Some history of the Beehive Inn on Raglan Road at Cape Hill in Smethwick in the county of Staffordshire.

Staffordshire | Smethwick | Beehive Inn

More information on the Beehive Inn at Smethwick to follow. I probably created the page as I had a link to the Beehive Inn from another page. When building the site it is easier to place links as they crop up rather than go back later on. I realise this is frustrating if you were specifically looking for information on the Beehive Inn. There is information on Smethwick and Staffordshire dotted around the website - click here for a suitable starting place.

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"Smethwick has enjoyed a remarkable immunity from serious tramway accidents. Since the electrification of the lines there has been an absence of untoward incidents on the route. On Sunday night, however, this record was broken by one of the most extraordinary fatalities which has ever occurred in the annals of the tramway service, and the affair has provided the chief topic of conversation throughout the week, which has been an eventful one in other respects. Taking place as it did at a late hour on Sunday night, the news did not spread with that rapidity which usually marks such disasters, and it was well on the day following that people began to realise the awfulness of the whole thing, and the evening papers found a ready sale. In their editions were recorded the death of one of the passengers, and the greatest solicitude was extended to all who were in the collision. It is now possible with some degree of precision to record the facts. A car [No. 177] belonging to the Corporation left Edmund Street for Bearwood at 9.45pm. All went well until Montague Road was reached. This is a Board of Trade stopping place, and the driver pulled up to enable passengers to alight. It is at the end of the straight part on the incline; afterwards the track bends until the top is reached. As soon as the driver attempted to restart his car it began to go backwards. This is not altogether a novel experience. But it never occupies more than a second or two. In this case the driver found that the brakes failed to respond, and the car began to gain momentum in its descent. There were a goodly number of passengers, and they became frantic when they realised their peril. Coming up the hill was a car - No. 34 - belonging to the Birmingham and Midland Tramways, and there was no time to avert a collision. The impact came to a point immediately outside the gates to the Cape Hill Brewery nearest Kelvin Grove, and the crash was terrible. The passengers had been restrained from jumping from either of the cars. Several men, however, were thrown violently off the Spon Lane car, the driver of which remained at his post until the moment when the crash came, when he jumped clear of his platform and thus escaped what would have been certain death. Everything was smashed - the woodwork and glass - but the bogeys kept to the rails and the passengers had the further fright on finding that both cars now commenced to run with increasing speed down the hill. The impetus was sufficient to carry them right to the stage at the boundary, where, outside the Locomotive Engine Inn was a further car - No. 180 - belonging to the City. Into this third car the two battered and wrecked cars came into violent collision, and although the damage done at this point was not so severe, yet the passengers had a further severe shaking, and the glass and splinters flew like fireworks. From the moment of the first mishap it was realised by those in the vicinity that there could not be anything but very severe injuries sustained by a number of the passengers, and all assistance possible was summoned - doctors, ambulance men and police - for a long time the work of attending to a number of patients was watched by a crowd of spectators. One of the outstanding features of a very remarkable affair was the splendid service rendered by the ambulance men connected with Mitchell's and Butler' Brigade. It was a fortunate circumstance that the first part of the mishap occurred opposite the residence of the Superintendent Chris Taylor, the chief officer of the Brewery Ambulance Corps, and within a few seconds he was on the spot. He heard the crash of the collision and was in the street in time to see the two battered cars descending the hill. Intuitively, he realised that there would be need for as much skilled assistance as could be obtained at that hour, and he rushed across to the Brewery to summon all who could be of service. Before he reached the gates where the first collision occurred he found a man lying in a serious condition. He rendered immediate service, and while he went for appliances left the man in charge of another. Captain Chandler had the care of the most serious cases, and was responsible for their removal to the hospital. There were cased found at various points down the hill - cases of frightened passengers who had