fbpx

Tag: birminghamhistory

Posted on

The Birmingham Grand Levy Book Project – A Census Substitute Born Out of Grumbling and Shaming

Westley’s ‘East Prospect’ of Birmingham in 1732, when it was still just a sleepy market town.

This week I’m sharing the story of my ongoing Grand Levy Book transcription project with you. When complete, I think it will turn out to be extremely helpful as a census substitute for those researching Birmingham ancestry in the late eighteenth century.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that much of my family history comes from the city of Birmingham in the Midlands of England. Birmingham began its existence as a small market town around a thousand years ago and indeed remained so for all but the last two hundred and fifty years or so. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, it rapidly grew and is now one of the major cities of the United Kingdom. How and why is a blog post in itself, which I may one day tackle!

The Plan of Birmingham, from William Hutton’s ‘The History of Birmingham’ published in 1782, the same year as the copy of the Grand Levy Book.

A few years ago, I stumbled across a published copy of the Grand Levy Book for Birmingham which was printed in the year 1782. This was a time of massive expansion of the population (around 50000 across 8000 households at that time). This was accompanied by all the stresses and strains on infrastructure which would be expected. The original annual Grand Levy Books for Birmingham are held by the Birmingham Archives. They are handwritten and available for consultation by appointment. So why was just this one printed for general circulation at the very time that it was in use?

The Library of Birmingham – here lie the original Grand Levy Books in the Birmingham Archives.

Collecting the Poor Rates

Firstly, let me explain what it was used for. Poor rates were collected around Easter time from occupants of any houses in Birmingham worth more than twelve pounds a year and were calculated on 2/3 of that property’s value. These rates were then redistributed and used as poor relief.

Birmingham at this time was technically still one parish despite its size. It was divided into twelve sections, one for each of the Overseers of the Poor, who were charged with collecting these rates. They would carry with them a rate book for their section and mark it off as they went. Afterwards, the twelve books were collated into one Grand Levy Book for the parish.

So back to the copy released publicly in a published form in 1782 – why did they choose to do this? The answers lie in the preface. It seems that at that time there was much grumbling amongst the ratepayers about perceived inequities in the rates they were levied. There was a challenge issued by publishing everyone’s rates, along the lines of ‘put up or shut up’. It was also used to publicly shame those who could pay but weren’t doing so.

So why transcribe this copy of the Grand Levy Book?

The Grand Levy Book of 1782 contains the names of the heads of households across all of Birmingham in order of the street they lived in. It gives an indication of the degree of their relative wealth and possibly the type of business they had. It may also give a hint of their character! The book is essentially an early head of household census at this time of great expansion in Birmingham. It is useful for finding the locations of ancestors, and in the case of those who immigrated to the town from other areas, confirmation that they were there by this time. Having the book listed in order of their address is helpful for cluster research too as you can see who the neighbours were as with the later censuses.

I had not seen this information anywhere else and the book is not easily searchable due to the print quality and font used. So I decided to transcribe it. So far I am about 3200 households in and about halfway through. It is a long labour of love assisted by this second lockdown period!

Will it ever be finished and available?

I’m trying very hard not to get sidetracked along the way with discoveries! Many of my family lines were in Birmingham at this time – some had already been there for several centuries, some were arriving from surrounding counties with the move from an agricultural to an industrial economy.

Initially, this was just a personal project. However as the broader value of this book to other researchers has become apparent, I plan to make it freely available once it’s complete (probably on this site).

As for the timeline, I hope it will be in the last quarter of this year, though I am tossing up whether to cross-reference it with contemporary trade directories to add occupations. Trade directories are nowhere near as complete as this list, especially at this time. It would provide an extra layer of information and context to a subset of the population though. This would naturally extend the time to completion. Thoughts, anyone?

But wait, there’s more…

I’m planning a sequel already! I recently found a copy of the Birmingham Out Poor List from October 1781. This was also published publicly in early 1782. The motive for the publication of this one appears to be the parish seeking justification for the rates that were being levied (probably again due to grumbling from the better off!). Between this list of those in receipt of poor relief and those who were (or should have been) paying poor rates, an almost complete picture of the population of Birmingham can be put together for this time. One thing at a time however, I’m only human!

Is anyone else making progress with longstanding projects while time outside has been limited? Comment below, I’d love to hear about them!

Posted on

Walking the Streets of My Birmingham Ancestors – Kings Norton

This week I am back in England, staying in the Midlands with my remaining close English family. Much of my family history has links to Birmingham and the surrounding areas. I was born there and many of my family lines extending back for several centuries are within the modern-day boundaries of Birmingham. Indeed, my maternal grandmother lived in the (now) suburb of Kings Norton right up to her death in 2007 without even knowing of the depth of her heritage there.

Map Kings Norton
Map showing location of Kings Norton, on the edge of modern day Birmingham

My family links to Kings Norton, however, precede the commencement of parish registers and on some lines go back at least 700 years. It seems as though almost all genealogical roads lead to Kings Norton on several branches of my tree, both maternal and paternal. I’ve often wondered if that is why I’ve always felt a connection to Kings Norton village green or whether it’s just because it is a lovely little historical oasis in a large city.

