King's Norton and Northfield Urban District was a local government administrative district in north Worcestershire, England, from 1898 until 1911., Local Administrative Units, Vol. II, p. 763. Much of its area was afterwards absorbed into the neighbouring Borough of Birmingham, under the Greater Birmingham Scheme, and now constitutes most of the city's southern and southwestern suburban environs.Those parts of the former Urban District of King's Norton and Northfield taken into Birmingham are now represented by the City's modern residential suburban districts of Bartley Green, Bournbrook, Bournville, Brandwood End, California, Cotteridge, Druid's Heath, Hawkesley, Highter's Heath, King's Heath, King's Norton, Kitwell, Lifford, Longbridge, Moor Green, Moseley, Northfield, Rednal (part of), Rubery (part of), Selly Oak, Selly Park, Shenley, Stirchley, Ten Acres, Turves Green, Wake Green (part of), Warstock, Weoley Castle, Weoley Hill, West Heath, and Woodgate.
Creation
The district was originally created in 1894 as the King's Norton Rural District, under the Local Government Act 1894, and succeeded the former King's Norton Rural Sanitary District upon which its area was largely based. It was later reconstituted as an urban district on 1 October 1898, by the Local Government Board Order, No. 38,127,The full title of the order appears to be The County of Worcester (King's Norton and Northfield Urban District) Confirmation Order, 1898Twenty-Eighth Annual Report of the Local Government Board, 1898-99, p. 319; Census of England and Wales 1901 (63 Vict. c. 4), County of Worcester: Area, Houses and Population ... (Cd. 1293), p. 12. and was accordingly renamed the King's Norton and Northfield Urban District. Both as a rural and an urban district it comprised only those civil parishes of the King's Norton Poor Law Union then wholly within the Administrative County of Worcester,The District of Balsall Heath, which had originally been in Worcestershire and had constituted the most northerly part of the Parish of King’s Norton, had already been transferred to Birmingham County Borough on 1 October 1891, and accordingly for the purposes of the Local Government Act 1888 was deemed to be in the Administrative County of Warwick. namely the parishes of King's Norton, Northfield and Beoley.
Governance
Electoral Wards The district was arranged into the following wards for the election of local councillors:
King's Norton Civil Parish King's Norton Ward Moseley (Moor Green) Ward Moseley (Wake Green) Ward King's Heath (East) Ward King's Heath (West) Ward Stirchley (North) Ward Stirchley (South) Ward Rednal and Rubery Ward Wythall Ward
Northfield Civil Parish Northfield Ward Selly Oak (East) Ward Selly Oak (West) Ward Bartley Green Ward
Beoley Civil Parish Beoley Ward
Committees The district council was organised into several committees with responsibility over a number of areas:
General Purpose Committee
Baths, Parks and Cemeteries Committee When the committee was initially set up it was as the Cemeteries Committee, with a separate sub-committee that had specific responsibility for baths and parks. However, from May 1898 onwards, the Baths & Parks Sub-Committee ceased to exist and the Cemeteries Committee assumed their duties, altering its title to reflect this change., The Heydays of Selly Oak Park, p. 17.
Building Committee
Education Committee The committee was formed on 1 June 1903, and consisted of 40 members, of whom 28 were district councillors.
Pensions Committee The committee had distinct sub-committees for the following areas of the district: King's Norton & Stirchley, Moseley & King's Heath, Wythall & Beoley, Northfield, and Selly Oak.
Distress Committee The Committee consisted of 25 members, of whom 12 were district councillors, eight were guardians of the King's Norton Poor Law Union, and the remaining five were "persons experienced in the relief of distress".
Demography According to the 1911 census the district had a population of 81,153, large enough to become a county borough.
Amenities and services During its existence the district council provided public amenities for its populace in the form of two cemeteries, two swimming baths, several parks and recreation grounds, and a handful of free libraries. The council also ran a number of elementary schools, as well as being responsible for the local volunteer fire service:
District cemeteries Image Name Year of opening Details Lodge Hill Cemetery 1895 The site for the cemetery at Lodge Hill in Selly Oak was initially secured by the old rural sanitary authority for £3,528,, Selly Oak and Selly Park, p. 98. after which the rural district council oversaw the construction of two mortuary chapels and the cemetery offices, which were designed by F. B. Andrews., In the Midst of Life, p. 26. The cemetery opened in January 1895, but it was not until the following year that it was consecrated by the then Bishop of Worcester and Coventry, the Right Reverend John Perowne. As well as having specific burial sections for Anglicans, Catholics and Non-conformists, it also had an area exclusively for the use by the Society of Friends, in which notable members of the Quaker families of Lloyd and Cadbury were buried., Bournville and Weoley Castle, p. 42.Following Birmingham Corporation's takeover of Lodge Hill Cemetery in 1911, it later became the site for the city's first municipal crematorium, which was built here in 1934. Designed by the Arts & Crafts architect Holland W. Hobbiss, the crematorium opened for use in 1937; see , In the Midst of Life, p. 26; , Selly Oak and Selly Park, p. 98.? Brandwood End Cemetery 1899 The Rural District Council bought land at Brandwood End, near King's Heath, for the purpose of building a cemetery in 1895. The combined cost of the purchase price and its laying out came to £17,000, which included deep drainage work due to the area's clay subsoil. Two terracotta and red brick mortuary chapels were erected on the site, one consecrated and the other not, both designed by Brewin Holmes. The Cemetery officially opened on 13 April 1899, with its first burial taking place two days later., In the Midst of Life, p. 29.
