"Nottingham's Victorians"
November 2003 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - Margaret Harrison
The November meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held on the 7th November 2003 in the Centenary Lounge, Keyworth. The guest speaker for the evening was Margaret Harrison and the subject of her talk was “Nottingham’s Victorians”. Margaret is a Blue Badge Guide and although short of stature she proved to be a very much larger than life character. The assembled host were to be treated to a presentation that, to say the least, was very animated and certainly very different in nature to that of most of our usual speakers. The very well attended meeting had a foretaste of what to expect for the evening when, at the beginning of her talk, Margaret climbed on a chair to show the whole room her very eye-catching jumper on which were emblazoned the coat of arms of the city of Nottingham.
Margaret then proceeded to inform us that she occasionally makes guest appearances on Radio Nottingham in the guise of “Mother” to entertain listeners with anecdotes relating to Nottingham life. Margaret’s presentation was in the form of a slide show with an accompanying narration. The whole was presented in a very irreverent way and, at times Margaret certainly added a great deal of colour to her dialogue but the audience loved it and on many occasions were if fits of laughter. Some doubts as to the veracity of the narrative from the historical point of view were expressed, however the tales told were unquestionably much better for the licence with which certain facts were presented, embellished or ignored.
Nottingham, we were told, was a very pleasant market town in the 1790’s with a population of around 30,000 inhabitants. However, the City Fathers, with an eye to making a quick buck decided, in their wisdom, that the way forward lay in becoming an industrial centre. Thus the Industrial Revolution was embraced with a missionary zeal and by the time that Queen Victoria, or as Margaret liked to call her, “Da Queen”, ascended to the throne of this sceptred-isle Nottingham had undergone something of a sea change from quiet market town to boom town. Nottingham’s population had exploded to over 72,000 souls and the City could boast some of the worst slums not only in the land but in the whole Empire.
However, the resulting boom in the building trade heralded the dawn of some of the finest architecture to be seen anywhere in the kingdom. Nottingham was very fortunate in having some of the most talented architects of the day involved in creating some of the most eye-catching building in the country. The names of Thomas Chambers Hine and Watson Fothergill were to become household names within the city. One building, however, that the city was lacking was an Anglican cathedral. Nottingham was unique in the Victorian era in that it was the only town to be granted city status without it’s own Anglican cathedral. This honour was bestowed by our gracious Queen on a grateful townsfolk on 21st June as part of the celebrations honouring Victoria in her Diamond Jubilee year of 1897. Sadly Da Queen couldn’t be here in person to present the honour, other more pressing Affairs of State rendering it impossible, (possibly a tea-party at Buck House). Nottingham’s City Fathers decided to commemorate the historic Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria with a commemorative plaque that can still be seen at the junction of High Pavement and the Weekday Cross.
However, Nottingham had already been graced with the presence of the Monarch much earlier in her reign. The illustrious occasion took place in the year of her accession when she was pleased to officiate at the opening of the new Midland Counties Railway station on Carrington Street in 1837. The whole town turned out for the glorious occasion and the mood was one of unrestrained joy. Nottingham was in festive mood. Bunting adorned the streets. Much flag waving was in evidence. Sellers of Union Jacks did a roaring trade. However the weather did not enter into the spirit of the day and put a dampener on it all in the form of heavy rain. So wet was the day, and so ill-prepared for such an eventuality, the month being November, and Da Queen only having a light summer dress on, that the whole of the day’s itinerary had to be scrapped. Da Queen arrived, (late), opened the station and left. It was very much a flying visit. The Royal walkabout and drive around the town were cancelled, the populace inconsolate. Nevertheless the town had Queens Drive, so named to commemorate the planned drive that never took place, as a constant reminder of Victoria’s visit.
The city did acquire a cathedral in 1844 when St Barnabas was built but unfortunately the building belonged to the “opposition” in that it was an outpost of the Church of Rome. It was also built outside the then city walls on land bought for £22,000 by a Catholic priest named Father Wilson. The building was designed by Pugin. However, due to other Episcopal duties Father Wilson was unable to consecrate the Cathedral until 1850. It would appear, according to Margaret, that Father Wilson took the Consecration very seriously, so much so, in fact, that he climbed to the top of the Cathedral steeple to bless the building with Holy Water. Unfortunately, due to a combination of very high winds, an unsteady grip on the vessel containing the Holy liquid and the necessity of maintaining a particularly firm grip on the ladder the Holy Water was spilt all over the steeple and some of the assembled host situated below.
Prior to the Victorian Age seven wealthy families owned the land outside the town walls. These families were very much against allowing the land to be developed for housing and industrial use. The result of this was that the population of the town continued to expand in an area where it was impossible to build further accommodation. However, after repeated epidemics of cholera and other unsavoury diseases matters came to a head. The landed families were intransigent in their refusal to allow their land to be developed so the problem was taken to the House of Commons where, in 1845, an Act of Parliament was passed allowing the land to be developed. The floodgates were opened and by 1860 Nottingham could boast 76 factories and 41 warehouses on the newly available land. These industrial premises needed labour to operate them and a new phenomenon was introduced to Nottingham. This took the form of a massive imbalance in the population between the sexes. Most of the new industrial development was in the lace industry. Nottingham became a world famous centre of the trade. Young, female hands filled most of the jobs in that industry. The result was that there were four girls to every boy, a red-blooded male’s dream, and a misogynist’s nightmare. This situation was to obtain for generations to come and gained Nottingham the soubriquet of “The Queen of the Midlands”.
Margaret ended by saying that she did other talks relating to Nottingham, one which sounded of interest, and which we hope to hear at some future date was “Victorian Pubs in Nottingham”. When Margaret had concluded her presentation the audience showed their appreciation with a very enthusiastic round of applause, (possible the loudest any of our guest speakers has been subjected to), and not a few whoops and cheers. Margaret’s talk was certainly different, and if the audience’s reaction was anything to go by she did an absolutely tremendous job. Here’s looking forward to seeing her again for the talk on Victorian Pubs!!