History West Midlands On Air

The author Cathy Hunt talks to publisher of History West Midlands, Mike Gibbs about Mary Macarthur and what she achieved in such a short life, dying at the age of 40 in 1921.  Mary's incredible activism and leadership was responsible for raising awareness of women’s poor working conditions and encouraging them to speak out against injustice and inequality.

Mary Macarthur is perhaps best known for the prominent part she played in the women chain makers’ strike in Cradley Heath, Staffordshire in 1910. The dispute, which lasted two months, ended in success with the women receiving the country’s first minimum wage. It was a triumph but it was by no means an isolated event and Mary Macarthur, as leader of the country’s first all-female general trade union, the National Federation of Women Workers, travelled the length and breadth of the country making sure that women were strengthened by better pay and working conditions and union membership.

Cathy explores Mary Macarthur, who was such an extraordinary individual and why she chose the path that she did at a time when it was far from common for middle-class women to appear on public platforms. 

Keywords: Mary Macarthur, Cathy Hunt, Women Chainmaker's, Cradley Heath, Women, Trade Union

The latest series of the highly acclaimed BBC One drama “Peaky Blinders” introduces us to a new “villain” – Oswald Mosely - one of Britain’s most enigmatic and controversial figures of the 20th century who played prominent role in the political life of Birmingham and the West Midlands between the first and second world wars.

He began conventionally as a Conservative MP but became disillusioned by their lack of action to reduce unemployment so moved to the Labour Party but gave up the established party system entirely to form the British Fascist Union – the Blackshirts - where he abandoned democracy for demagoguery and street violence.  

Like the “hero” of a classical Greek tragedy, Mosley’s glittering career of great promise ended in shame.  He and his wife were interred in Holloway prison throughout the war, and in the post-war years they were widely reviled and marginalised.

Andrew Reekes, historian and author looks back at Mosley’s most constructive years were spent in Birmingham in the 1920s when, as a brilliant platform orator, deeply sympathetic to the working-man, he successfully laid siege to this Chamberlain citadel for the Labour Party.  

Listen to more about Mosley and Birmingham at this History West Midlands podcast.

Keywords: Oswald Mosley, Blackshirts, Peaky Blinders, Andrew Reekes

In 1918, amidst the turmoil of the First World War, a new deadly threat swept through Europe and beyond.  Spanish Flu, infected and killed tens of millions over the next two years.

In Birmingham, three separate waves of the disease hit the city, causing massive disruption to the life of the city which was in Italy still at war and then trying to recover.

This was a time of additional grief as returning servicemen who had survived years of war suddenly died soon after getting home while others returned to find loved ones dead or dying.

Now Justine Pick from the University of Birmingham has investigated the records to discover how Spanish Flu affected the people of Birmingham.  Here she talks to History West Midlands publisher Mike Gibbs.

Keywords: Spanish Flu, First World War, Birmingham, Justine Pick, University of Birmingham

More than six million people watched the first episode of series five of the BBC’s Peaky Blinders – the mesmerising drama of violence, moody characters and intrigue.

Among them was internationally recognised Shakespeare expert Professor Ewan Fernie of the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham, Director of the high profile ‘Everything to Everybody’ project to unlock the city’s Shakespeare Memorial Library.

Professor Fernie tells the publisher of History West Midlands he found himself seeing strong parallels with Shakespeare’s masterpiece – Macbeth.

Keywords: Shakespeare, Peaky Blinders, Macbeth, Professor Ewan Fernie

Recently History West Midlands has sponsored researchers led by Dr Malcolm Dick of the University of Birmingham, in an exploration of different, and previously unreported facets of the complex life and personality of James Watt; the Scottish engineer who became an icon of the Industrial Revolution.

Searching voluminous archives at the Library of Birmingham one of them, Dr Stephen Mullen of Glasgow University, went beyond the “heroic figure” of Watt the engineer and developer of the steam engine, to investigate the time before Watt moved to Birmingham to join Mathew Boulton in their historic partnership.

