The Making of Birmingham: being a history of the rise and growth of the Midland metropolis ... With ... illustrations, etc

Front matter

THE MAKING OF BIRMINGHAM. j ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. l'.IRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE CENTRE OF BIRMINGHAM, FROM MASON COLLEGE THE IVIAKING OF BIRMINGHAM BEING A HISTORY OF THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE MIDLAND METROPOLIS, lev ROBERT K. DENT, Author of " Old and New Birmingham," etc. WITH 2 14 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM OLD PRINTS, ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, AND RECENT PHOTOGRAPHS. iBirmtiialiam : J. L. ALLDAY. London : Simpkin, Marshall and Co. 1894. TO MY OLD FRIEND JOSEPH HILL THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED AS A SMALL TOKEN OF AFFECTION AND ESTEEM. December, 1893.

Preface

. In attempting to re-tell the story of the Making of Birmingham, I have endeavoured to profit by the criticisms on my former work, to give directness and continuity, as far as possible, to the narrative, and to carry on the history of the town to the present time. During the fifteen years which have elapsed since the completion of the former work I have devoted my leisure hours to further research in the fascinating subject of the early history of our town, in which I have had the pleasure and advantage of being allied with some of the most devoted students of local archæology. From the materials accumulated during this period I trust I have been able to present a fuller picture of the life and growth of the town ; while the experience of the past has prevented undue proportion being given to some less important phases of old Birmingham life.

I cannot bring my work to a close without acknowledging the valuable help I have received from many quarters. To Mr. Sam : Timmins, F.S.A., I owe a deep debt of gratitude for the encouragement I have received from him during the progress of the work, for kindly criticism and assistance, and for the loan of valuable prints and drawings. To Mr. Joseph Hill, too, I am indebted for similar help and encouragement. The readiness with which the authors of various works on certain aspects of local history, biographies of local worthies, etc., have permitted me to make use of their books, and to reproduce engravings therefrom, calls for special acknowledgment. To Mr. J. Thackray Bunce, J. A. Langford, LL.D., Dr. S. Smiles, and others, I would express my gratitude for help in this direction. To collectors and owners of books, prints, and drawings, who have willingly lent me of their store, and allowed me to reproduce unique drawings and valuable prints, I also owe a debt of gratitude, and would here acknowledge the kind permission accorded to me by Sir J. B. Stone to reproduce a rare view of Old Vauxhall in his possession, and the kindness of Miss K. E. Bunce and Mr. C. M. Gere in allowing me to reproduce their picture panels illustrative of Birmingham history.

Mr. Alfred Osborne and Mr. E. H. New have freely placed at my disposal original drawings of Birmingham places, and to them also I would tender my sincere thanks. To Mr. J. D. Mullins, Chief Librarian of the Birmingham Free Libraries, Mr. C. E. Scarse, of the Birmingham Old Library, and the Archæological Section of the Midland Institute, my thanks are also due for the kindness with which they have allowed me to make use of the valuable collections of Birmingham books, etc., under their care. I should not omit also to thank Mr. W. C. Sullivan, editor of the Birmingham Daily Mail, for the permission accorded to me to reprint portions of a series of articles on the history of the Birmingham stage, which I contributed to that newspaper some years ago. The cordial manner in which the publisher, Mr. j. L. Allday, has entered into this project, sparing no expense in the copious illustration of the narrative, should not pass unrecorded.

He has, throughout the progress of the work, I believe, regarded its production as a manifestation of local patriotism rather than as a commercial undertaking. Both from himself and his staff I have met with unvarying kindness and consideration, and should be wanting in gratitude if I did not here express my sincere thanks to him and them. X PAGE XXIV. — Church and Dissent - - - - - 121 XXV. — Birmingham at Play - - - 125 XXVI.— The Lamp Act 130 XXVII. — Hanson's Plan of Birmingham and the Appearance of the Town in 1778 - 137 XXVIII. — The Founding of the Soho Factory and the History of Local Manufactures - 141 XXIX. — Social Life in Birmingham in the latter half of the Eighteenth Century 148 XXX. — Dr. Johnson and Edmund Hector - 159 1 776-1800. XXXI.- -Church and Dissent - - 163 XXXII.— Birmingham at Play - 173 XXXIII. — The Birmingham Library and Local Literature 183 XXXIV. — Passing Events, 1776-1791 - 192 XXXV. — The Birmingham Riots of July, 1791 - - 201 XXXVI.

