Brummagem
Encyclopedia
Brummagem is the local name for the city of Birmingham
, England
, and the dialect associated with it (see, for example, Carl Chinn
and Steve Thorne
). It gave rise to the terms Brum
(a shortened version or Brummagem) and Brummie
(inhabitants of the city, their accent and dialect, and frequently West Midlanders
and their accents in general).
Brummagem and Brummagem ware are also terms for cheap and shoddy imitations, in particular when referring to mass-produced goods. This use is archaic in the UK, but persists in some specialist areas in the USA and Australia
.
as a variant on the older and coexisting form of Birmingham (spelled Bermingeham in the Domesday Book
) and was in widespread use by the time of the Civil War
.
ed groat
s.
Birmingham's expanding metal industries included the manufacture of weapons, in 1637, a London
cutler
protested against the import of 'Bromedgham blades' stating "they are no way serviceable or fit for his Majesty's store." John F. Hayward, an experienced historian on swords, suggests that London's snobbery towards these blades at that time was based on petty commercial rivalry, at that time London was the largest provider of weapons in Britain and Birmingham was fast becoming a viable commercial threat to their trade.
The word passed into political slang in the 1680s. The Protestant supporters of the Exclusion Bill
were called by their opponents Birminghams or Brummagems (a slur, in allusion to counterfeiting, implying hypocrisy). Their Tory
opponents were known as anti-Birminghams or anti-Brummagems.
Around 1690 Alexander Missen, visiting Bromichan in his travels, said that "sword
s, heads of canes, snuff-boxes, and other fine works of steel
," could be had, "cheaper and better here than even in famed Milan
."
In 1691, The New State of England by Guy Miege said that "Bromichan drives a good trade in iron
and steel wares, saddle
s and bridle
s, which find good vent at London
, Ireland
, and other parts." By another writer, "Bromicham" is described as "a large and well-built town, very populous, much resorted to, and particularly noted a few years ago for the counterfeit groats made here, and dispersed all over the kingdom".
In 1731, an old "Road-book" said that "Birmingham, Bromicham, or Bremicham, is a large town, well built and populous. The inhabitants, being mostly smith
s, are very ingenious in their way, and vend vast quantities of all sorts of iron wares."
Around 1750, the "England's Gazetteer
" described Birmingham or Bromichan as "a large, well-built, and populous town, noted for the most ingenious artificers in boxes, buckle
s, button
s, and other iron and steel wares; wherein such multitudes of people are employed that they are sent all over Europe
; and here is a continual noise of hammer
s, anvil
s, and file
s."
The town was renowned for its miscellany of metal and silver industries, some of these manufacturers used cheap materials and were of poor quality and design. The poorer quality "Brummagem ware" was beginning to give the better more skilled metal workers of the town a bad name, Matthew Boulton
of the Lunar Society
and several toy makers and silversmith
s realized this and campaigned to have the town's first Assay Office
constructed, great opposition came from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
in London
but Royal assent was given for assay offices in both Birmingham and Sheffield
on the same day. Eventually this filtered out much of the poor workmanship of silver and jewellery in Birmingham keeping mainly the higher quality produced jewellery which ultimately allowed the town to become one of the most important Silver manufacturing centers in the 19th century.
It is thought by some, including historian Carl Chinn
, that around this time Matthew Boulton favoured "Birmingham" over "Brummagem" to cut loose from the previous negative connotations with the word.
, Matthew Boulton
had taken part in the first British trade missions to China
and the city was one of the most advanced, diverse and productive manufacturing centres in the modern world. Birmingham was sometimes referred to as the Toyshop of Europe, Workshop of the world, or City of a thousand trades. The Birmingham pen trade
prospered and areas such as the Gun Quarter and Jewellery Quarter existed with high standards of production set out by institutions such as the Birmingham Proof House
and Birmingham Assay Office
, the Birmingham Mint
also became renowned globally for its high quality coins as did Cadburys for its chocolate and workers welfare and rights.
