SHOWELL'S
Dictionary of Birmingham.
Galton.—The family name of a once well-known firm of gun,
sword, and bayonet makers, whose town-house was in Steelhouse Lane,
opposite the Upper Priory. Their works were close by in Weaman Street,
but the mill for grinding and polishing the barrels and blades was at
Duddeston, near to Duddeston Hall, the Galton's country-house. It
was this firm's manufactury that Lady Selbourne refers to in her
"Diary," wherein she states that in 1765 she went to a
Quaker's "to see the making of guns." The strange
feature of members of the peace-loving Society of Friends being
concerned in the manufacture of such death-dealing implements was so
contrary to their profession, that in 1796, the Friends strongly
remonstrated with the Galtons, leading to the retirement of the senior
partner from the trade, and the expulsion of the junior from the body.
The mansion in Steelhouse Lane was afterwards converted into a
banking-house; then used for the purposes of the Polytechnic
Institution; next, after a period of dreary emptiness, fitted up as
the Children's Hospital, after the removal of which to Broad
Street, the old house has reverted to its original use, as the private
abode of Dr. Clay.
Gambetta.—The eminent French patriot was fined 2,000
francs for upholding the freedom of speech and the rights of the
press, two things ever dear to Liberal Birmingham, and it was proposed
to send him the money from here as a mark of esteem and sympathy. The
Daily Post took the matter in hand, and, after appealing to its
40,000 readers every day for some weeks, forwarded (November 10, 1877)
a draft for £80 17s. 6d.
Gaols.—The Town Gaol, or Lockup, at
the back of the Public Office, in Moor-street, was first used in
September, 1806. It then consisted of a courtyard, 59 ft. by 30 ft.
(enclosed by a 26 ft. wall) two day rooms or kitchens, 14 ft. square,
and sixteen sleeping cells, 8 ft. by 6 ft. The prisoners'
allowance was a pennyworth of bread and a slice of cheese twice a day,
and the use of the pump. Rather short commons, considering the 4 lb.
loaf often sold at 1s. The establishment, which is vastly improved and
much enlarged, is now used only as a place of temporary detention or
lockup, where prisoners are first received, and wait their
introduction to the gentlemen of the bench. The erection of the
Borough Gaol was commenced on October 29, 1845, and it was opened for
the reception of prisoners, October 17, 1849, the first culprit being
received two days afterwards. The estimated cost was put at
£51,447, but altogether it cost the town about £90,000,
about £70,000 of which has been paid off. In the year 1877,
three prisoners contrived to escape; one, John Sutcliffe, who got out
on July 25, not being recaptured till the 22nd of January following.
The others were soon taken back home. The gaol was taken over by the
government as from April 1, 1878, Mr. J.W. Preston, being appointed
Governor at a salary of £510, in place of Mr. Meaden, who had
received £450, with certain extras.—See "Dungeon" and "Prisons." The new County Goal
at Warwick was first occupied in 1860.
Gaol Atrocities.—The first Governor appointed to the
Borough Gaol was Captain Maconochie, formerly superintendent over the
convicts at Norfolk Island in the days of transportation of criminals.
He was permitted to try as an experiment a "system of
marks," whereby a prisoner, by his good conduct and industry,
could materially lessen the duration of his punishment, and, to a
certain extent improve his dietary. The experiment, though only tried
with prisoners under sixteen, proved very successful, and at one time
hopes were entertained that the system would become general in all the
gaols of the kingdom. So far as our gaol was concerned, however, it
proved rather unfortunate that Captain Maconochie, through advancing
age and other causes, was obliged to resign his position (July, 1851),
for upon the appointment of his successor, Lieutenant Austin, a
totally opposite course of procedure was introduced, a perfect reign
of terror prevailing in place of kindness and a humane desire to lead
to the reformation of criminals. In lieu of good marks for industry,
the new Governor imposed heavy penal marks if the tasks set them were
not done to time, and what these tasks were may be gathered from the
fact that in sixteen months no less than fifteen prisoners were driven
to make an attempt on their lives, through the misery and torture to
which they were exposed, three unfortunates being only too successful.
