Bird’s eye view of Birmingham (1886)
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This situation was to change, at least in part, with the emergence of new attitudes adopted by a new generation of municipal reformers, led by the imperious and radical Chamberlain. The streets improvement programs and campaigns for better sanitary conditions were part and parcel of a much larger ‘civic gospel’ or municipal reform movement that sought to re-energise and improve Birmingham’s social, cultural and physical landscape.
Followers of Chamberlain, such as the Quaker Richard Barrow, now argued that they were “determined to vote for every measure that would make Birmingham ‘a clean healthy and modern town’” (Briggs, 1963). This was the new metropolis shown in the lofty vision of the “Bird’s Eye View Of Birmingham 1886”.