After the Riots 217 XXXVII. — Passing Events, 1792-1800 225 XXXVIII. — The Appearance of the Town, 1800 237 XXXIX. — Boulton and Watt, and the Manufacture of the Steam Engine 243 XL. — The Birmingham Musical Festivals, 1 768-1 799 262 XLI. — The Eighteenth Century : A Retrospect 267 XLII. — The later Birmingham Coaches, and some of the notable visitors they brought - 269 1 801-1825. XLIII. — Church and Dissent - - - 278 XLIV. — Birmingham at Play - - - 285 XLV. — Passing Events - - - 298 XLVI. — Education, Literary and Artistic Societies, &c. - - 3x8 XLVII.— Medical Charities - - 328 XLVIII. — Appearance of the Town in 1825 - . 33I XLIX. — Local Manufactures - . 34 1 L. — Local Literature - - - 346 LI. — The Rise of the Political Union, 181 2-1832 _ 34g LII. — Political History, 183 2- 1850 - - - 366 LIII. — Local Government, 1801-1850 . 374 LIV. — The Birmingham Musical Festivals, 1802-1849 .

CONTENTS. XI 1826-1850. PAGE LV. — Birmingham and the Railway Movement - 398 LVI. — Church and Dissent - - 404 LVII. — Birmingham at Play - 415 LVIII. — Passing Events 422 LIX. — Educational, Literary, and Scientific Institutions - 438 LX. — Hospitals and other Charitable Institutions 445 LXI. — Birmingham in 1850 - - 448 LXII. — Local Manufactures - - 453 1851-1893. LXIII. — The Corporation and its work 458 LXIV— The Baths and Parks 484 LXV. The Free Libraries, Art Gallery, and Municipal School of Art 498 LXVL— Political History 509 LXVII. — Church and Dissent - 520 LXVIII. -Birmingham at Play 541 LXIX. — Educational and Literary Institutions 545 LXX.— Hospitals and other Charitable Institutions 551 LXXI. — Birmingham Musical Festivals since 1850 - 555 LXXII. — Notes of Progress, and Passing Events List of Illustrations.

PAGE The Moat 2 Monuments of the Bermingham Family - - 3, 4 The Old St. John's Chapel, Deritend 9 Existing remains of Old St. John's - 9 Window in Old St. John's 10 Bust of John Rogers 1 1 Window in the Old Gild Hall - 15 Seal of the Gild of the Holy Cross ■ 1 5 The ' Old Crown,' Deritend - - 16 Prospect of Birmingham, from Dugdale's Warwickshire - - 1 7 The Gallery Chamber in the 'Old Crown' House 18 Well belonging to the 'Old Crown' - - 18 An Open Smithy, Digbeth - 19 Dipping Well in the Wall of the Old Rea - 19 St. Martin's Parsonage House (D. Cox) - - 22 Old House in Digbeth - 24 Old House in High Street - 25 Old Inns in Deritend - - . - - 25 The Old ' Lamb ' House - - 26 Entrance to Aston Park - - 26 Portrait of Sir Thomas Holte, Baronet - - 27 Long Gallery, Aston Hall - 27 South-West Corner of the Hall - 30 Aston Hall — East Front - - 32 Great Staircase, Aston Hall - 35 A bit of Aston Park (182 1 ) - - 37 The Old Ship Inn - 41 Prince Rupert and "Birmingham Flames'' - 43 Old St. Martin's - - 49 Old Meeting House in Digbeth - 51 Old St. Martin's from Moat Lane {Allen Everitt) 53 Stratford House, Camp Hill - - - 54 The Market Cross - - 57 The Welsh Cross - - - 58 The Free Grammar School (the second building) 59 St. Philip's Church - - 61 The Old Square (A. Freeman Smith) - 62 PAGE The Blue Coat School - - 64 Westley's Plan of Birmingham, 1731 - 69 Buck's South West Prospect of Birmingham 70, 71 The Old Dungeon - "75 Portrait of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. - - 76 St. John's, Deritend - 80 Deritend and St. John's Chapel (F. Mercer) 81 St. Bartholomew's Chapel ( IV.

