Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History and Guide Arranged Alphabetically by Thomas T. Harman;Walter Showell
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page 74 of 741 (09%)
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said to have been 140 years old, and his wife lived to be 120. Joseph
Stanley, of Aston, died in May, 1761, in his 106th year. Wesley, under date of March 19, 1768, wrote of having seen George Bridgens, then in his 107th year; Hutton, in noticing the long life of Bridgens, also mentions one John Pitt who lived to be 100, a Mrs. Moore who reached 104, and an old market man who completed his 107th year. A Mr. Clarkson died here, in February, 1733, aged 112. William Jennens, _the_ Jennens of untold, but much coveted, wealth, died in June, 1798, aged 103. John Roberts, of Digbeth, had a family of twenty-eight children, six by his third wife, whom he married when nearly eighty, and lived to see his 103rd year, in 1792, dying July 6. Thomas Taylor, a cobbler, stuck to his last until a week of his death, July 8, 1796, at 103. T. Blakemore died November 12, 1837, aged 105. Mrs. E. Bailey, founder of the Female Charity School, was also 105 at her death, December 2, 1854. Another old lady was Elizabeth Taylor, who died at Sparkbrook, March 5, 1864, aged 104 years. Mary Hemming, of Moseley Wake Green, died December 5, 1881, in her 104th year. ~Centenary Celebrations~, more or less worthy of note, are continuously recurring, and the date of some few are here preserved. Our loyal grandfathers honoured the hundredth, anniversary of the Revolution of 1688, by a public dinner, November 4, 1788. Old Bluecoat boys in like manner kept the centenary of their school, August 24, 1824. Admirers of the Philosopher Priestley chose All Fools' Day, 1831, as the fitting day to celebrate the anniversary of his birth. The Centenary of the Protestant Dissenting Charity Schools was worthily celebrated by the raising of a special sum amounting to £1,305, as an addition to the funds. In January, 1859, Robert Burns' anniversary was remembered by the holding a supper in Aston Hall, at which only half-a-dozen Scotchmen were present out of half-a-hundred guests. The Dissenting Ministers of |
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