jumped from the cars. These and also the passengers who remained on the cars until the last collision were dealt with by the ambulance men and doctors. Most of these cases were treated at the splendidly-equipped ambulance depot at the Brewery. The work of the St. John Ambulance has been greatly encouraged among the employees during the past few years, and there are at the present time about thirty-four "efficient" men in the Brigade. They have their own quarters, and although the work of Sunday had been of such a trying nature the whole of the appliances and dressings had been replenished and everything looked spic and span when a representative called to see the Chief Officer on Monday. The fact that so many cases were dealt with by the staff is in itself a very warm tribute to their efficiency, and is an indication of the generous way in which the firm provide for this humane work. There was an adequate supply of everything which such an emergency called for. The official records of the Chief Officer - which are unique in the annals of the Brigade - show that the following cases received attention at the hands of the members : George Wright [29], St. Mary's Road, Bearwood, fractured base of the skull. Fatal. Samuel Westwood [52], of High Street, Smethwick, concussion. A lady, who was unidentified, but afterwards found to be Mary Elizabeth Davis of Church Road, Smethwick, fractured base of the skull. These three cases were those treated at the BEEHIVE INN by the medical gentlemen who were present. They were afterwards taken to the General Hospital, all being in a critical condition when admitted. On going to the Locomotive Inn, Mr. Taylor found a number of people suffering from shock and minor injuries, bruises, and scalp wounds. These were attended to on the spot or taken to the ambulance room at the Brewery, where very valuable work was done by the members of the Brigade, who had responded to the call. The list of other cases was as follows: A. Dean [34], Waterloo Road, scalp wounds and shock. Miss Pearsall, South Road, Smethwick, severe shock and shaking. Mrs. Rose James, Galway, Dorset Road, shock. Thomas Nutt [50], Mallin Street, West Smethwick, cut head. Arthur Caddick, Carlyle Street, embrasion on the eye. Charles Thompson, Wilson Road, Smethwick, shock and severe bruising. Thomas Eric Vernon, South Road, injury to the left arm and shock. Other cases dealt with were Sarah Ann Bagley [56], Victoria Street , West Smethwick, injured ribs. Arthur Plumb [31], 1 Bromford Road, Oldbury, injured head and sprained ankle. Kate Smith, Hagley Road. Edward Ellard, Stoney Lane, injury to knee. Edward Painting, who is one of the ambulance men, was one of those who saw the two cars going down the hill. He heard the crash, and on rushing out of the Brewery gates, saw the drivers and conductors struggling with the brakes. As they descended the hill several passengers jumped off the cars. Another eye-witness of the latter part of the accident was Mr. William Downing, who was standing at the door of his premises, the Cape of Good Hope. He saw the two cars travelling down the hill, and then saw them crash into the stationary tram at the stage. It was a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle - the men at the hand-brakes endeavouring with all their might to stop the progress of the cars which were all in darkness and with almost frantic passengers on top and inside the shattered vehicles. Mr. Ellard, of Stoney Lane, was an inside passenger of the Bearwood car - the train which caused the accident. He was seen by a reporter on Monday and related his experiences of an incident which he will never forget. He told the interviewer that "all the lights went out, and I was pitched to the floor, where a lot of broken glass fell round me. I had only just picked myself up when there was another terrific bump, and again I was sent flying." He also mentioned that the car was pretty full, and one woman went hysterical. There was a great deal of commotion and shouting, and he scarcely knew how he got out of the car. When it stopped there was a rush for the door, and he was pushed off and rolled over in the road. Further questioned, Ellard said the whole thing happened in a very short time. The drivers and conductors did their best, and shouted to the passengers not to get off, although a good many of them did jump off. "It was a wonder," he added, "that it was not much more serious." Must of the injured passengers seem to have been travelling on the Spon Lane car. It was on this that Mr. Eric Vernon was journeying home. The car was following the Bearwood car up the hill. He was seated on the back portion of the car outside. He was preoccupied and did not see the impending danger; in fact, the collision occurred before he realised anything untoward. The impact had the effect of throwing him right forward over the backs of the seats, and in this way he sustained injuries to his arm. As the car travelled at a rapid rate down the