Hallsworth Waite) 82 Portrait of the Rev. John Wesley - - 83 The Swan Hotel - 89 Buck's East Prospect of Birmingham 98, 99 Portrait of John Baskerville - - 101 Baskerville's House, Easy Hill- - 104 A Corner of the Old Square - - no Canal Office, Paradise Street - ' -112 Soho Pool - 1 14 The General Hospital - 11S View of Birmingham (/. M. IV. Turner) - 124 Birmingham Market Place (D. Cox) - 133 Portrait of William Hutton - - T36 Old view of Bradford Street - - 138 Portrait of Matthew Boulton - T41 The Soho Factory - - 142 The Residence of Matthew Boulton at Soho - 145 The Old Royal Hotel, Temple Row 148 Portrait of John Freeth - - 150 The Freeth Circle - - 152 John Freeth's House in Bell Street - 154 Edmund Hector's House in the Old Square - r6o St. Paul's Church (W. Hallsworth Waite) - 164 Old view of St. Martin's Lane - - 166 Portrait of Joseph Priestley, LL.D. - 168 The New Street Theatre - - - 176 A bit of Old Handsworth — the site of the last Bull-Baiting (A. Osborne) - - - 181 Lower End of New Street about 1800 - - 184 Bingley House, 1830 - - 190 The Village of Aston - r95 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XIII PAGE PAGE "A Birmingham Toast, July 14th, 1 791 " (Gilray) 203 The New Meeting House after the Riots - - 204 The Old Meeting House before the Riots - 205 Destruction of Dr. Priestley's House - 206 Bennett's Hill (Hutton's House) after the Riots 209 Russell's House, Showell Green, after the Riots 212 Escape of Priestley during the Riots (C. As.

Gere) 2 1 3 Edgbaston Hall - - 216 Royal Hotel - - 383 New Street (circa 1825) - - - 391 Birmingham Town Hall Interior (1846) - - 396 Railway Cutting near Adderley Park , - - 400 Central Station from Great Queen Street - - 402 Statue of George Dawson - - - 409 Portrait of the Rev. John Angell James - - 411 Old Vauxhall Gardens (E. H. New) - 4T9 The Old Meeting House, as rebuilt - - 222 The Angel Inn, Stratford Road - 420 The Hen and Chickens, New Street - 232 The Corner of Congreve Street and Ann Street 241 Portrait of James Watt - - 244 The Waggon and Horses, Handsworth (A. Osborne) 24^ Heathfield Hall, the Residence of James Watt - 251 Watt Memorial, in Handsworth Church - - 254 The Last of the Soho Factory (A. Osborne) - 256 Botanical Gardens - - - - 423 Birmingham Bank, Bennett's Hill - - 425 Birmingham General Cemetery - 428 Old Edgbaston Turnpike - 431 Queen's College - - 440 Saltley Training College - - - 442 New Royal Hotel, New Street - - 450 Interior of St. Philip's previous to the erection of the Chancel - 263 Clock Tower, Aston Cross - 452 Portrait of Sir Josiah Mason - 456 Old view of the Bull Ring (from print by Hollins) 27 1 Henry Van Wart's House - 275 Christ Church - 279 Holy Trinity, Bordesley - 281 Old Police Court, Moor Street 460 Colmore Row from St. Philip's Churchyard - 463 Edmund Street as it was - - 464 Council House and Colmore Row - - 465 Portrait of W. C Macready - - 288 Reception Room looking west - 466 Public Offices, Moor Street - -301 Reception Room looking east - 467 Statue of Nelson - - - 302 Corporation Street - 470 View of Birmingham (P. Skeltou) - - 308 Old Square and Corporation Street - - 472 St. Philip's Church (E. II New) 309 Illumination ofthe Council House on theQueen's Visit - 474 Portrait of Sir Rowland Hill - - 320 Hazelwood School Yard (.V. Lines) - 321 A Corner of the New Law Courts - 475 Free Grammar School - - 323 Yirliiria Law Courts, Principal Front 476 Society of Artists' Rooms (Radclyffe) 326 Sketch near Five Ways' Gate (//. //.

