The Recession

The loss of life in the First World War had been horrific. 745,000 servicemen and 24,000 civilians were killed and 1.7 million people were wounded.

The war had been funded by selling foreign assets, and borrowing billions of pounds from the U.S.A. which led to a large national debt. Britain’s interest payments amounted to around forty percent of the national budget. In 1920 the rate of inflation was twice as high as in 1914, and the value of the pound fell.

Immediately after the war, there was a short-lived boom in the economy, which lasted until late in 1919, but things rapidly changed. During the war around 7.9 million tons of shipping had been lost and so in 1919 to 1920 there was much investment and a rush of orders for replacement ships, but this soon ended.

The early 1920s were a time of recession, a time of hardship for many people. The First World War greatly stretched the nation’s finances. It disrupted our trade, and led to the rise of foreign competition, and the loss of many of our traditional exports, including steel, coal, and textiles. The country had previously grown wealthy because of its pre-eminent trading position in the world, the loss of which, led to the decline of many of our once great industries, and substantial job losses.


Courtesy of Fiona Wasdell-Bowyer.

In 1921 and 1922, exports fell to half of the pre-war levels and over 3 million people were unemployed. Overall growth averaged 1.8 percent per annum during the 1920s and by 1929 exports were still only 80 percent of what they had been in 1913.

There was mass unemployment, much bad housing, poor health and for many people a sense of hopelessness. The working hours for industrial workers was reduced to 48 hours per week.

Industrial action in the coal mining industry led to the General Strike in 1926. The miners were joined by a million railwaymen, transport workers, printers, dock workers, iron workers and steel workers. The strike lasted for nine days and in 1927 the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act made general strikes illegal.

Many new industries appeared in the 1920s, which helped to ease the situation. One of the industries, helped by the latest mass-production techniques was vehicle manufacturing, which led to the success of A. Harper, Sons & Bean Limited, the local car manufacturer at Waddams Pool Works and at Tipton.

Other successful industries included electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, metal goods, and printing. The sales of electrical appliances also grew thanks to the rise of consumer credit and loans.

As the 1920s progressed, higher wages and shorter working hours also led to the rise of recreation. People loved listening to the recently introduced wireless, and the more affordable gramophone records. Magazines were popular, as was going to the theatre and the new cinemas. People also had more time to participate in sports such as football and cricket.

Industrial relations began to improve, but another shock occurred in October 1929. The Wall Street Crash caused a worldwide depression. The UK suffered badly, with over 3 million people unemployed by the beginning of 1933. The situation did slowly improve. By 1938 the unemployment figure had halved, and as war became increasingly likely, industry again benefitted from essential war work and jobs became plentiful.

   
Images of Dudley, as seen on old postcards
   

Municipal Housing

Dudley, like its neighbouring towns, had many slum properties. Plans were made to improve local housing conditions by the building of council houses, which would allow the areas of slum housing to be redeveloped. A few council houses had been built by 1916 at Kate’s Hill, but further building work ceased until after the war.


One of the slum courtyards off Birmingham Street. From an old postcard.

The post war Housing Acts gave local authorities the necessary powers to build council houses and encouraged them to do so.

By 1921 over 300 council houses had been built at Kate’s Hill and other new estates appeared at Blower’s Green, Woodside, and Grazebrook Road.

The local population was noticeably increasing and so more houses were needed. In 1921 the population of Dudley was 55,894. It had increased to 59,583 by 1931.

In 1928, an Act was passed to enlarge Dudley to include Dudley Castle and the Priory, which were formerly in Staffordshire. This allowed the council to build the Priory Estate on land that had previously been part of Sedgley.

The estate was completed in 1939. Around the same time, the council built the neighbouring Wren’s Nest Estate and the Grace Mary Estate at Oakham.

At the time, the Priory Estate was Dudley Council’s largest housing development in the area. The foundation stone of the first house, 9 Oak Road, was laid on the 16th July, 1929. The first houses were occupied in 1930 and by the late 1930s over 2,000 houses had been built on the Priory and Wren's Nest estates. The development included shops in Priory Road, Lilac Road and Thornhill Road. Most of the inhabitants came from the old town centre slums and were delighted with their new amenities, including a garden.


Part of the Priory Estate. From an old postcard.

By the 1980s both the Priory Estate and Wren’s Nest Estate began to get a bad reputation caused by vandalism, litter, graffiti, drug dealing and burglaries. The high crime rate led to calls for both estates to be demolished. In March 2004, Dudley Register Office in Priory Park suffered from an arson attack. The severe blaze was put out by 100 firemen who had to work the whole night to get it under control. Another arson attack in April 2006 caused severe damage to the Duncan Edwards public house in Priory Road, which has since been demolished.

