Volunteering: Highbury Hall, Birmingham

As part of the nation-wide ‘Heritage Open Week’, Highbury Hall, not usually open to the public, opened its doors to over 500 visitors on Sunday 16th September 2018. This is the third year that the Chamberlain Highbury Trust has hosted an annual open day, seeing the hall and its grounds packed with historical societies, exhibitors, living history groups and more, all for free to visitors.

This is the first year I have volunteered at the event and it was made all the more interesting by the centenary of the end of World War I, as the Hall became a hospital during the war and afterwards a retiring home for ex-servicemen. Due to this there were exhibitions on Highburys’ time as a convalescent hospital, host to hundreds of servicemen over the course of the war and becoming a pioneering centre for new treatment of orthopaedic and neurological cases.

As well as exhibitors, the hall played host to bee-keeping demonstration, a historic bike display, lawn games for children and the unveiling of a new portrait of lesser known Austen Chamberlain by a descendant of the Chamberlain family.

Before becoming a refuge for injured soldiers, Highbury Hall was the family home of Birmingham mayor and member of parliament Joseph Chamberlain from it’s construction in 1878 until his death in 1914. Joseph married three times, his first two wives sadly dying in childbirth, producing five children, including the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Austen Chamberlain, also a politician who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his part as Foreign Secretary in negotiating the Locarno Pact at the end of WWI.

Joseph Chamberlain was a self-made business man who made his money after moving from London to Birmingham aged 18 to join his father’s screw manufacturing business. Chamberlain entered into politics as a member of the Birmingham Corporation and grew his reputation as a civic leader due to his compassion for causes such as free, secular education for all and improving public health. Despite being a leader empathetic to the plights of the working classes of Birmingham, as a national and international politician Chamberlain is a more controversial figure.

As an MP, Chamberlain managed to split the two main political parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, at towards the end of the 19th century and as Colonial Secretary from 1895 to 1903 was in part responsible for the outbreak of the Boer War in South Africa 1899-1902, also he was in opposition to the Irish Home Rule bill due to this fiercely imperialist stance. However, Chamberlain is remembered throughout the city of Birmingham, with Chamberlain Memorial placed in Chamberlain Square in the centre of the city, the Chamberlain Clock in the Jewellery Quarter and Joseph Chamberlain College in Highgate. He is also regarded as the primary founder of the University of Birmingham, as it’s first Chancellor.

Unfortunately, the hall is closed to the public for the rest of the year and is only available for private functions such as weddings and conferences. The Trust is on its third application for Heritage Lottery Fund and is hoping to be successful by the end of the year. With this money the Trust hopes to restore the hall and grounds to their grandeur, to improve accessibility and provide new facilities, be open regularly to the pubic and develop a new learning and engagement programme.