Two Great Victorian Cities: Manchester and Birmingham

Manchester and Birmingham were both in their different ways extremely influential in Nineteenth Century Britain. Both were manufacturing giants, both were Radical political centres and both struggled with the social problems associated with rapid industrialisation. If Manchester reined supreme in first half of the century, Chamberlain’s Birmingham had seized the initiative by 1900. This lecture compares the two cities and fascinating contrasts emerge which illuminate the narrative of Victorian Britain’s history.