Of course such things could not be altogether hushed up, and after one
or two unsatisfactory "inquiries" had been held, a Royal
Commission was sent down to investigate matters. One case out of many
will be sufficient sample of the mercies dealt out by the governor to
the poor creatures placed under his care. Edward Andrews, a lad of 15,
was sent to gaol for three months (March 28, 1853) for stealing a
piece of beef. On the second day he was put to work at "the
crank," every turn of which was equal to lifting a weight of
20lbs., and he was required to make 2,000 revolutions before he had
any breakfast, 4,000 more before dinner, and another 4,000 before
supper, the punishment for not completing either of these tasks being
the loss of the meal following. The lad failed on many occasions, and
was fed almost solely on one daily, or, rather, nightly allowance of
bread and water. For shouting he was braced to a wall for hours at a
time, tightly cased in a horrible jacket and leather collar, his feet
being only moveable. In this position, when exhausted almost to death,
he was restored to sensibility by having buckets of water thrown over
him. What wonder that within a month he hung himself. A number of
similar cases of brutality were proved, and the Governor thought it
best to resign, but he was not allowed to escape altogether scot free,
being tried at Warwick on several charges of cruelty, and being
convicted, was sentenced by the Court of Queen's Bench to a term
of three months' imprisonment.
Garibaldi.—At a meeting of the Town Council, April 5,
1865, it was resolved to ask Garibaldi to pay a visit to this town,
but he declined the honour, as in the year previous he had similarly
declined to receive an offered town subscription.
Garrison.—Though a strong force was kept in the Barracks
in the old days of riot and turbulence, it is many years since we have
been favoured with more than a single company of red coats at a time,
our peaceful inland town not requiring a strong garrison.
Gardens.—A hundred to 150 years ago there was no town in
England better supplied with gardens than Birmingham, almost every
house in what are now the main thoroughfares having its plot of garden
ground. In 1731 there were many acres of allotment gardens (as they
came to be called at a later date) where St. Bartholomew's Church
now stands, and in almost every other direction similar pieces of land
were to be seen under cultivation. Public tea gardens were also to be
found in several quarters of the outskirts; the establishment known as
the Spring Gardens closing its doors July 31, 1801. The Apollo Tea
Gardens lingered on till 1846, and Beach's Gardens closed in
September, 1854.
Gas.—William Murdoch is generally
credited with the introduction of lighting by gas, but it is evident
that the inflammability of the gas producible from coal was known long
before his day, as the Rev. Dr. John Clayton, Dean of Kildare,
mentioned it in a letter he wrote to the Hon. Robert Boyle, in 1691.
The Dr.'s discovery was probably made during his stay in Virginia,
and another letter of his shows the probability of his being aware
that the gas would pass through water without losing its lighting
properties. The discovery has also been claimed as that of a learned
French savant but Murdoch must certainly take the honour of
being the first to bring gas into practical use at his residence, at
Redruth, in 1792, and it is said that he even made a lantern to light
the paths in his evening walks, the gas burned in which was contained
in a bag carried under his arm, his rooms being also lit up from a bag
of gas placed under weights. The exact date of its introduction in
this neighbourhood has not been ascertained though it is believed that
part of the Soho Works were fitted with gas-lights in 1798, and, on
the occurrence of the celebration of the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, a
public exhibition was made of the new light, in the illumination of
the works. The Gazette of April 5, 1802 (according to extract
by Dr. Langford, in his "Century of Birmingham Life")
described the various devices in coloured lamps and transparencies,
but strangely enough does not mention gas at all. Possibly gas was no
longer much of a novelty at Soho, or the reporter might not have known
the nature of the lights used, but there is the evidence of Mr. Wm.
