Gymnasium at Highbury Hospital
This photograph shows WW1 wounded soldiers on the pioneering orthopaedic rehabilitation programme at Highbury Hospital (previously the residence of Joseph Chamberlain) in the Mosley suburb of Birmingham. ...
Hans Schwarz with his wife Lena and one of his sons
Hans met his future wife Lena, a student at Birmingham University, on a tram in Birmingham. They were married in 1943 and had two sons. Hans went on to be a well-known painter, illustrator, and sculptor. ...
Hans Schwarz, aged 16
After Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, British relief agencies were concerned about the fate of Jewish children. The British Government was reluctant to allow too many Jewish refugees to enter Britain ...
Head of Jester's Bauble
Dr H.C. Crew of Oakswell House in Wednesbury carved this jester's bauble. He made it to entertain Belgian refugees who were staying in the upper floors of his house during the First World War. When the ...
Highbury Voluntary Aid Detachments Hospital
This photograph shows an outdoor ward at Highbury Hospital in the Birmingham suburb of Moseley staffed by Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) nurses. Nationally, over 3,000 Auxiliary hospitals attached to ...
Independent Labour Party Minutes
This is a page from the 1914-1921 minute books of the Birmingham Branch of the Independent Labour Party, which was chaired for most of the First World War by the Edgbaston artist Joseph Southall. Under ...
Instructions on the position of schools in the event of invasion sent to the head teacher of Shooting Butts Camp School by Staffordshire Education Authority
Jester's Bauble
Dr H.C. Crew of Oakswell House in Wednesbury carved this jester's bauble. He made it to entertain Belgian refugees who were staying in the upper floors of his house during the First World War. When the ...
Laurence Cadbury
Laurence Cadbury was the eldest son of Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury, George Cadbury’s second wife. At the outbreak of World War One, aged twenty-five, he volunteered as a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit ...
Lawrence Levy in 'Edgbastonia'
The suburban magazine Edgbastonia regularly profiled figures of local importance, such as Lawrence Levy, a prominent member of the Jewish comunity, who had been a pioneering teacher, Olympic weightlifter ...
Lee Enfield Rifle
During WW1 the Lee Enfield rifle was manufactured in Birmingham at two factories: the Birmingham Small Arms Company in Small Heath (at BSA Guns, Armoury Road) and the Royal Small Arms Factory in Sparkbrook. ...
Letter from Laurence Cadbury to his parents, 26 May 1916
Conscription was implemented in March 1916 as part of the Military Service Act of 1916. Prior to the Act, the British War effort was serviced by the Regular and Territorial Armies that was manned through ...
Letter from Mollie Cadbury to her parents, 26 April 1915
Marian Janet Greeves (née Cadbury) enrolled with the British Red Cross in April 1915 at the age of twenty-one. Like her brother Laurence she saw service in Belgium during World War One. As a Red Cross ...
Letter from Norman Chamberlain to Boys Club Members
Norman Chamberlain wrote this letter to members of the Boys Club he organised, to be read in the event of his death while serving in the Grenadier Guards during the First World War. He encourages them ...
Letter from the Quakers’ Germany Emergency Committee confirming that Hans Schwarz had a permit to enter Britain
The Society of Friends’ Germany Emergency Committee was formed in 1933. Its remit was to investigate what was happening in Germany and help where possible. Dr. Hilda Clark, Honorary Secretary of the Emergency ...
Letter from Viktor Schwarz to the Society of Friends in London requesting a permit out of Austria for his son
When Hans Schwarz was 16 years old his father Viktor, a bank clerk, arranged for him to escape from Vienna under the sponsorship of the Society of Friends’ Germany Emergency Committee. They organised ...
Letter written by Hans in German from Birmingham to his family in Vienna
The letter reads:
Dear Dad, Dear Aunty,
It has been 3 days since I last wrote to you both, but so much has happened, I don’t know where to begin. I am coping well with the language, I am not learning ...
Log Book of Pipewood Camp School for Evacuated Girls
The 1939 Camps Act established Camp Boarding Schools. Older girls from Birmingham Senior schools were evacuated to Pipewood Camp School in Blithbury near Rugeley which opened in June 1940. The teachers ...