At   the   Sutton   Coldfield   Weekend   of   Dance   in   October   2015,   one   of   the   MCs   had   problems   with   dance   titles   and mixed   up   “City   of   Belfast”   with   “The   Library   of   Birmingham”,   both   of   which   were   on   the   programme,   so   there had to be a new dance to add to the confusion! Birmingham,   now   the   largest   and   most   populous   British   city   outside   London,   lies   in between   the   fertile   and   accessible   river   valleys   of   the   Trent,   the   Severn   and   the Avon,   on   the   upland   Birmingham   Plateau. As   a   settlement,   Birmingham   dates   from the Anglo-Saxon   era   (6-7thC)   when   an Anglian   tribal   group   -      the   Beormingas   –   lived within    the    densely    wooded    and    sparsely    populated    Forest    of    Arden..    The development   of   Birmingham   into   a   significant   urban   and   commercial   centre   began in   1166,   when   the   Lord   of   the   Manor,   Peter   de   Bermingham,   obtained   a   charter   to hold   a   market   and   created   a   planned   market   town   within   his   estate,   around   the site that became the Bull Ring (in the 16 th C bull baiting took place there). The   principal   governing   institutions   of   medieval   Birmingham   –   including   the   Guild of    the    Holy    Cross    and    the    lordship    of    the    de    Birmingham    family    –    collapsed between   1536   and   1547,   leaving   the   town   with   an   unusually   high   degree   of   social and economic freedom and initiating a period of transition and growth. The   importance   of   the   manufacture   of   iron   goods   was   recognised   as   early   as   1538,   and   by   the   1600s   Birmingham was   the   commercial   hub   for   iron   merchants   who   organised   finance,   supplied   raw   materials   and   traded   and marketed   the   industry's   products   from   a   network   of   forges   and   furnaces   stretching   from   South   Wales   to   Cheshire, and   its   merchants   were   selling   finished   manufactured   goods   as   far   afield   as   the   West   Indies.   These   trading   links gave   Birmingham's   metalworkers   access   to   much   wider   markets,   allowing   them   to   diversify   away   from   lower- skilled trades, towards a broader range of specialist, higher-skilled and more lucrative activities. By   the   time   of   the   English   Civil   War,   Birmingham's   booming   economy,   its   expanding   population,   and   its   resulting high   levels   of   social   mobility   and   cultural   interests,   had   seen   it   develop   new   social   structures   very   different   from other   traditional   areas.   Relationships   were   built   around   pragmatic   commercial   connections   rather   than   the   rigid paternalism   and   deference   of   feudal   society,   and   loyalties   to   the   traditional   hierarchies   of   the   established   church and    aristocracy    were    weak.    It    developed    into    a    centre    of    Puritanism    in    the    1630s    and    as    a    haven    for Nonconformists   from   the   1660s.   By   1700   Birmingham's   population   had   increased   fifteen-fold   and   the   town   was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. T he   18 th C   saw   this   tradition   of   free-thinking   and   collaboration   blossom   into   the cultural   phenomenon   now   known   as   the   Midlands   Enlightenment. The   town   developed into   a   notable   centre   of   literary,   musical,   artistic   and   theatrical   activity.   The   Lunar Society   of   Birmingham   (a   dinner   club   and   informal   learned   society   of   prominent figures   who   met   regularly   between   1765   and   1813   -   the   name   arosing   because   the society   would   meet   during   the   full   moon,   as   the   extra   light   made   the   journey   home easier   and   safer   in   the   absence   of   street   lighting   -   and   the   members   cheerfully referred   to   themselves   as   "lunarticks",   a   pun   on   lunatics)   became   influential   in   the circulation   of   philosophical   and   scientific   ideas   among   Europe's   intellectual   elite.   The close    relationship    between    Enlightenment    Birmingham's    leading    thinkers    and    its major   manufacturers   –   Matthew   Boulton   and   James   Keir,   for   instance,   were   both   – made   it   particularly   important   for   the   exchange   of   knowledge   between   pure   science and the practical world of manufacturing and technology. Unlike    the    textile-manufacturing    towns    of    the    North    of    England    for    instance,    Birmingham's    industrial development   was   built   on   the   adaptability   and   creativity   of   a   highly   paid   workforce   with   a   strong   division   of labour,   practising   a   broad   variety   of   skilled   specialist   trades   and   producing   a   constantly   diversifying   range   of products,   in   a   highly   entrepreneurial   economy   of   small,   often   self-owned,   workshops.   This   led   to   exceptional levels   of   inventiveness:   between   1760   and   1850   –   the   core   years   of   the   Industrial   Revolution   –   Birmingham residents registered over three times as many patents as those of any other British town or city. The   demand   for   capital   to   feed   rapid   economic   expansion   also   saw   Birmingham   grow   into   a   major   financial centre   with   extensive   international   connections.   Lloyds   Bank   was   founded   in   the   town   in   1765,   and   Ketley's Building   Society,   the   world's   first   building   society,   in   1775.   By   1800   the   West   Midlands   had   more   banking   offices per head than any other region in Britain, including London. In   1709   the   Birmingham-trained   Abraham   Darby   moved   to   Coalbrookdale   in   Shropshire   and   built   the   first   blast furnace   to   successfully   smelt   iron   ore   with   coke,   transforming   the   quality,   volume   and   scale   on   which   it   was possible   to   produce   cast   iron.   In   1732   Lewis   Paul   and   John   Wyatt   invented   roller   spinning,   the   "one   novel   idea   of the   first   importance"   in   the   development   of   the   mechanised   cotton   industry   and   9   years   later   they   opened   the world's   first   cotton   mill   in   Birmingham's   Upper   Priory.   