Matthews, who, in 1827 published an "Historical Sketch of
Gaslighting," in which he states that he had "the
inexpressible gratification of witnessing, in 1802, Mr. Murdoch's
extraordinary and splendid exhibition of gaslights at Soho." On
the other hand, the present writer was, some years back, told by one
of the few old Soho workmen then left among us, that on the occasion
referred to the only display of gas was in the shape of one large lamp
placed at one end of the factory, and then called a "Bengal
light," the gas for which was brought to the premises in several
bags from Mr. Murdoch's own house. Though it has been always
believed that the factory and offices throughout were lighted by gas
in 1803, very soon after the Amiens illumination, a correspondent to
the Daily Post has lately stated that when certain of his
friends went to Soho, in 1834, they found no lights in use, even for
blowpipes, except oil and candles and that they had to lay on gas from
the mains of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Company in the
Holyhead Road. If correct, this is a curious bit of the history of the
celebrated Soho, as other manufacturers were not at all slow in
introducing gas for working purposes as well as lighting, a well-known
tradesman, Benjamin Cook, Caroline Street, having fitted up retorts
and a gasometer on his premises in 1808, his first pipes being
composed of old or waste gun-barrels, and he reckoned to clear a
profit of £30 a year, as against his former expenditure for
candles and oil. The glassworks of Jones, Smart, and Co., of Aston
Hill, were lit up by gas as early as 1810, 120 burners being used at a
nightly cost of 4s. 6d., the gas being made on the premises from a
bushel of coal per day. The first proposal to use gas in lighting the
streets of Birmingham was made in July 1811, and here and there a lamp
soon appeared, but they were supplied by private firms, one of whom
afterwards supplied gas to light the chapel formerly on the site of
the present Assay Office, taking it from their works in Caroline
Street, once those of B. Cook before-mentioned. The Street
Commissioners did not take the matter in hand till 1815, on November 8
of which year they advertised for tenders for lighting the streets
with gas instead of oil. The first shop in which gas was used was that
of Messrs. Poultney, at the corner of Moor Street, in 1818, the pipes
being laid from the works in Gas Street by a private individual, whose
interest therein was bought up by the Birmingham Gaslight Company. The
principal streets were first officially lighted by gas-lamps on April
29, 1826, but it was not until March, 1843, that the Town Council
resolved that that part of the borough within the parish of Edgbaston
should be similarly favoured.
Gas Companies.—The first, or Birmingham Gaslight Co. was
formed in 1817, incorporated in 1819, and commenced business by buying
up the private adventurer who built the works in Gas Street. The
Company was limited to the borough of Birmingham, and its original
capital was £32,000, which, by an Act obtained in 1855, was
increased to £300,000, and borrowing powers to £90,000
more, the whole of which was raised or paid up. In the year 1874 the
company supplied gas through 17,000 meters, which consumed 798,000,000
cubic feet of gas. The Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Co. was
established in 1825, and had powers to lay their mains in and outside
the borough. The original Act was repealed in 1845, the company being
remodelled and started afresh with a capital of £320,000,
increased by following Acts to £670,000 (all called up by 1874),
and borrowing powers to £100,000, of which, by the same year
£23,000 had been raised. The consumption of gas in 1874 was
1,462,000,000 cubic feet, but how much of this was burnt by the
company's 19,910 Birmingham customers, could not be told. The two
companies, though rivals for the public favour, did not undersell one
another, both of them charging 10/-per 1,000 feet in the year 1839,
while in 1873 large consumers were only charged 2/3 per 1,000 feet,
the highest charge being 2/7. The question of buying out both of the
Gas Companies had been frequently mooted, but it was not until 1874
that any definite step was taken towards the desired end. On April
17th, 1874, the burgesses recorded 1219 votes in favour of Mr. Joseph
Chamberlain's proposition to purchase the Gas [and the Water]
Works, 683 voting against it. On Jan. 18th, 1875, the necessary Bills
were introduced into the House of Commons, and on July 15th and 19th,
the two Acts were passed, though not without some little opposition
from the outlying parishes and townships heretofore supplied by the
Birmingham and Staffordshire Co., to satisfy whom a clause was
inserted, under which Walsall, West Bromwich, &c., could purchase
the several mains and works in their vicinity, if desirous to do so.
The Birmingham Gas Co. received from the Corporation £450,000,
of which £136,890 was to be left on loan at 4%, as Debenture
Stock, though £38,850 thereof has been kept in hand, as the
whole was redeemable within ten years. The balance of £313,000
was borrowed from the public at 4%, and in some cases a little less.
The Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Co. were paid in Perpetual
Annuities, amounting to £58,290 per year, being the maximum
dividends then payable on the Co.'s shares, £10,906 was
returned as capital not bearing interest, £15,000 for surplus
profits, £30,000 the half-year's dividend, and also
£39,944 5s. 4d. the Co's Reserve Fund. The total cost was
put down as £1,900,000. The Annuities are redeemable by a
Sinking Fund in 85 years. For their portion of the mains, service
pipes, works, &c. formerly belonging to the Birmingham and
Staffordshire Company, the Walsall authorities pay the Corporation an
amount equivalent to annuities valued at £1,300 per year;
Oldbury paid £22,750, Tipton £34,700, and West Bromwich
£70,750.