With such a vast array of items being produced it was inevitable that not all would have been of high quality, the advances of the industrial revolution enabled machines to mass produce cheaper items such as buttons, toys, trinkets and costume jewellery. The poor quality of a proportion of these gave rise to a pejorative use of the word, "Brummagem ware", although such items were not exclusive to the city.
The significant button industry gave rise to the term 'Brummagem button': Charles Dickens
' 1836 novel The Pickwick Papers
mentions it as a term for counterfeit silver coins, but Samuel Sidney's 1851 Rides on Railways refers to it as "an old-fashioned nickname for a Birmingham workman".
By the late 19th century, "Brummagem" was still used as a term for Birmingham. Some people still used it as a general term for anything cheap and shoddy disguised as something better. It was used figuratively in this context to refer to moral fakery: for instance, the Times
leader, 29 January 1838, reported Sir Robert Peel
's slur on an opponent: "[he] knew the sort of Brummagem stuff he had to deal with, treated the pledge and him who made it with utter indifference".
One particularly negative use of the word is "brummagem screwdriver", a term for a hammer, a jibe which suggested that Brummie workers were unskilled and unsophisticated, though one similarly applied to the French and Irish.
The negative use of the word was included in several dictionaries around the world.
The term was not always used with negative meaning, Jeffrey Farnol wrote:
and The Rev. Richard H. Barham:
However, as shown by James Dobbs' song "I can't find Brummagem" (see below), it remained in use as a geographical name for the city.
In the Henry James
story The Lesson of the Master (1888), the novelist Henry St. George refers to his "beautiful fortunate home" as Brummagem.
The Birmingham politician Joseph Chamberlain
was nicknamed 'Brummagem Joe' (affectionately or satirically depending on the speaker). See, for instance, The Times
, 6 August 1895: "'Chamberlain and his crew' dominated the city ... Mr Geard thought it was advisable to have a candidate against 'Brummagem Joe'".
There were many contradictory comments and accounts to the idea that Birmingham or Brummagem was associated with poor quality manufacture around the 19th century, Robert Southey
once wrote in 1807: 'Probably in no other age or country was there ever such an astonishing display of human ingenuity as may be found in Birmingham.'
, 13 August 1901 quoted a House of Commons
speech by a Mr MacNeill, "The initiative of the Bill... had the "Brummagem" brand from top to bottom. It was a mean attempt, inspired by the absurd and vulgar spirit of Imperialism, to subsidize the Crown with a parvenu title, and a tawdry gewgaw reputation".
A Punch book review for December 1917 said: "But, to be honest, the others (with the exception of one quaint little comedy of a canine ghost) are but indifferent stuff, too full of snakes and hidden treasure and general tawdriness—the kind of Orientalism, in fact, that one used to associate chiefly with the Earl's Court Exhibition. Mrs. PERRIN must not mingle her genuine native goods with such Brummagem ware".
In The Forsyte Saga
written by John Galsworthy In Chancery (1920) (Book II, Part II, Chapter I: The Third Generation), when responding to the question, "Do you know Crum?" Jolly Forsyte replies, "Of Merton? Only by sight. He's in that fast set too, isn't he? Rather La-di-da and Brummagem."
By the late 20th century and 21st century, British usage had shifted toward a purely geographical and even positive sense. The Housing Design Awards 1998 said of one Birmingham project, City Heights, "this gutsy Brummagem bruiser of a building handles its landmark status with ease and assurance". In The Guardian
"Notes from the touchline" sport report, 21 March 2003, journalist Frank Keating used the headline "World Cup shines with dinkum Brummagem" to praise the performance of Birmingham-born Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds
.
A particular activist in reclaiming the term as a traditional name reflecting positive aspects of the city's heritage is historian Carl Chinn
MBE
, Professor of Community History at the University of Birmingham
, who produces Brummagem Magazine.
