Municipal Development

During Joseph Chamberlain's 3-year Mayoralty from 1872 the movement towards Birmingham's becoming 'the best governed city in the world' began. He and others like George Dixon, immigrants who had made their fortunes in Birmingham and had the time, the will, and the ability to devote to public affairs, brought the town from behind many others to pre-eminence. Religion was their inspiration, and business sense the driving force of their work for civic transformation. A full-time Public Health Officer was first appointed in 1872, and his work in closing wells and enforcing domestic cleanliness, the provision of piped water and water closets, brought a steady improvement in living conditions and so in health. The Gas and Water Companies were acquired by the Corporation, better services provided and profits made. The Artisans' Dwellings Act of 1876 permitted purchase of insanitary property. St. Mary's Ward in B'ham was particularly bad, and £50,000 was spent in a year on buying the land for Corporation Street and its environs. No house-building was undertaken, however, and successive Councils fought shy of this: it was policy for many years to buy land whenever possible, to provide good tram services, and to rely on private builders (in suburban areas). Since the Act, no more back-to-back houses could be built, but the so-called 'Bye-law Houses' could still be crammed together in rows off-street. The long straight lines of 'tunnelbacks' - Saltley, Small Heath, Aston, Winson Green, Highgate, Lee Bank, Ladywood, Hockley, etc. - from the 70's to 1914 improved little in amenities, though they varied in size and pretension.

1890, first houses built by City Council, 22 2-storey 'cottages' in Ryder St. (Demolished 1971). 82 houses in Lawrence St. First flats, Milk St., 1895, 64 dwellings. In 1913 there were 43,366 back-to-back houses in six central wards, occupied by 200,000 people. Nearly all of these lacked water, sinks, and drains, and 58,000 houses lacked individual water closets.