BIRMINGHAM, city, county and parliamentary borough, England, in the north-west of Warwickshire, but with suburbs extending into Staffordshire on the north and west and into Worcestershire on the south, '13 m. N.W. of London by rail. Pop. (1931) 1,002,413.
Birmingham is built upon the new red sandstone, and situated in the valleys of the Rea and other small feeders of the River Tame, near their sources, and upon the rising ground between these valleys. The site, therefore, varies from 200 to 600 ft. above the sea-level, steadily rising towards the north and west, while the well-marked line of the Lickey hills skirts the site on the south-west, extending thence south-eastward. From the high ground to the south-east Birmingham thus presents the appearance of a vast semicircular amphitheatre. Its general situation near the centre of England makes it a great railway focus. The main lines are controlled by the L.M.S.R. and G.W.R. The plan of the town, as dictated by the site, is irregular. In the centre are several fine thoroughfares, containing nearly all the most important buildings. New street, Corporation street and Colmore row are the chief of these. At the western end of New street is a fine group of build ings, including the council house and art gallery, the town hall and post office. Corporation street was the outcome of a great "Im provement scheme" initiated in 1875 with the object of clearing away insanitary property and of constructing a main thoroughfare from the centre to the north-eastern outlet, starting from New street, near the railway station, to Bull street, and thence continu ing to the Aston road. The scheme received parliamentary sanc tion in 1876, and was finished in 1882. This led to an almost total extinction of dwellings in the centre of the town. Edgbaston and Harborne lie south-west of the centre of the city, and form a residential district. To the south of Edgbaston, however, are the growing manufacturing districts of Selly Oak and Bournville, and south of these, Northfield and Kings Norton, in Worcestershire. The districts to the east of central Birmingham are Balsa11 Heath, Sparkbrook, Small Heath and Saltley. On the south-east is the residential suburb of Moseley, and on the east that of Yardley. On the east side the transition from town to country is clearly marked. This, however, is not the case on the west side, where the borough of Smethwick adjoins Birmingham, and the roads through West Bromwich and towards Oldbury and Dudley have the character of continuous streets. On this side are Soho and Hands worth. To the north lies Aston Manor, with Perry Bar beyond. To the north-east a populous district extends towards the town of Sutton Coldfield. Besides these and the Edgbaston grounds the chief parks are Summersfield park, towards Smethwick; Soho park; Victoria park, Handsworth ; Adderley park, towards Saltley; and Victoria park, Small Heath. There is a race-course at Castle Bromwich, three m. E. of the town. Birmingham has increased greatly since 1911, when Aston Manor, Erdington and Hands worth, almost the whole of Norton and Northfield and the rural district of Yardley were added to the city. The influx of munition workers in 1914-18 greatly increased the population of the city. Since 1918 a housing policy has been formulated and town plan ning schemes for the various suburbs approved. Parks and open spaces have been acquired including Perry reservoir (1919) , Selly park (1910-14), Barr Beacon (191g), Pype Hayes park (1920), Swanshurt park (1917-23), Kings Norton site (192o) ; Rose Hill Rednal (1920). Ambitious schemes for road widening and im provement of traffic conditions are in hand, especially the con struction of an arterial road (8o ft. wide) passing over New street station as a viaduct.
