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Stags Head Summer Lane

#1 by mamabear , Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:52 am

Hi I just wondered if anyone knows the history of the Stags Head on Summer Lane as my husband's Great Great Uncle was landlord there on the 1911 Census, his name was William Long.

Thanks

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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#2 by Voltman , Tue Jun 23, 2015 9:00 am

Hello Mamabear,

Welcome to the forum.

You could try this thread to see if there is anything …. Summer Lane

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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#3 by mikejee , Tue Jun 23, 2015 5:03 pm

Below is a list of some of the landlords, largely from Kellys (& other) directories, but also after 1920 from the electoral rolls and with a little information from newspapers. The year is the publication date, so will probably refer to year before. It is not certain exactly when it became a pub/beerhouse, as very early directories (pre 1840) were not always complete.:

1833-39 Joseph Newnham (He was also a gold ring & key maker, and in 1829 was at a different address in Brearley st)
1839-52 Mrs Elizabeth Newnham (took over early Dec. 1839 from executors of her husband)
1855-60 James Green
1861-69 George Rotton (gave up licence 1.4.1869 and went to the Lamp Tavern, Cannon St)
1869-85 Thomas Wise (several times charged with being drunk and "behaving eccentrically", once almost being charged with contempt of court. He took over licence 1.4.1869)
1885-97 Richard Webb (received licence 6th march 1885)
1899-1900 Albert Ayres
1903-04 William R. Brown
1905-15 William Long
1920 Arthur Ward
1921 Hal Hart
1922-40 John Savage
1943-52 Mrs Maud Rosina Savage
1955 Harry Jackson
1957 Thomas Bond
1960 Ronald Westwood
1962 Arthur Povey
1965 Peter Jeffries

The pub is still there in 1973, but online electoral rolls only go up to 1965 (and are not every year online) and directories up to 1973. Directories after the mid 1950s do not list landlords , probably because of rapid changeover, and this explains limited number of names for the period after 1950s.

The pub was often used for political meetings in the 1840s -1860s, including ones organised by the free trade & anti-corn law lobby. In fact the Newnhams and James Green were all active members of the Birmingham Anti Corn Law Association. In October 1861 it was the site of a meeting of the Blind musicians, who were to put together a petition to the mayor. Apparently an Improvement Act prevented their working in disreputable pubs because of the necessity of the pub having a music licence. there petition stated that they were sure that those it was not intended that they be deduced to destitution because of a desire to curb "places of immoral resort", but if they only performed in respectable places they only got a few pence.


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#4 by astoness , Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:53 pm

welcome mamabear and excellent info from you mike....you could also try this thread where i have posted photos of all the pubs that were along summer lane in the 1960s..the stags head is once again closed and to be honest i cant see it opening up again as a pub..such a shame as i have spent many a happy hour in there

lyn

Summer Lane Pubs.


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#5 by Sheldonboy , Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:38 pm

Quote: mamabear wrote in post #1
Hi I just wondered if anyone knows the history of the Stags Head on Summer Lane as my husband's Great Great Uncle was landlord there on the 1911 Census, his name was William Long.

Thanks

Hi mamabear, welcome to the forum. A good question to ask our intrepid team of historical brains. (or was that histerical )?


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#6 by astoness , Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:50 pm

mamabear apart from the photo on the summer lane pubs thread taken in the 60s i do have these earlier ones that you may find of interest..

would say the first one was taken during the 1930s/40s and the other one which is rare is taken round about the 1890s on a pub outing..the pub is now a shadow of its former self..all white washed over as said before such a shame that a pub of this age is in such a state..actually i think i have another one which shows the pub and st chads school which was in brearely st will try and find it in my files..sorry i cant post these any larger as this is how they came to me but they will enlarge a bit if you click on them

lyn


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#7 by mamabear , Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:24 am

Many thanks to you all, I can see my Husband's great great grand uncle William Long on the list of landlords between 1905 and 1915 also thanks for the photos.

Sonja

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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#8 by astoness , Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:13 pm

happy to help sonja...