The British poet Roy Fisher
(b. 1930) uses the term in his poetry sequence 'Six Texts For a Film' in Birmingham River (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994). "Birmingham's what I think with. / It's not made for that sort of job,/ but it's what they gave me. / As a means of thinking, it's a Brummagem/ screwdriver" (lines 1-4).
's 1922 novel The Beautiful and Damned
uses the word twice: "It was one of the type known as 'tourist' cars, a sort of brummagem Pullman ... a single patch of vivid green trees that guaranteed the brummagem umbrageousness of Riverside Drive". Gilbert Seldes
, in his 1924 book The Seven Lively Arts, wrote in praise of Krazy Kat
: "everything paste and brummagem has had its vogue with us; and a genuine, honest native product has gone unnoticed". It appears in two essays by H.L. Mencken from 1926: "Valentino" ("Consider the sordid comedy of his two marriages-the brummagem, star-spangled passion that invaded his very deathbed!") and "A Glance Ahead" ("It would be hard to find a country in which such brummagem serene highnesses are revered with more passionate devotion than they get in the United States.") Mencken's influence is apparent when the term appears in John Fante
's 1939 novel Ask the Dust
: "The church must go, it is the haven of the booboisie, of boobs and bounders and all brummagem mountebanks."
Currently US collectors of political memorabilia use "brummagem" to refer to imitations. The Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions by Farlex Inc, maintainers of TheFreeDictionary.com
, lists several related terms such as "Brummagem buttons", tufts sewn to brassiere
cups to give the appearance of larger nipples.
entertainer and collected in Victoria's Inferno: Songs of the Old Mills, Mines, Manufactories, Canals and Railways by Jon Raven, Broadside Books, 1978, ISBN 0-9503722-3-4.
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and the dialect associated with it (see, for example, Carl Chinn
Carl Chinn
Professor Carl Stephen Alfred Chinn MBE, Ph.D. is an English historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, media personality, local celebrity, and famous Brummie, whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham in England...
and Steve Thorne
Steve Thorne
Steve Thorne is a British linguist and writer.Born in Birmingham, England, Thorne graduated from the University of Birmingham with a First Class Honours degree in English in 2000 and a PhD in Linguistics in 2003...
). It gave rise to the terms Brum
Brum
Brum may refer to:* Birmingham, England** Brummagem, a colloquial name for Birmingham, England or the Birmingham dialect** Brummie, inhabitants of Birmingham or the Birmingham dialect** University of Birmingham...
(a shortened version or Brummagem) and Brummie
Brummie
Brummie is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum...
(inhabitants of the city, their accent and dialect, and frequently West Midlanders
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
and their accents in general).
Brummagem and Brummagem ware are also terms for cheap and shoddy imitations, in particular when referring to mass-produced goods. This use is archaic in the UK, but persists in some specialist areas in the USA and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
History
The word appeared in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
as a variant on the older and coexisting form of Birmingham (spelled Bermingeham in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
) and was in widespread use by the time of the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
17th century
The term's negative use appears to have originated with the city's brief 17th century reputation for counterfeitCounterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
ed groat
Groat
Groat or Fuppence is the traditional name of an English silver coin worth four English pence, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and one shilling.-Name:...
s.
Birmingham's expanding metal industries included the manufacture of weapons, in 1637, a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
cutler
Cutler
A cutler is a maker of cutlery.Cutler may also refer to:-Places in the United States:*Cutler, California, a town*Cutler, Florida, now part of the Village of Palmetto Bay*Cutler Bay, Florida, formerly known as Cutler Ridge*Cutler, Illinois...
protested against the import of 'Bromedgham blades' stating "they are no way serviceable or fit for his Majesty's store." John F. Hayward, an experienced historian on swords, suggests that London's snobbery towards these blades at that time was based on petty commercial rivalry, at that time London was the largest provider of weapons in Britain and Birmingham was fast becoming a viable commercial threat to their trade.