Residents in both of the estates were re-housed in preparation for demolition and most of the empty properties were vandalised. People were delighted when the houses were demolished and replaced by the modern estate.
   
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Priory Park

Priory Park opened in July 1932, extending to the north and the south of Priory Hall, covering an area of 19 acres. The northern part includes a bowling green, tennis courts, a cricket pitch, a five-a-side football pitch a basketball court, an orienteering course and a children’s play area. There is also the pavilion, which is now a cafe run by Gather. It includes a community centre room, a classroom for local schools, a changing room, a refreshment area and a training room.  Nearby is another building that houses Priory Park boxing club.


The Priory ruins.

To the south is Priory Hall, now Dudley Register Office, the rose garden, the lily pond, shrubs and trees, and the ruins of St. James’s Priory. Priory Hall was Grade II listed on the 14th September, 1949 and Priory Park was Grade II listed on the 7th November, 2002. Restoration work was carried out in the park in 2012 and 2013, funded by Dudley Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund.


Priory Hall.


The Lily pond.


The rose garden.

Dorothy Round

Priory park also contains a monument to one of Dudley’s most successful sporting personalities, the tennis star, Dorothy Round. She was born on the 13th July, 1909 at 25 Grange Road and attended Dudley Girls High School. From an early age she played tennis on a court in the back garden of her home, with her three brothers. She entered her first tennis tournament in 1925 at Pwllheli, then on the 7th September of that year, entered and won the Junior Worcestershire Championship. She retained the Worcestershire singles junior title in 1926 and gained the doubles title in the same event. Also in that year she reached the Junior Final at Wimbledon. In 1927 she retained her titles in the Worcestershire County Lawn Tennis Tournament, also becoming mixed doubles champion.


Dorothy Round.

In 1930 she played in the French Championships and was being coached by Dan Maskell. She reached the quarter final at Wimbledon in 1931 and participated in the U.S. National Championships. She was a member of the British team in the Wightman Cup and continued to compete in championships, both at home and abroad. 1934 was a landmark year. In February she competed in the Jamaican Tennis Championships, as a member of the British team and retained her British Hard Court Championships single title in Bournemouth. At Wimbledon she won the ladies singles title and the mixed doubles title. In November she competed in New Zealand and Australia, winning the Victorian Championships, at Melbourne, in December.

1935 was also a good year. She won the Australian Championships in January, to become the first overseas player to win the competition and in the same month released her first instructional book, “Modern Lawn Tennis”. In the summer, she retained her mixed doubles title at Wimbledon and began working as a dress designer and sports wear adviser to Suzanne sportswear.

She was appointed to the National Advisory Council of Physical Fitness, in 1937 and in July of that year won the singles title again at Wimbledon. On the 2nd September, she married Dr. Douglas Leigh Little, a GP. And in the following year gave birth to a boy, followed by a daughter in 1946. More competitions followed and for a few years she became a professional tennis coach in Canada.
When her tennis-playing career was over in 1950, she became a keen golf player and played in several golf tournaments.

She became a sports writer and wrote articles for several British newspapers.

On the 4th April, 1958, her husband died at their home in St. James’s Road, Dudley and in August of that year she was appointed a JP. in Dudley.

Dorothy died on the 12th November, 1982, at the age of 73, in Kidderminster.


Dorothy Round.

John McKenna's wonderful bronze statue of Dorothy Round, that was erected in Priory Park.

It was unveiled by her daughter on the 20th September, 2013. The plinth has two inscriptions:

“The Return of DOROTHY ROUND.  Born Dudley 1909  Died 1982”

“Wimbledon Champion Ladies Singles. 1934 and 1937.  Mixed Doubles 1934  1935  and 1937.”

New Town Hall and Council House

The Town Hall was built between 1924 and 1928 as part of a group of civic buildings, which includes the coroner’s court, museum room, the former magistrates’ court and the memorial tower. The buildings were in memory of Brooke Robinson and his wife, Eugenia. Robinson was a prominent local solicitor, who served as borough coroner and also as the town’s Conservative MP from 1886 until 1900. The building included the Brooke Robinson museum that opened in 1931 and housed much of his vast collection, ranging from Roman pottery to Japanese furniture and a large number of oil paintings.


The Town Hall.

The buildings were designed by the Birmingham firm of architects, Harvey and Wicks, run by partners William Alexander Harvey and his nephew, H. Graham Wicks. They won a competition for the design that attracted 55 entrants. The buildings occupied a rectangular site, between Priory Road, Priory Street and St. James’s Road, with the main entrance in St. James’s Road. The buildings were adjacent to the library buildings in St. James’s Road, which opened in 1908 and the police station that had been built in 1847. A new police station was later built in Tower Street, which opened in 1941, leaving the old building to be used by the council.

