Domestic Economy Lesson, Somerville Road Board School, Birmingham by William Woollaston
This photograph has been carefully constructed. It was taken to be displayed or circulated as evidence of good educational practice. The blackboard is used to describe what is happening. The subject is ...
Dormitory rules in Norton Reformatory
Drawing of a Middlemore Girl
As an Edgbastonian, John Middlemore was proudly celebrated in the pages of the Edgbastonia magazine:
‘A benevolent Edgbaston gentleman who has solved one of the difficult social problems of modern ...
Drawing of George De Courcey, All Saints Mental Health Casebook
This drawing by Robson, the asylum doctor, is the only visual record of a child in All Saints Asylum. George was admitted from the workhouse in 1876 aged 9. Like Ellen Allport he is described as insane ...
Dress by M. & E. Abbott
This striking dress in yellow trimmed with black velvet was made by M. & E. Abbott of 65 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, in 1896. However, we can't be sure exactly how it looked when it left the dressmakers. ...
Edgbaston with Tower of Edgbaston Church
This drawing shows how rural Edgbaston was in the mid-nineteenth century. The tower of Edgbaston Old Church is visible in the background.
Edgbastonia Title Page, 1881
‘The contents will be of local interest, or local production, and […] they shall be of a healthy moral tone, and be altogether non-political and unsectarian’. So says the editor of Edgbastonia in May ...
Edgbastonia Title Page, 1900
Edgbastonia magazine greeted the new century with a re-designed title page.
Education, Rights and Resistance
Image: Birmingham's Hebrew School (Cornish's Guide to Birmingham and its Manufactories, 1856. Local Studies and Archives)
The quest for Jewish rights and education played an important role in the ...
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield
Programme for a performance by Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, 'the Black Swan' in Birmingham on June 23rd 1853. Among the songs performed by Taylor Greenfield were 'The Cradle Song', 'Home, Sweet Home,' ...
Engraving of Singer's Hill Interior
The Midland Illustrated News (1869).
After the Severn Street Synagogue would come the famous Singer's Hill Synagogue, opened in 1856. The architect Yeoville Thomson was commissioned for the design. ...
Escapologist performing the ‘rope tying trick’ with crowd of boys in Corporation Street by Edwin C. Middleton
Evidence from the Coroner’s inquest into the death of a baby girl
It was very common for children to share their parents’ bed, and babies were often accidentally smothered during the night. Here the unnamed baby girl was in bed with her mother, father, and twin brother ...
Evidence from the Coroner’s inquest into the death of Harry George Gammage
Children playing in the streets or on the canal towpaths were often hurt, and sometimes killed in accidents. Children were run over by vehicles or fell into the canal and drowned. In this case the child ...
Evidence from the Coroner’s inquest into the death of Kate Grosvenor
The home could often be a place of danger, particularly for poor families. Open fires were a constant hazard. This coroner’s inquest describes the case of Kate Grosvenor, aged 8. Her clothing caught fire ...
Evidence presented at the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Sydney Clayton, aged 2 months
Sydney was the son of Francis Clayton, a navvy, and his wife Selina. The family were living in a ‘Gipsy’s Tent’ in Queen’s Head Lane, Handsworth when he suffered an accident. On the morning of 30th of ...
Extract from Calthorpe Estate Minutes
In the Minutes of the Calthorpe Estate, we find glimpses of the daily lives of individuals. John Thorneycroft rented Metchley Farm - a considerable parcel of land (267 acres) boundaried by Pritchetts ...