The city of Birmingham, in England, has a long military history and has been for several centuries a major manufacturer of weapons.
Roman Britain At Metchley Park, near Harborne, there are the remains of two large 1st century Roman forts, it is believed that they were used as a base during the invasion of Britain and could have been used in the first north-western advance into Cheshire and Wales. Much of the site is now gone; the construction of the banks of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal resulted in part destruction of the southern extremity of the camp, including most of its fort. The most recent excavation took place in 1999 and it was established that the main fort probably housed a cohors equitata milliaria, this comprised a minimum mixed force of 1,000 men who were heavily armoured foot-soldiers with a complement of a lightly armed cavalry unit.
In the 19th century people theorized that the camp was built by the ancient Britons (a theory supported by its being adjacent to the line of Ryknild Street) which runs through the area, others proposed that it was built by the Danes although no factual evidence supports this theory. Some few pieces of ancient weapons, such as swords and battle axes, and portions of bucklers have been found at the site.
Excavations have uncovered Roman granaries, storehouses, barracks, a rampart with timber towers, a guard chamber, various smaller buildings, pottery and tools. These have dated the fort to a few years after the Romans first landed in Kent. It is now thought that the site was abandoned by the end of the 1st century.
Roman artefacts discovery In June 2006 new Roman artefacts were discovered next to a McDonald's in Kings Norton.
Local archaeologist Peter Osborn has suggested that there is a strong possibility that the battle between ancient Briton warrior queen Boadicea and the Romans took place in or around the area now called Birmingham sometime during 61 AD.
"We know for certain that the battle between the 200,000 ancient Britons and the Romans happened somewhere in the Midlands." "This spot is on the route to Metchley, the Roman fort in Birmingham and it's for this reason, if no other, that we think this could be where the battle took place".
However Dr Simon Esmonde Cleary, an archaeology expert at the University of Birmingham, remains sceptical.
Until recently suggestions for the battle field site range from Leicestershire to Warwickshire.
The construction of new apartments has been put on hold until a full excavation is completed.
16th century: the Spanish Armada By the early 16th century Birmingham was already a centre of metal working for example when Henry VIII was making plans to invaded Scotland in 1523 Birmingham smithies supplied bulk orders for bodkin arrowheads for use by his army.
In 1538 churchman John Leialand passed through the Midlands and wrote:
The two main towns responsible for military weapons at this time were Birmingham and London, Henry VIII however did not look kindly on British made weapons and he turned to Italy for help in the manufacture of bronze cannons, he bought shells and bombs from the Dutch and much of the armoury and swords came from the more experienced Flemish. The majority of gunpowder was delivered from Antwerp until the threatened invasion by the Spanish in 1588. Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake failed to capitalise on an initial victory over Philip II of Spain's fleet and allowed it to sail up the Channel due to low supplies of imported gunpowder, this proved the importance of more British arms manufacture as opposed to relying on imports.
During the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada, the nobility and gentry of Birmingham and adjoining counties, contributed large sums of money which are said to have been sufficient to hire and equip around 43 war ships. A 19th century book of the region's history describes a subscription of £25 each from William Kinge and William Collmer (Colmore), of Burmingham; Richard Middlemore, Edgbaston; Mrs. Margarett Knowlys, Nuneaton; Gabriell Powltney, Knowle and Richard Corbett, Meryden, &c.
17th century: the English Civil War By the early part of the 17th century Birmingham resembled a large sprawling smith's village. Aided by the abundance of nearby sources of coal and iron ore, many metal workers set up small foundries and workshops. Birmingham was an important manufacturing town with a reputation for producing small arms, and the village's trade stretched far and wide. In 1637 a London cutler protested against the import of 'Bromedgham blades' which were often made of similar standard but at a lower cost.
Unlike nearby towns such as Tamworth, Dudley, Hartlebury, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Burton and Lichfield Birmingham had little or no military defences.
In 1642 Web server down—2015-03-14 unrest between the Royalist (Worcestershire) and the Parliamentarians (Warwickshire) lead to many small battles and skirmishes taking place in the surrounding countryside. The allegiances around Birmingham were blurred with a mishmash of landowners, nobility and gentry all fighting for different sides.
The Royalists first passed through Birmingham proper in great force in 1642, the town was mainly Puritan, and some looting took place. As an apology to the town King Charles ordered two of his captains to be hanged, this did not appease the town and some time later a baggage train of the king was captured and delivered to Warwick. With further unrest both sides prepared for war, the smiths of Birmingham were called upon and over 15,000 sword blades were manufactured, these were supplied to Parliamentarian forces only.
Kings Norton and Hawksley both acted as battlefields during October, Prince Rupert's troops were ambushed with many casualties, although both sides claimed the upper hand (see Battle of Kings Norton).
