,000 in £1 shares, each share-holder being required to take a given amount of bread per week. Though at starting it was announced that the undertaking was not intended for profit,—such were the advantages derived from the operations of the Company that the shareholders it is said, in addition to a dividend of 10 per cent., received in the course of couple of years a benefit equal to 600 per cent, in the shape of reduced prices. Large dividends have at times been received, but a slightly different tale is now told.—The New Union Mill was started in 1810; the Snow Hill Mill about 1781; the Britannia Mills in 1862.

Fly Vans.—"Fly Boats" to the various places connected with Birmingham by the canals were not sufficient for our townspeople seventy years ago, and an opposition to the coaches started in 1821, in the shape of Fly Vans or light Post Waggons, was hailed with glee. These Fly Vans left the Crescent Wharf (where Showell and Sons' Stores are now) three evenings a week, and reached Sheffield the following day. This was the first introduction of a regular "parcels' post," though the authorities would not allow of anything like a letter being sent with a parcel, if they knew it.

Foolish Wager.—On July 8,1758, for a wager, a man named Moraon got over the battlements of the tower at St. Martin's, and safely let himself down to the ground (a distance of 73 feet) without rope or ladder, his strength of muscle enabling him to reach from cornerstone to cornerstone, and cling thereto as he descended.

Football.—See "Sports."

Forgeries.—The manufacture of bogus bank-notes was carried on here, at one time, to an alarming extent, and even fifty years ago, though he was too slippery a fish for the authorities to lay hold of, it was well-known there was a clever engraver in the Inkleys who would copy anything put before him for the merest trifle, even though the punishment was most severe. Under "Notable Offences" will be found several cases of interest in this peculiar line of business.

Forks.—Our ancestors did without them, using their fingers. Queen Elizabeth had several sent to her from Spain, but she seldom used them, and we may be quite sure it was long after that ere the taper fingers of the fair Brums ceased to convey the titbits to their lips. Even that sapient sovereign, James I., the Scotch Solomon, did not use the foreign invention, believing possibly with the preacher who denounced them in the pulpit that it was an insult to the Almighty to touch the meat prepared for food with anything but one's own fingers. Later on, when the coaches began to throng the road, gentlemen were in the habit of carrying with them their own knife and fork for use, so seldom were the latter articles to be found at the country inns, and the use of forks cannot be said to have become general more than a hundred years ago.

Forward.—The self-appropriated motto of our borough, chosen at one of the earliest committee meetings of the Town Council in 1839. Mr. William Middlemore is said to have proposed the use of the word as being preferable to any Latin, though "Vox populi, vox Dei," and other like appropriate mottoes, have been suggested. Like all good things, however, the honour of originating this motto has been contested, the name of Robert Crump Mason having been given as its author.

Fogs.—Bad as it may be now and then in the neighbourhood of some of our works, it there is one thing in nature we can boast of more than another, it is our comparatively clear atmosphere, and it is seldom that we are troubled with fogs of any kind. In this respect, at all events, the Midland metropolis is better off than its Middlesex namesake, with its "London particular," as Mr. Guppy calls it. But there was one day (17th) in December, 1879, when we were, by some atmospheric phenomena, treated to such "a peasouper" that we must note it as being the curiosity of the day, the street traffic being put a stop to while the fog lasted.

Folk-lore.—Funny old sayings are to be met with among the quips and quirks of "folk-lore" that tickled the fancies of our grandfathers. The following is to [**] with several changes, but it [**] good to be lost:—

Fountains.—Messrs. Messenger and Sons designed, executed, and erected, to order of the Street Commissioners, in 1851, a very neat, and for the situation, appropriate, fountain in the centre of the Market Hall, but which has since been removed to Highgate Park, where it appears sadly out of place.

A number of small drinking-fountains or taps have been presented to the town by benevolent persons (one of the neatest being that put up at the expense of Mr. William White in Bristol Road in 1876), and granite cattle-troughs are to be found in Constitution Hill, Icknield Street, Easy Row, Albert Street, Gosta Green, Five Ways, &c. In July, 1876, Miss Ryland paid for the erection of a very handsome fountain at the bottom of Bradford Street, in near proximity to the Smith field. It is so constructed as to be available for quenching the thirst not only of human travellers, but also of horses, dogs, &c., and on this account it has been appropriately handed over to the care of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It is composed of granite, and as it is surmounted by a gas lamp, it is, in more senses than one, both useful and ornamental.—The fountain in connection with the Chamberlain Memorial, at back of Town Hall, is computed to throw out five million gallons of water per annum (ten hours per day), a part of which is utilised at the fishstalls in the markets. The Water Committee have lately put up an ornamental fountain in Hagley Road, in connection with the pipe supply for that neighbourhood.