ABSTRACT
Birmingham is situated, not at the hub of any previously recognizable area of its own, but at the meeting point of the three counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire. Bean club was by then involved in many different aspects of Birmingham life. Its members were prominent among the Street Commissioners appointed under Birmingham's Improvement Act in 1769; between 1768 and 1774, the Birmingham papers were rife with reports of petitions in redress of grievances, of gestures of sympathy and solidarity with the hero of the day, and of rumours of Wilkite campaigns in the region which they served. For Midlands waterways in general, see Charles Hadfield, The Canals of the West Midlands and The Canals of the East Midlands. The real state of West Midlands opinion is better shown by the region's apathy during the County Association movement between 1779 and 1785, which obliged Priestley to admit to Christopher Wyvill.
