OFFLOW HUNDRED (part) WEST BROMWICH
The Growth of the Town, p. 4; Communications, p. 11; Manors, p. 14; Other Estates, p. 20; Economic
History, p. 27; Local Government, p. 43; Public Services, p. 46; Parliamentary History, p. 50; Churches,
p. 50; Roman Catholicism, p. 60; Protestant Nonconformity, p. 61; Hindus, p. 70; Social Life, p. 70; Education,
p. 74; Charities for the Poor, p. 83.
WEST BROMWICH, (fn. 1) lying immediately north-west of
Birmingham, was an ancient parish which became
a borough in 1882 and a county borough in 1889.
It was made part of the metropolitan borough of
Sandwell in 1974. (fn. 2) The ancient parish and the
original borough were 5,851 a. in area. (fn. 3) An adjustment of the boundary with Smethwick in 1897
added 8 a. (fn. 4) In 1928 645 a. at Hamstead were added
from the urban district of Perry Barr. In 1931 332 a.
at the Delves were added from the borough of Wednesbury and 727 a. from the civil parish of Great Barr;
371 a. were transferred to Wednesbury and a small
area at Bescot to the borough of Walsall. The
changes left West Bromwich with an increased area
of 7,180 a. (fn. 5) In 1966 the borough was extended to
11,704 a. by the inclusion of most of the boroughs of
Tipton and Wednesbury and by various boundary
adjustments. (fn. 6) The present article is concerned primarily with the history of the area covered by the
ancient parish of West Bromwich. Some account
of the areas added before 1966 is given from the time
of their addition. The earlier history of the Hamstead portion of Handsworth ancient parish added
to West Bromwich in 1928 is narrated elsewhere; (fn. 7)
otherwise the history of all new areas is reserved for
treatment in future volumes of the Staffordshire
History.
The ancient parish of West Bromwich has been
described as 'a kind of peninsula' formed by a loop
of the head-waters of the Tame. (fn. 8) The boundary
was the Tame on the south-west, west, north, and
north-east. On the south-east the boundary followed
Park Lane and then Spon Brook to Bromford where
the brook enters the Tame. (fn. 9) The area lies at the
northern end of the low plateau which itself forms
part of the South Staffordshire Plateau and extends
southwards to Birmingham and the Rea valley. (fn. 10)
The central part of the town lies around the 525-foot
contour, reaching 568 ft. at the junction of Beeches
Road and Thynne Street. Two spurs run from this
high ground, one northwards to All Saints' Church
and Stone Cross, one north-westwards to Hill Top.
Between the two ridges flows Hobnail Brook, which
was called Hobbins Brook in the late 17th century; (fn. 11)
it rises near Hall End and enters the Tame below
Hydes Bridge. On the eastern side of the ancient
parish the land slopes down to 348 ft. at Forge
Mill Farm. (fn. 12) The landscape is now mainly urban,
but the south-eastern part of the area remains open
country, though crossed by the M5 motorway.
West Bromwich is situated on the Coal Measures
and straddles the exposed and concealed sections of
the South Staffordshire coalfield. The northern and
western parts of the ancient parish consist of Carboniferous shales and marls respectively. The southeastern part of the parish is beyond the coalfield's
Eastern Boundary Fault, and there Carboniferous
red sandstone overlies the Coal Measures. As a result it was the western part that became more heavily
industrialized from the earlier 19th century. (fn. 13) Over
the central high ground the drift consists of boulder
clay, the western and eastern sides of the parish being largely shales and marls. There is sand and
gravel around Greets Green and New Town. Along
the Tame and Hobnail Brook the soil is alluvial. (fn. 14)
The settlement was originally known as Brom
wich, a name in use by the time of Domesday Book
and suggesting a village where broom grew. It was
becoming known as West Bromwich by the early
14th century, probably to distinguish it from Castle
Bromwich and Little Bromwich, both in Aston
(Warws.). (fn. 15) The inhabitants of West Bromwich are
traditionally known as 'throstles'. The name is said
to derive from the 'numberless donkeys who
browsed upon the open common lands and whose
discordant bray was thus satirically alluded to under
the name of the sweet-voiced thrush'. (fn. 16)
West Bromwich and Smethwick area, c. 1775 (scale about 1 inch to 1 mile)
Before the later 18th century West Bromwich was
thinly populated and rural; from the 16th century
the iron industry was developing, and domestic
nailing in particular was added to agrarian pursuits.
