Editing Smethwick (section)

==History==
[[File:RutlandRoadSignSmethwick.jpg|thumb|right|Street nameplate on Rutland Road, Smethwick in April 2007, showing painted out "County Borough" lettering, and the former [[Postcodes in the United Kingdom#Earlier postal districts|postal district]] 17]]
It was suggested that the name Smethwick meant "smiths' place of work", but a more recent interpretation has suggested the name means "the settlement on the smooth land".<ref name="Corporation of Smethwick">{{cite book |last=Inskip |first=K.W. |title=Smethwick, from hamlet to county borough |publisher=Corporation of Smethwick |location=Smethwick |date=1966 |page=3}}</ref> Smethwick was recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] as ''Smedeuuich'', the ''d'' in this spelling being the Anglo-Saxon letter [[eth]].<ref name="Corporation of Smethwick"/> Until the end of the 18th century it was an outlying hamlet of the south Staffordshire village of [[Harborne]]. Harborne became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to [[Warwickshire]] in 1891, leaving Smethwick in the County of Staffordshire.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

The world's oldest working engine, the [[Smethwick Engine]], made by [[Boulton & Watt]], originally stood near Bridge Street, Smethwick. It is now at [[Thinktank, Birmingham|Thinktank]], the new science museum in Birmingham.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

One notable company was The London Works, manufacturing base of the Fox Henderson Company which made the cast-iron framework for [[the Crystal Palace]]. This was founded by [[Charles Fox (civil and railway engineer)|Charles Fox]], whose inventions included the first patented railway points. His notable employees included [[William Siemens]], the notable mechanical and electrical engineer. The company was bankrupted in 1855 by the failure of an overseas railway to pay for work done. The site was later used by the GKN company. In 2015 the site was being cleared to build the new [[Midland Metropolitan University Hospital]] which aims to combine the [[Sandwell General Hospital]] at West Bromwich and [[City Hospital, Birmingham|City Hospital]], Dudley Road. Work at the site later came to a standstill because of a crisis in the construction industry.<ref>{{cite news |title=Midland Metropolitan Hospital: £107m funding withdrawn by banks |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-44397615 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=7 June 2018 |access-date=13 August 2019 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529200203/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-44397615 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Wills's Cigarettes - Borough of Smethwick - 1906.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Cigarette card]] issued in 1906 by [[W.D. & H.O. Wills|Wills's Cigarettes]], depicting the Borough of Smethwick's "seal used in place of arms". The seal carries the Latin motto "{{lang|la|Orbis Terrarum Officina}}" ("The Workshop of the World") and depicts a [[Watt steam engine|James Watt engine]], a lighthouse (representing [[Chance Brothers]] glass works), a gasometer and a blacksmith working at his anvil.]]

Other former industry included railway rolling stock manufacture, at the [[Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company]] factory; screws and other fastenings from [[GKN plc|Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds]] (GKN); engines from [[Tangye]]; tubing from Evered's; steel pen nibs from British Pens; and various products from [[Chance Brothers]]' glassworks, including lighthouse lenses and the glazing for [[the Crystal Palace]] (the London works, in North Smethwick, manufactured its metalwork). [[Phillips Cycles]], once one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, was based in Bridge Street, Smethwick. Nearby, in Downing Street, is the famous bicycle saddle maker, [[Brooks England|Brooks Saddles]]. The important metalworking factory of [[Henry Hope & Sons Ltd]] was based at Halford's Lane where the company manufactured steel window systems, roof glazing, gearings and metalwork.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

[[Council housing]] began in Smethwick after 1920 on land previously belonging to the Downing family, whose family home became Holly Lodge High School for Girls in 1922. The mass council house building of the 1920s and 1930s also involved Smethwick's boundaries being extended into part of neighbouring [[Oldbury, West Midlands|Oldbury]] in 1928.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36176 |title=Smethwick: Other estates &#124; British History Online |website=British-history.ac.uk |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024042154/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36176 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Ruskin Pottery]] Studio, named in honour of the artist [[John Ruskin]], was in Oldbury Road. Many English churches have stained glass windows made by Hardman Studios in Lightwoods House, or, before that, by the Camm family.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