Lint e) 332 The Great Hall - 477 Entrance to Corridor - 479 New Street ( Radclyffe) - - j>33 The Crown Court - - 481 Hen and Chickens, New Street (.V. Lines) 336 ,, ,, ,, The Bar Library - - 482 Site of Wellington Road (.V. Lines) - 338 Visit of the Queen in 1858 — Deer in Aston Park (/. /'. Barber) - 339 The Procession in New Street - - 488 Aston Park - - - 490 Portrait of George Edmonds - - 349 Portrait of Thomas Attwood - - 358 Cannon Hill Park - - 493 The Gathering of the Unions on Newhall Hill - 360 Summerfield Park - - - - 494 Interior of the Reference Library - - 500 Portrait of the Rev. Hugh Hutton - 363 Bull Ring (circa 1840) - - 370 The Art Gallery, Edmund Street Frnt - - 504 Market Hall - 375 „ Interior - - - - 505 View of Birmingham ( W. Harvey) - - 380 Municipal School of Art - - 507 Arms ofthe Borough previous to 1889 - - 382 Portrait ofthe Rt.

Hon. John Bright - PAGE PAGE Portrait ofthe Rt. Hon. J. Chamberlain - - 514 Aston Local Board Offices - - - 515 Carr's Lane Chapel - - - - 535 Wesleyan College, Handsworth - 537 St. Martin's Church, South Porch - - 521 High School for Girls - - 546 ,, ,, The Bermingham Chapel - 522 Midland Institute - - 548 Mason College from Chamberlain Place - - 549 „ The Reredos - - 523 jj St. Philip's Church - - 524 Jaffray Hospital - - 552 ,, (interior) - 526 Scene in Park Street during the Murphy Riots - 561 St. Alban's „ - 528 Union Club, Colmore Row - - 563 Aston Church, as it was - - 529 New Post Office (exterior) - 564 „ „ „ (interior) - 565 as rebuilt - - 530 (interior) - - 53 r Exchange - 568 Handsworth Church - 532 Corporation .Street - 569 Harborne Church - - 533 „ (A bit of) - - 570 Church of the Redeemer - 534 Great Western Arcade - - PLATES SEPARATE FROM THE TEXT.

XV Plates separate from the Text. View of the centre of Birmingham - frontispiece Distribution of the Gild Dole (K. E. Bunce) - to face page 15 Fireplace in the Long Gallery, Aston Hall (photo..- A. J. Leeson) - „ „ 31 The Battle of Birmingham, 1641 ( T. IV. Comm) - „ „ 41 The Bull Ring in the Eighteenth Century (E. H. New) - „ „ 57 Flower Stalls in the Market Hall (IV. Hallsworth Waite) „ „ 375 The Town Hall (photo.: Whitlock) „ „ 377 Edmund Street (II'. Hallsworth Waite) ,, „ 464 Congreve Street ( IV. Hallsworth IVaile) „ „ 465 The Council House and Art Gallery (photo: Whitlock) „ „ 467 Corporation Street (IV. Hallsworth II nils) - „ „ 470 The Coach Yard, T'.ull Street (A. Freeman Smith) - ,, ,, 472 On the Terrace, Aston Park ( IV. Hallsivorth Waite) „ „ 492 The Corporation Art Gallery (photo. : Poulton and Son) - „ „ 503 St. Martin's Church, as restored (photo : Whitlock) - „ „ 520 New Street (IV.

