Birmingham Images
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Slum Street
Birmingham Map of 1553
Birmingham Map of 1731
Birmingham Map of 1781
Birmingham Growth
Costume
Villagers wore home-spun clothes which lacked elegance but were hard-wearing and warm. Poorer towns'-people wore rags or cast-offs from those better off than themselves. Men in the upper classes as well as women were elegant in embroidered silks and velvets. Women's hairstyles varied from simple curls to the most fantastic structures. Men had powdered wigs. At social centres such as Bath, Brighton, Leamington and London in the Regency period men flouted themselves like peacocks. The slightest breach of etiquette or judgement in dress could mean a person's exile from social circles. Eventually the tightly-laced bodices and hooped skirts gave way to flimsy, simple dresses in the 'classic' style. Men's clothes became more simple and less elaborate, as well as more dull. Children
Children in rich families were dressed as adults from infancy. Nurses and governesses watched over their welfare until they were old enough for boarding-schools. They rode, shot and joined hunting parties. Poorer children had little or no education and started work as soon as they could do simple tasks. But in 1780 Robert Raikes opened his Sunday School to teach these children to read and write. The system spread throughout the country, but it was to be almost 100 years before education was assured for the majority of children. Sports & Pastimes
Some of Britain's national sports like cricket started at this time (football was very much older). Prize fights were popular as was fox-hunting and bull- and bear-baiting. In London Raneleigh & Vauxhall Gardens were important centres (Birmingham also had a Vauxhall Gardens). In the country the annual fair was vulgar, rowdy but a very welcome change from the dull round of hard-working routine. At night gambling, backgammon, battledore & shuttlecock (badminton) were played. For the upper classes the Ball was popular, with formal dances, manners, glitter, dignity and elegance. For the common people folk dances were more |
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