BIRMINGHAM

(anciently Bremenium), one of the greatest manufacturing towns of England, situated in the N.w. extremity of county Warwick, 112;^ miles by railway n.w. from London, stands nearly in the centre of England, on slightly elevated ground. having an ascent on all sides but the N.w. somewhat circular in form, and about 5^ to G in circumference. The lower part of the town, easting chiefly of old houses, is crowded with shops and warehouses, and inhabited principally manufacturers; but the upper part contains a ber of new, broad, and regular streets. The remarkable public buildings are the town-hall free grammar-school, the latter founded and tered by Edward VI. The to\vn-hall, erected municipal purposes, public meetings, and musical formances, is the great ornament of the town. rectangular building, after the model of the temple Jupiter Stator at Home. It rests on a rustic ment of 20 feet in height, pierced with doors windows, and is surrounded by a series of Corinthian oolnmns supporting entablatures above. The saloon or hall is 145 feet long, 65 wide, and 65 It can accommodate above 4000 persons sitting contains a large orchestra, capable of holding performers, with a lofty, wide, and deep rece the organ, one of the largest and finest in the world. The free grammar-school, a beautiful structure, erected in 1S34, stands nearly in the centre of town. Among the other public buildings of are the Queen's College (late the royal school medicine and surgery), founded in 182S, containing most valuable and extensive museums of human comparative anatomy; the Queen's Hospital, in-hospital, deaf and dumb institution, blue-coat school, blind asylum, Bingley Exhibition Hebrew school, odd-fellows' hall, bankruptcy two theatres, the post-office, the dispensary, and market-hall, wash-houses, and baths; and to may be added the proof-house, the London North-western Railway station, the general hospital, the cavalry and infantry barracks, the Birmingham library, the exchange biuldings, county court, public dining-halls, two clubs, public gallery of art, land Institute, masonic hall, corn-exchange, statues of the late Prince Consort, James Watt, Robert Peel, and others, also a colo al bronze of Lord Nelson, in the centre of the open area the Bull liing. Among the numerous churches places of worship are some handsome and elegant structures, the most remarkable being the Boman Catholic cathedral of St. Chad, erected at an expense of £60,000. Amongst the charitable institutions, most important are the general hospital and Queen's Hospital, founded in 1840, and numerous alms-houses for the aged and infirm poor. Besides the free grammar-school and Queen's College, already alluded to, the principal educations!) establishments of Birmingham are — the blue-coat, with acconunodation for 2uO boys and 100 girls; the Protestant senters' Charity School, established in 1762; Philip's Industrial Free School, originally established in 1824, though the present building was erected 1846; and Spring hill College, for the education clergymen of the Independent persuasion. The origin and progre of the prosperity of mingham is wholly attributable to the excellence and extent of its hardware manufactures. Its graphically central Kituation on the border of a coal and iron district, combined with the command of a wide and ready transit, both by canal and way^-of which means of transit it may be considered the great centre for the kingdom — have contributed to render it the emporium from which a lar^e rounding district is hu{)plie wns in the particular above alludc , and the copper coinage of the kingdom used to be executed. Cast-iron articles of all kinds, and of the lying most beautiful patterns and workmanship, are manu- Hall, factured at Birmingham to a great extent^ superseding those made of more expensive metals. In former court, the years iron-founding was limited to large and heav^these articles, but is now extended, with the most entire and succe , to the lightest and most graceful, in the finishing of which bronze is now very generally esnployed. The quantity of solid gold and silver plate manufactured is laige, and the consumption of ^rer Midin plating is very considerable. The beautiful in and vention of electro-plating, first discovered in thLi Sir town, tends very greatly to the increase of the const a tue sumption of silver and also of gold. The vast estabcalled lishment of Smith, EUdngton, & Co., New Hall and Street, is an object of great attraction. Japanning, in all its forms and varieties, is carried on here t4> a large extent; and though of com i>aratively recent introduction, has attained to a great degree of per the fection, especially in the pictorial department; the the trays and waiters manufactured in Birmingham, particularly those of papier fnachtf often displaying taste and talent of the highest order. Gla manufacturing, and gla staining or painting, fonns another important branch of manufacture. The making of steel pens is another important branch of the Dis trade of Birmingham. One