Hal/swoi/h IVaite) - „ „ 541 Paradise Street (W. Hallsworth IVaite) „ „ 548 Broad Street (IV. Hallsworth IVaite) „ „ 552 The Chamberlain Memorial (//'. Hallsworth IVaite) - „ „ 559 New Street (photo: Poulton and Son) - „ „ 568 The Arcades ( IV. Hallsworth IVaile) „ „ 570 Victoria Park, Handsworth ( W. Hallsworth IVaite) - - „ „ Zhc iTftakino of firming bam. ; ;,eefct= ; ,. CHAPTER VILLAGI AND MANOI ES E ARCH into the origin of Birmingham has failed to discover any definite data as to the existence of a settlement on its site earlier than the Saxon period. If by some magic we could be carried back through the centuries to witness the planting of the first village settlement which has grown into thecity of Birmingham, Here, about the middle of the seventh century, in all probability, the Beormingas, or Bermings, made their clearing, and planted their little "ham."

That this is the origin of the name there can be little doubt. The local pronunciation in former times gave the soft sound to the g, and thus led to the corruption of the word into Brimingeham, and ultimately into Bromicham ; and this set Hutton, the first historian of the town, to work out a theoretical etymology in harmony with the supposed ancient name, out of which he evolved first, Bromwych — Brom, perhaps, from broom, a shrub for the growth of which the soil is favourable ; wych, a dwelling, or a descent ; and subsequently Bromwych-ham, the home of the lord of Bromwych. The original name, however, was neither Bromwych nor Bromwicham ; as Dr. James Freeman says (in a letter to the Athenæum, Sep. 8th, 1855), " the word Birmingham is so thoroughly Saxon in its construction that nothing short of positive historical evidence would warrant us in assigning any other than a Saxon origin to it.

The final syllable, ham means a home or residence, and Berminghas would be a patronymic or family name, meaning the Berms (from Berm, a man's name, and ing or tung, the young progeny, race, or tribe). The word dissected in this V the metropolis of the midlands, we should probably find it to be a little clearing on the outskirts of the largest of all the forests of Britain — the P'orest of Arden, which extended from the boundaries of Cannock Chase on the north to Rugby and Evesham on the south, touching Leicestershire on its eastern boundary, and the Severn valley on the west. So inaccessible was this forest to the conquerors who constructed the main lines of communication through the country, that they refrained from piercing it, and caused the great roads to skirt its edges. Only the Rykenield way, which was probably an earlier pathway of less importance, crossed it in its narrowest portion, past the site of Birmingham, and across that portion of the forest which we now know as Sutton Park. n manner would signify the home or residence of the Berms ; and there can be little question that this is its true meaning." and that from him the conquering Norman seized his possessions.

It is not improbable that this Ulwine was the Alwin, or Alwyne, who is named as the former owner of a number of manors entered in Domesday to his son Turchil, the founder of the Warwickshire family of Arden, from whom, on the maternal side, our great dramatist William Shakespeare sprang. Alwyne was the nephew of Godiva of Coventry, she who The first name we light on in the history of the little village is that of Ulwine or Alwyne, who accord ing to Domesday, held it in the time of Edward the Confessor. One of the objects of the Domesday survey was to show not merely who at that time held the land and what was its value, but also to record the name of the former Saxon occupier from whom it had been taken and it appears to have been the?policy of ' Took the tax away And built herself an everlasting name.' He had two sons — Turchil and Gothmund — the THE MOAT.

(From a drawing by William Hamper.) William's commissioners to ignore Harold altogether ; the former owner is therefore said to have held the land " /. r. E." — in the time of King Edward, or, if he dated only from Harold's time, "the day on which King Edward was alive and dead," or "after the time of King Edward." Thus we may assume, in the case of Birmingham, that Ulwine was the last Saxon holder, former of whom held various possessions in Warwick shire, and bearing in mind the fact that one important branch of the Arden family settled in this neighbourhood, we may be pardoned for entertaining the supposition that the Godmund who is mentioned in the Aston entry in Domesday was the brother of Turchil de Arden and that the Ulwine who held VILLAGE AND MANOR. 3 Birmingham in the time of King Edward was his father.

