From slum clearances to orphanages and onion fares - life is very different in Birmingham compared to the 1800s, but there are some aspects of life in our city that you may recognise
It was a time when Birmingham led the world with its pioneering spirit developing global inventions that led to the shaping of modern life.
With factories and manufacturing, Birmingham had become the greatest industrial city in the world by the 1700s.
And in the 1800s the city’s factories continued to develop with the use of steam along with James Watt and Matthew Boulton railway engines. But the strain of industrialisation took its toll on Birmingham during this time with some housing being declared slums.
Other turbulent times were seen amid a dynamite plot by Irish Republicans being hatched in the city. There was no internet or summer festivals, but people gathered together at Onion Fairs and there was much excitement for a Royal visit.
Some of the buildings of the time are still standing today, like the Birmingham Town Hall, and you may recognise others in our gallery.
This isn’t a definitive history of Birmingham in the 1800s, but a fascinating glimpse into the life and times of Brummies in the 19th century. Let’s take a look at 47 incredible images from those times:
And in the 1800s the city’s factories continued to develop with the use of steam along with James Watt and Matthew Boulton railway engines. But the strain of industrialisation took its toll on Birmingham during this time with some housing being declared slums.
41. The Queen's Visit to Birmingham, 1858
Reading of the Birmingham Corporation Address to Her Majesty in the Townhalll, 1858. The Town Clerk reads: 'Most Gracious Sovereign, We, your Majesty's faithful subjects, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the borough of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, humbly offer to your Majesty and your Royal Consort our cordial welcome. From the day of your Majesty's accession to the Throne we have regarded your Royal person with sincere and devoted affection, and we have long looked forward to an opportunity of emulating, with generous zeal, the ardent loyalty of our fellow-subjects in other great cities of your empire...In the name of the vast community we represent, wo humbly beg to convey to your Majesty our cordial thanks for the signal honour which your Majesty has deigned to confer upon the borough of Birmingham...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
42. Birmingham Canal Navigations Head Office, Paradise Street, Birmingham, 1876
Exterior view showing the front elevation of the Birmingham Canal Navigations Head Office, on Paradise Street. Artist Unknown. (Photo by Historic England Archive/Heritage Images via Getty Images
43. Exhibition of the Birmingham and Midland Counties Agricultural Association, in Bingley Hall, Birmingham, 1850
Among the pure breeds exhibited, the show of Herefords deserves to take the highest place. . Among the show of heavier stock in Broad-street was an extraordinary crossbred animal, of gigantic size, but in the framing of which nature seems to have accompanied the increased proportion with great awkwardness of build, and a wide departure from shapeliness. One of the crosses of sheep appeared to contain some admixture of foreign blood, as if an attempt had been made to increase the frame of the animal and its capacity for taking on flesh, at the same time that the square proportions of the native breeds were preserved. In pigs the show was a very large one, and there were some first-rate animals produced'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images
44. Birmingham, 1844
View of the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, a centre of manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
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