 
The Council Chamber.

The Town Hall was officially opened by the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, on the 16th October, 1928. It included the coroner’s court, the sessions court, and the memorial tower, inscribed with the names of the 700 men from Dudley who died in the First World War. In 1934 work began on the new Council House, which was built with financial support from the Earl of Dudley, who laid the foundation stone, in June 1934. The building was also designed by Harvey and Wicks and officially opened by the Duke of Kent on the 2nd December, 1935.

 

Proscenium Arch in the Town Hall.

  

Staircase in the Council House.

The civic buildings are all listed, as follows:

Public Library. Grade II listed on the 9th April, 1976.
Council House. Grade II listed on the 23rd April, 2010.
Old Police Buildings and Former Sessions Court. Grade II listed on the 14th September, 1949.
Town Hall, Coroner’s Court, Former Sessions Court and Brooke Robinson Museum. Grade II* listed on the 14th May, 2010.


The Council House.

The Broadway

In the mid 1920s plans were made for the building of a bypass road from Castle Hill to Burton Road. Work began in 1931 on the section from Ednam Road to Priory Road and was followed in 1932 by the remaining sections. The road was named The Broadway in November 1933, and officially opened on the 1st May, 1935 by the mayor and other council members.

Carnival

Dudley’s first carnival took place in September 1929. Various events were held from Saturday the 14th September to Saturday the 21st. The carnival queen, Miss Joyce E. Raybould, was crowned by the mayor, at the castle on the Monday. During the week there were football and cricket matches, carnival dances, a swimming gala and ox roasts. At the end of the week, a grand carnival and trades procession was held in the town. The events raised over £5,000 for charity.

Dudley Zoo

The Earl of Dudley was thinking of ways to develop the castle and its grounds into a resource for the local community, a place where people would want to visit. At the time, Captain Frank Cooper, who owned Oxford Zoo, wanted to sell his animals and close the zoo, so the Earl had the idea of converting the 40 acre site at Dudley into a zoo.

The Dudley Zoological Society was created in 1935 to oversee the project. The board members were the Earl; Ernest Marsh, a director of Marsh and Baxter; and Captain Frank Cooper. The early meetings were held at London Zoo, whose Superintendent, Dr. Geoffrey Vevers acted as an advisor. At the time, Berthold Lubetkin, of the Tecton Company, a Russian émigré, was designing some impressive new enclosures at the zoo and so he got the job of designing the animal enclosures at Dudley.

The Earl wanted the zoo to open in 1937 and so work quickly got underway on the design and building of 12 enclosures, made of pre-stressed, reinforced concrete, forming curved structures rather than squares or rectangles. Most of the buildings were erected in old limestone quarries around the castle, which allowed visitors to have spectacular views, looking down on the animals. There was also the Queen Mary Restaurant, built on the crest of the hill. The castle had to be left alone, because it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.


The cafe and the restaurant in the late 1940s.

Oxford Zoo closed in 1936 and its animals were transferred to Dudley to form most of the initial collection. The zoo opened in May 1937 and attracted over 250,000 visitors, but only 50,000 could be admitted because of health and safety. In its first year, over 700,000 visitors passed through the turnstiles. A narrow-gauge miniature railway about a mile in length was added in 1938 with two locomotives, constructed by G & S Light Engineering, of Stourbridge. Up to 150 passengers could be carried at a time.



Looking down on the lion enclosure in the 1960s.

The animal collection included two Indian elephants that gave people elephant rides, which became very popular. There were three peacocks given by the Duke of Sutherland, four lions, two polar bears, five tigers, several wolves and also bison from Canada. Hamburg Zoo supplied sea lions, zebras, bears, monkeys, flamingos, pelicans and penguins. When the zoo opened, the collection consisted of around a thousand animals, including over fifty kinds of mammals and a hundred types of birds.


The tiger enclosure in the 1960s.


The sea lion pool in the 1960s.

The chair lift was added in May 1958 and opened by the comedian Richard Hearne, better known as Mr. Pastry. The zoo was purchased by the Scotia leisure group in 1970, but ended in receivership in 1977 and was purchased by Dudley Metropolitan Council. It was then operated by Dudley and West Midlands Zoological Society, formed in 1978. Berthold Lubetkin's buildings are now on the statuary list. Seven are Grade II listed and five are Grade II* listed.


The castle courtyard in the 1950s.
 
   
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