manufacturer of this apparently trivial article employs 400 individually St. and consumes upwards of 85 tons of fine sheet-stetLl in annually, each ton making 10,000 gro of pen a. The of price of this article has fallen from 12«. per dozen U» 1«. per gro , and still lower for an inferior artidc Bir- The whole quantity of steel pens now manufacturexl is estimated at 900,000,000 annually, conswoain:: geo above 500 tons of steel. Large quantities of these mrv great exported. Pius are also manufactured here to a great extent; and such is the extraordinary pfftMlocrailtive powers of the machinery emplo^^ed, and of t)v>' system of minute subdivision of labour, that 12.CM» inted in an hour, and 50,<Kh* surlieads rounded off in the same space of time. Fancnof the seals, brooches, clasps, and other trinkets, comport -^l line of what is called Birminghxun gold, and polialK<i only, steel, are made in immense quantities, of the nuttit find beautiful workmanship, and at prices which excite* and | astonishment. Tlie above sketch gives only a ec-ltx*which; tion of a few of the leading articles manufactuTLsI at this great seat of human industry and ingenuity. The simple enumeration of all, without any statistical detidl, would occupy a for greater space than could be afforded in a work of this nature. The machinery employed in the manufactm!« of nails, screws, button shanks, and in rolling out thick bars or ingots of metal into long thin sheets, are amongst the most wonderful inventions of the mechanical genius of this extraordinary place; all of these combining prodigious power with the most delicate and beautiful precision of movement. Though a good many large capitalists are engaged in the manufactures of Birmingham, large numbers avera^ from £500 to £1000. These persons give out their work to the workmen they employ, who are generally paid by the piece and work at home. The employer has thus no expensive establishment to maintain, and no wages to pay but when he has orders to execute. The workman, again, when the work put into his hands requires the aid of machinery, may hire, for any given time, one or more rooms, together with a certain quantity of steam-power, in any one of a number of buildings appropriated to such purposes, which are furnished with steam-engine, working shafts, lathes, benches, . By the reform act of 1832 Birmingham was constituted borough, a sending two members to Parliament, while the act of 1867 gave it a third. The aldermen are in the commi ion of the peace, and hold regular borough courts. The coimty magistrates sit in petty se ion for the division twice a week, and the borough magistrates daily. The county court has also been established in Birmingham. At Winson Green, 2^ miles from the town, is a borough jail, and near it a lunatic asylum. The borough comprises the parishes of Birmingham and Edgbaaton, and the townships of Bordesley, Deritend, Duddeston, and Nechells. Birmingham was known to the Bomans under the name of Bremenium, and is mentioned in Doomsday Book under the name of Bermengtham. It is said to have been celebrated for the manufacture of arms previoos to the Boman invasion. Of its early history, however, very little is known. It was the centre of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia; and at the time of the Conquest was a place of some consideration. Birmingham was distinguished in the cause of the Parliament, and was the scene of some conflicts, in the last of which, in 1643, it suffered considerably, having been taken, partially burned, and a heavy fine inflicted on the inhabitants by Prince Kupert. It suffered to a fearful extent from the pla^e in 1665. Its first considerable increase in size and pop. took place in the reign of Charles II. Toward the middle of the last century it began to xisrame an important appearance, and has since continued rapidly to increase. The American and French wars during the latter part of the last century and the early part of this, were the great causes of the prosperity and increase of the place, by the great demand which they caused for muskets. In July, 1791, Birmingham was the scene of a series of disgraceful riots; property was destroyed to the amount of £60,000. In 1839 riots again took place, when several private buildings in the neighbourhood were set on fire, and various other exce es oommitted. During the excitement of 1 848 not one man was taken into custody for any political offence — a circumstance indicative of great moral improvement. The generiJ heal you r of Birmingham is deserving of notice, for which it is probably indebted to the larger quantity of open space which it po e es, when compared with such towns as Manchester and Liverpool; the general excellence of its drainage, greatly facilitated by the substratum of sand and 0/1 gravel on which it is built; and the circumstanco that there is scux;ely an underground dwelling, or what is called a cellar, within its precincts. In 1801 the pop. of Birmingham and the suburbs was 73,670; in 1861, 296,076; and in 1871, 343,606. 216