Birmingham at a Time of War

From the time that the Knight family had moved to Birmingham from Sheldon, England had seemed to be at war. Will often saw soldiers or heard stories about them.

Although Will knew nothing about it at the time, Britain went to war with America in the very month that they had moved from Sheldon in 1775. American belonged to Britain at that time, and the thirteen American states were British colonies. However, they wanted their independence and to be able to rule themselves. They had refused to pay British taxes and had insulted King George III, so Britain went to war against her own colonies.

This is an eighteenth century cartoon series which cynically traces the fate of a happy Englishman (John Bull) when he volunteers to go to war for his country.

John Bull Happy

John Bull going to the Wars

John Bull's property in danger (pawning goods to buy food)

John Bull's glorious return

However, King George III did not have enough soldiers to fight, and could not get enough as the pay in the army and navy was so poor and the discipline so strict. Gangs of men roamed around England to press men to go to fight.

Press Gang in action

These gangs of men were greatly feared, for they would snatch and take any man they could from the streets or taverns. Will heard his father talking about the press gangs, for John had heard somebody say that a big gang was active in Birmingham. John would not take drinks from any strangers in case the ale had the "King's Shilling" in it at the bottom of the tankard.

Taking the King's Shilling

If this happened, then the poor person who had accepted the drink was dragged off by the gang to fight in the wars, and would probably never be seen again. Partly because of these problems some of Birmingham's leading citizens met at the Coffee House in the Cherry Orchard in January 1778. They put forward the idea that Birmingham should raise a county regiment of volunteers. They would be called the Birmingham section of the Warwickshire Regiment and would go to fight against the rebel American colonies.

Will remembered watching a parade of some of this regiment in April 1778. These had really been the first soldiers he had ever seen and he had gasped at them in wonder for they looked so magnificent. In front of the procession marched a military band playing marching tunes. Roast beef, bread and ale had been given out to the large crowd that stood watching. Will had seen many men tempted by the spectacle and the good food, rush up to the soldiers and volunteer themselves for the war.

However, these soldiers did not always behave in a proper way, and two of them were involved in a dreadful murder just outside the town. Will read all about it in Aris's Gazette. In 1780 a soldier named Thomas Pitmore was sent to Birmingham to try to get more volunteers for the American War. He met up with another soldier called John Hammond. Both men spent all their money on drink, so to get more they decided to carry out a highway robbery.

On the dark night of November 22nd they lay in wait on the Coleshill Road near Ward End. They were waiting for the butchers to return from the fair at Rugby, their pockets loaded with money. At last three butchers came past on horseback. Hammond and Pitmore pounced on them but the first one escaped. Hammond then attacked the second one, Wilfred Barwick, crying "Stop your horse" and at the same time firing his pistol.

Highwayman at Work

Two bullets hit Barwick in the stomach and he fell to the ground exclaiming "I am a dead man". Both robbers, frightened, ran away and hid in Ward End fields, but they were chased across the snow and captured by some travellers just behind. Hammond and Pitmore were taken to Birmingham and lodged in the prison. They were then taken to Warwick Assizes, convicted and sentenced to death. On the day of their execution they left Warwick at eight in the morning.

They were heavily ironed and the journey to Washwood Heath took six hours. Their irons were knocked off and their arms and legs tied. They mounted the scaffold, and on that day, April 22nd 1781, they were hanged. Will heard of people in Birmingham who walked the five miles to Washwood Heath to join the vast crowd of many thousands who had gathered to watch the executions.

A scene similar to that at Washwood Heath on April 22nd 1781.

The two bodies were left there hanging in chains for five years. Their flesh rotted away and their bones were bleached by the sun until they fell down and were buried on the same spot. (Many years later, in 1842, some men were working in a field at Washwood Heath, digging a railway embankment, when they found the skeletons of the two men with the gibbet chains still around their bodies.)

In 1793 Britain went to war against France. This was partly because the French had just guillotined their King, but mainly because the dangerous French armies were capturing other lands in Europe. The British Government and many of the British people thought that the French might invade and take over England.

Uniforms similar to those worn by the Warwickshire Regiment.

This war, with only one short break, was to go on beyond Will's lifetime to the year 1815. In that year Napoleon was finally defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo. Birmingham had to provide a certain number of men for the army and navy. But the ordinary people of the town were far more concerned with how the war affected them than they were with news of victories or defeats in far-away places.

Will and his family, along with thousands of others, went through very lean times. The Government taxed things very heavily to try to get more money to fight the French. Things like candles were taxed so that most poor people could rarely afford them. But the worst thing of all was the bad harvests of 1791 and 1795. These bad harvests had nothing to do with the war, for they were caused by bad weather. Because of the shortage of grain the price of bread rose dramatically and families like Will's often went hungry and suffered greatly.

On June 29th 1795 a large mob, mainly of women, gathered outside Mr. Pickard's cornmill at the bottom of Snow Hill. They had heard ugly rumours that he was hoarding his corn so that he could sell it later for a better price.

Although Anne Knight was not there she understood the women's feelings when she heard about it. Two magistrates rushed to the scene, but the women hurled bricks and stones at them. They immediately sent for the soldiers to come from the newly-built Ashted Barracks. The soldiers captured some of the leading rioters and began to take them to the prison, warning the rest of the women that they would shoot them if they tried to interfere with their prisoners.

However, this warning only seemed to increase the fury of the mob and one of the soldiers panicked and fired into the crowd, killing two people. The mob immediately scattered in all directions.

Shortly after this the soup kitchens on Peck Lane opened to help the hungry people of Birmingham. Although she hated taking charity Anne Knight was forced to go there several times and queue up for the cheap soup. It only cost one penny (half of a penny, today) for two pints. Anne was forced to swallow her pride, otherwise the three children would go hungry.

Things did not improve quickly. The French wars meant that trading almost stopped, and because of this unemployment grew. Will found himself reading several bitter letters in Aris's Gazette, written by a man who called himself "John Nott". This anonymous man wrote of the miseries and hunger of the lower classes and advised the farmers to drop the price of their corn (there had been more bad harvests) to lessen the distress. Will enjoyed reading this man's letters, for it seemed that he spoke a lot of truth.

These troubled times were to continue for many more years. They were made even worse by another war with America in 1812 which meant even less trade and more unemployment. Mr. Lanyard's workshop which had now been taken over by his son, was forced to close down.

But Will was to know none of this, for he died in the winter of 1803. He had known that his life was ebbing away as he always seemed very tired and short of breath. In the last few weeks before he died, when he had become too ill to work, he spent a lot of time reflecting on his life - the happy times and the sad times. As he thought back to changes that had happened during his lifetime, he thought with amazement how big Birmingham had now become.

The country areas on the edge of the town which he had first seen in the spring of 1775, no longer existed. The large gardens, the trees and the guinea gardens had all gone. Instead, all this land had been built on and there were many more houses and workshops in the town. There were many more people as well.

As Will lay on his deathbed he thought back to the happiest times of his life, as a boy at Sheldon. He remembered the bird-scaring he had done. A happy smile came to his lips and his mind drifted into oblivion.