The main settlement was at Lyndon to the south of
the parish church, although the manor-house stood
about a mile north-west of the church. There was
also a medieval settlement at Finchpath by the
river-crossing into Wednesbury; this eventually
spread southwards up to Hill Top. Otherwise settlement in the parish consisted of small groups of cottages, or 'ends', around the Heath which extended
south-west from Lyndon across the main Birmingham-Wolverhampton road; numerous cottages
occur in 1723 as encroachments on the Heath. (fn. 17)
There was also some settlement in the CharlemontWigmore area. (fn. 18) Sandwell in the south-east of the
parish was the site of a small monastery in the
Middle Ages and the home of the earls of Dartmouth in the 18th and earlier 19th centuries. (fn. 19) In
the later 18th century the Heath, eventually the site
of the new town, was still 'a warren full of rabbits
and a long black common, intercepting the intercourse with Birmingham by a green sea of moor and
barrenness'. (fn. 20) Nevertheless encroachment was continuing, notably on its eastern side. (fn. 21)
The population was small as well as scattered. In
1086 there were 10 villeins and 3 bordars. (fn. 22) There
were 172 poll-tax payers in 1377 (fn. 23) and 116 households in 1563. (fn. 24) The Protestation Returns of 1642
were signed by 398 men in West Bromwich. (fn. 25) In
1666 194 people were chargeable for hearth tax and
117 were exempt. (fn. 26) In the 18th century the growth
of the iron industry caused a large rise in population. (fn. 27) By 1773 there were just under 1,200 houses
in the parish, (fn. 28) and in 1801 the population numbered 5,687. (fn. 29)
The Heath was inclosed in 1804, and by about
1820 it was becoming the new centre of West
Bromwich. (fn. 30) The population of the parish had risen
to 9,505 by 1821, (fn. 31) and in the next few years the
rapid growth of mining and the iron industry led to
an even greater increase. It was estimated that by
1829 the population had increased some 50 per cent
to over 14,000, (fn. 32) and it had reached 15,327 in 1831,
26,121 in 1841, and 34,591 in 1851. (fn. 33) 'What a town
of a place this West Bromwich is!' wrote a visitor in
1828. (fn. 34) In fact he exaggerated the extent of the
development. In the early 1840s an observer commented that a town of West Bromwich hardly
existed since the population was distributed in
groups over the western side of the parish. (fn. 35) David
Christie Murray described West Bromwich about
the time of his birth in 1847 as 'a rather doleful
hybrid of a place—neither town nor country'. (fn. 36)
Another writer, recalling the mid 1850s, stated that
the population was 'sparingly and irregularly distributed, or grouped in certain areas into colonies or
rookeries, without any sort of arrangement or sanitary consideration whatever'. (fn. 37) Nonetheless West
Bromwich in the mid 19th century was for many
a very desirable place in which to live—'a West-end
suburb' for 'the retired and thriven iron and coal
masters, carriers, and factors of the Mining District
which surrounds it'. (fn. 38) At the same time there was
much poverty, and many small tenants were unable
to pay rates. (fn. 39)
In 1901 the population of the borough numbered
65,175. (fn. 40) The enlarged borough had a population of
81,303 in 1931 (fn. 41) and 96,041 in 1961. (fn. 42) From the
later 1950s many immigrants, mainly Jamaicans and
Indians, were settling in West Bromwich, particularly in the Beeches Road, Lodge Road, and Spon
Lane areas in the south of the borough; in 1961 the
population included 1,132 people born in Jamaica
and 128 born in other Caribbean territories, 677
born in India, and 146 born in Pakistan. (fn. 43) The
landscape has changed considerably in the 20th
century, notably with the building of large housing
estates since 1919 on derelict industrial land as well
as in open country; the 1960s saw extensive redevelopment, old housing and factories giving way
to new.
Notable people connected with the town include
two holders of the manorial estate, Sir Richard
Shelton, solicitor-general from 1625 to 1634, and
Dr. Walter Needham, the 17th-century physician
and anatomist. (fn. 44) Two of the incumbents, Edward
Stillingfleet (1757-82) and William Jesse (17901814), were notable Evangelicals. (fn. 45) The Legge
family was the leading local family for a century
and a half after William Legge, Baron Dartmouth,
bought the Sandwell estate in 1701. Lord Dartmouth, a Tory statesman during Queen Anne's
reign who was created earl of Dartmouth in 1711,
retired from political life after the accession of
George I in 1714; he died in 1750. (fn. 46) His grandson
the 2nd earl (d. 1801) was a prominent statesman
under George III and was noted for his Evangelical
piety. (fn. 47) Augustus Legge, the fifth son of the 4th earl
of Dartmouth and bishop of Lichfield from 1891 to
1913, was born at Sandwell Hall in 1839. He left
a request that if he was no longer bishop of Lichfield when he died, he should be buried at All
Saints', West Bromwich. In the event he died as
bishop and was buried in the Close at Lichfield. (fn. 48)
Other noteworthy natives of West Bromwich are
Walter Parsons, the giant blacksmith who became
porter to James I; (fn. 49) John Blackham (1834-1923),
founder of the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon movement; (fn. 50) the brothers David Christie Murray (1847
1907) and Henry Murray (1859-1937), novelists; (fn. 51)
and Madeleine Carroll (born 1906), film actress. (fn. 52)
Francis Asbury (1745-1816), 'the John Wesley of
the Western World', (fn. 53) was born at Hamstead in
Handsworth but spent his early years at Newton;
the cottage where he lived is preserved as a museum.
He was a Methodist class leader in West Bromwich.
He went to America in 1771 and in 1784 was made
one of the two superintendents, or bishops, of the
newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church of the
United States of America. (fn. 54)
James Keir (1735-1820), chemist and industrialist,
settled in the Midlands after serving in the army
during the Seven Years War. He lived at Finchpath
Hall at Hill Top from 1770 and was buried at All
Saints' in 1820. (fn. 55) James Eaton (1785-1857) served
in the Téméraire at the battle of Trafalgar and, as
signal midshipman, repeated Nelson's message to the
fleet. He had settled in West Bromwich by 1837,
and by 1839 he was living at Hill House, where he
died. For a few years in the early 1840s he owned an
interest in the Heath Colliery Co. (fn. 56) John Bedford
(1810-79), president (1867) of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference, was minister at the High Street
chapel from 1846 to 1849. (fn. 57)