During the [[Second World War]], Smethwick was bombed on a number of occasions by the German [[Luftwaffe]]. A total of 80 people died as a result of these air raids.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4005016 |title=Cemetery Details |website=Cwgc.org |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124015426/https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/4005016/smethwick-county-borough/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the [[First World War]] about 50+ Sikh families settled in Smethwick beginning in 1917, with a majority of the men being veterans of the war.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maddison |first1=John |title=Smethwick in old photographs |date=2000 |publisher=Budding |location=Gloucester |isbn=1840151552}}</ref> After the Second World War, Smethwick attracted a large number of immigrants from [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries beginning in 1945, the largest ethnic group being [[Sikh]]s from the [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] in India, the majority of whom had served in that War.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhanot |first1=Kavita |title=The book of Birmingham : a city in short fiction |date=2018 |publisher=Comma Press |location=[Manchester] |isbn=9781910974377}}</ref> The ethnic minority communities were initially unpopular with the white population of Smethwick, leading to the election of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] Member of Parliament (MP) [[Peter Griffiths]] at the [[Smethwick in the 1964 general election|1964 general election]], who campaigned by appealing to the racist element and whose supporters had used the slogan, "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour".<ref>{{cite news |last=Edwards |first=Kathryn |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7343256.stm |title=UK &#124; England &#124; West Midlands &#124; Powell's 'rivers of blood' legacy |publisher=BBC News |date=2008-04-18 |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=1 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301223624/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7343256.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> This came two years after race riots had hit the town in 1962;<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TewABAAAQBAJ&q=1962%20smethwick%20race%20riots&pg=PA45 |title=Writing the City in British Asian Diasporas |author1=Sean McLoughlin |author2=William Gould |author3=Ananya Jahanara Kabir |author4=Emma Tomalin |page=45 |date=11 July 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317679677 |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124015420/https://books.google.com/books?id=TewABAAAQBAJ&q=1962%20smethwick%20race%20riots&pg=PA45 |url-status=live }}</ref> it was also set against a background of local factory closures.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

In 1961, the Sikh community purchased the unused Congregational Church on the High Street in Smethwick. Soon after, this was converted into a [[gurdwara]], today known as the [Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick].

Bearwood Primary School appointed [[Tony O'Connor (teacher)|Tony O'Connor]] as head teacher in 1967. He was the first black head teacher in the UK, having been born in [[Jamaica]] and moved to Britain with the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] in 1943. Smethwick received bad publicity when, the day after the announcement of his appointment, racist slogans and swastikas were daubed around the school. However, O'Connor was well liked by both parents and children; he eventually retired in 1983.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2017/12/27/campaign-launched-to-chart-life-of-first-black-headmaster/ |title=Campaign launched to chart life of 'first black headmaster' |website=www.expressandstar.com |access-date=29 March 2019 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329150248/https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2017/12/27/campaign-launched-to-chart-life-of-first-black-headmaster/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the mid- to late 1960s, a large council estate in the west of Smethwick was built. It was officially known as the West Smethwick Estate, but as all of the homes were constructed from concrete the estate was known locally as the "concrete jungle".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uptheossroad.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/concrete-jungle |title=Concrete Jungle &#124; Up The Oss Road |website=Uptheossroad.wordpress.com |date=2014-07-08 |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714234929/http://uptheossroad.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/concrete-jungle/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The homes, mostly three or four storey townhouses, were prone to damp and other construction faults. By the 1980s, levels of crime and unemployment on the estate were high, and by the early 1990s, Sandwell Council had decided to demolish it. Between 1993 and 1997, the estate was entirely redeveloped with modern low-rise housing, and was renamed Galton Village. Another local housing estate called the Windmill Lane Estate, located near Cape Hill, was also redeveloped.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

There is a collection of red brick turn-of-20th century terrace, 1930s semi-detached, newly built modern housing and a number of high rise blocks of flats. Other estates and areas include Black Patch, Cape Hill, Uplands, Albion Estate, Bearwood, Londonderry and Rood End.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

