Birmingham Bean Club

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The Birmingham Bean Club is a loyalist

Tory citizens of the growing industrial town and the gentlemen of the surrounding counties.[1] It both reflected and encouraged the 18th century establishment of Birmingham as the political hub of the surrounding region,[2] seeking to accommodate the political implications of the development of Birmingham within the framework of the 18th century constitution.[3] By the end of the century the club was described as including "representatives of the Magnates of the County, the Gentlemen and Tradespeople of the town, the Clergy and the officers from the Barracks, and the principal representative actors from the local theatre".[4]

In a town with a tradition of

Whig aristocrats such as the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Conway and Lord Archer,[5] but also more moderate Tories such as the Earl of Aylesford,[2] and influential conservative Birmingham Anglicans who were closely associated with Dissenters, such as Matthew Boulton and Samuel Garbett.[6]

Re-established

The club was re-established in May 1749 and quickly built up a national importance.

Thomas Aris as editor of the conservative Birmingham Gazette in 1761.[7]

The Bean Club was reinvigorated after the dramatic election of Thomas Skipwith – a disaffected Bean Club member – to one of the Warwickshire county seats with the votes of the Birmingham freeholders in 1769, as Birmingham's electoral influence was made clear and the leading county Tories made renewed efforts to reach an accommodation with the town.[10] 56 new members were elected to the club between 1770 and 1773 – more than during the entire previous decade – and 36 of these came from Birmingham, including Samuel Aris in 1770.[5] The frequency of meetings was increased to quarterly in 1771.[5] The club's members became increasingly influential in the government of the town over the following decades – eight members of the Street Commissioners elected in 1769 were Bean Club members, as were seven of the committee of the Birmingham General Hospital in 1765, and members were prominent among the subscribers to Birmingham's Anglican Sunday Schools.[11]

The club also took a leading role in the establishment of the "Birmingham interest" as a force in regional politics after 1774. All of the Members of Parliament for Warwickshire elected between 1769 and 1782 on the back of the strength of the Birmingham freeholders' vote were County Stewards of the Bean Club – Skipwith,

Burton on Trent in Staffordshire, Stoke in Herefordshire, Malvern in Worcestershire, Appleby in Leicestershire and Daventry in Northamptonshire.[12]

Although the society claimed in 1769 to be "ever devoted to the support of Liberty and Independence", the opinions of members were split over the

Priestley riots, such as the Birmingham Church and King Club founded in 1792.[14]

References

  1. ^ Money 1977, p. 99.
  2. ^ a b c d Wilson 2002, p. 88.
  3. ^ Money 1977, p. 102.
  4. ^ a b Money 1977, p. 100.
  5. ^ a b c d Wilson 2002, p. 91.
  6. ^ Wilson 2002, pp. 91–92.
  7. ^ a b Wilson 2002, p. 90.
  8. ^ Wilson 2002, pp. 89–90.
  9. ^ Wilson 2002, p. 89.
  10. ^ Wilson 2002, pp. 90–91.
  11. ^ Money 1977, pp. 99–100.
  12. ^ Money 1977, pp. 100–101.
  13. ^ Money 1977, p. 101.
  14. ^ Money 1977, pp. 101–102.

Bibliography

  • Money, John (1977), Experience and identity: Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760–1800, Manchester University Press,
    ISBN 978-0-7190-0672-2
    , retrieved 23 January 2011
  • Wilson, Adrian (2002), "The Birmingham General Hospital and its Public, 1765–79", in Sturdy, Steve (ed.), Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere in Britain, 1600–2000, Routledge Studies in the Social History of Medicine, vol. 16, London: Routledge, pp. 85–106,
    ISBN 978-0-415-27906-2
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