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#9 by LDU53 , Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:11 am

Hi to the forum,

I am very excited - I discovered this forum some time ago, but on checking recently I found the posts about the landlords of the Stag's Head. The answer to mamabear has answered some of my questions already, but I'd like to share my story with you. Joseph and Elizabeth Newnham are my paternal 3x great grandparents (my maiden name is Newnham). I knew they ran the Stag's Head, through online research on the census and various directories. Part of my research showed they lived at Brearley St and 80 Summer Lane (interestingly I note that it is now listed as 79 Summer Lane, so there was a change in numbering at some time!). Googling (ain't it grand?) showed me that Brearley St and Summer Lane intersect, so I was wondering if 95 Brearley St and 80 Summer Lane (both addresses attributed to Joseph) were indeed the same premises - photos online show a door on the Brearley St side of the Stag's Head, so perhaps the residential accommodation was accessed from that. Research has also shown that Elizabeth, as executor herself of Joseph's estate, took over the license of the Stag's Head. I see that she put many notices in the Birmingham Journal and also Aris's Birmingham Gazette to advise people of the recommencement of various 25-pound and then 50-pound clubs - it seems they ran for over 17 years. My research into the papers etc is ongoing.

I am interested in who actually owned the Stag's Head - the licensees presumably ran it on behalf of an owner, and weren't owners themselves? I'd love to know when the Stag's Head was first built and how old it was before Joseph became licensee. I find it unusual that a goldsmith would then become a publican, so perhaps he just resided in the residential part of the Stag's Head and conducted his jewellery business from there, and was later asked/persuaded to take over from the licensee of the time. More questions that none of you may be able to answer - there were a number of children, one of whom (Samuel) was listed as licensee in a directory for a time before leaving to set up his own jewellery business, so the children had to go to school somewhere. I gather there was a school nearby, but haven't found out anything on it yet.

I live in Australia - my paternal grandfather (the great-grandson of Joseph and Elizabeth through their son John) emigrated here from London with his wife and her family in 1924. I have been to England twice in my life, most recently in April last year, but at the time I didn't know about the Birmingham connection in the family. So - another trip to England is an absolute must! I knew the Stag's Head was put up for sale a couple of years ago, but came to the conclusion that it had been sold and a new owner was operating it. I even have a letter half-written to the managers to ask if they know anything! Perhaps I won't send it.

Sorry this has been a long post - I hope it is all right to do so. I really look forward to some answers, and to perhaps meeting some of you when we eventually come back.

cheers - Lesley

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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#10 by astoness , Fri Jul 31, 2015 5:14 pm

hi lesley a warm welcome dont know about you being excited i am too...great to talk to a rellie of who most likely the first landlord of the stag this is looking at mikes post 3 listing the landlords...cant say for certain but back in those days he is more likely to have owned it..the stag although on the corner with summer lane it would have had the official address of brearley st...in the 1960s there were 16 pubs along summer lane all on corners expect for the vine which had the address of summer lane and the stag was the oldest pub by miles....unfortunately the stag has been closed for some months now the previous owners did not make a go of it so sending that letter would be a waste of time im afraid...with regards schools...what years are you talking about as off hand i cant think of any that were around in the 1840s ??

maybe mike can help you with other parts of your research he is far better than i am at this sort of thing...

dont worry about the length of your post its a great bit of family history you have there....

.have you looked at the national newspaper archives online as there could well be some snippets of info about your rellie and the stag..??

this area is my neck o the woods lesley as i was born just off summer lane...my sister worked at the stag for many years and myself and all my family have spent many a happy hour in there such a shame to see it in the state we find it today...

in case you have not seen the pubs on summer lane thread here is the link to it where i have posted photos of all 15 pubs..
Summer Lane Pubs. (2)

lyn


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#11 by mikejee , Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:00 am

Hi Lesley
I can answer a couple of your queries. 96 Brearley St is listed in (for example the 1900 edition) of Kellys as a shop, while no 80 Summer lane is in the same edition listed as the Stags Head, with a different proprietor, so they were certainly at one time different buildings, though next door to each other. the online electoral rolls also show them as two separate buildings. As to the pub being listed as 79 and also as 80, this often happens when a pub occupies a double plot in the street, The correct listing would be 79-80, but this is often shortened to just one number, and the number chosen can vary.
It is very common, indeed probably more than the opposite, for a landlord in the 19th century to have a separate occupation. I don't remember seeing goldsmith before, but have seen jewellers on occasion. Often the husband would officially hold the licence, but much of the pub work would be done by his wife. This meant of course that when/if he died, then she could easily take over the pub, because she had already largely been running it . I have in fact several times seen in censuses where the husband is listed as some other occupation (with no mention of an pub), whereas the wife is listed as working in th elicensed trade, yet Kellys directories show the pub under the name of the husband


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#12 by LDU53 , Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:06 am

Thank you both very much for replying. I am delighted to have made contact.