Kings Norton
Kings Norton St Nicolas’ church and the Saracen’s Head

It actually blows my mind to think that so many of my ancestors crossed paths on a daily basis with each other in what was at the time a small rural village. Their descendants gradually dispersed from Kings Norton to other towns, villages and cities such as Birmingham, Stratford on Avon, Dudley, and even further afield. Yet the lines still managed to merge again by the 20th century to produce my generation who are now living in Australia!

Kings Norton village green
Kings Norton village green

As you know by now, the thing I love about genealogy is not the names and dates but the stories of my people. So today, I’d like to share a tale about one of my least favourite ancestors. We all have black sheep, and they often create the best family stories!

Edward Field (1623-1685) of Kings Norton

The Field family of Kings Norton, Worcestershire had been in the village for many generations and were quite powerful and well-respected in the area. Edward was the son of William Field of Bells Farm which still exists today. William had taken ownership in 1638 and lived there at Bells Hall with his family.

Bells Farm today

In 1642, the Civil War broke out. Although nearby Birmingham was strongly on the Parliamentarian side, Kings Norton and William himself were staunchly Royalist. Bells Farm was situated on the road that commanded the east, and while he was building fortifications and digging tunnels, the tradespeople of Birmingham were making weapons for Cromwell’s army.

Prince Rupert and his troops turned up in 1643, finding a friendly local welcome (including the Field family), and overpowered the Parliamentarians, almost destroying Birmingham in the process. However later in the year Cromwell’s army made a comeback with large numbers of men and heavy artillery and attacked Kings Norton. William had to surrender.

There is no further trace of William. He was never seen again. There is no burial record and his body is not in the family crypt. He is believed to have been executed and his body dumped.

Edward, a young man of about 20 years of age, profited well from his father’s death. Naturally he inherited Bells Farm, which had been damaged during the battle but was then left alone. He also however mysteriously managed to acquire several other properties and much wealth. To do so at this time indicates that he was in favour with the Parliamentary forces, despite them having seen his father and the village of Kings Norton as enemies.

By the time Edward died in 1685, he was a very wealthy man indeed. He had repaired and several times extended Bells Farm, to the point where by 1666 he was paying Hearth Tax for seven fireplaces. His will is voluminous and his six children each inherited properties and a significant amount of money (except his son John who got his watch and his books!). No trace of his inventory has been found though I hope it turns up one day as I’d love to see the list of items he had acquired!

Edward was clearly a resourceful young man, who saw which way the winds of war were blowing and switched sides. To have profited so immensely, it is hard not to believe that he must have betrayed his father to assist the Parliamentary forces in breaching the fortifications of Bell Hall. Whether or not he realised it would result in his father’s death is a matter of conjecture, as is whether he ever felt regret at what he had done. Whatever the truth I do not like this ancestor. But hey, it makes a fabulous family story!

Worcestershire resources are scarce!

One of the great things about having so many ancestors from a single village is that over the years I have gathered quite a collection of resources about it. Parish register copies, local history books, collections of memorial inscriptions, some poor law records, loads of local wills etc. Being in Worcestershire, there is comparatively little available online that isn’t just indexes and transcripts. Even then it is not well covered in comparison with other English counties.

Shout out to Familysearch, FindMyPast, Ancestry, etc…please get around to digitising and publishing Worcestershire records!

Posted on

Welcome to Lyfelynes Family History!

My name is Samantha John. I am British-born but have been living in Australia for many years. Leaving my extended family behind as a child left me with a yearning to know more, and so my passion for genealogy began at a young age.

Now, after 35 years of pursuing family history as a hobby and not only working on my own tree but on many other peoples’ trees for the love of it, I’ve gained formal qualifications in the subject and am branching out (no pun intended!) into professional genealogy.

My experience began with English genealogy, as that is where my most recent ancestors came from, mostly around the Midlands area. As a result, I have many many resources and quite a bit of local knowledge (both from research and regular visits) to help those who are looking in this area. However, as my tree went back further generations, the roots spread wider and cover most areas of the United Kingdom.

I married an Australian man whose family had mostly been in the country since the earliest days of settlement, one way or another (you will no doubt hear some stories as my blog progresses!), so for the past 30 years I’ve also been working on Australian family histories – his family and many friends and others who have needed help untangling their branches.

Other research has led me into the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Germany (I knew that high school German would come in handy one day!), colonial India, the West Indies and many other points on the globe. Genealogy has a great way of bringing places, people and history to life.

This blog is not intended as somewhere for me to just shamelessly promote myself and my research service. I hope to regularly bring you useful content for assisting with your own journey, a little bit of entertainment, and I would love to make it a conversation via the comments section below, or you can message me privately if you wish. Please subscribe and feel free to participate, I look forward to getting to know you!