In   1746   John   Roebuck   invented   the   lead   chamber   process, enabling   the   large-scale   manufacture   of   sulphuric   acid,   and   in   1780   James   Keir   developed   a   process   for   the   bulk manufacture   of   alkali,   together   marking   the   birth   of   the   modern   chemical   industry.   In   1765   Matthew   Boulton opened   the   Soho   Manufactory,   pioneering   the   combination   and   mechanisation   under   one   roof   of   previously separate    manufacturing    activities    through    a    system    known    as    "rational    manufacture"    which    as    the    largest manufacturing    unit    in    Europe,    came    to    symbolise    the    emergence    of    the    factory    system.    Most    significant, however,   was   the   development   in   1776   of   the   industrial   steam   engine   by   James   Watt   and   Matthew   Boulton.   This was   a   key   factor   in   the   worldwide   increases   in   productivity   and   arguably   the   pivotal   moment   of   the   entire industrial revolution. By   the   1820s,   an   extensive   canal   system   had   been   constructed,   giving   greater   access   to natural    resources    and    fuel    for    industries.    Birmingham's    tradition    of    innovation continued:   Birmingham   was   the   terminus   for   both   of   the   world's   first   two   long-distance railway   lines   -   the   82   mile   Grand   Junction   Railway   of   1837   and   the   112   mile   London   and Birmingham   Railway   of   1838;   Birmingham   schoolteacher   Rowland   Hill   invented   the postage   stamp   and   created   the   first   modern   universal   postal   system   in   1839; Alexander Parkes    invented    the    first    man-made    plastic    -    Parkesine    -    from    cellulose,    in    the Jewellery Quarter in 1855. During   the   Victorian   era,   the   population   of   Birmingham   grew   rapidly   to   well   over   half   a   million   and   Birmingham became   the   second   largest   population   centre   in   England,   being   granted   city   status   in   1889   by   Queen   Victoria. Joseph   Chamberlain,   mayor   of   Birmingham   and   MP,   and   his   son   Neville   Chamberlain,   Lord   Mayor   of   Birmingham and   later   Prime   Minister,   are   two   of   the   most   well-known   political   figures   who   have   lived   in   Birmingham. The   city established its own university in 1900. Birmingham   suffered   heavy   bomb   damage   during   World   War   II's   "Birmingham   Blitz"   but   the   city   was   also   the   scene of   two   scientific   discoveries   that   were   to   prove   critical   to   the   outcome   of   the   war.   Otto   Frisch   and   Rudolf   Peierls first   described   how   a   practical   nuclear   weapon   could   be   constructed   in   the   Frisch–Peierls   memorandum   of   1940, the   same   year   that   the   cavity   magnetron,   the   key   component   of   radar   and   later   of   microwave   ovens,   was invented   by   John   Randall   and   Henry   Boot.   Details   of   these   two   discoveries,   together   with   an   outline   of   the   first jet   engine   invented   by   Frank   Whittle   in   nearby   Rugby,   were   taken   to   the   US   in   September   1940,   in   a   single   black box later described by an official American historian as "the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores". The   city   was   extensively   redeveloped   during   the   1950s   and   1960s,   including   the   construction   of   large   tower   block estates,   such   as   Castle   Vale,   the   Bull   Ring   was   reconstructed   and   New   Street   station   was   redeveloped. The   ethnic makeup   of   Birmingham   also   changed   significantly,   as   it   received   waves   of   immigration   from   the   Commonwealth of Nations and beyond with the city's population peaking in 1951 at 1,113,000 residents. Birmingham   remained   by   far   Britain's   most   prosperous   provincial   city   into   the   1970s,   but   its   economic   diversity and   capacity   for   regeneration   declined   as   Central   Government   sought   to   restrict   the   city's   growth   and   disperse industry   and   population   to   the   stagnating   areas   of   Wales   and   Northern   England.   These   measures   hindered   "the natural   self-regeneration   of   businesses   in   Birmingham",   and   the   city   became   increasingly   dependent   on   the   motor industry.   The   recession   of   the   early   1980s   saw   Birmingham's   economy   collapse,   with   unprecedented   levels   of unemployment and outbreaks of social unrest in inner-city districts. By    the    early    19 th C,    the    Bull    Ring    area    had    become    crowded    with    old buildings   and   market   stalls   and   it   was   decided   to   raze   these   structures   and open   up   the   area   as   it   appears   in   this   print   by Thomas   Hollins.      In   1809,   the citizens   erected   the   first   statue   in   England   to   honour   Admiral   Nelson   who died   at   the   Battle   of   Trafalgar   in   1805.      In   2003,   this   statue   was   cleaned and   restored   as   the   focal   point   of   new   Bull   Ring   development,   with   the   iron railings removed. In   recent   years,   many   parts   of   Birmingham   have   been   transformed,   with the   redevelopment   of   the   Bullring   Shopping   Centre   and   regeneration   of   old industrial    areas    such    as    Brindleyplace,   The    Mailbox    and    the    International    Convention    Centre.    Old    streets, buildings   and   canals   have   been   restored,   the   pedestrian   subways   have   been   removed   and   the   Inner   Ring   Road   has been rationalised. Today   Birmingham's   economy   is   dominated   by   the   service   sector.   The   city   is   a   major   international   commercial centre,   and   an   important   transport,   retail,   events   and   conference   hub.   Its   metropolitan   economy   is   the   second largest   in   the   United   Kingdom   and   its   six   universities   make   it   the   largest   centre   of   higher   education   in   the country outside London.

Matthew Boulton (1792), by Carl Frederik von Breda