Incorporation of Birmingham

A meeting on Newhall Hill in May 1832 was attended by 200,000 people in support of the Reform Bill: this so alarmed Parliament that the Act was passed and Birmingham and Edgbaston were combined in a Parliamentary Borough: Thomas Attwood and Joshua Scholefield were the first two members to be elected. The number of M.P.s increased with population until it reached its maximum of 13, since reduced. The movement for Incorporation now gathered strength, supported by the Liberals, opposed by the Tories who preferred 'a town without a shackle'. The aim was a borough including Birmingham and Edgbaston, Duddeston-cum-Nechells, Deritend and Bordesley. There were objections from Edgbaston Vestry, and the holders of manor rights in D. & N. The powers then being exercised by various authorities in Birmingham were not affected by the Incorporation Act of 1838: these were the Streets Commissioners, the Board of Guardians (Workhouse and Poor Relief), the Court of Requests (Debtors' Court), and the Governors of K.E.VI School, who owned increasingly valuable properties in the town.

The BOROUGH OF BIRMINGHAM was established in 1838, with a Mayor, 48 Councillors and 16 Aldermen for 16 Wards. A Bench of Magistrates, Coroner, Clerk of the Peace, were appointed, and Quarter Sessions begun. The bounds of the new borough were now Hockley Brook, Tame, Rea, Bordesley north bound, Cole, Spark, Highgate-Belgrave Roads, Bourn Brook, Metchley Lane, Chad Brook, Shireland Brook. The- area of 8,493 acres included all the built-up area at that time.

The Council first met in the Town Hall. Its power to levy rates was challenged, and the Home Office demanded control of the police. In 1842 the Charter was confirmed and police control regained, with authority to levy rates and control all streets not in the Commission's area. The first major tasks of the Council were the building of a jail and asylum, baths and wash-houses. Birmingham Heath had been enclosed in 1800, but was not yet overbuilt: a site was acquired for Winson Green Prison near the site of the old hamlet, and it opened in 1849, proving at once too small. East of it a large tract was bought for an asylum farm and All Saints' Hospital opened in 1850. Kent Street Baths and wash-houses opened in 1851, using well water.