The Administration Block at Hallam Hospital, now the physiotherapy building.

Buses

Public transport had begun in the town in 1835 with a horse-drawn bus service between West Bromwich and Birmingham. In 1872 a horse-drawn tramway service began from Hockley to Dudley Port via West Bromwich. It was run by the Birmingham and District Tramways Company Limited and was extended to the centre of Birmingham in 1873. Three years later, the firm was taken over by the Birmingham Tramways and Omnibus Company Limited and the service through West Bromwich was discontinued.

An early horse-drawn tram.

In 1883, the South Staffordshire and Birmingham District Steam Tramways Company Limited started a service from West Bromwich to Wednesbury and Darlaston. In 1902, West Bromwich Corporation bought all of the tramways in the borough and introduced electric trams, which ran from the boundary with Handsworth to Carter's Green. In 1914 the corporation began to operate motor buses, with a garage in Hardware Street. This was soon discontinued, when the War Office commandeered the buses.

A South Staffordshire tram outside the Dartmouth Hotel.

A number 75 tram at Carters Green, on its way from Wednesbury to Birmingham.

Electrically-powered buses were introduced on the route in 1915, but they proved to be unreliable and so were replaced in 1919. Seven years later, bus services, operated jointly by West Bromwich and Walsall corporations began to operate throughout the borough. In 1929 a new garage and offices were built in Oak Lane and were extended in 1937 to 1939. In 1969 all public transport was taken over by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive.

A Great Bridge tram in High Street.

An advert from 1956.

The Public Baths were provided by the West Bromwich Improvement Commissioners at a cost of £9,750 and opened to the public in 1875. The baths were just behind the Town Hall in Edward Street, on the corner of Lombard Street.

Alterations were carried out in 1897-8, the first-class swimming bath being extended to 75ft in length, necessitating a rearrangement of the Lombard Street Entrance, at a  cost of £45,218. The Baths were reopened in August 1898.

In 1933, the boiler and laundry plants were no longer capable of carrying out their functions and the Baths and Estates Committee decided to have them replaced. At the same time a purification plant was installed. The work was completed in 1934. Two years later, further improvements were made when the building was modernised and extended. The baths were reopened by Councillor A. Guest, Chairman of the Baths and Estates Committee, in April 1938.

The Gala Baths.

There was a 4 meter diving stage and underwater floodlighting. There were water polo goals, conforming to competition standards and dressing boxes above and below the side galleries, along with a large number, of steel lockers.

The Second Class Bath was in the older building, with an entrance in Lombard Street and a Learners’ Bath, 46ft. by 24ft. 4inches, varying in depth from 2ft. 8inches to 3 feet, containing 20,000 gallons of water.

There was also the Ladies’ Slipper Baths, again accessible from the Lombard Street entrance and a Men’s Private Baths which was accessible from Edward Street.

There was a Retiring Room, 38ft. by 15ft. which adjoined the First Class bath and had a service lift from a kitchen on the first floor that supplied tea and coffee.

There was also a lounge on the first floor, 22ft. by 15ft.

The First Class Bath, as built.

The First Class Bath in the mid 1950s.

The building also contained a laundry, which had two rotary washing machines that could handle up to 1,500 towels each day. In 1940 the building was damaged during the bombing campaign, resulting in the loss of the Second Class Bath and the Ladies Slipper Baths.

The Gala Hall was used for all kinds of events. The swimming pool could be covered by a sprung maple floor and had modern tip-up seats for spectators. It was used for all kinds of events from dancing, indoor bowling, dinners, parties and concerts, thank to its excellent acoustic properties.

Indoor bowls in the Gala Hall.

A banquet in the Gala Hall.

A county police force was established at West Bromwich in 1840, in rented premises, believed to have been in Seagar Street. In 1851 a new police station was built on the corner of High Street and Overend Street, which was replaced in 1972 by the Central Police Station in New Street.

In the mid 1950s, West Bromwich was policed by the Staffordshire County Police, under the command of the Chief Constable, Col. G. W. R. Hearn, D.L., at the Divisional Headquarters in the Central Police Station, High Street. At that time there were three sub-divisions: West Bromwich, All Saints and Greets Green, with a sectional station at Hill Top and sub-sectional stations at Tantany, Friar Park, Hamstead and Yew Tree Estate.

At the headquarters there were sections devoted to criminal investigation, and special branch; traffic division; regular women police; criminal investigation and a modern photographic section, immediately available for assistance at the scene of a crime. During 1945, 710 crimes were reported, which had increased to 954 by 1950.

A mounted section of the Staffordshire County Police.

The traffic division had a motor patrol section, providing a 24-hour patrol, each car being equipped with two-way radio, giving direct communication with the control room at Stafford. At that time there were six policewomen in the division who concentrated on offences concerning females and children, but were also trained to undertake almost all of the duties of a male constable.

The whole of the borough was patrolled on foot by foot patrol officers. Recruits received their initial 13 weeks' training at the Mill Meece Training Centre, north of Stafford, and continued training by attending classes at the West Bromwich Technical College along with weekly periods of instruction by senior officers and the Divisional Training Officer.