The entry in which the village of Birmingham is briefly described in the great Norman Survey is as follows :—" Richard holds of William [Fitz-Ausculf] four hides in Bermingehim. The arable employs six ploughs; one is in the demesne. There are five villeins and four bordars [or cotters,] with two ploughs. Wood half a mile long and four furlongs broad. It was and is worth 20s. Ulwine held it freely in the time of King Edward." entry may perhaps have been the first of the line of that family which afterwards took the name of the place for their surname, but of this there is no clear evidence. The manor of Birmingham passed from Fitz-Ausculf into the hands of Gervase Paganell, and in 12 Henry II. (1166), Peter de Bermingham, who was sewer to Paganell, held nine knights' fees of him, and had a castle in Birmingham, which, says Dugdale, " stood scarce a bowshoot from the Church, south westwards."

This was the moated house shown in Westley's map of the town in 1731, or more probably the predecessor of that building, on the same site. The moat itself stood until the present century, and a pencil drawing of it, by William Hamper, one of the most enthusiastic and painstaking of local antiquaries, from which the illustration on the opposite page is taken, is in possession of Mr. Alderman Avery. In this brief entry we get our first trustworthy picture of Birmingham, from a survey so minute that, as the east Anglian chronicler, Ingulph, tells us, there was not a single hide nor yard of land, nor so much as an ox nor a cow nor a swine that was not noted therein. There were still traces remaining of the old forest home of the Bermings in the "wood half a mile long and four furlongs broad," but the clearing had probably become wider and more extensive ; we get its approximate measurement in the statement that " the arable employs six ploughs " (or comprises six plough-lands) — about seven hundred and twenty acres.* There is still, however, little indication of town life.

Aston has a church and a mill, but there is no mention of either in the notice of Birmingham. Too much stress, however, must not be laid on the silence of the Survey in this particular. There were many cases in which churches, proved to have been in existence before the time of Domesday, were passed over in silence by that great record ; and it is certain that some evidence of an earlier church was found during the demolition of Old St. Martin's, to which further reference will be made in a succeeding chapter. The manor of Birmingham was in the hands of the Bermingham family until the time of Edward VI. One of them, a brother of Peter de Bermingham, was supposed to have taken part in the reduction of Ireland in the reign of Henry 1 1., and received the title of Earl of Lowth, and founded the branch of the family in Ireland.

Another, the second William de Bermingham, joined in the rebellion raised by Simon de Montfort against Henry III., and was slain in the battle of Evesham in 1265. For this act of rebellion his lands were forfeited to the Crown and passed to Roger de Clifford, who had supported the Royal cause. They were, however, redeemed by the son of the rebel, the third William de Bermingham. This fourth recorded bearer of the Bermingham name was in the service of King Edward I., in Gascony, under the conduct of the Earl of Lincoln and John de St. John of Basing, and was taken prisoner with the latter, and carried in triumph to Paris. He died in 1306, Apart from this question as to the Church, the whole history of the place up to this time is summed up in the Domesday entry — the clearing and cultivation of the land, its extent and value (and the fact that that value had not increased since the time of Edward the Confessor), the dispossession of the Saxon owner Ulwine, and the name of the Norman lord to whom it had been given by the Conqueror, viz., William Fitz-Ausculf, who had his home at Dudley Castle. and the oldest of the fine altar tombs of the Berming ham family in St. Martin's church is believed to have been erected to his memory.