Gas Fittings.—Curious notions appear to have been at
first entertained as to the explosive powers of the new illuminator,
nothing less than copper or brass being considered strong enough for
the commonest piping, and it was thought a great innovation when a
local manufacturer, in 1812, took out a patent for lead pipes
copper-coated. Even Murdoch himself seems to have been in dread of the
burning element, for when, in after years, his house at Sycamore Hill
changed owners, it was found that the smaller gas pipes therein were
made of silver, possibly used to withstand the supposed corrosive
effects of the gas. The copper-covered lead pipes were patented in
1819 by Mr. W. Phipson, of the Dog Pool Mills, the present compo being
comparatively a modern introduction. Messengers, of Broad Street, and
Cook, of Caroline Street (1810-20), were the first manufacturers of
gas fittings in this town, and they appear to have had nearly a
monopoly of the trade, as there were but three others in it in 1833,
and only about twenty in 1863; now their name is legion, gas being
used for an infinitude of purposes, not the least of which is by the
gas cooking stove, the idea of which was so novel at first that the
Secretary of the Gas Office in the Minories at one time introduced it
to the notice of the public by having his dinner daily cooked in a
stove placed in one of the office windows. An exhibition of gas
apparatus of all kinds was opened at the Town Hall, June 5, 1878, and
that there is still a wonderful future for development is shown by its
being seriously advocated that a double set of mains will be
desirable, one for lighting gas, and the other for a less pure kind to
be used for heating purposes.
Gas Works.—See "Public Buildings."
Gavazzi.—Father Gavazzi first orated here in the Town
Hall, October 20, 1851.
Geographical.—According to the Ordnance Survey,
Birmingham is situated in latitude 52° 29', and longitude
1° 54' west.
Gillott.—See "Noteworthy Men."
Girls' Home.—Eighteen years ago several kind-hearted
ladies opened a house in Bath Row, for the reception of servant girls
of the poorest class, who, through their poverty and juvenility, could
not be sheltered in the "Servants' Home," and that such
an establishment was needed, is proved by the fact that no less than
334 inmates were sheltered for a time during 1883, while 232 others
received help in clothing &c., suited to their wants. The Midland
Railway having taken Bath House, the Home has lately been removed to a
larger house near the Queen's Hospital, where the managers will be
glad to receive any little aid that can be rendered towards carrying
on their charitable operations.
Glass.—In the reign of Henry VI. the commonest kind of
glass was sold at 2s. the foot, a shilling in those days being of as
much value as a crown of today. The earliest note we can find of glass
being made here is the year 1785, when Isaac Hawker built a small
glasshouse behind his shop at Edgbaston Street. His son built at
Birmingham Heath on the site now occupied by Lloyd and Summerfield. In
1798 Messrs. Shakespeare and Johnston had a glasshouse in Walmer Lane.
Pressed glass seems to have been the introduction of Rice Harris about
1832, though glass "pinchers" (eleven of them) are named in
the Directory of 1780. In 1827 plate-glass sold at 12s. per foot and
in 1840 at 6s., ordinary sheet-glass being then 1s. 2d. per foot.
There was a duty on plate-glass prior to April 5, 1845, of 2s.
10-1/2d. per foot. The "patent plate" was the invention of
Mr. James Chance, and Chance Brothers (of whose works a notice will be
found in another part of this book) are the only manufacturers in this
country of glass for lighthouse purposes—See also "Trades," &c.
Godwillings.—In olden days when our factors started on
their tours for orders, it was customary to send a circular in advance
announcing that "God willing" they would call upon their
customers on certain specified dates. In the language of the
counting-house the printed circulars were called
"Godwillings."
Goldschmidt.—Notes of the various visits of Madame
Goldschmidt, better known by her maiden name of Jenny Lind, will be
found under the heading of "Musical Celebrities."
Good Templars.—The Independent Order of Good Templars, in
this town, introduced themselves in 1868, and they now claim to have
90,000 adult members in the "Grand Lodge of England."
Gordon.—Lord George Gordon, whose intemperate actions
caused the London Anti-Papist Riots of 1780, was arrested in this town
December 7, 1787, but not for anything connected with those
disgraceful proceedings. He had been found guilty of a libel, and was
arrested on a judge's warrant, and taken from here to London, for
contempt of the Court of King's Bench in not appearing when called
upon to do so. It has been more than once averred that Lord George was
circumcised here, before being admitted to the Jewish community, whose
rites and ceremonies, dress and manners, he strictly observed and
followed; but he first became a Jew while residing in Holland, some
time before he took lodgings in such a classic locality as our old
Dudley-street, where he lay hidden for nearly four months, a long
beard and flowing gaberdine helping to conceal his identity.