In March 1643 Prince Rupert in command of about 1,900 men requested entry to the unfortified town which was refused by about 200 towns folk and a company of Roundheads from the garrison at Lichfield under the command of Captain Richard Greaves. The Battle of Camp Hill started with a direct assault by the Cavaliers on the earthworks at Camp Hill, after being twice repulsed the Cavaliers captured the earthworks by launching flanking attack with their cavalry. The Cavaliers pursued the fleeing townsmen into Birmingham where they came under fire from some houses, which they torched. At the far end of the town at Cape Hill the Roundhead troopers charged and successfully checked the Cavaliers, killing their officer William, Earl of Denbigh, and allowing Graves and his men to retreat unmolested back to Lichfield.
The laws of war at that time allowed for the burning of property in an undefended (unfortified) town of village if soldiers were shot at from those properties. Those houses from which shooting was thought to originate were set on fire by the Royalists, the inhabitants of whom were not allowed to quench the fires or to recover their movable possessions. About 80 houses were "burnt to ashes" (some of which belonged to Royalist sympathises), and some 15 men, and two women were killed, with many more wounded and left destitute. The Historian Trevor Royal writing in 2004 states "By laying waste to the town and setting fire to many of its houses, Rupert's force provided parliament with a propaganda coup ... Charles rebuked Rupert for his men's behaviour — the prince had in fact done his best to curb his men ... but the damage was done: Birmingham had paid the price for supporting parliament and being seen to profit from it".
Birmingham, continued to manufacture weapons of all kinds during this period and was heavily relied upon by Parliamentary armies for such wares. It remained on the borders between the largely Cavalier garrisoned Worcestershire and Roundhead garrisoned Warwickshire. Colonel Tinker Fox operated from Edgbaston House close to Birmingham and probably took place in the attack on Aston Hall on 28 December 1643, removing the main royalist base in the Birmingham. He and his garrison actively raided into Worcestershire during the First Civil War. Perhaps his most famous exploit was a commando style raid on Bewdley which resulted in the capture of Sir Thomas Lyttelton its governor.
By the last quarter of the 17th century, the population of Birmingham was somewhere between 4,000 and 15,000. Birmingham's small arms manufacture continued and during the mid-to-late 17th century Birmingham smiths were renowned for their manufacture of quality weapons (Alexander Missen in his Travels on visiting Milan noted that "fine works of rock-crystal, swords, heads of canes, snuffboxes, and other fine works of steel" could be purchased in Milan but that "they can be had better and cheaper in Birmingham"). There is no evidence that firearms were manufactured in Birmingham until the 1690s when the Office of Ordinance issued a warrant to "pay John Smart for Thomas Hadley, and the rest of the Gunmakers of Birmingham, one debenture of four-score and sixteen pounds eight shillings, dated ye 14th of July 1690", but it is unlikely that guns were not manufactured in Birmingham before that date. It is more likely that when Sir Richard Newdigate approached manufacturers in the town in 1689 with the notion of supplying the British Government with small arms, it was important that they would need to be of high enough calibre to equal the small arms that were imported from abroad. After a successful trial order in 1692, the Government placed its first contract. On 5 January 1693 the "Officers of Ordnance" chose five local firearms manufacturers to initially produce 200 "snaphance musquets" per month over the period of one year, paying 17 shillings per musket, plus 3 shillings per hundredweight for delivery to London.
18th century Gun manufacture in Birmingham continued to develop, mainly around the Digbeth area but also in what was later to become known as the Gun Quarter.
A meeting was held 5 October 1745, by the 6th Regiment of Foot for the raising of a regiment of volunteers to oppose The '45 Jacobite rebellion.
The town contributed to a fund to repel the rumoured invasion by France in 1758.
The 6th Regiment of Foot recruited in the county of Warwickshire in 1778 so successfully that it was called "The Warwickshire," Birmingham supplying a large proportion of the men, and raising by public subscription £2,000 towards their equipment.
In August 1782 a corps was organised in 1782, but it must have disbanded soon afterwards. When, as an aid to recruiting, territorial links to infantry regiments were first established in 1782, the 6th became the 1st Warwickshire Regiment, reflecting their recent connections with the county. During the French Revolutionary Wars in 1794 in the West Indies, the 6th took part in the capture of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Lucia from the French and in Casdebar in August 1798 they gained a Battle Honour.
In 1798 when it seemed that revolution might break out two companies of cavalry and one of infantry were raised, each one 500 strong under the command of Captain Pearson and Lord Broke. They were called the Birmingham Loyal Association of Volunteers and held their first parade on Coleshill Street on 15 August 1797. The infantry were armed with muskets brought from Prussia. The Loyal Association held their first parade in Coleshill Street, 15 August 1797. On 4 June 1798, a grand review was held on Birmingham Heath (then unenclosed), "to the delight of the local belles, who knew not which the most to admire, the scarlet horse or the blue foot". Over 100,000 spectators were said to have been present.