History.—Although there are local evidences of early man, the first record we have of the site is in Domesday where an under tenant of William Fitz Ansculf is recorded as having four "hides" there. Other Domesday evidence leads us to the conclusion that at the end of the 11th century Birmingham was far from being the chief place in the district. By the end of the 13th century a considerable market town had grown at the focus of roads in the Bull Ring. Market charters had been granted in 1166, 118g, and 1295. In the 16th century it was visited by both Leland and Camden. The first tells us that "there be many smithes in the towne that use to make knives and all maner of cuttynge tooles, and many lorimars that make byts, and a greate many naylors, so that a great parte of the towne is mayntayned by smithes," and he adds further that these smiths obtained the "yren out of Stafford shire and Warwikshire, and their see coale out of Staffordshire." A town with an ever growing middle-class artisan population on one of the great roads between Oxford and the north and west found many opportunities for interrupting communications be tween the Royalist commanders. A skirmish in which Prince Rupert was involved seems to have been exaggerated by contem porary accounts on both sides. In 1665 Birmingham suffered heavy losses by the Plague. The Revolution of 1688 was a signal for the outbreak of Protestant feeling and a Roman Catholic church built under the patronage of James II. in a place now known as Masshouse lane was destroyed. By the Acts of Uni formity and the Five Mile act non-conforming ministers were forbidden to dwell within a corporate town, but Birmingham though wealthy and populous had not that distinction ; its govern ment was that of a manor and hence it became a great home of dissent. Quakers, Unitarians and Jews and the persecuted of every sect found in it a sanctuary. The leader of the city in intellectual and social movements during the latter half of the 18th century was Dr. Priestley, and around him gathered such men as Baskerville, Hutton, Withering and others. The unfortunate events that followed a Bastille celebration dinner on July 14, 1791, caused this group to disperse. In the dismal period from 1817 to 1819 when the manufacturing districts were heavily distressed and were disturbed by riots, Birmingham remained quiet. Even when some of the inhabitants were tried and punished for demanding parliamentary representation, and for electing Sir Charles Wolseley as their delegate, there was no demonstration of violence. In 1831-32 the Political Union was formed, under the leadership of Thomas Attwood, to promote the passing of the Reform bill. Vast meetings were held on Newhall Hill. Ultimately the Political Union succeeded in its object, and Birmingham helped to secure for the nation the enfranchisement of the middle-classes and other political reforms. The occurrence of riots in 1839, during the Chartist agitation, showed the social unrest that accompanied the rapid development of the industrial town. The interest and enterprise of the Chamberlain family during the latter half of the 19th century did much to improve the city (see later) .
Birmingham is not rich in ecclesiastical architecture. It became a bishopric under the Bishoprics of Southwark and Birmingham act 1904. Before 1821 it was in the diocese of Lichfield. There were formerly a religious house, the priory of St. Thomas the Apostle, and a Gild of the Holy Cross, an association partly religious and partly charitable, having a chantry in the parish church. The possessions of the priory went to the crown at the dissolution, and the building was destroyed before the close of the 16th century. Until 1715 there was but one parish church, St. Martin's, erected about the middle of the 13th century but entirely rebuilt in 1873. St. Philip's, designed by Archer, a pupil of Wren, was the next church erected. It was consecrated in 1715, enlarged in 1884, and became the pro-cathedral on the foundation of the diocese. It contains a rich series of stained-glass windows by Burne-Jones. Then followed St. Bartholomew's in 1749, St. Mary's in 1774, St. Paul's in 1779, St. James's, Ashted, in 1791, and others. The traditional reputation for Nonconformity is main tained by the town. The Unitarians, the oldest body established here, have among their chapels, the Old Meeting, on the site of one of the original Unitarian chapels. Another chapel, the New Meeting, in Moor street, is memorable as having been the place of Dr. Joseph Priestley's ministerial labours from 178o onwards. In 1862 the Unitarians removed from this place to the church of the Messiah in Broad street. The first meeting-house of the Society of Friends dates from about 169o. Among Independent chapels, that of Carr's lane has had John Angell James and Robert William Dale as ministers. The Baptists first erected a chapel in Cannon street in 1738. John Wesley himself in 1745 established the Wes leyan Methodists in Birmingham. The Presbyterians have also places of worship, and the Jews have a synagogue. From the revolution of 1688 until 1789 the Roman Catholics had no place of worship here; but Birmingham is now a Roman Catholic bishopric. Cardinal Newman was superior of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri from its foundation in 1851.
Education.—The oldest educational institution is the grammar school of King Edward VI., founded in 1552 with a grant of the lands of the Gild of the Holy Cross. The principal school included in the foundation is the boys' high school; others, with a girls' high school, are on the endowment. Queen's college, founded in 1828 as a school of medicine, subsequently embraced other subjects, though in 1882 only the medical and theological departments were maintained. In 1882 a large part of the scientific teaching, hitherto done by special professors in Queen's college, was taken over by Mason college, and in 1892 the whole medical department was removed to the same institution under an order from the court of chancery. In 1898 a public meeting carried a resolution in fa vour of creating a university, in which Mason college was merged. Since 1922 departments of Legal Studies, Oil Engineering and Town Planning have been instituted ; new buildings have been pro vided for the biological departments ; the university has become associated with the Coal Owners' Mining Research Laboratory and the joint Board for Research in Mental Diseases; the Treasury grant has been increased, and, in response to appeals, large sums have been raised and scholarships, research funds, etc., founded. The faculty of commerce constitutes a distinctive feature in the scheme of the university, the object being to bring its teaching into close touch with the industrial life of the city. A site at Edgbaston was given by Lord Calthorpe and a large building scheme is being worked out. The Municipal School of Art was formed by the transference to the corporation in 1885 of the then existing school of art and the Society of Arts, and by the erection of the building in Margaret street. The Midland institute, the building of which was founded in 1855 and enlarged subsequently, includes a gen eral literary and an industrial department. The Municipal Tech nical school was established in 1893 in the building of the Midland institute, and in 1895 was housed in Suffolk street, whither the whole of the scientific teaching of the institute was transferred.
