Watt.—­One of the finest productions of Francis Chantrey, the sculptor, is generally acknowledged to be the monument in Handsworth Church to James Watt, which was placed there in September, 1827.  The figure is said to bear a very remarkable resemblance to Mr. Watt, who is represented seated in a Grecian chair, with compasses and open book, as though tracing on the open page.  On the front of the pedestal is inscribed:—­

JAMES WATT, BORN 19 JANVARY, 1736.  DIED 23 AVGVST, 1819, PATRI OPTIME MERITO.  E.M.P.

The statue in Ratcliffe Place was subscribed for in 1867, and the figure is very like the portrait of Watt.  It was unveiled Oct. 2, 1868.

Whateley.—­A marble bust (by Peter Rollins) of J.W.  Whateley, Esq., M.D., was placed in the Board Room of the General Hospital, June 1, 1877.

Wright.—­Mr. John Bright, June 15, 1883, uncovered the statue erected in memory of Mr. J.S.  Wright, in front of the Council House.  The inscription upon it is as follows:—­

“John Skirrow Wright, born February 2, 1822, died April 13, 1880.  In memory of the simplicity, kindliness, and integrity of his life and of his unselfish, untiring, and patriotic devotion as a public man, this monument is erected by the united gifts of all classes in the town he loved and for which he laboured.”

Steam Engines.—­The first steam engine (then called a fire engine) used for the purpose of pumping water from coal mines was put up in 1712 by Newcomen and Calley, at a colliery near Wolverhampton, owned by Mr. Back, the ironwork, &c., being made in Birmingham, and taken hence to the pit-head.  The first of Watt’s engines made at Soho, was to “blow the bellows” at John Wilkinson’s ironworks at Broseley, in 1776.  Watt’s first pumping engine was started at Bloomfield Colliery, March 8, 1776.  Having overcome the rotary motion difficulties, Watt applied steam to tilt hammers and rolling mills in 1781, and to corn-grinding mills in 1782; taking out patents in 1784 for the “governor,” “parallel motion,” &c., including also specifications for a travelling engine, though it was William Murdoch who first made a practical working model of a locomotive.  The first engine worked by steam in this town that we have record of was put up at same works in Water Street, in 1760.

Steamships.—­If we do not build steamships in Birmingham, it was James Watt who proposed the use of screw propellers (in 1770); Wm. Murdoch, who invented the oscillating cylinder (in 1785); Watt and Boulton, who furnished engines (in 1807) for the first regular steam picket in America; and James Watt, jun., who made the first steam voyage on the sea (October 14, 1817), crossing the Channel in the Caledonia, and taking that vessel up the Rhine.

Stirchley Street, about a mile and a quarter north-east of King’s Norton, has a Post Office, a Police Station, a Board School, and a Railway Station.  Notwithstanding these signs of modern civilisation, and the near proximity of Cadbury’s Cocoa Manufactory, Stirchley Street is, as it has been for many a generation, a favourite country outing place for weary Brums having a chance hour to spend on change of scene.