Handsworth, Staffordshire
| Handsworth | |
| Staffordshire | |
|---|---|
 Soho Road in Handsworth | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP040896 |
| Location: | 52°30’45"N, 1°56’59"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Birmingham |
| Postcode: | B20/B21 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Birmingham |
Handsworth is an urban district in southern Staffordshire forming a suburb of Birmingham. To the north lies the town of West Bromwich and to the west, Smethwick. The southern extent of Handsworth is the Hockley Brook which forms the county border with Warwickshire and the suburb of Hockley. To the east across the River Tame is another Warwickshire suburb of Birmingham, Erdington.
History
The name Handsworth originates from its Saxon owner Hondes and the Old English word weorthing, meaning farm or estate. It was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086, as a holding of William Fitz-Ansculf, the Lord of Dudley, although at that time it would only have been a very small village surrounded by farmland and extensive woodland.
It remained a small village from the 13th century to the 18th century. Accommodation was built for factory workers, the village quickly grew, and in 1851, there were more than 6,000 people living in the township. In that year, work began to build St James' Church. Later St Michael's Church was built as a daughter church to St James'. Forty years later, over 32,000 residents were counted at the census of 1881, and by 1911, this had more than doubled to 68,610.
The development of the built environment was sporadic and many of Handsworth's streets display a mixture of architectural types and periods – among them some of the finest Victorian buildings in the city. Handsworth has two grammar schools – Handsworth Grammar School (for boys) and King Edward VI Handsworth School (for girls). St Andrew's Church is a listed building in Oxhill Road which also held Sunday school classes in a small building on the corner of Oxhill Road and Church Lane. It also contains Handsworth Park, which in 2006 underwent a major restoration, the vibrant shopping area of Soho Road and St Mary's Church containing the remains of the founders of the Industrial Revolution - Watt, Murdoch and Boulton.
Handsworth parish was absorbed by the municipal expansion of Birmingham, in 1911. The redbrick building with the clocktower in the photograph was originally the offices of the district council on Soho Road.
Birmingham historian Dr Carl Chinn noted that during World War II the boundary between Handsworth and the outlying suburb of Handsworth Wood marked the line between being safe and unsafe from bombing, with Handsworth Wood being an official evacuation zone, despite being at least ten miles away from any countryside that might now qualify as "green belt" land, and being on the periphery of many "high risk" areas.[1] During World War II, West Indians had arrived as part of the colonial war effort, where they worked in Birmingham munitions factories. In the post-war period, a rebuilding programme required much unskilled labour and Birmingham's industrial base expanded, significantly increasing the demand for both skilled and unskilled workers. During this time, there was direct recruitment for workers from the Caribbean and the area became a centre for Birmingham's Afro-Caribbean community.
A tram depot was erected near Birmingham Road, next to the border with West Bromwich, during the 1880s, and remained in use until the tram service ended in 1939. Although it has since been demolished, a replica of the depot was created later in the 20th century at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.[2]
The West Indian population in Birmingham numbered over 17,000 by the 1961 census count. In addition, during this time, Indians, particularly Sikhs from the Punjab arrived in Birmingham, many of them working in the foundries and on the production lines in motor vehicle manufacturing, mostly at the Longbridge plant some 10 miles away.
Notable residents
- James Watt (1736-1819), inventor and mechanical engineer, buried at St Mary's Church
- Joan Armatrading (born 1950), singer-songwriter and musician, grew up in the Brookfields area, since largely demolished and now part of Handsworth. She attended Canterbury Cross School
- Carl Palmer (born 1950) drummer and percussionist. with bands including The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Asia.
- Tony Iommi, guitarist and founding member of heavy metal band Black Sabbath, was born in Handsworth[3]
- Francis Asbury, born in Handsworth, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church[4]
- Matthew Boulton (1728–1809), lived in Soho House, buried at St Mary's Church
- Ian Emes, animator and film director
- Bert Freeman (1885–1955), England international footballer was born in Handsworth
- Jimmy Moore, England international footballer was born in Handsworth
- William Murdoch (1754–1839), inventor. He was the first to make extensive use of[coal gas for illumination and a pioneer in the development of steam-power. In 1777, he entered the engineering firm of Matthew Boulton and James Watt, whose experiment on the distillation of coal and wood first brought gas lighting to a practical stage, illuminating their factory with it in 1803. Presented with the Rumford Medal by the Royal Society. Buried at St Mary's Church
- George Ramsay (1855–1926), Secretary/Manager of Aston Villa in the most successful period of the club's history. Buried at St Mary's Church
- Benjamin Zephaniah (born 1958), poet and writer, grew up in Handsworth
References
- ↑ Carl Chinn (1996) Brum Undaunted: Birmingham During the Blitz, Birmingham Library Services
- ↑ "Tram depot - Black Country Living Museum - Britain's friendliest open air museum". Bclm.co.uk. http://www.bclm.co.uk/map16.htm. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
- ↑ Iommi, Tony (8 November 2012). "Chapter 1: The birth of a Cub". Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath. Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 978-1849833219.
- ↑ Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963.
- Simon Baddeley (1997), The Founding of Handsworth Park 1882-1898, Birmingham University
- Carl Chinn (1996), Brum Undaunted: Birmingham During the Blitz, Birmingham Library Services
- Peter Drake (1998), Handsworth, Hockley, & Handsworth Wood, Tempus, Stroud, Glos.
- Allen E. Everitt (1876), Handsworth Church and its Surroundings, E.C. Osborne, Birmingham
- Frederick William Hackwood (1908), Handsworth: Old & New: A History of Birmingham's Staffordshire Suburb (re-published: A & B Books, Warley, West Midlands)
- John Morris Jones (1980), The Manor of Handsworth: An Introduction to its Historical Geography, with amendments by "Friends of Handsworth Old Town Hall", 1969. Handsworth Historical Society
- Handsworth General Purposes & other Committees - Minute Book 1880A, Handsworth Local Sanitary Board, Birmingham City Council, Central Library Archives (ref: BCH/AD 1/1/1)
- Handsworth & Birmingham newspaper cuttings collected and arranged by G. H. Osborne between approx. 1870 and 1900, Birmingham City Council, Central Library Archive (ref: L.f30.3)
- Victor J. Price (1992), Handsworth Remembered, Studley: Brewin Books
- Maninder Bansal (1998), "mathematician" - Source: Urban Dictionary (Bansal - Someone who believes they are an aspiring mathematician but suck at the subject.)
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about West Midlands Handsworth, Staffordshire) |