It is the bicententenary of the death of Scottish engineering genius James Watt which is being celebrated in the world ‘s scientific circles and in #Birmingham his adopted home where he made his name as the improver of the steam engine
via Watt 2019: May
James Watt engineering genius and steam engine improved at Soho Foundry and son of #Birmingham
2019 marks the bicentenary of the death of James Watt, improver of the steam engine and partner of Matthew Boulton in the engine businesses at Soho, Handsworth. There will be many events commemorating this during the year, in Birmingham and Scotland, and information about these can be found on the James Watt 2019 website.
To help celebrate the richness of the archive of the James Watt and Family Papers [MS 3219], held in Archives and Collections, Library of Birmingham, there will be a monthly blog on a Watt related subject.
Glimpses into the life of Gregory Watt (1777-1804)
Hand coloured plate by the artist, Peter Fabris in Campi Phlegraei, Volcanoes of the 2 Sicilies vol. 2 by Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to the Spanish Court in Naples
Gregory Watt was the son of James Watt and Ann McGrigor, born in Birmingham in 1777. He is generally described as an…
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In Birmingham there is a prominent statue of Queen Victoria outside #Birmingham Council House in the eponymously named #Victoria Square
Queen Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 and to celebrate the bicentenary of her birth we’re looking at some of the historic places named after her; from pubs to parks, streets to statues and even a phantom city.
A crowd in Abingdon, Oxfordshire celebrating Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 with her freshly unveiled statue © Historic England cc97_02110
Perceptions of Queen Victoria’s legacy change with each generation and historians are frequently busting cliché’s about her. Whatever your views on Victoria and her era, particularly in the latter part of her reign, she was held in great affection by large swathes of her subjects. From publicans to peers, those empowered to express their loyalty did so by naming places and things after her or to mark milestones in her reign.
Victoria surveying a very 21st century scene. This monument by Edward Onslow Ford was completed…
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Oscar Wilde was a shooting literacy star who burned out at the altar of Victorian prurience which he soooo successfully lampooned at the end of the nineteenth century and had it not been for his homosexuality scandal with “Bosie” in Victorian London Wilde would surely be up there in the Pantheon of literary Gods with Shakespeare, Shaw ,Milton and Chaucer
Keith Bracey the Brummie Bard Birmingham & Black Country poet & writer 