Birmingham (redirected from England Birmingham)

Birmingham, city, England

Birmingham (bûr`mĭngəm), city and metropolitan district (1991 pop. 934,900), central England. The city is equidistant from Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, and London, England's main ports, and near the Black Country iron and coal deposits; it was connected to the Staffordshire mines by the Birmingham Canal in the 18th cent. Birmingham is Britain's second largest city (in both area and population) and is the center of water, road, and rail transportation in the Midlands. The chief industries are the manufacture of automobiles and bicycles and their components and accessories. Other products include electrical equipment, paint, guns, and a wide variety of metal products.

By the 15th cent., Birmingham was a market town with a large leather and wool trade; by the 16th cent. it was also known for its many metalworks. In the English Civil War the town was captured by the royalists. Birmingham's industrial development and population growth accelerated in the 17th and 18th cent. In 1762, Matthew Boulton and James Watt founded the Soho metalworks, where they designed and built steam engines. Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, lived for a time in Birmingham. In 1791 a mob, incensed at his radical religious and political views, burned his home.

The town was enfranchised by the Reform Bill of 1832 (see under Reform Acts) and was incorporated in 1838. John Bright represented it in Parliament from 1857 to 1889. During the 1870s, while Joseph Chamberlain was mayor, Birmingham underwent a large program of municipal improvements, including slum clearance and the development of gas and water works. Birmingham was among the first English localities to have a municipal bank, a comprehensive water-supply system, and development planning. The area of the city was enlarged in 1891 and again in 1911 under the Greater Birmingham scheme.

Birmingham was severely damaged in World War II. Subsequent rebuilding resulted in modernization, especially of the city center. Notable buildings include the town hall, built in 1834, modeled after the temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome; the 18th-century baroque-style Cathedral of St. Philip; and the 19th-century Cathedral of St. Chad, the first Roman Catholic cathedral to be built in England after the Reformation. Bull Ring, in the center of Birmingham, is the site of the city's oldest market. Also in the center of the city is the Univ. of Aston. The Univ. of Birmingham is in the suburb of Edgbaston, as is the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a Roman Catholic shrine that was formerly the parish house of John Henry Cardinal Newman

Early Life and Works

..... . There is a museum and art gallery (noted for its pre-Raphaelite collection) and a museum of science and industry. Annual music festivals date from 1768, and Birmingham has a noted symphony orchestra and ballet company. The city library includes an excellent Shakespeare collection.

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Birmingham, cities, United States

Birmingham (bûr`mĭnghăm')

1 City (1990 pop. 265,968), seat of Jefferson co., N central Ala., in the Jones Valley near the southern end of the Appalachian system; founded and inc. 1871. The largest city in the state, it was long a leading iron and steel center, the "Pittsburgh of the South." Industry has diversified since the 1970s to include textiles, chemicals, automotive parts, and aircraft production. Health-care services, commerce, banking, insurance, research, and government are also important. A leading "New South" city, Birmingham developed rapidly with the expansion of railroads and, connected with the Gulf of Mexico by canal, became a trade and communications center. The city was the scene of unrest during the civil-rights struggles of the 1960s; on Sept. 15, 1963, four young black girls were killed in a church bombing. In 1979 the city elected its first African-American mayor. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, comprising a museum, archives of the period, and research facilities, opened in 1992. Local educational institutions include the Univ. of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, and Samford Univ. Overlooking the city, on nearby Red Mt., is a huge iron statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge.

2 City (1990 pop. 19,997), Oakland co., SE Mich., on the River Rouge; settled 1819, inc. as a village 1864, as a city 1933. It is largely residential.

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Birmingham

City (pop., 2000: 249,459), north-central Alabama, U.S. It is Alabama's largest city. Founded in 1871 by a land company backed by railroad officials, it was named for the English city. It developed as the South's iron and steel centre. From nearby Port Birmingham a barge canal leads south to Mobile. Birmingham was the scene of civil rights drives by Martin Luther King, Jr., in the early 1960s, and in 1963 four black girls were killed there in a church bombing; this incident gave major impetus to the civil rights movement.

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Birmingham

City and metropolitan borough (pop., 2001: 977,091), central England. Birmingham lies 100 mi (160 km) northwest of London. Its first charter was granted in 1166. It was a small manufacturing town until the 18th century, when it became a centre of the Industrial Revolution, counting among its citizens James Watt, Joseph Priestley, and John Baskerville. It suffered heavy bombing during World War II but was subsequently rebuilt. It remains the chief centre of Britain's light and medium industry, and it is also the cultural centre for a wide area. Birmingham is the site of two universities and of a grammar school founded by King Edward VI in 1552.

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Birmingham

1. an industrial city in central England, in Birmingham unitary authority, in the West Midlands: the second largest city in Great Britain; two cathedrals; three universities (1900, 1966, 1992). Pop.: 970 892 (2001)

2. a unitary authority in central England, in the West Midlands. Pop.: 992 100 (2003 est.). Area: 283 sq. km (109 sq. miles)

3. an industrial city in N central Alabama: rich local deposits of coal, iron ore, and other minerals. Pop.: 236 620 (2003 est.)