In July 2013, a [[Smethwick fire 2013|major fire]] occurred at the Jayplas plastics and [[paper recycling]] plant on Dartmouth Road.<ref name="ES-bosses">{{cite web |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/emergency-services/2013/07/01/huge-fire-at-smethwick-recycling-plant/ |title=Bosses speak out over "tragic accident" as Chinese lantern sparks region's biggest fire |work=Express & Star |access-date=1 July 2013 |archive-date=3 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703031939/http://www.expressandstar.com/news/emergency-services/2013/07/01/huge-fire-at-smethwick-recycling-plant/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Architecture===
[[File:Smethwick toll house.jpg|right|thumb|The old Toll House]]
The oldest surviving building in Smethwick is the [[Smethwick Old Church|Old Church]]<ref name="History">{{cite web |url=http://www.smethwickoldchurch.org.uk/history.php |title=History |publisher=Smethwick Old Church |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=20 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720095429/http://smethwickoldchurch.org.uk/history.php |url-status=live }}</ref> which stands on the corner of Church Road and the Uplands. This was consecrated in 1732 as a [[Chapel of Ease]] in the parish of [[St Peter's Church, Harborne|St Peter, Harborne]]. The building was originally known as "Parkes' Chapel" in honour of Mistress Dorothy Parkes who bequeathed the money for the church and also for a local school. The chapel was later known as the "Old Chapel", and the public house next to it is still called this. In the church there are several fine memorials, including one to Dorothy Parkes.

The [[Listed building|Grade I listed]] [[Galton Bridge]] spans the New Line canal and railway. When built in 1829 by [[Thomas Telford]], it was the highest single-span bridge in the world.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} Its name commemorates [[Samuel Galton, Jr.|Samuel Galton]], a local landowner and industrialist. It is identical to Telford's bridge at [[Holt, Worcestershire|Holt]] Fleet over the [[River Severn]] built in 1828 and opened in 1830.

[[File:Smethwick public library.jpg|right|thumb|The public library by [[Yeoville Thomason]]]]
The public library in the High Street was originally built as the Public Hall in 1866–67 and is designed by [[Yeoville Thomason]].<ref>''The Buildings of England: Worcestershire'', Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 Penguin. p81</ref>

[[Matthew Boulton]] and [[James Watt]] opened their [[Soho Foundry]] in the north of Smethwick (not to be confused with the [[Soho Manufactory]] in nearby [[Soho, Birmingham|Soho]]) in the late 18th century. In 1802, [[William Murdoch]] illuminated the foundry with [[gas lighting]] of his own invention. The foundry was later home to [[Scale (measurement)|weighing scale]] makers [[W & T Avery Ltd.]]

Rolfe Street public baths were among the first public swimming baths in the country when opened north of the town centre in 1888. The baths remained open for nearly a century before closing. In the late 1980s, the [[Black Country Museum]] expressed interest in transferring the building to its site in [[Dudley]] and so the transfer of the building began in 1989. It was finally opened to visitors at the museum in 1999, housing the museum's exhibition gallery and archive resource centre.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bclm.co.uk/map1.htm |title=Rolfe Street Baths - Black Country Living Museum |website=Bclm.co.uk |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=29 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100729140811/http://www.bclm.co.uk/map1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Thimblemill Library]] is a [[Grade II listed building]] built in brick in the [[Moderne architecture|Moderne style]].<ref name=britishlisted >{{cite web |last1=British Listed Buildings |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/ |website=British Listed Buildings |title=Warley Branch Library, Smethwick |access-date=21 May 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304005022/https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Political history===
{{main|Smethwick (UK Parliament constituency)}}
The town is notable for a somewhat turbulent political history. 