The word passed into political slang in the 1680s. The Protestant supporters of the Exclusion Bill
Exclusion Bill
The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic...
were called by their opponents Birminghams or Brummagems (a slur, in allusion to counterfeiting, implying hypocrisy). Their Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
opponents were known as anti-Birminghams or anti-Brummagems.
Around 1690 Alexander Missen, visiting Bromichan in his travels, said that "sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, heads of canes, snuff-boxes, and other fine works of steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
," could be had, "cheaper and better here than even in famed Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
."
In 1691, The New State of England by Guy Miege said that "Bromichan drives a good trade in iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and steel wares, saddle
Saddle
A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider or other load, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is the equestrian saddle designed for a horse, but specialized saddles have been created for camels and other creatures...
s and bridle
Bridle
A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, the "bridle" includes both the headstall that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit....
s, which find good vent at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and other parts." By another writer, "Bromicham" is described as "a large and well-built town, very populous, much resorted to, and particularly noted a few years ago for the counterfeit groats made here, and dispersed all over the kingdom".
18th century
During the 18th century Birmingham was known by several variations of the name "Brummagem".In 1731, an old "Road-book" said that "Birmingham, Bromicham, or Bremicham, is a large town, well built and populous. The inhabitants, being mostly smith
Smith (metalwork)
A metalsmith, often shortened to smith, is a person involved in making metal objects. In contemporary use a metalsmith is a person who uses metal as a material, uses traditional metalsmithing techniques , whose work thematically relates to the practice or history of the practice, or who engages in...
s, are very ingenious in their way, and vend vast quantities of all sorts of iron wares."
Around 1750, the "England's Gazetteer
England's Gazetteer
England's Gazetteer; or, an accurate description of all the cities, towns, and villages of the kingdom, was a large road atlas printed in the mid 18th century. The Gazetteer was written by Stephen Whatley and was published in three separate editions, all which offered maps of the roads of England...
" described Birmingham or Bromichan as "a large, well-built, and populous town, noted for the most ingenious artificers in boxes, buckle
Buckle
The buckle or clasp is a device used for fastening two loose ends, with one end attached to it and the other held by a catch in a secure but adjustable manner. Usually overlooked and taken for granted, the invention of the buckle has been indispensable in securing two ends before the invention of...
s, button
Button
In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of...
s, and other iron and steel wares; wherein such multitudes of people are employed that they are sent all over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
; and here is a continual noise of hammer
Hammer
A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
s, anvil
Anvil
An anvil is a basic tool, a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck. The inertia of the anvil allows the energy of the striking tool to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool...
s, and file
File (tool)
A file is a metalworking and woodworking tool used to cut fine amounts of material from a workpiece. It most commonly refers to the hand tool style, which takes the form of a steel bar with a case hardened surface and a series of sharp, parallel teeth. Most files have a narrow, pointed tang at one...
s."
The town was renowned for its miscellany of metal and silver industries, some of these manufacturers used cheap materials and were of poor quality and design. The poorer quality "Brummagem ware" was beginning to give the better more skilled metal workers of the town a bad name, Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
of the Lunar Society
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...
and several toy makers and silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
s realized this and campaigned to have the town's first Assay Office
Assay office
Assay offices are institutions set up to assay precious metals, in order to protect consumers. Upon successful completion of an assay, Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metals, in order to protect consumers. Upon successful completion of an assay, Assay...
constructed, great opposition came from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Company, which has origins in the twelfth century, received a Royal Charter in 1327. It ranks fifth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies. Its motto is Justitia Virtutum Regina, Latin for Justice...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
but Royal assent was given for assay offices in both Birmingham and Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
on the same day. Eventually this filtered out much of the poor workmanship of silver and jewellery in Birmingham keeping mainly the higher quality produced jewellery which ultimately allowed the town to become one of the most important Silver manufacturing centers in the 19th century.
It is thought by some, including historian Carl Chinn
Carl Chinn
Professor Carl Stephen Alfred Chinn MBE, Ph.D. is an English historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, media personality, local celebrity, and famous Brummie, whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham in England...
