Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

In April 2005, what initially appeared to be a simple hobby of collecting garden sprayers and spraying machines made in Birmingham has led me on a fascinating journey into the history of, and to some extent the people behind, these varied products.  My particular interest, however, is the Four Oaks Spraying Machine Company which was situated in the Mere Green area of Sutton Coldfield.  Hopefully this article will be of equal interest to you.

On a 33-acre site in the north of Sutton Park, a large anti-aircraft base was built to defend Birmingham against the threat of German bombing during the Second World War. The base held up to 200 personnel - initially manned by the regular army, but subsequently by the local Home Guard. After the war, the base housed homeless families - mainly ex-servicemen - until being demolished in the mid-fifties. Whilst in operation, knowledge of the site was kept secret, and after the war, existence of the site was forgotten. This is the story of Sutton Park’s anti-aircraft base and how it came to be rediscovered.

In 1977, whilst working as a solicitor at 46 High Street, I discovered a file of letters and legal documents dating from 1897 which related to the bankruptcy of Nelson Snelling Caunter. Solicitors' files are usually kept for some twelve years, but I imagine that this particular file was kept for much longer because Caunter was the manager of the Sutton Coldfield branch of Lloyds Bank, then operating from 36 High Street. This article details the documents in the file and gives some idea of legal practice in the late Victorian era.

Before 1857 a marriage could be dissolved only by an Act of Parliament, the cost of which was prohibitive to all but the extremely wealthy.  The 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act provided a much cheaper method by giving the High Court of Justice jurisdiction to grants divorce decrees.  This meant that people in humble circumstances could petition for divorce.  One such person was William Hopkins, a labourer from Whitehouse Common, who instructed Sutton Coldfield Solicitors Messrs Eddowes & Son to obtain a dissolution of his marriage in 1900.  This article, based on a file of papers found in the Solicitors’ office in 1977, recounts the progress of the divorce case from petition to hearing, and throws some light on legal practice in the late Victorian/early Edwardian era.

“This is the illustrated account of the creation in 1924 of the Children’s Paddling Stream in Sutton Park by the Sutton Coldfield Borough Council.”

Albert Wood, tenant of Midland Lodge in Sutton Park from 1892 to 1917, was a typical Victorian lower middle-class gentleman who had many interests. He was a chemist by training but from childhood took an interest in horticulture and natural history. These interests included ferns and alpine plants as well as birds and molluscs. He was also a founder member of The Vesey Club and counted Benjamin Stone, Sutton Coldfield’s first mayor, as one of his friends. He wrote this article for the 1900 edition of a guidebook of the Town which briefly presents his research of the snails and molluscs that inhabited Sutton Coldfield at the turn of the 19th century.

The corn rent map and schedule gives details of the ownership, occupancy, field names and value of all the estates which could be charged a yearly corn rent in 1824.

It is well known that elementary schools were established in Sutton in the 1820s, but less well known that the Warden and Society ran a secondary school from 1830 to 1853, called the Corporation Upper School.  This article explains how the Upper School started and why it closed down after only twenty-three years, and shows how two Headmasters of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, both members of the Corporation, were largely responsible for the Upper School’s establishment and its closure.

Not many people are aware of the existence of a Georgian cottage at Powell’s Pool that was demolished nearly seventy yeas ago. This article describes the architecture of the cottage, its history, as well as the history of Powell’ Pool, its spade mill, the mill’s lessees and the creation of the community of Boldmere, previously a tract of land comprising farmland and heathland.

The post of High Steward of Sutton Coldfield was created by the 1528 Charter, but he was authorized to appoint a deputy to carry out his duties relating to the administration of justice in the town.  At first, the High Steward appointed a deputy on an ad hoc basis, but by 1723 the post of Deputy Steward had become a permanent one and incoming High Stewards confirmed the appointment of the existing deputy on the recommendation of the Warden and Society.  The first known appointment of a Deputy Steward was in 1552 and the post was abolished and replaced by a Town Clerk in 1855.  This article lists the Deputy Stewards from 1723 to 1885.