Dr Mullen spent months delving into more than 50 years of little-studied correspondence from Watt; his father James Watt Senior; and his brother, John, about their extensive involvement in transatlantic mercantile trade with the North American colonies and the sugar plantations of the Caribbean.

Dr Mullen's research reveals a dark side to the story of the Watt family.

For the fist time it provides evidence that Watt's family and Watt himself were not only complicit in the slave trade - they participated directly and benefited extensively from the profits that slavery generated.

On our sister initiative Revolutionary Players, www.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk you will find a unique digitised resource of prints, drawings, paintings, letters and much more.

Keywords: James Watt, Slavery, Library of Birmingham, Scotland, James Watt, Dr Stephen Mullen

Professor Holbrook of the University of Queensland formerly President of the International Shakespeare Association, recently visited Birmingham to explore the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library: the first great Shakespeare Library in the world, and the only great Shakespeare Library which truly belongs to all the people of the city.

In this podcast he discusses the global impact and legacy of the Library’s founder, George Dawson, who pioneered a visionary new civic culture in Birmingham.  It reveals an extraordinary connection between Dawson’s Birmingham and the only Australian copy of the historic 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s collected works which was donated to Sydney’s Free Public Library in 1884 by Richard and George Tangye from Birmingham.  He also discusses connections between Dawson’s ‘civic gospel’ and nineteenth-century Australian politics.

Professor Holbrook talks with Professor Ewan Fernie, Director of the ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project, a pioneering collaboration between Birmingham City Council and the University of Birmingham to unlock the first great people’s Shakespeare Library for all.

The project has a development grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop a three-year programme which will culminate in 2022 when the Commonwealth Games come to Birmingham.

Keywords: Shakespeare, Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library, Ewan Fernie, Philip Holbrook, Library of Birmingham, Civic Gospel, George Dawson

‘Spanish Flu,’ killed more than 50 million people and affected millions more, across the globe during 1918 and 1919. Soldiers, POWs and the workers in war-industries all fell victim to this pandemic which brought fear and death to villages, towns and cities on the home front, even after the guns of the First World War battlefields had fallen silent.

A failure to recognise and deal with the magnitude and threat the virus posed was exasperated by a wartime shortage of trained doctors and nurses and led to an inadequate medical response to the crisis. There were long queues outside pharmacies and doctors’ surgeries. The despairing population turned to charlatans, patent medicines, food supplements even alcohol to prevent or cure any symptoms of the flu.

Keywords: Spanish Flu, Worcester, Pandemic

Just a few yards from the Chamberlain Clock at the heart of the Jewellery Quarter is a street that encapsulates the social and economic history of this distinctive and important district.  It is Vittoria Street.  Seemingly a quiet backwater in the midst of this busy area, yet does Vittoria Street have an intriguing history that tells us much about the stages of development of the Jewellery Quarter, its historical buildings, its manufacturers and the lives of its residents, poor as well as wealthy.

Keywords: Vittoria Street, Carl Chinn, Birmingham, Jewellery Quarter

Birmingham’s Shakespeare Library has always held more materials in German than in any language other than English.  There are now thousands of German holdings, including some utterly unique treasures.  In this film, Professor Tobias Döring of Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, presents perhaps the most extraordinary and iconic German book in Birmingham’s Shakespeare Library and reflects on the important relationships between Birmingham, Shakespeare and Germany. 

Keywords: Professor Tobias Döring, Shakespeare Library, Everything to Everybody, Shakespeare, Birmingham

Listen to stories of women’s everyday lives in Coventry between 1850 and 1950. This was an extraordinary century of change and women, as always, were strong, resilient and resourceful.  Here we glimpse aspects of their lives at close quarters, drawing on their experiences of growing up in this industrial city as they went to school, started work and grew into womanhood.

Dr Cathy Hunt is the author of ‘A History of Women’s Lives in Coventry’, published by Pen and Sword.

Keywords: Coventry, Women, Cathy Hunt