In recent times there has been much talk of erecting monuments to historic British figures from a minority background. In Wolverhampton, a plaque to a very worthy recipient fitting this criteria; former slave-turned-entrepreneur, George John Scipio Africanus, is soon to be unveiled by the Wolverhampton Society. What the people of the City seemed to have…
Stories and News
The Dangers of Road Travel in Wolverhampton
For the organisation’s second talk of the year, our Vice-Chair, Quintin Watt, will look at fatal transport accidents between 1820 and 1920. In this short excerpt, Quintin looks at some examples from Wolverhampton that will have you reaching for your seatbelt! Details of the event can be found directly below; click the image to reserve…
Wolverhampton Synagogue and its Hidden History
The Wolverhampton Synagogue is a dimuniative building, but hid a secret to its past for many years. Finally in 2020, the secret was revealed, and from the most unlikely of sources. Wolverhampton’s Jewish Pioneers The first Jewish citizen in Wolverhampton arrived in 1834, having made the journey from Kretinga, Lithuania, to Gravesend, Kent two years…
Do You Know of the Lord’s Prayer?
Carribee Island was home to Wolverhampton’s “Irish Quarter”, and the population was often the butt of the joke, or outright hostility. Echoes of this, such as “Paddy and Murphy” jokes live on to this day, playing the Irish down as stereotypically “thick” or stupid”. The bulk of the following text is a direct extract from…
Out of Darkness Cometh The Lamp
An article by Quintin Watt, Approx. reading time of 6 minutes. The story of the High Green Lamp, or Gas Pillar, lasted a little over twenty years. The Wolverhampton Gas Company (WGC) was established in 1819 and the town was first lit by gas lamps in 1820. To commemorate this event and to illuminate the…
Our Story Begins…
Tickets are now on sale for our inaugural fundraiser event, celebrating Sunbeam’s first land speed world record on 17th May 1922. Come and join us in Wolverhampton, birth place of the machine that conquered the world a century ago. Tickets can be purchased on the door if still available, but to guarantee attendance, please use…