It was first created as a separate [[United Kingdom constituencies|parliamentary constituency]] in 1918, having previously been part of the [[Birmingham Handsworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Handsworth constituency]]. At [[1918 United Kingdom general election|that year's general election]], [[Christabel Pankhurst]], standing as a [[Women's Party (UK)|Women's Party]] candidate, narrowly failed to become one of Britain's first woman Members of Parliament. She lost to the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] candidate by 775 votes in a straight fight.<ref>[http://www.brewinbooks.com/taking_on_the_men Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629203313/https://www.brewinbooks.com/taking_on_the_men |date=29 June 2019 }}, Studley, 2018 Chap 2 "Christabel Pankhurst in Smethwick"</ref>

Labour held the seat until 1931; from 1926, the MP was Sir [[Oswald Mosley]], future founder of the [[British Union of Fascists]]. Mosley resigned the Labour [[Whip (politics)|whip]] in March 1931, but continued to represent the constituency until it was taken by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] at [[1931 United Kingdom general election|that year's general election]]. Labour won it back at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|UK general election of 1945]], held on 26 July that year. However, the victorious MP, [[Alfred Dobbs]], was killed in a car crash the very next day. He is thus the shortest-serving Member of Parliament (MP) in British history, if one discounts a few cases of people being elected posthumously. In the [[1945 Smethwick by-election|resulting by-election]], [[Patrick Gordon Walker]] won again for Labour. The seat remained held by Labour until 1964.

At the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]], sitting MP Gordon Walker, who was Shadow [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]], was defeated in highly controversial circumstances in the constituency by the virulently anti-immigration Conservative Party candidate [[Peter Griffiths]]. Smethwick had attracted immigration from the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] in the economic and industrial growth of the years following the [[World War II|Second World War]] and Griffiths ran a campaign critical of the government's policy. His supporters had circulated the slogan "If you want a [[nigger]] for a neighbour, vote [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] or Labour."<ref>Peter H. S. Griffiths A Question of Colour? (1966); See pp. 154, 166, 171.</ref> Griffiths refused to condemn the slogan.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Yemm |first=Rachel |date=2019 |title=Immigration, Race and Local Media: Smethwick and the 1964 General Election |journal=Contemporary British History |volume=33 |pages=106–109 |doi=10.1080/13619462.2018.1535973 |s2cid=150219506}}</ref> [[Colin Jordan]], a British Neo-Nazi and later leader of the [[British Movement]], claimed that members of his group had produced the initial slogan as well as spread the publicised poster and sticker campaign which contained it; Jordan's group in the past had also campaigned on other slogans, such as: "Don't vote - a vote for Tory, Labour or Liberal is a vote for more Blacks!".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Colin Jordan and Britain's Neo-Nazi Movement: Hitler's Echo |last=Jackson |first=Paul |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2016 |isbn=978-1472509314 |page=129}}</ref> Jordan would also use similar campaign tactics against Gordon Walker in the [[1965 Leyton by-election]]. The election of Griffiths led to Smethwick becoming notorious as 'Britain's most racist town'.<ref name=":0" /> 

Historian Rachel Yemm argues that the anti-immigration sentiment in the town was the result of a housing shortage, which local newspapers, such as ''The Smethwick Telephone'', blamed on the migrants. Griffiths not only drew on these fears, but also raised racist  concerns about '[[miscegenation]]' and argued for the [[repatriation]] of migrants.<ref name=":0" /> 
At the beginning of 1965 Smethwick Council was planning "to purchase all available houses on Marshall Street to prevent their sale to immigrants". This made national headlines, and the plan was later stopped by the government.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2013 |title=Not everything is black and white - Marshall Street: Then and now |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/11/30/not-everything-is-black-and-white-marshall-street-then-and-now/ |access-date=3 April 2022 |archive-date=17 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417165543/https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/11/30/not-everything-is-black-and-white-marshall-street-then-and-now/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In February 1965, American black activist [[Malcolm X]] visited Marshall Street just days before his [[Assassination of Malcolm X|assassination]]. Earlier in his career he had advocated the complete separation of African Americans from whites, but he now showed his opposition to [[racial segregation]],<ref name="BBC Malcolm X" /><ref>{{cite book |title=[[Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire]] |date=21 March 2019 |publisher=[[Two Roads]] |isbn=9781473661233 |page=271}}</ref> telling the press:
{{quotation|I have come here because I am disturbed by reports that coloured people in Smethwick are being treated badly. I have heard they are being treated as the [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|Jews were under Hitler]]. I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens.}}