Gough.—Gough Road, Gough Street, and a number of other
thoroughfares have been named after the family, from whom the present
Lord Calthorpe, inherits his property.—See "Edgbaston Hall."
Grammar School.—See "Schools."
Great Brooke Street takes its name from Mr. Brookes, an
attorney of the olden time.
Great Eastern Steamship.—The engines for working the
screw propeller, 4 cylinders and 8,500 horse-power (nominal 1,700)
were sent out from the Soho Foundry.
Green's Village.—Part of the old [**]ookeries in the
neighbourhood of the [**]nkleys.
Grub Street.—The upper part of Old Meeting Street was so
called until late years.
Guardians.—See "Poor Law."
Guildhall.—The operative builders commenced to put up an
edifice in 1833 which they intended to call "The Guildhall,"
but it was only half finished when the ground was cleared for the
railway. Some of the local antiquaries strongly advocated the adoption
of the name "Guildhall" for the block of municipal buildings
and Council House, if only in remembrance of the ancient building on
whose site, in New Street, the Grammar School now stands.
Guild of the Holy Cross.—Founded in the year 1392 by the
"Bailiffs and Commonalty" of the town of Birmingham
(answering to our aldermen and councillors), and licensed by the
Crown, for which the town paid £50, the purpose being to
"make and found a gild and perpetual fraternity of brethren and
sustern (sisters), in honour of the Holy Cross," and "to
undertake all works of charity, &c., according to the appointment
and pleasure of the said bailiffs and commonalty." In course of
time the Guild became possessed of all the powers then exercised by
the local corporate authorities, taking upon themselves the building
of almshouses, the relief and maintenance of the poor, the making and
keeping in repair of the highways used by "the King's
Majestie's subjects passing to and from the marches of
Wales," looking to the preservation of sundry bridges and lords,
as well as repair of "two greate stone brydges," &c.,
&c. The Guild owned considerable portion of the land on which the
present town is built, when Henry VIII., after confiscating the
revenues and possessions of the monastic institutions, laid hands on
the property of such semi-religious establishments as the Guild of the
Holy Cross. It has never appeared that our local Guild had done
anything to offend the King, and possibly it was but the name that he
disliked. Be that as it may, his son, Edward VI., in 1552, at the
petition of the inhabitants, returned somewhat more than half of the
property, then valued at £21 per annum, for the support and
maintenance of a Free Grammar School, and it is this property from
which the income of the present King Edward VI.'s Grammar Schools
is now derived, amounting to nearly twice as many thousands as pounds
were first granted. The Guild Hall or Town's Hall in New Street
(then only a bye street), was not quite so large as either our
present Town Hall or the Council House, but was doubtless considered
at the time a very fine building, with its antique carvings and
stained glass windows emblazoned with figures and armorial bearings of
the Lords right Ferrers and others. As the Guild had an organist in
its pay, it may be presumed that such an instrument was also there,
and that alone goes far to prove the fraternity were tolerably well
off, as organs in those times were costly and scarce. The old
building, for more than a century after King Edward's grant, was
used as the school, but even when rebuilt it retained its name as the
Guild Hall.
Guns.—Handguns, as they were once termed, were first
introduced into this country by the Flemings whom Edward IV. brought
over in 1471, but (though doubtless occasional specimens were made by
our townsmen before then) the manufacture of small arms at Birmingham
does not date further back than 1689, when inquiries were made through
Sir Richard Newdigate as to the possibility of getting them made here
as good as those coming from abroad. A trial order given by Government
in March, 1692, led to the first contract (Jan. 5, 1693) made between
the "Officers of Ordnance" and five local manufacturers, for
the supply of 200 "snaphance musquets" every month for one
year at 17/-each, an additional 3/-per cwt. being allowed for carriage
to London. The history of the trade since then would form a volume of
itself, but a few facts of special note and interest will be given in
its place among "Trades."
Gutta Percha was not known in Europe prior to 1844, and the
first specimens were brought here in the following year. Speaking
tubes made of gutta percha were introduced early in 1849.
Gymnasium.—At a meeting held Dec. 18, 1865, under the
presidency of the Mayor, it was resolved to establish a public
gymnasium on a large scale, but an present it is non-existent, the
only gymnasium open being that of the Athletic Club at Bingley Hall.
