History West Midlands On Air

For almost 150 years, the Worcestershire village of Powick was home to the county’s hospital for mental illness. It reached the height of its importance during the First World War, as the trauma, anxiety and grief resulting from the War affected large numbers of people at home.

As part of the “Worcestershire World War 100” project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, historian Sarah Ganderton discusses the stories revealed in the archive of the George Marshall and Worcestershire Archive and Archeology Service of the people who lived, and sometimes died, in the Powick Hospital.

She spoke to History West Midlands publisher, Mike Gibbs.

The Chamberlains - Joseph, Austen and Neville - are unique in British political history in which they were prominent - and sometimes dominant - for nearly a century.

Unlike previous political dynasties, they did not come from hereditary wealth but from the industrial enterprise of provincial Birmingham. From 1876 to 1940, Joseph and then his sons, Austen and Neville, were at the herat of British public life. During this time there were family triumphs and tragedies as well as great political successes and abject failures.

Listen as author and historian Andrew Reekes story of the family who 'made the political weather'.

The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is recovering Birmingham’s unique heritage as home to the largest and oldest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world. Recently, it has also begun to uncover the truly global influence and reach of this historic people’s Shakespeare library, which has holdings in some 93 languages. In a special History West Midlands film and two associated podcasts, the Project Director, Professor Ewan Fernie, and its American International Champion, Professor Katherine Scheil, share some of the excitement of re-establishing the links between Birmingham’s nineteenth-century Shakespeare heritage and the development of Shakespeare in America.

In The Tempest, when she is faced with human society for the first time, Shakespeare’s cast-away Miranda says, “O brave new world / That has such people in’t!” Her father, Prospero, wearily replies, “’Tis new to thee.” But in the middle of the nineteenth century, George Dawson and the other founders of Birmingham’s pioneering Shakespeare library really believed Shakespeare could play a role in regenerating culture. Dawson regarded Shakespeare’s plays as “the newest Bible, the sweetest, truest teachings of the truths of the future that the world ever had.” When he crossed the Atlantic to visit America in 1874, he cemented relationships between British and American Shakespeareans which had lasting effects on America’s cultural institutions and landscape. While Fernie and Scheil’s new article on Shakespeare, Birmingham and America uncovers much of this lost history, it also shows that Dawson’s visit to the States exposed serious limitations to his “everything to everybody” ethos – limitations it is vitally important we acknowledge and move beyond today in favour of making culture more equal and inclusive.

The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is recovering Birmingham’s unique heritage as home to the largest and oldest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world. Recently, it has also begun to uncover the truly global influence and reach of this historic people’s Shakespeare library, which has holdings in some 93 languages. In a special History West Midlands film and two associated podcasts, the Project Director, Professor Ewan Fernie, and its American International Champion, Professor Katherine Scheil, share some of the excitement of re-establishing the links between Birmingham’s nineteenth-century Shakespeare heritage and the development of Shakespeare in America.

In The Tempest, when she is faced with human society for the first time, Shakespeare’s cast-away Miranda says, “O brave new world / That has such people in’t!” Her father, Prospero, wearily replies, “’Tis new to thee.” But in the middle of the nineteenth century, George Dawson and the other founders of Birmingham’s pioneering Shakespeare library really believed Shakespeare could play a role in regenerating culture. Dawson regarded Shakespeare’s plays as “the newest Bible, the sweetest, truest teachings of the truths of the future that the world ever had.” When he crossed the Atlantic to visit America in 1874, he cemented relationships between British and American Shakespeareans which had lasting effects on America’s cultural institutions and landscape. While Fernie and Scheil’s new article on Shakespeare, Birmingham and America uncovers much of this lost history, it also shows that Dawson’s visit to the States exposed serious limitations to his “everything to everybody” ethos – limitations it is vitally important we acknowledge and move beyond today in favour of making culture more equal and inclusive.

Dr Roger White, Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham who specialises in the Roman period and has been researching Wroxeter for the last 40 years, introduces this series of podcasts which will explore the significance and influence of the Romans on the development of the region and the country as a whole.

Keywords: Romans, Wroxeter, Dr Roger White, University of Birmingham

Visitors to the ruins of Wroxeter in the heart of Shropshire are surprised to hear archaeologists compare it to Pompeii - the Roman town famously buried in the ashes of Mount Vesuvius.  But the analogy is real.  Both towns were a similar size and neither was destroyed by later development.  So each provides a fascinating window into Roman town life.

For decades Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham has revealed the secrets of Wroxeter and the people who lived there.

Keywords: Romans, Dr Roger White, Wroxeter, Pompeii

The arrival of the Roman army in the West Midlands was shocking for the native communities who were occupied. Then came a profound change in life and society revealed by modern archaeology.

In programme 1 of a series of podcasts about the Roman West Midlands Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham tells the story of the early years of Roman rule in central England.

Dr White explains that the legions and auxiliaries were active in the Midlands for about two generations after the invasion before moving to the Northern and Western frontiers of the province but their economic impact was felt throughout the Roman occupation.

Keywords: Romans, Dr Roger White, Roman invasion, West Midlands

In 1910 - eight years before women won the right to vote in parliamentary elections - the Black Country got its first woman councillor, when Ada Newman was elected to Walsall Borough Council. Between then and the outbreak of the Second World War, a further 49 women were elected to local councils across the Black Country. In total, these 50 women represented a vast swathe of political opinion in the area – as well as Conservatives, Liberals and Labour Party candidates, many were Independents, standing outside of the party system. Many were often the only woman councillor in their town, or one of only a tiny minority of women elected to represent their local area. Yet, through their work in local government, these pioneering women made a huge difference to the lives of local men, women and children in the Black Country.

In this podcast Anna Muggeridge looks at the experiences of some of the first women councillors here.

Keywords: Women, councillors, Anna Muggeridge, Black Country

In this programme, Andrew reveals how Worcester gained notoriety for electoral malpractice which led to Worcester being without a sitting MP for two years, and how the campaign to rid the constituency of this fraud backfired on the Liberal Party. He talks to History West Midlands publisher Mike Gibbs.

Keywords: Worcester, electoral fraud, River Severn, Worcester Cathedral, Andrew Reekes, George Williamson

In this programme, Andrew discusses how the two famous battles of Worcester in 1642 and 1651 highlight the strategic importance of the city to king and Parliament during bloody English Civil war and beyond. He talks to the publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs.

Keywords: Andrew Reekes, Worcester, The Battle of Worcester, River Severn, Worcester Cathedral