, that around this time Matthew Boulton favoured "Birmingham" over "Brummagem" to cut loose from the previous negative connotations with the word.
19th century
By the 19th century Birmingham had become one of the most important players in the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
had taken part in the first British trade missions to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the city was one of the most advanced, diverse and productive manufacturing centres in the modern world. Birmingham was sometimes referred to as the Toyshop of Europe, Workshop of the world, or City of a thousand trades. The Birmingham pen trade
Birmingham pen trade
The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century; for many years, the city was the centre of the world's pen trade.-19th century:...
prospered and areas such as the Gun Quarter and Jewellery Quarter existed with high standards of production set out by institutions such as the Birmingham Proof House
Birmingham Proof House
The Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House was established in 1813 by an act of Parliament at the request—and expense—of the then prosperous Birmingham Gun Trade. Its remit was to provide a testing and certification service for firearms in order to prove their quality of construction, particularly in...
and Birmingham Assay Office
Birmingham Assay Office
The Birmingham Assay Office is one of the four remaining assay offices in the United Kingdom.The development of a silver industry in 18th century Birmingham was hampered by the legal requirement that items of solid silver be assayed, and the nearest Assay Offices were in Chester and London...
, the Birmingham Mint
Birmingham Mint
The Birmingham Mint, a coining mint, originally known as Heaton's Mint or Ralph Heaton & Sons, in Birmingham, England started producing tokens and coins in 1850 as a private enterprise, separate from, but in cooperation with the Royal Mint. Its factory was situated in Icknield Street , on the edge...
also became renowned globally for its high quality coins as did Cadburys for its chocolate and workers welfare and rights.
With such a vast array of items being produced it was inevitable that not all would have been of high quality, the advances of the industrial revolution enabled machines to mass produce cheaper items such as buttons, toys, trinkets and costume jewellery. The poor quality of a proportion of these gave rise to a pejorative use of the word, "Brummagem ware", although such items were not exclusive to the city.
The significant button industry gave rise to the term 'Brummagem button': Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' 1836 novel The Pickwick Papers
The Pickwick Papers
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...
mentions it as a term for counterfeit silver coins, but Samuel Sidney's 1851 Rides on Railways refers to it as "an old-fashioned nickname for a Birmingham workman".
By the late 19th century, "Brummagem" was still used as a term for Birmingham. Some people still used it as a general term for anything cheap and shoddy disguised as something better. It was used figuratively in this context to refer to moral fakery: for instance, the Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
leader, 29 January 1838, reported Sir Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
's slur on an opponent: "[he] knew the sort of Brummagem stuff he had to deal with, treated the pledge and him who made it with utter indifference".
One particularly negative use of the word is "brummagem screwdriver", a term for a hammer, a jibe which suggested that Brummie workers were unskilled and unsophisticated, though one similarly applied to the French and Irish.
The negative use of the word was included in several dictionaries around the world.
- Carts were passing to and fro; groups of Indians squatting on their haunches were chattering together, and displaying to one another the flaring red and yellow handkerchiefs, the scarlet blankets, and muskets of the most worthless Brummagem make, for which they had been exchanging their bits of gold, while their squaws looked on with the most perfect indifference.
- The equipages were generally much more gorgeous than at a later period, when democracy invaded the parks, and introduced what may be termed a "brummagem society," with shabby-genteel carriages and servants.
- The furs, fossil ivory, sheepskins and brick tea brought by them after voyages often reaching a year and eighteen months, come, strictly enough, under the head of raw products. Still, it is the best they can bring; which cannot be said of what Europe offers in exchange — articles mostly of the class and quality succinctly described as "Brummagem."