Malcolm X had been invited to Smethwick by Claudia Jones on behalf of Avtar Singh Jouhl<ref>{{Cite web |title=When Malcolm X Came to the West Midlands |url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/03/malcolm-x-smethwick-peter-griffiths-racism-1965 |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=tribunemag.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> of the Indian Workers' Association.<ref name="BBC Malcolm X" /> The [[BBC]] had been intending to make a feature about a new black-led newspaper,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Documentary - Malcolm in the Midlands - BBC Sounds |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct2zvp |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> and a [[BBC News]] journalist had a view to X having a debate with Griffiths outside a council house in Smethwick. Griffiths declined at late notice, and so an interview with X was conducted on the streets of Smethwick. This was to be one of X's last TV interviews before his assassination nine days later. The footage was never screened until Stephen C Page,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephen C. Page {{!}} Art Department, Actor, Producer |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0656348/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}</ref> a community artist, uncovered the footage in 2005.<ref name="BBC Malcolm X">{{cite news |title=Malcolm X's visit to Smethwick remembered in pictures |date=12 February 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-31417235 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=22 June 2020 |archive-date=19 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619162407/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-31417235 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Labour candidate and actor [[Andrew Faulds]] defeated Griffiths in the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 general election]], remaining as an MP until his retirement at the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]], 23 years after Smethwick became part of the [[Warley East (UK Parliament constituency)|Warley East]] constituency. Griffiths subsequently moved away from the area and later served as Conservative MP for [[Portsmouth North (UK Parliament constituency)|Portsmouth North]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10479104/PeterGriffiths-obituary.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140620214153/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10479104/PeterGriffiths-obituary.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-06-20 |title=Peter Griffiths - obituary |publisher=Telegraph |access-date=2016-06-29}}</ref>

===Civic history===
{{See also|Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries}}

[[File:The local government structure within the Black Country (Pre-1966).png|thumb|The local government structure within North Worcestershire and South Staffordshire – Prior to the ''West Midlands Order 1965'' reorganisation]]
[[File:Smethwick Council Offices (geograph 6192802).jpg|thumb|[[Smethwick Council House]]]]
Originally a hamlet within the parish of Harborne, [[Staffordshire]], Smethwick was made into an [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|urban district]] in 1894, on 31 December Smethwick became a [[civil parish]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10293121|title=Relationships and changes Smethwick CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=4 October 2024}}</ref> in 1899 the district became a [[municipal corporation]], and the district became [[county borough]] within Staffordshire in 1907 with its base at [[Smethwick Council House]].<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Council House|num=1342665 |accessdate=12 May 2021}}</ref> On 1 April 1966, Smethwick was merged with the boroughs of Oldbury and [[Municipal Borough of Rowley Regis|Rowley Regis]] to form the new [[County Borough of Warley]], part also went to the [[County Borough of West Bromwich]] and the [[County Borough of Birmingham]], Smethwick was transferred into the county of [[Worcestershire]]. The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 to form [[Warley, West Midlands|Warley]], part also went to West Bromwich and Birmingham.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/smethwick.html|title=Smethwick Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=4 October 2024}}</ref> In 1961 the parish had a population of 68,390.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10293121/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Smethwick CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=4 October 2024}}</ref> Warley county borough in turn was merged with [[County Borough of West Bromwich|West Bromwich]] in 1974 to form the [[Sandwell]] Metropolitan Borough, which was incorporated into the new [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] county.<ref>{{cite web |title=Smethwick CB/MB/UD through time |publisher=Vision of Britain |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10094136&c_id=10001043 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224084156/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10094136&c_id=10001043 |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 December 2012 |access-date=25 June 2012}}</ref>

In 1888, there had been plans for Smethwick to be incorporated into the city of Birmingham, but the urban district council voted against these plans by a single vote.<ref>{{cite web |last=Country |first=Black |url=http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/News/When-a-single-vote-saved-Smethwick-from-Brummagem.htm |title=When a single vote saved Smethwick from Brummagem |publisher=Black Country Bugle |date=2008-07-17 |access-date=2016-06-29}}</ref>

The archives for the Borough of Smethwick are held at [[Sandwell Community History and Archives Service]].

