THE ELFORD Estate was given to the people of Birmingham by the village squire, F Howard Paget, in July 1936. Stunned villagers learned of the gift when they read the newspapers that had been delivered to Elford railway station that evening.
The Birmingham Post, published on Friday July 3, takes up the story .......
The gift was a very substantial one. It included the Georgian Hall (pictured left), 600 acres of land as well as numerous properties including a gardener’s cottage, walled garden, estate woodyard, stables, blacksmith’s forge and the forge cottage. The details of the gift were set out in a substantial trust document.
The Squire’s father had died the year previously. Local rumour has it that, on his deathbed, he asked his son to promise never to sell the estate. F. Howard Paget had served in the army in the First War and had vowed to do something for his fellow man after the conflict.
He heard a speech by the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin. To honour the reign of King George V, Baldwin encouraged wealthy people to make land available for parks for the people. Reflecting upon this Howard Paget wondered what he should do with the Elford Estate.
An artist called Sidney Metyard was working on Elford church, met Paget and introduced him to the then Mayor of Birmingham. So the stage was set and the Elford Estates were given over in a formal ceremony at Birmingham Council House. A sod of earth was cut from the Elford ground with a sword. This was presented to the Lord Mayor in a silver casket. It had the emblems of the Howard Family and Birmingham on the front.
The ceremony featured a speech from Mr Paget that concluded: “I am sure that by being delivered to the Corporation of Birmingham the Estate will lose none of it's old time splendour and beauty and that it will be used to the glory of God and for the benefit of citizens.”
His intentions were quite specific. He himself could not see how to maintain the estate in the manner that he felt appropriate.He saw Birmingham as a City of vision. The deed of gift document sets out the following purpose of the gift:
"For the fullfillment of promoting the healthful recreation of the citizens of Birmingham will preserve as far as possible the rural character, which the herridatments possess and have possessed during his ownership and occupation by the grantor and his ancestors."
THE REASONS FOR THE GIFT - VOW MADE IN THE TRENCHES
The circumstances in which Mr F Howard Paget, who died this week at Broadstairs, determined to give Elford Hall to Birmingham can now be told - the embargo under which he placed two persons having ended.
The two people who received Mr Paget’s confidence were the late Alderman S J Grey who was Lord Mayor when the property came into possession of the city and a member of staff of the Birmingham Post.
Mr Paget told the member of staff that he resolved to make the gift to some public body when he was in a trench in France in the last war. After imposing a pledge of secrecy during his lifetime,
Mr Paget explained that there was to be a charge by the men in the section in which he was serving. One lot of men were to " go over the top" and after a while the others were to follow.
"My pal and I talked together and then parted as he was to go with the first batch. At the appointed time he went and I saw him go. Later, I followed, and in the mad rush that took place in those awful minutes, I came across my pal. He'd been blinded by a grenade. We got him into a trench and the little we could do to help him we did.
"I shall never forget it. I got down on my hands and kness and prayed as I had never prayed before. I vowed to the Almighty, Architect of the Universe, that if I came out of the war with my eyes and able to see, I would serve him better then I had done.”
| Visitor Counter: | |||||||
 | |  |  |  | | ||