Morning Chronicle, in June, 1788, as well as "fountain pens;" and it has been claimed that an American supplied his friends with metallic pens a dozen years prior to that date. There was a Sheffield artisan, too, before our local men came to the front, who made some pens on the principle of the quill, a long hollow barrel, pointed and split; but they were considered more in the light of curiosities than for use, and fetched prices accordingly. Mr. James Perry is said to have given his workmen 5s. each for making pens, as late as 1824; and Mr. Gillott got 1s. each for a gross he made on the morning of his marriage. In 1835, the lowest wholesale price was 5s. per gross; now they can be had at a little over 1d. per gross. Even after the introduction of presses for the manufacture of steel pens (in 1829), there was considerable quantities of little machines made here for cutting quill pens, the "grey goose quill" being in the market for school use as late as 1855, and many hankers and others have no: yet discarded them. In May, 1853, a quantity of machinery was sent out to America, where many skilled workmen had gone previously; and now our Yankee cousins not only make their own pens, and run us close in all foreign markets, but actually send their productions to Birmingham itself.—See "Trades."
People's Hall.—The foundation stone of the People's Hall, corner of Loveday and Princip Streets, was laid on Easter Monday, 1841, by General (then Colonel) Perronet Thompson. The cost of the building was £2,400, and, as its name implies, it was intended, and for a short time used, as a place for assemblies, balls, and other public purposes. Like a number if other "institutions for the people," it came to grief, and has long been nothing more than a warehouse.
Pershore Road was laid out in 1825.
Perry Barr.—Three miles from Birmingham, on the road to Lichfield, is one of the ancient places that can claim a note in Domesday. Prior to the eighteenth century there had been a wooden bridge over the Tame, the present curiously-built stone erection, with its recesses to protect the wayfarers from contact with crossing vehicles, being put up in 1711-12 by Sir Henry Gough, who received £200 from the county, and contributions from the neighbouring parishes, towards the cost. The date oi the early church is unknown, the present one being built and endowed by Squire Gough in 1832. Like other suburbs Perry Barr bids fair to become little more than an offshoot to Birmingham, the road thereto fast tilling up with villa and other residences, while churches, chapels, and schools may be seen on all hands. The Literary Institute, built in 1874, at a cost of £2,000, contains reading and class rooms, lecture hall, &c., while not far off is a station on the L. and N.W. line. Perry Hall, the seat of the Hon. A. C. G. Calthorpe, has been the home of the Lords of the Manor for many generations.
Pest and Plague.—The year 1665 is generally given as the date of "the great plague" being here; but the register of St. Martin's Church does not record any extraordinary mortality in that year. In some of the "news sheets" of the 17th century a note has been met with (dated Sept. 28, 1631), in which the Justices of the Peace inform the Sheriff that "the plague had broken out in Deritend, in the parish of Aston, and spread far more dangerously into Birmingham, a great market town." St. Martin's registers of burials are missing from 1631 to 1655, and those of Aston are not get-at-able, and as the latter would record the deaths in Deritend, there does not appear any certain data to go upon, except that the plague was not a casual visitor, having visited Coventry in 1603 and 1625, Tarn worth in 1606 and 1625, and Worcester in 1825 and 1645, the date generally given (1665) being that of the year when the most
