ABSTRACT
Birmingham was well known for the 'harsh music' of anvil and stamp, of press and lathe, of hammer and file. Birmingham might be a cultural desert but it was a paradise for the useful arts. Many of Birmingham's useful arts were designed to grace the houses of the middle class. Birmingham's place in the metal industries was well established by the seventeenth century, known particularly for its guns and swords. Birmingham's early historian was struck by the absence of a local aristocracy and the speed with which gentlemen who made their fortune left the town. Few were involved with the rise to prominence of the Birmingham Political Union which depended on an alliance of Tories with Radicals, industrialists with bankers, masters with men, and engaged few of the established Birmingham elite in its struggle for the vote. Both Birmingham and the county towns of Essex and Suffolk were well placed for easy contact with the Metropolis.
