Michael Byrne
18 Feb 2019
Acocks Green developed from the opening of the railway station in 1852. There had been a small Congregational chapel on Stockfield Road in 1827, which was replaced in 1860 by a large church with a spire in Warwick Road (architect Yeoville Thomason). This was demolished in 1973.The Methodists had a chapel by 1873, but it was not until 1864 that the Anglicans started to build. The land for St Mary’s was given by the Trustees of Yardley from which parish the new parish was created. The architect was J.G.Bland. The lofty nave and two aisles, built of brick and stone, were consecrated in 1866, the first Vicar being the Rev. Frederick Swinburn (who remained until 1890). A steeple planned on the south west side was never built, but J.A.Chatwin added a chancel, vestry and organ chamber in 1894. The East window was by Burne-Jones, whose pupils provided many other windows (none of which were removed during WWII), and Hardman the West window. The speaker told four tales about the church.
MISADVENTURE: In the churchyard there is an unmarked grave. It is that of Frederick Joseph Perceval, whose father initially farmed in Warwickshire and then in the USA. Frederick, born in 1873 had a younger brother (George) and both boys were baptised at Barston in 1876. The family moved to Iowa in 1882 but then returned in 1886 for the boys to go to Solihull School. In 1889 they returned to the USA and later moved to a 600 acre cattle farm at Priddis, near Calgary. Frederick’s father died in 1920. In 1929 Frederick unexpectedly found himself, on the death of a distant cousin, the 10th Earl of Egmont, an Irish peerage created in 1733. He moved with his family to Avon Castle, Ringwood (Hants) where they lived in the kitchen which was converted to look like their Canadian shack, leaving the rest of the mansion empty. The Earl died in a car accident in 1932 and was buried at St Mary’s because many of the wider Perceval family continued to live in this area. The Vicar (Rev.Philip Kelly) feared the funeral would attract great crowds and tried to keep it secret, unsuccessfully. Frederick’s son, the 11th Earl, who had been born in 1914, returned to Canada where he died aged 87 in 2001. His son, Thomas, born in 1934, the 12th Earl, died childless in 2011 when the title became extinct.
MAYHEM: On 10 December 1940 two bombs hit the church and did serious damage. The north aisle was given a temporary roof and services restarted at Easter 1941. The church was fully repaired by 1949 with higher walls containing clerestory windows and much more clear glass, all to increase the amount of light in the interior. Tiles replaced slates on the roof. Rev. Philip Kelly was Vicar 1931-53. He had served as an Army Chaplain in WWI and remained as such in the Territorial Army whilst at St Mary’s. He liked his beer and would hold services in pubs, for which he became very popular.
MURDER: Emily Palmer died in 1885 aged 35 and was buried under a fine column in the churchyard. Resident in the parish, she was the landlady of The White Hart in Paradise Street, Birmingham. Although married, she had had an affair with Henry Kimberley who was distraught when it ended. He attacked her; she survived, but her friend Emily was killed. The trial was held at Birmingham Assizes in February 1886 and Kimberley was hanged on 17 March – the first within Winson Green Prison. [Until then all Midlands hangings had taken place in public where the crime had been committed]. The State Hangman was James Berry who brought his own rope: he hanged 131 persons during his period in office 1884-91.
TERRORISM: Joseph Taylor (who had chaired the committee which produced an illuminated address to Rev.Frederick Swinburn in 1890) owned an iron works, which had been founded in 1849. In 1857 he took on an engineering apprentice, Stephen Challen (1842-1937), who became a partner in 1873. The firm became famous as Taylor & Challen. Stephen came with his family c1910 to live at 34 Blossomfield Road, Solihull. The firm had built the gun casings and bombs with which Felice Orsini (an Italian nationalist), and an English collaborator, attempted to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris on 14 January 1858. Thomas Alsop, a 62 year old stockbroker had ordered the three bombs from the company, and had provided his old British passport to enable Orsini to enter France. Eight members of the escort and other bystanders were killed, and over 100 injured. Orsini was arrested, tried and guillotined on 13 March 1858. Alsop fled England for America where he stayed several months to avoid punishment.