Birmingham Businesses

Victorian Birmingham, where industry swallowed the green spaces and Joseph Chamberlain reshaped a city. Discover respectable leisure and the history behind Birmingham Botanical Gardens, then meet Angelina: an Irish Romani midwife and layer-out of the dead, as she experiences the gardens for the first time. An exclusive excerpt from my forthcoming historical novel Angelina, set against the grit and magnificence of 1870s Birmingham.

The Baskerville typeset is known around the world and a product of Birmingham's John Baskerville. He invested £600 (£100,000 today) into this project before he liked even a single letter. Historical fiction author, Sara Fox, explores more about this remarkable story of obsession which created another legacy for Birmingham.

Eliza Tinsley was a Black Country Victorian widow left with a choice. She chose to build her husband's business and created a local empire.