===Transport history===
====Canals====
{{See also|BCN Main Line}}

Smethwick has a long association with canals, which were the town's first major transport links from a time before decent roads and of course railways. The Birmingham Canal Navigation Old and New Main Line Canals run through the industrial areas and right past the High Street, running parallel to the [[Stour Valley Line]]: all three end up in [[Wolverhampton]]. [[James Brindley]] was the engineer charged with building the canal, a man who gives his name to the busy district in the centre of Birmingham near the International Convention Centre, National Indoor Arena and Broad Street.
[[File:GaltonBridgeRJH01.JPG|thumb|Galton Bridge viewed from the Galton Tunnel]]

The old main line was completed through Smethwick by 1769. It required 12 locks to climb over the hill through the town; Brindley had found the earth too soft to dig a cutting through at the time. Water was supplied by two steam engines. One of them was located on the [[Engine Arm]] which led to the [[Smethwick Engine]] on Rabone Lane and the other was near Spon Lane. [[New Smethwick Pumping Station]] next to Brasshouse Lane was added later in 1892. Because of the locks, the canal through Smethwick became a bottleneck and [[Thomas Telford]] was commissioned in 1824 to look at alternatives.

The new main line through Smethwick was completed by 1829 and completely bypassed all six remaining locks of the summit with a deep cutting. The Engine Arm and Stewarts aqueducts were built to carry their respective canals over the new mainline. The cutting was built through the land of the local businessman [[Samuel Galton, Jr.|Samuel Galton]] and thus this cutting created the Galton Valley and [[Galton Bridge]] was named in his honour. The bridge was the longest single-span iron bridge in the world at the time. The canals of the new and old main line diverged at one end at [[Smethwick Junction (canal)|Smethwick Junction]] near Bridge Street and rejoined at [[Bromford Junction]] near Bromford Road in Oldbury.

Today Galton Valley is a nature area and of more historical interest than commercial, and used mainly for leisure rather than transporting commercial goods.

====Railways====
The [[London and North Western Railway|LNWR]] was the first to construct a railway through Smethwick in [[Stour Valley Railway|1852]] from [[Birmingham New Street railway station|New Street]] towards [[Wolverhampton railway station|Wolverhampton]] and the North West, [[Smethwick Rolfe Street railway station|Rolfe Street]] and [[Spon Lane railway station|Spon Lane]] opened that year followed by [[Soho railway station|Soho]] in 1853. In 1867 the [[Stourbridge Railway]] opened a link between the [[Great Western Railway|Great Western]] [[Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway]] (of 1852) near the current [[The Hawthorns railway station|Hawthorns]] and [[Stourbridge Junction railway station|Stourbridge]] with a station at [[Smethwick West railway station|Smethwick West]] and a link to the Stour Valley line towards New Street called Smethwick Junction, the Stourbridge Railway was merged into the Great Western in 1870. Not until 1931 was a railway station  constructed at the Hawthorns, although it was a 'halt' primarily for the football ground; this station closed in 1967.

[[File:Swanage railway station - geograph.org.uk - 46448.jpg|thumb|right|[[British Rail Class 33]] at Swanage, built by the [[Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company]]]]
From 1854 the [[Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company]] was based in Smethwick until its closure in 1963. The company not only built trains, but also [[London Underground]] stock, buses and a military equipment.