To mikejee - the numbering makes perfect sense now. I hadn't even considered the double-block thing! The idea of 95 Brearley St being actually next door makes even more sense, and another that I hadn't thought of as being a possibly. Re occupation, in the directories I have looked at so far (Pigots, Kellys, Wrightsons Triennial, Robsons London and Birmingham) Joseph is listed variously as jeweller, goldsmith, silversmith, keymaker. He first appears at 95 Brearley St in 1821 but then at other addresses until 1828. In 1835 he is listed as a retailer of beer. I hope to find more references in the directories, as I have gaps of some years. 1838 is the earliest electoral roll information that I have found so far, listing only Joseph, and 1841 the earliest census, listing Elizabeth as victualler.

To Lyn - I am sad that the Stag is now closed, as I gather it has been operating pretty much continuously since my ancestors ran it. I really hope that when we eventually get there we find that someone has taken it on and making a go of it so we can see inside. Schooling would have been required from the 1820s but of course they weren't always living in Brearley St. I gather one child was born in Lionell St, but right now I don't know where that is (need to Google again!). [It appears they may have been Non-Conformist (Congregation of the New Church), indicated by later baptism records, but a number of the children were baptised together on their parents 14th wedding anniversary at St Phillips. Later children are Non-Conformist. More research needed here too!] I have already been delving into papers online and have found some interesting snippets, but much more to do.

What a time-consuming hobby! Thank you both for your time and comments.

cheers- Lesley

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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#13 by astoness , Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:42 am

hi lesley you are right about family research being time consuming...i have been at mine for many years but find it fascinating stuff...lionel st is in the city centre and is still exists today although it would be very different now from the years you are researching...mike is very good with old maps so maybe he could post you an old one on here...do you know what number lionel st the child was born at..like you i do hope that the stag is taken on again but to be honest i cant see it happening...st phillips of course is still there and its a wonderful church...if i find any old photos or drawings of lionel st i will post them on here for you...

lyn


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#14 by astoness , Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:36 am

the stags head which was up for sale has now been taken over again....went past it a few days back and noticed door open and workmen inside and piles of breeze blocks outside so i went in to see if i could find out what it would be turned into...totally gutted inside...front and back bars knocked into one...ceilings removed and it looks like new joists fitted...all bar furnishings gone...the workman did not know what the new owners plans were for the pub and i couldnt ask him as he was off site but i shall be going down again this week to try and catch him...at least this very old building will not be demolished but i cant see it re opening as a pub although i would be happy to be proved wrong...


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RE: Stags Head Summer Lane

#15 by CBen , Sat Nov 12, 2016 6:57 pm

Our family has distant connection with the Joseph and Elizabeth Newnham that ran the Stag's Head 1833 - 1852. Branch of the Newnhams moved to Wallsall.

Found that Elizabeth Married James Green (next landlord) on 30 May 1852 at St Peters & St Pauls Aston. He listed at that time as widower, occupation plater and she having no trade. Pretty sure of this as Elizabeth's father shown as John Ashford as for her christening 10 May 1796 - also matching the age on the marriage reg. [Birmingham, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937 Elizabeth Newnham; DOB: abt 1795; Sp: James Green; Date: 30 May 1852; Aston, St Peter and St Paul, Warwickshire, England; Father : John Ashford SpFather: Thomas Green; Ref:DRO 41; Roll:M87]
Probably Elizabeth died early 1855 was buried St. George Birmingham 2 Feb. [Birmingham, England, Burials, 1813-1964 Elizabeth Green; Birth Yr: abt 1796 ;Burial Date 2 Feb 1855; Birmingham, St George, Warwickshire ; Ref: DRO 9; Arch: M22]

Love to know source of comments about Corn Law activism.

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