Express & Star

Whatever happened to the real Black Country?

There is no nostalgia for the good old days from Tom Larkin.

Published
Last updated
The Clean Air Act put an end to the belching chimneys and smogs

The Black Country historian was nine years old when the Second World War broke out in 1939, and he becomes animated when he talks about what life was like at that time.

"I lived in Bissell Street in Bilston, some of the slums were indescribable," he says.

"It's amazing to think how people managed to live in conditions like that, every day.

"We did have our own backyard, but a lot of houses had shared facilities, one toilet between seven families. and outside facilities for washing."

Tom, now 89, has just launched his latest book Whatever Happened to the Real Black Country, which charts how the region has changed since the outbreak of the Second World War. The book is a sequel to his earlier book, The Black Country Chronicles, has been eight years in the making. His earlier publication looked at life in the area up until 1939, and his latest volume picks up the story of how lives were transformed first by the war, and later by the changes to people's working lives and cultures.

Historian Tom Larkin with his new book Whatever Happened to the Real Black Country?

Tom tells how the squalid conditions endured by working-class families in the area was thrown into the spotlight during a controversial by-election in 1944. Ian Hannah had been the Conservative MP for Bilston for 14 years when he died in 1944. A wartime agreement by the main parties not to fight by-elections meant that the result should have been a formality, with the Labour and Liberal parties allowing Tory Lt Col William Gibbons to take the seat unopposed. However, the Independent Labour Party, which was opposed to the war, refused to abide by the truce, and put up candidate Anthony Eaton, meaning that a poll had to be held on September 20.

It is fair to say that the election was not universally welcomed, with many viewing it as an unnecessary distraction, as well a waste of precious resources at a crucial stage in the war. But the temperature would rise a few degrees more when firebrand pacifist Fenner Brockway turned out to speak on Eaton's behalf.

His mere presence was controversial, having been told he was no longer welcome in Bilston having said on a visit in 1932: "Surely no place could have grown up so ugly as this, without some evil mind having deliberately planned to wipe out every last trace of beauty."

His inflammatory remarks led to Brockway's book Hungry England being banned from libraries in the town, but when he returned in 1944 his comments were no more complimentary.

He told his audience: "In Bilston there are hundreds of houses more suitable for chickens to live than human beings." But while Brockway's comments did little to endear him to Bilston's civic leaders, it appears his comments may have struck a chord with some people in the town. While Gibbons retained the seat for the Conservatives, it was only by the slenderest margin, with maverick left-winger Eaton coming within 349 votes.

"The outcome resulted in Bilston being thrust into the national limelight, with parliament devoting time for a unique post-mortem on its impact," he says.

"It led to questions being raised as to why so many had decided to support the almost unknown Independent Labour candidate, and most social historians had predicted that the Conservative candidate would win easily, mainly because of the war record of Winston Churchill."

Left-wing campaigner and writer Fenner Brockway said Bilston must be the work of an evil mind

Tom, a retired office clerk at the former Midland Electricity Board, believes Brockway's incendiary comments were crucial to the creation of the welfare state after the war. While the plans for the National Health Service and the social security system were drawn up by the wartime coalition some two years before the 1944 by-election, he is in no doubt that the they provided an impetus for their swift implementation following the Allied victory.

But he says legislation to tackle the heavily polluted atmosphere in the 1950s also marked the beginning of the end for the Black Country of his youth.

While the postwar years saw a boom in manufacturing, this came at a price in the form of the increasing air pollution.

"Without warning, clouds of thick fog would descend, and the atmosphere became blighted," says Tom.

"It was almost impossible for anyone to see a foot in front of them when walking.

"Buses and trains would grind to a halt, town centres were virtually paralysed as everywhere became obscured by thick fog, and the traffic came to a standstill while a strange silence descended all around."

The lethal combination of smoke, fog and industrial pollution had first been identified in 1905 when the term smog was first coined.

"People venturing outside usually covered their face with either a handkerchief or a scarf," he says.

"For anyone with a history of chest or lung complaints it could be real health threat."

In December 1952, the country experienced the worst smog in living memory, bringing London to a standstill and causing a record number of fatalities. The Clean Air Act of 1956, followed by further laws in 1968, stipulated which fuels could be burned on domestic fires, and spelled the end of heavy industry sitting cheek-by-jowl with residential areas.

The Second World War, and the conflicts that followed, also led to a sea-change in youth culture. Before the conflicts, young people were very much seen and not heard, but having been given the responsibility of fighting for their country, those days were very much over. As their disposable incomes rose, and rationing eased, they began spending more money on clothes, cosmetics and records, becoming an influential fashion group. While a car was still beyond the means of most 'teenagers' – a term imported from the United States – more and more of them were able to buy their own motorcycles, giving them a new sense of freedom and independence.

But this also caused tensions of its own. The release of Bill Haley's film Rock Around the Clock in 1956 led to lurid newspaper reports of unruly behaviour at cinemas, with dancing in the aisles and seats being ripped out. The council in Bilston banned the film from being shown at any of the area's cinemas.

How the Express & Star reported the campaign to stop Bilston being absorbed into Wolverhampton

Concerns about the influence cinema had on young people was not an entirely new phenomenon. Tom points to a 1937 court case when an 11-year-old boy was fined 10 bob for possessing an air rifle without the required licence.

"During the proceedings. a representative from the local education department submitted evidence that the defendant attended cinema twice a week, something that they thought should be considered because certain types of violent films contributed to his obsession with guns."

But while cinema made its mark, television was the real driver for cultural change during the second half of the 20th century. "In 1950, the Daily Mirror made the claim that 'if you let TV through your door, life will never be the same'," says Tom.

"Many believed television was a temporary novelty. A well-known social expert even speculated that this invasion of our homes would upset traditional family life as we know it."

Some people felt these fears were confirmed in December, 1954, when the BBC screened a controversial adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 on a Sunday night.

"No sooner had that first episode ended, than the Corporation's switchboard was jammed with irate calls from viewers from all over the country," says Tom.

"Projecting scenes of violence into people's living rooms on the Sabbath was bound to invite a strong reaction."

But while cleaner air, the decline of manufacturing and a less insular culture brought about by new forms of media may have played a role in the demise of the Black Country that Tom Larkin grew up with.

A coffin was delivered to Bilston Town Hall in protest at plans to abolish the council

Tom, who was a member of the former Bilston Borough Council in the 1960s, believes it is successive shake-ups of local government that really tore the heart out of the region.

For him, the amalgamation of the authority with Wolverhampton to form the new, enlarged Wolverhampton County Borough in 1966 still feels raw. He recalls how a group of local campaigners delivered a coffin to Bilston Town Hall in what they saw as the imminent 'death' of their town.

It proved to be just the beginning: further reorganisation in 1974 saw the creation of the shortlived West Midlands County Council, but it is the West Midlands Combined Authority, created in 2017 and led by a directly elected mayor, which he fears will be the final nail in the coffin.

"Since the late 60s, concerns have been expressed about the decline of the entire area, which raises justified fears that Birmingham, because of its size, will almost certainly dominate any future regional administration," he says.

"Without a doubt, the majority of politicians favour such a proposal, and it could prove to be the final obituary of the once unique Black Country."