Example of Swinney's Birmingham and Stafford Chronicle, 1781

An example of Myles Swinney's Birmingham and Stafford Chronicle from 15 November 1781.

Newspaper Clippings: Preparing for Christmas in 1827

From ARIS'S BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE on 17 December 1827.
Follow the links to discover the places where these Christmas events were happening.
Leading up to Christmas in Regency Birmingham, what were the wealthier inhabitants up to? They may have visited the Mechanical Theatre, at the Theatre Royal.

Or perhaps they went to one of the seasonal concerts or balls. The Royal Hotel had one of the finest concert rooms of the town, but only allowed the elite to attend. If inhabitants fancied travelling further afield then there was much fun to be had at the winter balls in Lichfield and Meriden.

Christmas has always been a time for good food, and a couple of adverts depict the kind of food stuffs being bought leading up to the Christmas period, in Bull Street and the Bull Ring. Fruit and spices were particularly popular; cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves were essential to the baking of the period, and still an expensive commodity.  

Newspaper Clippings: The Hocus Pocus Tag Rag and Bobtail Company

Newspaper clipping for ARIS'S BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE on 2 December 1833.
Above is a most intriguing, and probably intended to be humorous article, placed by the 'HOCUS POCUS TAG RAG and BOBTAIL COMPANY' run by 'Shylock Paperface' of London 'Prentice Street. Any comments or suggestions about this article would be gratefully received.

Newspaper Clippings: 'Refined' & 'Unrefined' Entertainments

From Aris's Birmingham Gazette, 19 November 1827.

Click on the orange links to explore the Regency Birmingham where the 'news' was taking place.
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The unrefined entertainment of the week is bull-baiting, which was being heavily cracked down on by the 1820s, though in the Black Country, and especially in towns like West Bromwich and Wednesbury the 'sport' was still deeply rooted in the social life; cock and dog fighting too. To find other posts about bull-baiting in Birmingham and the surrounding area click here.

For what was deemed to be refined entertainment, why not visit the Theatre Royal which has a great line-up playing Hamlet and Italian Opera.

Newpaper Clippings: Fashionable Winter Articles

From ARIS'S BIRMINGHAM GAZETTE, 7 November 1791













SCANDAL: Well worth a read is this tale of 'a most handsome, athletic' young con-artist called Griffin, a run-away gentleman's daughter and a shooting. Griffin and the young lady had arrived at the Hotel in Birmingham, but it was soon discovered that she was not his sister after all.

Newspaper Clippings: The Balloon Coach

~From Aris's Birmingham Gazette, 7 May 1787~
BIRMINGHAM and LONDON BALLOON COACH
The advert depicts the cost of coach travel at the time, which would have been completely out of the reach of the poor. It makes me wonder how the poorest, who did move about from country to town, and from town to town, transported themselves and their families. Note, also, how the proprietors protect themselves from the possibility of highway robbery by stating that they are not accountable for valuable goods.

Newspaper Clippings: Grand Concert in the Theatre

Newspaper clipping from Aris's Birmingham Gazette.
1 October 1798.

This clipping describes a music concert at the Theatre (later the Theatre Royal) on New Street followed by a ball at the 'Shakespear Great Room' which was an assembly room attached to the theatre.