Public baths Image Name Year of opening Details Tiverton Road Public Baths 1906 The baths in Bournbrook were built in 1905. Designed by E. Harding Payne, the building work was carried out by the local firm of Messrs T. A. Cole & Son., Selly Oak and Selly Park, p. 92.? Bournville Lane Public Baths 1911 Stirchley
Public parks Image Name Year of opening Details Selly Oak Park 1899 A gift of 11½ acres of the former Weoley Park Farm estate,, The Birmingham Battery and Metal Company, p. 62. in Selly Oak, was made to the urban district council by Mrs Emma J. Gibbins and her four sons, in February 1899,, Public Parks and Gardens of Birmingham, p. 36. specifically for the formation of a public park. Cotteridge Park 1905 Cotteridge Muntz Park 1905 Selly Park? Victoria Common 1905 Northfield? King's Heath Park 1909 King's Heath? Selly Park Recreation Ground 1910 The land for this recreation groundThe recreation ground is generally known locally as "Selly Park Rec.", or simply "The Rec." However it is also occasionally, and erroneously, referred to as "Selly Park"; this sadly even includes R. K. Dent, who incorrectly used this name in his book, see , Public Parks and Gardens of Birmingham, p. 36. had originally been earmarked for housing as part of the residential development of the Selly Hill Estate (later the Selly Park Estate), but for some unknown reason the building work never commenced.Selly Park Local History Group (1997), A Walk Around Victorian Selly Park, Occasional Paper No. 1 (Selly Park Local History Group, Birmingham), p. 4. The main area, therefore, was acquired by the urban district council in April 1910, being bought from Mr W. A. Issett for £1,940, with further acreage being purchased in the December of that same year from the Martin Trustees at a cost of £3,067.
Free libraries Proposals for the provision of free libraries in the district were first mooted in 1902, and following the adoption of the Libraries Acts the next year, a scheme to establish libraries throughout its area was set up.'The Library, Selly Oak', in the Souvenir Programme for the Selly Oak and Bournbrook Shopping Week Festival, May 11th to 17th, 1911, inclusive (The Selly Oak and Bournbrook Traders' and Ratepayers' Association, 1911), p. 35. Between 1905 and 1909 seven new libraries were built across the district, with the land being donated by local philanthropic businessmen and the building work funded through the benevolence of Dr Andrew Carnegie.In 1911, as a result of the Birmingham extension scheme, all seven libraries were transferred to the control of the Birmingham Free Libraries Committee; see The Fiftieth Annual Report of the Free Libraries Committee: April 1st, 1911, to March 31st, 1912. (City of Birmingham, Birmingham, 1912), pp. 1 & 8. Image Name Year of opening Details? Bartley Green Free Library 1905 King's Heath Free Library 1906 ? King's Norton Free Library 1906 Selly Oak Free Library 1906 Built on land in the High Street, given by Mr Thomas Gibbins Junior of the Birmingham Battery and Metal Company in Selly Oak, in 1903, the foundation stone was laid on 1 August 1905 by Councillor E. A. Olivieri. The construction work itself was paid for by the Carnegie Foundation,, Selly Oak and Selly Park, p. 94. and, at a final cost of £3,000, the Library was officially opened by Mr Gibbins on 23 June 1906., Selly Oak Past and Present, p. 12. The completed building comprised a Reading Room, Lending Department and Reference Department. Northfield Free Library 1906 Situated in Church Road, Northfield, and costing £750 to build,, Northfield Past & Present, p. 53. this small Library first opened its doors in September 1906., Northfield, p. 26. The original building, however, was consumed by fire on 12 February 1914. Believed to be the work of an arsonist, local suffragettes were reputed to have been responsible as they were active in the area,Notes on the History of the Birmingham Public Libraries: 1861-1961 (Birmingham Public Libraries, Birmingham, 1962), p. 9. and a note was found spiked on the railings outside bearing the words "Give Women the Vote" along with a small brown paper parcel containing a copy of The Great Scourge and How to End It by Miss Christabel Pankhurst,, The Suffragettes in Birmingham. apparently inscribed "To start your new library.", Northfield, p. 27; , Northfield Past & Present, p. 53.The note is also recorded as having a slightly different wording of "For the new library"; see Notes on the History of the Birmingham Public Libraries: 1861-1961 (Birmingham Public Libraries, Birmingham, 1962), p. 9. Stirchley Free Library 1907 Located on Bournville Lane in Stirchley, the Library was built in 1907. As well as donating the land itself, George Cadbury apparently contributed £3,000 towards the building cost,, Bournville, p. 1. though much of the work also seems to have been paid for by the Carnegie Trust., Images of Strichley, p. 69.? Rednal Free Library 1909 Built in Leach Green Lane, Rednal, the Library's foundation stone was laid on 12 June 1909 by "P. Farrell Esq." The memorial tablet declares that "The funds for the erection of this building were provided by Andrew Carnegie Esq. of Skibo Castle N.B. and the purchase money for the site was given by Messrs Edward and George Cadbury Junior"., The Story of Rednal, p. 35.
Council schools