The term was not always used with negative meaning, Jeffrey Farnol wrote:
- "A belt, now," he suggested mournfully, "a fine leather belt wi' a steel buckle made in Brummagem as ever was, and all for a shillin'; what d'ye say to a fine belt?"
and The Rev. Richard H. Barham:
- He whipp'd out his oyster-knife, broad and keen
- A Brummagem blade which he always bore,
- To aid him to eat,
- By way of a treat,
- The 'natives' he found on the Red Sea shore;
- He whipp'd out his Brummagem blade so keen,
- And he made three slits in the Buffalo's hide,
- And all its contents,
- Through the rents, and the vents,
- Come tumbling out,— and away they all hied!
However, as shown by James Dobbs' song "I can't find Brummagem" (see below), it remained in use as a geographical name for the city.
In the Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
story The Lesson of the Master (1888), the novelist Henry St. George refers to his "beautiful fortunate home" as Brummagem.
The Birmingham politician Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....
was nicknamed 'Brummagem Joe' (affectionately or satirically depending on the speaker). See, for instance, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 6 August 1895: "'Chamberlain and his crew' dominated the city ... Mr Geard thought it was advisable to have a candidate against 'Brummagem Joe'".
There were many contradictory comments and accounts to the idea that Birmingham or Brummagem was associated with poor quality manufacture around the 19th century, Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
once wrote in 1807: 'Probably in no other age or country was there ever such an astonishing display of human ingenuity as may be found in Birmingham.'
Modern usage
"Brummagem" remained a staple of British political and critical discourse into the early 20th century: The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 13 August 1901 quoted a House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
speech by a Mr MacNeill, "The initiative of the Bill... had the "Brummagem" brand from top to bottom. It was a mean attempt, inspired by the absurd and vulgar spirit of Imperialism, to subsidize the Crown with a parvenu title, and a tawdry gewgaw reputation".
A Punch book review for December 1917 said: "But, to be honest, the others (with the exception of one quaint little comedy of a canine ghost) are but indifferent stuff, too full of snakes and hidden treasure and general tawdriness—the kind of Orientalism, in fact, that one used to associate chiefly with the Earl's Court Exhibition. Mrs. PERRIN must not mingle her genuine native goods with such Brummagem ware".
In The Forsyte Saga
The Forsyte Saga
The Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family, similar to Galsworthy's own...
written by John Galsworthy In Chancery (1920) (Book II, Part II, Chapter I: The Third Generation), when responding to the question, "Do you know Crum?" Jolly Forsyte replies, "Of Merton? Only by sight. He's in that fast set too, isn't he? Rather La-di-da and Brummagem."
By the late 20th century and 21st century, British usage had shifted toward a purely geographical and even positive sense. The Housing Design Awards 1998 said of one Birmingham project, City Heights, "this gutsy Brummagem bruiser of a building handles its landmark status with ease and assurance". In The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
"Notes from the touchline" sport report, 21 March 2003, journalist Frank Keating used the headline "World Cup shines with dinkum Brummagem" to praise the performance of Birmingham-born Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....
.
A particular activist in reclaiming the term as a traditional name reflecting positive aspects of the city's heritage is historian Carl Chinn
Carl Chinn
Professor Carl Stephen Alfred Chinn MBE, Ph.D. is an English historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, media personality, local celebrity, and famous Brummie, whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham in England...
MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, Professor of Community History at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
, who produces Brummagem Magazine.
The British poet Roy Fisher
Roy Fisher
Roy Fisher is a British poet and jazz pianist. He was one of the first British writers to absorb the poetics of William Carlos Williams and the Black Mountain poets into the British poetic tradition. Fisher was a key precursor of the British Poetry Revival.Fisher was born in Handsworth, Birmingham...
(b. 1930) uses the term in his poetry sequence 'Six Texts For a Film' in Birmingham River (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994). "Birmingham's what I think with. / It's not made for that sort of job,/ but it's what they gave me. / As a means of thinking, it's a Brummagem/ screwdriver" (lines 1-4).