The figure on the tomb is The "Richard" who is named in the Domesday It should be noted that the Survey only took account ofthe cultivated land and the woods ; the waste or common land was not recoided. that of a knight, cross-legged and recumbent, lying on a coffin shaped slab. His armour consists of a hooded hawberk or tunic, and chausses or breeches of mail, and over the hawberk is a long surcoat, encircled about the hip by a belt ; and on his left arm he bears a shield, charged with a bend lozenge, being the arms known to have been borne by the third William de Bermingham. recumbent figure in alabaster of a knight, clad in plate armour. There is also a fourth monument in the church, which Dugdale assumes to have been erected to the memory of a priest of the Bermingham family, and which Mr. Matthew H. Bloxham, an authority on the subject, assigns to the latter part of the fifteenth century.

"The sculptured recumbent effigy on the tomb," says Mr. Bloxham, "is that of an ecclesiastic, The fourth William, son of the preceding, succeeded at the death of his father, and in T317 was knighted. Little more is heard of him, and Dugdale, finding no further mention of him by that title, concludes that the next mentioned William must have been his son. This representative of the family, who may therefore be styled the fifth William, is mentioned as having raised troops under Edward II. in the year 1324, '■ four hundred foot soldiers within this county, except ing the towns of Warwick and Coventre, and [armed] fhem for the defence of the realm ; and likewise the same year knights, esquires, and other men at armes to attend the king into Gascoin." In T327, the first year of Edward III., he was summoned to Parliament by the title of Lord William de Bermingham.

He is commemorated by a monumental tomb, of freestone, in St Martin's Church. not represented as we commonly find the sculptured figures of ecclesiastics, as vested for the Eucharistic Sacrifice called the Mass, but as a Canon of some cathedral, or member of some collegiate or conventual foundation, attired or vested in the choir habit.* His hands are joined on the breast in prayer." For a period of over seventy years the Bermingham estates were held by comparative strangers, reverting to the Bermingham family in the person of Edward, who succeeded his grandfather at the age of three, in 1 500. The estates The next representative of the family was Sir Fouk de Bermingham, who, in 1340, according to Dugdale, lent 48 marks to Sir Baldwin Freville, the lord of Tamworth Castle, receiving in return one year's lease of five mills in that borough.

He attended King Edward III. in his expedition to France in 1344, and was several times returned a Member of Parliament for Warwick. Sir John Bermingham, his successor, married Elizabeth, the daughter and heir of William de la Plaunche, but died without issue, and his widow married the Lord Clinton, and held the lordship of Birmingham in dower till her death, in the year 1423. One of the monuments in St. Martin's church is generally believed to be that of Sir John Bermingham. It is a high altar tomb of alabaster, bearing the to which the youthful representative of the family succeeded included not merely the manor of Birming ham, but also other estates in Oxfordshire, Bucks, and Worcestershire. Edward Bermingham did not, however, enjoy undisturbed possession of them for any long period. A mystery hangs over the story of his life, which the utmost research has failed to clear up.

Sir William Dugdale endeavours to fix a charge of conspiracy on "that ambitious man, John Dudley, afterwards Viscount L'lsle (more commonly known by those greater titles which he sometimes had, viz., Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland,)" by whom, he says, Edward Bermingham " was strangely wrested Does not this suggest that he may have been a Priest of the Birmingham Prior}-?— R.K.D. THE PLOT AGAINST EDWARD BERMINGHAM. 5 out of this lordship " ; for, he says, " the said John, having possest himself of Dudley Castle, and observing Bermingham a fit ornament for so noble a seat, but being the principal residence of such a family as had for some hundreds of years enjoyed it, not likely to be purchased from the then rightful owner, conspired by a wicked stratagem to work him out of it." According to Dugdale's version of the story, John Dudley " did set on some of his agents to lodge in Birmingham, and to learn when Master Bermingham was to ride out from home ; which being accordingly done, they so contrived their business that one of their plot should ride leisurely before, so that they might soon, keeping but an ordinary pace, overtake him ; whereupon they watcht an opportunity to strike into Master Bermingham's company, as travellers, with whom they soberly rode for a while, but being come up to their confederate, forthwith set upon him for his purse, so that the villain thus seemingly rob'd, makes pursuit after them, and likewise after Master Bermingham, as one of the pack ; who, being thereupon apprehended and prosecuted, apparently saw his danger."