Was Birmingham ever a sectarian divided town?

Unlike many other British cities, Birmingham is generally not known for having a significant history of sectarian division along the lines of English Protestants against Irish descended Catholics. There were of course a number of events and incidents in the late 19^th century which gained infamy, such as the Murphy Riots of June 1867 in which gangs of English ‘roughs’ attacked the residents of Park Street, an area of central Birmingham with a high Irish population.

The brutal disturbances were largely caused by the presence in the town at that time of William Murphy, a bigoted anti-Catholic orator whose antagonistic rants about the Catholic Church quickly gained him a following of local supporters.

In his book Birmingham Irish Making Our Mark Carl Chinn writes of the Murphy Riots:

Park Street was so devastated that almost all the houses ‘were wrecked, every window broken, the frames generally torn out, the contents of the shops thrown out amongst the mob, and the furniture taken and destroyed’.

 No protection was given by the police who reportedly joined the robbers in breaking into Irish houses, beating women, children, old men and old women, stealing their clothes and food and driving people into the streets almost naked.

It seems that ethnicity based tensions may well have continued for some years after the Murphy Riots, in his book The Gangs of Birmingham, Philip Gooderson suggests:

Ethnicity seems to have been one of the bases of the slogging gangs of the early 1870s, at least in the Digbeth area, although it receded as the Irish were assimilated. The lingering echoes of Murphy were heard in continued vendettas and street-fights.

Gooderson describes an occasion in August 1872 when the annual excursion by St Chad’s Roman Catholic School to Shustoke in rural Warwickshire, turned to violence after a local gamekeeper began shooting at unruly youngsters. Whether intended or not, the gamekeeper named Thomas Booton shot a sixteen-year-old boy named James Carter in his arm.

A mob of some 200 people including pupils, family members and assorted friends became infuriated by the shooting and pursued Booton as he ran back to his cottage. Booton was badly beaten and several weeks later a Saltley iron-worker named Patrick Cunningham was charged with assault and intent to murder the gamekeeper. Cunningham had allegedly struck Booton over the head with the gamekeeper's own gun, fracturing his skull. The ironworker was eventually acquitted when the judge was told that Booton had fired his gun into a crowd of youngsters.

Whilst Irish men, women, boys and girls continued to appear in front of 19^th century Birmingham courts, their misdemeanours were generally no different from their working class English peers and neighbours – slogging (stone throwing and street fighting), brawling in public houses, passing counterfeit coins, burglary and robbery. If there was a higher proportion of Irish criminals being convicted, it could be explained by the fact they lived in the poorest areas of the city with the least opportunities.  

Philip Gooderson writes extensively about the ‘slogging gangs’ of Birmingham in the 1860s and 1870s. These were huge local gangs of mainly youths who caused mayhem in the narrow, impoverished streets of Birmingham, fighting one another, menacing shop keepers, fighting the police and assaulting innocent passers-by. Slogging was an epidemic of street violence. Irish boys and men were frequently in court for slogging, sometimes they were even the gang leaders, but the gangs were more likely to be comprised of members on the basis of their local district or even their trade rather than on ethnic or sectarian grounds.

Carl Chinn endorses this impression: “In such disorder, some second generation Irish Brummies were involved, but it would seem they were alongside English troublemakers and not part of Irish gangs”.

Birmingham’s overall lack of historical sectarian tensions between Protestants and Catholics is different from the experience of other major cities in the UK. Glasgow is well-known for the sectarian division existing between its citizens which, mainly though not exclusively, takes the form of the fierce rivalry between supporters of Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C. Where deaths and serious assaults have been directly linked to sectarian tensions in Glasgow, many of these have occurred after Old Firm football matches. Liverpool has also had its share of sectarian violence, though its worst outbreak was back in 1909 when the city was dubbed ‘the Belfast of England’ following a riot between Catholics and Protestants. In spite of theories which suggest that Everton is a Protestant club whilst Liverpool is Catholic, many modern day fans of both clubs say that this is nonsense.

Whilst a fierce rivalry exists between the football clubs of the city of Birmingham, this could never have been described as sectarian. Aston Villa were founded by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel with several Scots taking a prominent role in the early days, whilst Birmingham City were founded by a group of cricketers from Holy Trinity C of E Church in Bordesley. However, both clubs have historically attracted supporters from their respective local Irish communities, Villa from the old Irish of Newtown and Aston, Blues from the more contemporary Irish districts of Sparkhill and Small Heath.

As Birmingham became a more diverse city in the second half of the 20^th century and as new waves of Irish migrants continued to contribute to the infrastructure, social economy and cultural vibrancy of the region, the Irish community have gradually become more confident and increasingly proud of their dual-heritage of being Irish and Brummie. Long may the city’s reputation for tolerance and diversity flourish.