08. Baskerville and Birmingham

“For Patten, Baskerville is Birmingham, and when he returned to the city in 1983, Baskerville was one of five key reference points that he began working with.” [The other reference points were the poet John Freeth, the painter Samuel Lines, the historian William Hutton, and the missing parts of Richard Westmacott’s ‘Statue of Horatio Nelson’.]

– ‘Joanna Jarvis: ‘Industry & Genius’, The Baskerville Society Newsletter, Vol. 5, No. 1, May 2017

Working Note 31st January 2007

We have received a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) for the following:

The big poll tax demonstration and files relating to the recent anti-globalisation riots in London over the last few years.

Files held on the policing of the anti-globalisation protests in London over the last few years.

We released the following information on: Date: Wed Jan 10 00:00:00 GMT 2007

Due to the size of the documents this information is available in hard copy only. If you would like copies of the released information please contact Information and Record Management Services (IRMS) on 020 7035 1029 quoting ref FOI 698.

[www.homeoffice.gov.uk]

Riot (Sacheverell) in 1715; Riots of 1791, what led to the, 220; Riots of 1791; The “Revolutionary Dinner” 226; Spies bring out false reports of the proceedings, 227; “Church and King” 227; The riot commenced, 227; Attack on the Meeting Houses, 228; Dr. Priestley’s house, 228; The second day, 232; Baskerville House sacked and bunt, 232; Attack on Bordesley Hall, 233; Hutton’s Shop, High Street, 233; The third day, 235; Attack on Hutton’s house at Bennett’s Hill, 235; Catherine Hutton’s narrative, 235; Mr. Humphreys’ house at Sparkbrook, 238; Mr. Russell’s, Showell Green, 238; Miss Russell’s narrative, 238; Moseley Hall, 243; The fourth day, 244; Miss Hutton’s narrative, continued, 244; Address of the Magistrates to the rioters, 245; End of the Riots, 246; Conclusion of Miss Russell’s narrative, 247; Dr. Priestley’s Address, 248; Aris’s Gazette and the riots, 249; Conclusion of Miss Hutton’s narrative, 250; Trials of the Rioters, 253; Claims of the Sufferers, 253; The Union Meeting House, 256; Rebuilding of the Meeting Houses, 256; “The Little Riot” (1793), 298; The Scarcity Riots, 300, 302 – in the market-place and at Edgbaston, in 1810, 331; (Religious) in 1813, 364; in Moor Street (1816), 352; in front of the Royal Hotel (1837), 454 – in the Bull Ring (1839), 457-61; at Snow Hill Flour Mills (1847), 556; “Murphy Riots” (1867), 569.

STANDARDS OF PRACTICE

• the obligation to perform research and documentation, that is, to record physical, archival, and other evidence before and after any intervention to generate and safeguard knowledge of the site (AIC 1979, standards I; UNESCO 1978, 9–10; ICOMOS 1988, 23–24);

• the obligation to respect “Alterswert” or cumulative age-value, that is, to acknowledge the site or work as a cumulative physical record of human activity embodying cultural values, materials, and techniques (AIC 1979, code IIA 1979; UNESCO 1978, 3, 11; Australia ICOMOS 1988);

• the obligation to safeguard authenticity, that curious quality so critical to the mental and visual enjoyment and appreciation of historic works (AIC 1979 code IIF, standards IID; UNESCO 1978, 9, 12; Australian ICOMOS 1988, 3, 14);

• the obligation to perform minimum reintegration, that is, to re-establish structural, aesthetic, and semiotic legibility with the least interference (AIC 1979, code IIF; UNESCO 1978, 9; Australia ICOMOS 1988, 3); and

• the obligation to perform interventions that will allow other options and further treatment in the future (AIC 1979, code IIE). This principle recently has been redefined more accurately as “retreatibility” (Appelbaum 1987), a concept of considerable significance for architecture and outdoor monuments given their need for long-term high-performance solutions, often structural in nature.

PDF: 100 Birmingham Sketchbooks (1987)

1990 ‘Monument to John Baskerville’, Birmingham

“Centenary Square in Birmingham has welcomed back its first piece of public art – an iconic sculpture, created to celebrate the work of the famous 18th century printer John Baskerville.”

PDF: Baskerville | The Poem (A Fable), 2013

PDF: 1990 Baskerville Drawings & Installation

PDF: Mel Gooding | PUBLIC – ART – SPACE, 1997

PDF: 2000 The City of B

PDF: Raymond Mason’s Hands, 2011

PDF: 14.09.2020 Birmingham Building Stone Trails
“…a volume of Virgil’s poetry being the first book that Baskerville printed in 1757. The letters and inscriptions are in bronze, but once again Portland Whitbed is used to construct the monument. This too has many broken fragments of oyster shell but also contains the floret-like heads of a reef forming algae, Solenopora portlandia which was endemic in the Portland seas. Fragments of S. portlandia observed here have broken off the reef and have accumulated in amongst the shell debris.”

LINK: Fonts In Use: Poem at Golden Square, Birmingham