Handsworth in 1872

HANDSWORTH, a town, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in West Bromwich district, Stafford. The town stands contiguous to Warwickshire, on Hockley Brook, near the Birmingham and Wolverhampton railway; is suburban to Birmingham, and averagely 2 miles NNW of the centre of that borough; partakes of the industry and general character of Birmingham; is the seat of the famous Soho manufactory; and has a post-office under Birmingham, and two stations with telegraph, the one called Soho, the other called Handsworth-Smethwick, on the Birmingham and Wolverhampton railway. The township bears the name of Handsworth-with-Soho. Pop. in 1851, 7,047; in 1861, 10,398. Houses, 2,003. The parish includes also the hamlet of Perry-Barr, and comprises 7,680 acres. Real property, £48,532. Pop. in 1851, 7,879; in 1861, 11,459. Houses, 2,179.

There are five livings, Handsworth St. Mary, Handsworth St James, Handsworth St. Michael, Birchfield, and Perry-Barr; and the first is a rectory, the others perpetual curacies, in the diocese of Lichfield. Value of St. Mary, £1,500; of St. James and Perry-Barr, each £200; of St. Michael, £300; of Birchfield, not reported. Patron of St. Mary, the Rev. J. Peel, D.D.; of Perry-Barr, Lord Calthorpe; of the others, the Rector of Handsworth. St. Mary's church was ancient, but has been mostly rebuilt; includes a recent chapel, with a statue of Watt, by Chantry; and contains a bust of Boulton by Flaxman, and several old monuments. St. James' church was built in 1840; and had assigned to it, in 1854, a definite territory, the pop. of which, in 1861, was 3,691. St Michael's church was built in 1858, at a cost of about £6,000; and is in the decorated English style. Birchfield church was built in 1864.

There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics, a convent of sisters of mercy, a middle school, national schools, and charities £199. The convent is a large edifice in Hunters-lane, and the chapel connected with it is very elegant The middle school was built in 1862, at a cost of £3,200. The sub-district is conteminate with the parish. 

An 1872 Gazetteer description of the following places in Handsworth is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Birchfield
• Oscott
• Perry-Barr

[Description(s) from The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]