The principal libraries are the Birmingham library, founded in 1798 by Dr. Priestley, the Central free library, and other free libraries in different parts of the city, each with a lending depart ment and a reading room. The general Hospital, the foundation of Dr. Ash, was opened in 1779 and rebuilt in 1897. There are also almshouses for aged persons, kept up by old trusts, chiefly Lench's Trust and James' Charities. Among a series of public monuments are those of Priestley, Attwood, Watt, Peel, Rowland Hill and Nelson. The wide importance of Birmingham as a centre of manu factures began towards the close of the 17th century, one great factor being the absolute freedom of the town, with no gilds, companies or restrictions of any kind; besides which the easy access to cheap coal and iron indirectly helped the development. It is remarkable that two important trades, now located elsewhere, were first established here. Steel was made in Birmingham until and cotton-spinning was begun here by John Wyatt, Lewis Paul and Thomas Warren as early as 173o; but the speculation was abandoned before the end of the century. The great staple of Birmingham is metal-working in all its various forms. The chief variety is the brass-working trade. Iron-working, though largely carried on, is a much less important trade, works of this kind being chiefly established in the Staffordshire district. Jewellery, gold, silver and gilt come next to brass. Then follow "small arms" of all kinds. Until 1906 a Royal Small Arms factory was maintained by the government at Sparkbrook, but it was then transferred to the Birmingham Small Arms Co., which had already extensive works in the district. Buttons, hooks and eyes, pins and other articles used for dress, constitute a large class of manufactures. Glass, especially table glass is a renowned staple of the town. Screws, nails, etc. are made in enormous quantities; indeed, Bir mingham has a monopoly of the English screw trade. Steel pens are also a speciality, the name best known in this connection being that of Sir Josiah Mason. Electroplating, first established in 1841 by the firm of Elkington, is one of the leading trades. Among other branches of manufacture are wire-drawing, metal rolling, railway-carriage building (a large and important industry), the manufacture of cutting implements and tools of all kinds, die sinking, papier-mache making and a variety of others. In 1897 there was a sudden development of cycle manufacturing, followed in 1899 by an almost equally sudden collapse, but this industry is maintained and accompanied by the manufacture of motor-cars, tyres and accessories, for which Birmingham is one of the principal centres in Great Britain. Confectionery and printing on a large scale are also important. The output of munitions during the War (1914-18) was enormous and many of the large buildings erected during this period facilitated the development of local industries. Fort Dunlop is a new suburb occupied by the makers of rubber goods.
Administration.—The government of the town resided originally in the high and low bailiffs, both officers chosen at the court of the lord of the manor, and acting as his deputies. A charter was granted by the crown in 1838, vesting the general government in a mayor, 16 aldermen and 47 councillors. The powers of this body, were, however, unusually restricted, and it was not until 1851 that an act of parliament was obtained, abolishing all governing authorities excepting the town council. Another local act was ob tained in 1862, and in 1883 these various acts were combined into the Birmingham Corporation Consolidation act. In 1889 Bir mingham was created a city. The title of lord mayor was conferred on the chief magistrate in 1897. Under the Greater Birmingham Scheme of 1911 the city council consists of 3o aldermen and 90 councillors. The gas, electricity and water supplies are in the city council's hands. The main source of the water supply is the Elan valley (q.v.), Radnorshire, where extensive waterworks were completed in 1905. Justice was administered from 1838 to 1884 by a court of quarter sessions. In 1884 Birmingham was made an assize district of Warwickshire. The town was enfranchised in 1832 when two representatives were elected. In 1867 three mem bers were assigned and in 1885 the number was increased to seven. Since 1918, 12 members have been returned to parliament. The area of the city of the Greater Birmingham Scheme of i g i i is 43,537 acres or about 68 square miles.