Soho railway station closed in 1949, followed by Spon Lane station in 1968. In 1972 the section of line between Smethwick West and [[Birmingham Moor Street railway station|Birmingham Moor Street]], as well as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley railway, was closed, with the exception of a single line between Smethwick West and Coopers Scrap Metal in Handsworth; and all Stourbridge services were diverted into Birmingham New Street. In 1995 the line between [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham Snow Hill]] and Smethwick West was restored and a new station called [[Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station|Smethwick Galton Bridge]] was constructed over both the Snow Hill and Stour Valley lines to provide an interchange. Smethwick West was due to close when Galton Bridge opened, but due to a legal error [[British Rail]]ways had to maintain a [[parliamentary train]] service to the station. Most local trains from Stourbridge to Birmingham were diverted into Snow Hill although it was not until 2004 that the last regular service used the route into Birmingham New Street via Smethwick Junction.

[[Soho TMD]] is located next to Soho rail junction; road access is just off Wellington Street. It is the principal train depot for [[West Midlands Trains]]' [[British Rail Class 323|Class 323]] train fleet, which are often seen providing local train services in the area.

====Buses and trams====
[[File:Midland Red bus 5399 (BHA 399C), 26 August 2002 (1).jpg|thumb|left|A [[Midland Red]] D9 in 2002]]
The town of Smethwick has a long association with buses. From 1914 the famous [[Midland Red|Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company (BMMO or Midland Red)]] was based on Bearwood Road on the site of the current Bearwood Shopping Centre until 1974. The garage later saw use as an indoor market until it was demolished in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://midlandred.net/depots/bd.shtml |title=MidlandRed.net - Depots - Bearwood depot |access-date=25 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123034/http://midlandred.net/depots/bd.shtml |archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> Smethwick never had its own Corporation Transport Department, like West Bromwich or [[Birmingham City Transport|Birmingham]]. Most bus services until the earlier 1970s were provided by the Midland Red, West Bromwich and Birmingham. In the early 1970s, all local bus transport was taken over by the [[West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive|WMPTE]] until [[Bus deregulation in the United Kingdom|deregulation]] in the 1980s. Since then, [[National Express West Midlands]] has been the primary operator in the West Midlands.

Steam trams started through Smethwick in 1885 operated by Birmingham and Midland Tramways. These were replaced by electric trams in 1904 and then merged into the [[Birmingham Corporation Tramways]] in 1906 and trams eventually ran from both the Dudley Road and Hagley Road direction. Dudley Road trams operated to Cape Hill and then diverged to either take the route towards [[Dudley]] (Route 87) via the High Street or towards Bearwood (Route 29) via Waterloo Road, terminating near the site of current Bearwood Bus Station and Kings Head public house. Route 34 from Birmingham to Bearwood along the Hagley Road and terminated at the top of Bearwood Road next to the route from Cape Hill, despite terminating so close to each other there was no physical link between route 29 and 34 in Bearwood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp120-123 |title=Smethwick: Public services &#124; British History Online |website=British-history.ac.uk |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925023736/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp120-123 |url-status=live }}</ref> Route 34 was the first route in Smethwick to disappear, in 1930; the last tram route was closed in 1939 and replaced by motor buses. Both the current [[National Express West Midlands]] routes 82 and 87 are former tram routes and the 87 in fact uses the same number.

[[File:The Hawthorns Station - geograph.org.uk - 1366107.jpg|thumb|[[The Hawthorns railway station]] and metro stop]]
The [[West Midlands Metro]], opened in 1999, is more of a light railway than a tramway. It follows the former [[Great Western Railway]] track bed from [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham Snow Hill station]] to the former Wolverhampton Low Level via West Bromwich until Priestfield in Wolverhampton. After that, it becomes a tramway proper and runs along the Bilston Road into Wolverhampton city centre. From late 2015 the service was extended from its former terminus at Snow Hill through the city centre to [[Grand Central tram stop|Grand Central]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.centro.org.uk/transport/metro/birmingham-extension/construction-phases/ |title=Construction phases - Construction phases |website=Centro.org.uk |date=2016-06-17 |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=13 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313080543/http://www.centro.org.uk/transport/metro/birmingham-extension/construction-phases/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The metro can be caught at the [[The Hawthorns railway station|Hawthorns railway station]].