ALLAN EVANS, KEITH STAPLES, ADAM PEARCE
17 Dec 2018
Dr RICHARD WASSELL, by ALLAN EVANS
Richard Wassell, organist of St Alphege Church 1942-49, was the principal founder of The Solihull Society of Arts in 1944. He died on 17 July 1949. His grave, in the churchyard between the main and west doors, had deteriorated and has recently been restored, using donations from The Society and private individuals. He was born in Tipton the son of a foundry worker in 1880, and left school at the age of 12. He studied church music under Charles Perkins, the Birmingham City Organist, and at 29 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He was music master at King Edward’s 1914-18 when the School was in New Street.
Richard was appointed organist of St Martins-in-the-Bullring in 1920; he also conducted the City Choir and the Birmingham Choral Society. Webster Booth (who, with his wife Anne Ziegler, became a famous duettist) was one of his pupils. Richard was also a composer of hymn tunes (eg “Jesu, the very thought of thee”) and psalm chants (eg No 24). He was active in civic affairs and was Musical Director of the Birmingham & Midland Institute. From 1922-42 he was Director of the Birmingham Police Band, and was the adjudicator of many musical competitions. His abilities were noticed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who conferred on Richard a Lambeth Doctorate of Music in 1939.
He was the first Director of the Music Section of The Society and was keen that it had a competitive music festival. Sadly this was only achieved in 1952 after his death. His wife, Annie (died 21 Sept. 1950) was buried in the same grave. They had four sons, the youngest born in 1918, but only two were mentioned in his obituary – perhaps they had predeceased him. Another mystery is the inscription on the top of his grave which seems Shakespearian, but no authorship has yet been established. The inscription reads:
Do with me, O sweet music as thou wilt till even thou art robbed by jealous sleep
Of these sweet senses thou hast forced on me, and I can neither laugh with thee or sleep.
OLTON PHOTOGRAPHS 1901-1904, by KEITH STAPLES
Barnett Johnson (1832-1910) was born in Boston (Lincs) and became a banker’s clerk. He retired in 1890 and moved with his family to a terrace house in Richmond Road, Olton. His glass plate photographs are held in Birmingham Library.
The east side of St Bernard’s Road contains the even numbered Edwardian houses. No 2 was demolished in 1960 for the widening of the Warwick Road. Dr Lunn practiced at No 1 on the opposite side: the photo showed no trees. The railway bridge in what is now Ulverley Green Road was knocked down in 1930 when it was replaced by one carrying four railway lines. The road itself was the Warwick Road which zigzagged through the village before the straightened road was built. The corner shop looking like a toll house was the post office with grocery.
James Kent, a wealthy Birmingham shoemaker, leased the 16th century Chapel Field Farmhouse (demolished in 1954) and its 96 acres in 1873, and developed the estate. The James Kent Cottages were in Richmond Road between the railway and canal. St Margaret’s Church School was next door, but it was too small and soon pulled down. The canal keeper’s cottage was immediately adjacent to the canal bridge. A fascinating photo from the towpath showed the canal emptied of water. Northward of Lyndon Road branching off, Richmond Road entered its Park with a lodge: a 1904 photo showed Katie, one of Barnett’s three daughters, in front of this. The grand house it was to serve was never built, but other photos showed the Richmond Park terraced houses, in one of which the Johnson family lived. They were all shown outside their house, and another was of an ‘Out Porter’ from the station with a parcel handcart. Other pictures were of J.White, with his knife grinder in the Old Warwick Road; the Solihull Rural District dustcart in Richmond Park tipping rubbish into a pit; the Council’s Invicta steamroller; and threshing with a steam engine beside an old fashioned haystack.
In the discussion that followed Keith’s talk, mention was made of the timber yard, one of four run by Cartwright & Co. This was served entirely by barges on the canal: both David Patterson (briefly) and his father worked there. Next door on the wharf (although not dependant on the canal) were Quaife & Lilley who made cricket bats: both played for Warwickshire.
WARWICKSHIRE CHURCHES & THE STRATFORD CANAL, by ADAM PEARCE
Berkswell Church was built c1170 partly above an octagonal Anglo-Saxon crypt. One photo was of the SLHC visit outside the c1500 timber framed porch. The adjacent old rectory (late 17th century) was the home of the Watson girls whose father, the Rev.Henry, was the Rector. They were keen on tennis and Maud, the younger, beat her sister in the final at Wimbledon to be the first ladies champion in 1884. She retained her title in 1885. Northwest of the church is Berkswell Hall (1663) now flats. Little known Ram Hall (c1680) is part brick and part stone. A final picture was of a Fergusson tractor with a ginger cat asleep on the seat – in fact stuffed, but it kept the children from climbing on the tractor.
Lapworth Church photos, some taken on the SLHC visit, included the interior and details of the new Peace Window. Preston Bagot church on its hilltop has an ancient sundial on its porch, and figures by Burne-Jones in clear glass in several windows. They came from the Quaker Meeting House in Birmingham before it was destroyed in WWII. Beside a field hedgerow was a sign ‘Bridal Path’, instead of bridle.
The Stratford Canal was built on the cheap c1810, and most of its bridges are split in the middle to allow the tow rope to pass through, as there was no space for the horse to leave the path. The lock-keepers’ cottages all have barrel roofs as the shuttering used for road bridges was reused for this purpose. One is now owned by the Landmark Trust. Adjacent to the Lowsonford cottage was a statue by Anthony Gormley. It remained for a year as part of a popular art programme. Outside the village post office is a model of Postman Pat. Near Yarningdale Common is the shortest (12ft) aqueduct where the canal crosses a track; originally it was wooden, but this was washed away following a leak from the Grand Union Canal. The Ramblers Association (of which Adam has been a member for 25 years) also clears footpaths, and attaches a black sign to waymark posts where it has done so. Finally, pictures of Ribbesford Church near Bewdley with its superb Norman tympanum showing a beaver-like animal, but otherwise largely rebuilt following a lightning strike in 1877.