Dominated as we are by a global pandemic,increasing poverty, an incompetent and corrupt government, the likelihood of an unforeseen and endlessly damaging Brexit…Despair is understandable and so to find myself uplifted by an unlikely local discovery was so timely.
Some time has elapsed since I wrote a blog and coming to the closing days of this pestilential year it seems an unlikely time to renew writing…yet a walk yesterday renewed my optimism; the discovery of a Brummie hero’s statue at Five Ways,Edgbaston – Joseph Sturge. This all came about in the course of reconnoitring a walk for Sutton Coldfield Ramblers. I must have by passed this statue a thousand times,as I was a pupil at the then, nearby St Philip’s Grammar School. It demonstrates what even local walking can bring to light. Edgbaston has always been a Conservative stronghold,so it is all the more surprising that the life and radical work of this great man should be commemorated there – He did live there for some time.
The memorial to the English Quaker, abolitionist and activist Joseph Sturge (1793–1859) was unveiled before a crowd of 12,000 people on 4 June 1862 at Five Ways, Birmingham, England, near his former home. The statue has been grade II listed since 8 June 1982.
Sturge Memorial before and after restoration
Standing at the boundary between Birmingham and Edgbaston, it was sculpted by John Thomas, whom Sir Charles Barry had employed as stone and wood carver on the former King Edward’s Grammar Schoolat Five Ways. He died before completing the memorial,which cost £1000.Some time around 1975, the figure of Sturge’s left hand fell off.
Sturge is posed as if he were teaching, with his right hand resting on a Bibleto indicate his strong Christian faith. He wears a lapel-less coat of a style favoured by contemporary Quakers.Lower on the plinth, he is flanked by two female allegorical figures: one representing Peace holds a dove and an olive branch, with a lamb at her feet, symbolic of innocence; and the other, Charity, offers comfort and succour to two Afro-Caribbean infants, recalling the fight and victory over slavery .Around the crown of the plinth are inscribed the words “Charity, Temperance and Peace” (the word “Temperance” is on a gadrooned basin, which used to dispense drinking water as well as Sturge’s name and his date of death. The figures and pedestal (still the original) are in Portland stone.
In 1925 the monument was moved a short distance, to its current position,and a bronze plaque was affixed to the memorial to tell passers-by more about its subject. The inscription reads (all in capitals; punctuation added for readability):
“He laboured to bring freedom to the Negro slave, the vote to British workmen, and the promise of peace to a war-torn world.”
In 2006-2007 the Birmingham Civic Society, Birmingham City Council, and the Sturge family restored the statue for the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. This included the provision of a replacement for the missing hand.
On 24 March 2007, the city held a civic ceremony to formally rededicate the statue. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, councillor Mike Sharpe, unveiled a new interpretation board giving details of Sturge’s life. The work is now in the care of Birmingham City Council.
And so, a few days later, a group of ramblers met at Five Ways Station to begin our Peregrination through the desirable “ villages” of Edgbaston and Harborne and beyond.
Nine Sutton Coldfield Ramblers took the train from Sutton to Five Ways Station on Sunday 13 th December. We made our way quickly up to the aforesaid statue – the gateway to Edgbaston, mentioned in the Domesday Book,part of the CALTHORPE Estate of 1500 acres. A 1/3 of Birmingham’s Listed buildings are in Edgbaston . The estate’s wish was there should be no industry and that remains the case. Hence the desirability of the B15 postcode.
The route took us around St George’s Church.
A Church of England Grade II listed parish church. Built in 1838 as one of the largest churches in Birmingham it was much enlarged in 1856 and 1884. It is located within the historically important Edgbaston conservation area and is closely associated with the patronal Calthorpe family. The church was built originally as a chapel of ease of St Bartholomew’s and enlarged to accommodate the growing population of Edgbaston. Residents in the southern side of the parish included wealthy householders and their staff, living in large period properties. Buildings also included early asylums for the blind and deaf and dumb. The northern side of the parish was poor and the church provided an Infant School, now a modern Church of England sponsored Academy Primary.
Today, the parish community is multi-ethnic. The church supports the Karis Neighbour Scheme which looks after families, the elderly, refugees and asylum seekers. Recently commercial properties have displaced previously domestic housing. St George’s maintains an active mission to the whole parish.
The area is FOODIE’s destination – 4 Michelin starred restaurants
Only London has more Michelin restaurants.
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