US usage
In the USA, the negative usage appears to have continued into the 1930s. F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's 1922 novel The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned, first published by Scribner's in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. The novel provides a portrait of the Eastern elite during the Jazz Age, exploring New York Café Society. As with his other novels, Fitzgerald's characters are complex, especially in their...
uses the word twice: "It was one of the type known as 'tourist' cars, a sort of brummagem Pullman ... a single patch of vivid green trees that guaranteed the brummagem umbrageousness of Riverside Drive". Gilbert Seldes
Gilbert Seldes
Gilbert Vivian Seldes was an American writer and cultural critic. He was editor and drama critic of The Dial. He also hosted the NBC television program The Subject is Jazz....
, in his 1924 book The Seven Lively Arts, wrote in praise of Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...
: "everything paste and brummagem has had its vogue with us; and a genuine, honest native product has gone unnoticed". It appears in two essays by H.L. Mencken from 1926: "Valentino" ("Consider the sordid comedy of his two marriages-the brummagem, star-spangled passion that invaded his very deathbed!") and "A Glance Ahead" ("It would be hard to find a country in which such brummagem serene highnesses are revered with more passionate devotion than they get in the United States.") Mencken's influence is apparent when the term appears in John Fante
John Fante
John Fante was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Italian descent. He is perhaps best known for his work, Ask the Dust, a semi-autobiograpical novel about life in and around Los Angeles, California, which was the third in a series of four novels, published between 1938...
's 1939 novel Ask the Dust
Ask the Dust
Ask the Dust is the most popular novel of Italian-American author John Fante, first published in 1939 and set during the Great Depression-era in Los Angeles. It is one of a series of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini as Fante's alter ego, a young Italian-American from Colorado...
: "The church must go, it is the haven of the booboisie, of boobs and bounders and all brummagem mountebanks."
Currently US collectors of political memorabilia use "brummagem" to refer to imitations. The Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions by Farlex Inc, maintainers of TheFreeDictionary.com
TheFreeDictionary.com
TheFreeDictionary.com is an online dictionary and encyclopedia that gathers information from a variety of sources. This site cross references the contents of Wikipedia, Columbia Encyclopedia, Hutchinson Encyclopedia , The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Computer Desktop...
, lists several related terms such as "Brummagem buttons", tufts sewn to brassiere
Brassiere
A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....
cups to give the appearance of larger nipples.
Brummagem in song
A song, "I Can't Find Brummagem", was written by James Dobbs (1781–1837), a Midland music hallMusic hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
entertainer and collected in Victoria's Inferno: Songs of the Old Mills, Mines, Manufactories, Canals and Railways by Jon Raven, Broadside Books, 1978, ISBN 0-9503722-3-4.
External links
- Why Brummies Why not Birmies? Etymological article by Dr Carl ChinnCarl ChinnProfessor Carl Stephen Alfred Chinn MBE, Ph.D. is an English historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, media personality, local celebrity, and famous Brummie, whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham in England...
- Birmingham or Brummagem? Birmingham City Council page listing the name variants from William HamperWilliam Hamper-Life:He was the only child of Thomas Hamper of West Tarring, Sussex, and his wife Elizabeth Tyson, born at Birmingham on 12 December 1776. Both parents died in 1811, and were buried in the churchyard of King's Norton Worcestershire...
's 1880 booklet AN HISTORICAL CURIOSITY, by a Birmingham Resident, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE WAYS OF SPELLING BIRMINGHAM. - Macaulay's The History of England from the Accession of James II, Vol. 1 Origin of political slang 'Birminghams'
- Brummagem Magazine
- I can't find Brummagem at the Digital Tradition Folksong Database
- Brummagem: An APIC Project: A Handbook on Fakes, Fantasies & Repins American Political Items Collectors guide
- Rides on Railways, 1851, by Samuel Sidney at Fullbooks.com
- The Beautiful and Damned F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, 1922, The University of Adelaide Library Electronic Texts Collection - The Seven Lively Arts, Gilbert Seldes, 1924, University of Virginia Electronic texts for the Study of American Culture