Staffordshire County Police had a very fine mounted branch, stationed at Stafford. They frequently sent detachments to West Bromwich to perform special duties at football matches, etc. Police pillar telephones were situated in certain streets in the town. They were for members of the public to pass information to the police, about any crime or danger by fire etc. The police stations in the mid 1950s were as follows: Central Police Station, High Street; All Saints' Station, Hollyhedge Road; Greets Green Station, Whitehall Road; Hill Top Station, Hill Top; Tantany Station, Shaftesbury Street; Friar Park Station, Crankhall Lane; Hamstead Station, Hamstead Road and Yew Tree Estate Station, Cherry Tree Avenue.

By 1837, the Birmingham Fire Office Company, had stationed a manual fire engine at the premises of the company's agent in New Street, West Bromwich. It was manned by volunteers. In 1854, William Burch became their agent and the engine was moved to Hudson's Passage, behind Burch’s chemist's shop in High Street. There was a second fire engine, owned by the Lancashire Insurance Company of Birmingham, also manned by volunteers. In 1861 there was a fire at Holy Trinity Church, which was fought by the engine from the Birmingham Fire Office Company and an engine from Chance's works. When Dartmouth Park opened in 1878, the procession was led by the engine of the Lancashire Insurance Company and the engine from Chances. Another brigade of volunteer fire fighters was formed in 1879, manning an engine that was kept in Walsall Street.

The Fire Brigade in 1884.

In 1930, a fire station was built in Paradise Street, which had recreational and residential facilities for the firemen and a yard, with a tower, 90 feet high, for training. There was also a workshop for vehicle maintenance. The fire service was run jointly with Smethwick Corporation, under the title of the Smethwick and West Bromwich Fire Service. It was controlled by a committee consisting of the mayors of both boroughs and four members chosen from each of the two councils.

A fire engine at Paradise Street Fire Station.

Public fire alarm pillars were erected throughout the area, as well as automatic fire alarms in some of the factories. In 1949 the fire station control room was improved with new switch panels and a larger switchboard. It had control switches for alarm bells, heaters, and lights, and an indicator board for automatic fire alarms, indicators for public fire alarm pillars, terminals for private fire lines from places of entertainment and direct lines to the local Police Headquarters and Smethwick Fire Station.

Recruiting at the Tower Cinema in Carters Green.

Fire-fighting appliances at West Bromwich Fire Station included a pump with a 50ft. wheeled escape, a self-propelled pump, a water-carrying tender fitted with hose reel equipment, and a salvage tender equipped to protect property and goods from the effects of a fire. At Smethwick there was a 100ft. turntable ladder that could be used for fires in the West Bromwich area.

The fire prevention staff were fully trained and undertook inspections on premises and advised on safety measures to reduce the risk of fire. The services were free of charge to any occupier or owner of premises in the borough.

Today, local fire fighting is in the hands of West Midlands Fire Service, based at their fire station in Hargate Lane, West Bromwich.

West Bromwich’s greatest amateur scientist

John Johnson Shaw was born on the 27th December, 1873 at 11 Church Street, Lower Gornal. He was the son of a grocer and pawnbroker, who did well at Red Hall Junior School, before attending King Edward VI School in Birmingham. At the school he won three science prizes and seemed to be destined for a career in science.

He moved to Hill Top, where he had a pawnbroker’s business that he took over from an uncle. Whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight in 1896, he discovered that the famous geologist and earthquake expert, Professor John Milne, was also on the island, so he paid him a visit and they became lifelong friends.

In 1900 he married Maud Cater; the couple had one son, Harold, who also became a seismologist. On return to his home at Hill Top, he turned the cellar into a science laboratory, where he developed the world’s first seismograph. It was built from materials lying around the house, including an old clock mechanism, an empty Tate and Lyle treacle tin, and bits from an old bicycle frame. The machine was enclosed in a case made from an old Hudson's soap box.

The machine worked extremely well. On the 13th October, 1908, Shaw became the first person in the world to announce that an earthquake had occurred in Mexico and on the 28th December he recorded the disastrous earthquake that hit Messina, Sicily, which destroyed much of the city and led to the loss of 77,000 lives. Whenever he detected an earthquake, he would send details to newspapers, which were eagerly published.

Shaw and his seismograph.

In 1910, the Shaw family moved to ‘Sunnyside’, 77a Birmingham Road, where Shaw worked for the rest of his life. In 1913 the Milne-Shaw Seismograph was launched, which became the world’s standard earthquake recording instrument. The instruments were made in his greenhouse and were sold throughout much of the world. They became the standard seismograph and many were still in use in the 1960s.

A Milne-Shaw seismograph.

Before 1914, Shaw carried out experiments at Jubilee Pit to discover if the moon had any affect on the land, as well as the tides at sea. In 1923 he was able to announce that an earthquake had occurred in Japan, hours before it was announced in the press. He became a member of the Seismological Branch of the British Association, and gave lectures on the subject.

In 1931 he was awarded a CBE and in 1932 an honorary MSc from Birmingham University. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on the 12th January, 1940. He died on the 23rd May, 1948 at the West Bromwich District Hospital, following an operation for the amputation of a leg.

Cemetery and Crematorium