blackcountry
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“He was a man for whom we had the greatest respect.” – Dennis Edwards 25 Platoon D Company 2nd Battalion Ox and Bucks Regiment.
We don’t usually identify Local Authority Trading Standards Officers with heroic deeds and bravery above and beyond the call of duty, but today’s blog will tell the story of the bravest ‘weights and measures’ man I’ve yet come across, whose heroic and selfless actions 80 years ago helped secure the success of the D Day… Continue reading
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They breed them tough in the Black Country.
One of the better known historical figures from the Black Country is Tipton-born William Perry, more widely known as the ‘Tipton Slasher’ and boxing champion of England from 1850 to 1857. His boxing exploits and successes need not be revisited – his story has been told many times on-line with many extracts from contemporary accounts… Continue reading
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“shake the hand of the great George Smith”
It is difficult if not impossible to really know what a historical character was like – think of the polarised positions we take over Richard III, controversies over movie portrayals of Queen Elizabeth and Alexander the Great, and movie-makers themselves playing fast and loose with the historic record – Ridley Scott’s recent biopic Napoleon has… Continue reading
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G. H. Randle and W. Randle of Kings Norton
Some of you may recall an earlier post where we wondered who had created the lovely St Mary & St Anne window at St Augustine of Hippo near Dudley. Well, one of us had the clever idea of looking at the recently updated Pevsner covering the Black Country which gave us a name and a… Continue reading
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Another Black Country MP record.
This should be the last post about Members of Parliament for a while – but I felt having featured Alfred Dobbs and his record for being the shortest serving MP of all time I really shouldn’t pass over the opportunity to mention another Black Country MP – this time the holder of the record for… Continue reading
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Edward Legge . . .MP ?
Given our recent focus on MP’s I thought it would be apt to mention Edward Legge, 5th son of the 1st earl of Dartmouth, the one who had established Sandwell Hall as the family seat in 1710. Edward Legge (born in 1710) had joined the Royal Navy as a 16 year old and passed his… Continue reading
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Death by Lemonade (bottle)!
In times of war I think we have to be morbidly and horrifically impressed by the many various and new ways humans can invent to kill each other. Harry Lime’s quote about the creativity of conflict in the renaissance just about sums it up – although as far as I am aware the cuckoo clock… Continue reading
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Not a record you’d want to hold!
There are some records that you really don’t want to hold. For example, Tom Collins set a record for the longest wait on a trolley in a hospital (over 77 hours before he was found a bed) in 2001 (I fear this may be broken this winter), the stuntman Evel Knievel broke or fractured 433… Continue reading
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Forgotten burial grounds of the Black Country #1
Most people in West Bromwich know of Providence Place, the new office and hotel development next to the old Cronehills colliery site and close to the new Tesco. But not many people, including many who work there now, know the origin of the name, nor what still lies beneath the car park. In 1810 a… Continue reading
The Black Country Dying Museum 