Alma Terrace, Highgate
Despite massive municipal building schemes of the inter-war years, the housing crisis was more pressing in Birmingham in 1945 than 1918. Recent housing surveys revealed an unacceptable 50,000 properties ...
Analysis of Water from Gloster Cottage, 30 Metchley Lane
The Calthorpe Estate was still being developed during the 1880s as a comfortable retreat for the wealthy; but within its boundaries were many farms and small dwellings that pre-dated the Victorian expansion. ...
Baby, young girl and man in backyard
Slum housing, near the Malden Road, London.
Birmingham City Council Improvement Committee Minutes
The appointment of the Improvement Committee in July 1875 marked the earliest initiative by the City Council to tackle Birmingham’s slums. The originator of the scheme was the mayor, Joseph Chamberlain, ...
Birmingham City Council Interviewing Sub-Committee Minutes
Using powers conferred by public health and housing legislation, the Improvement Committee had condemned and demolished whole swathes of slum housing and overseen a number of improvements made in central ...
Birmingham City Council Tenants Sub-Committee Minutes
The Tenants Sub-Committee was appointed in November 1922. It reported to the City Estates Committee, its chief function being to deal with applications for municipal housing. Estates Department officials ...
Boy with sibling, London, by Nick Hedges
Hedges tried to capture the human face of homelessness. This photograph shows that positive family relationships existed despite the difficult conditions. The boy and his sibling are shown under the watchful ...
Boys on street corner by Nick Hedges
Child in basement, Liverpool 8 by Nick Hedges
Children’s health was often badly affected by the cold, damp spaces in which they lived. Bronchitis, asthma, and influenza were rife. Illness, and a lack of sleep caused by overcrowding, meant that children ...
Children asleep, Hackney, London by Nick Hedges
One of the main problems that homeless families faced was overcrowding. Whole families were often forced to live in one room that functioned as the living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Hedges did ...
Children playing in street by Nick Hedges
Children’s play was often determined by gender, both at home and in the street. Here the boy plays with a wheel barrow whilst the girls play with dolls and prams.
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 ...
Family sitting at the table
Slum Housing, near the Malden Road, London.
Girl on swing
Slum Housing, near the Malden Road, London.
Highlighting Housing Need
The Sparkbrook newsletter became an important space for local residents to express their thoughts about living in Sparkbrook. This edition from 1965 includes an article by a 'Sparkbrook Resident' which ...
Homes for Sparkbrook
This photograph shows volunteers at work decorating a Sparkbrook property.
Improving the condition of properties had the potential to better the physical and mental well-being of Sparkbrook's residents. ...
India
'House at Hurdah. Central Provinces.' From the collection of Sir Benjamin Stone.
Letter from G.H. Browne to Neville Chambelain, MP
Arthur Neville Chamberlain was elected as Conservative-Unionist Member of Parliament for the Birmingham constituency of Ladywood in 1918. He played a leading role in directing national housing policy ...