hill he hastened to leave by way of the steps, and although he descended with some amount of alacrity he was only just in time to jump off the platform before the rear part of the car crashed into the stationary tram at the Locomotive. It was a most sensational incident, and the sight of witnessing the stairs by which he had descended crumpled up like matchwood, proved a terrible shock, and for nearly half-an-hour he was being treated by the ambulance men. Later he was conveyed to his home in a cab and has since been confined to his bed suffering from the injuries to his arm and the terrible shock to his nerves. Mr. Vernon pays a very warm tribute to the efforts made by the tramway men to stop the car, and also to those who had charge of the injured who received every consideration and care. Mr. Arthur Dean [34], of 17, Waterloo Road, a bedstead worker, was returning home on a Bearwood Road car. Thus he was in the first of the three cars involved in the accident. Mr. Dean was riding on the top of the car, and it had got as far as Montague Road where the driver pulled it up for a passenger to alight. No sooner had it stopped and the driver was preparing to relieve the brake for the car to restart, than it was seen they would not work. The car commenced to back, and gradually gaining speed down the gradient, which is pretty steep there, it crashed, going at a great rate, into a Spon Lane car which was following at a quiet pace behind. The latter car had reduced its speed because the driver saw the danger from the car of which complete control had been lost, and it is suggested that had the Spon Lane car actually been at a standstill when the other crashed into it the consequences would have been even more serious. Mr. Dean, along with a number of other passengers on top of the Bearwood car, immediately made in a kind of panic for the staircase, down which a wild rush ensued, and the majority were flung off at the impact with the Spon Lane car, which immediately proceeded to travel downhill. The plucky efforts of the conductor and driver to stop the further downhill run were of no avail. The conductor of the Bearwood tram wisely got inside his car when the collision occurred. There were many fortunate circumstances attending the calamity. One was the promptitude with which assistance was forthcoming. For instance, Captain Chandler, of the Borough Fire Brigade, was in the locality, and would have been a passenger on one of the cars, but for the fact that he was detained in the Dudley Road. He walked to the stage at Grove Lane and there saw the results of the accident. H was able to render splendid service, his unique experience being invaluable. EXPLANATION OF THE ACCIDENT. The whole facts of the accident were brought before the City Coroner on Wednesday, when the inquest on the unfortunate man Wright was held. The deceased was a married man, and leaves a widow and two children. The medical evidence showed that Mr. Wright died from a fracture of the base of the skull, and the jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death." The driver of the Bearwood car [Charles Francis Smith] gave an account of the details leading up to the accident: the way in which he manipulated the magnetic and electric brakes after the car had started to slip back at Montague Road. But he waited in vain for them to act, and immediately afterwards he struck the second car, ascending the hill. There was only one thing left to do - apply the hand brakes, and this he did, but the cars continued on their course downhill until they struck a third car at the foot of the gradient. In answer to the Coroner, Smith said the reason he did not apply the hand-brake immediately his car began to move downhill was because he thought the magnetic brake could be more effective. He did not think the hand-brake would be of any use, considering the speed the car had gained. The Coroner- I am told the brakes worked all right after the accident. Supposing that is so, can you explain in any way why, if the brakes were in order before this occurrence and were in order afterwards, they should have failed to act on this particular occasion? Witness: I cannot. The expert evidence given showed that after the accident the hand and magnetic brakes of the runaway car were examined and found both to be in order. The following questions were addressed by the Coroner to the assistant rolling-stock superintendent of the Corporation tramways, who was among those who stated the brakes were in perfect order. The Coroner: In your opinion would the hand-brake have been sufficient to stop a car from running backwards downhill? Witness: Certainly. The Coroner: There is a question which is important which was put by Mr. Salmon. Supposing this driver was on his journey and had stopped at a point going uphill, ought he to take his brake off before putting running power on. Witness: The instructions in a case of that sort are to release the hand-brake and apply the power simultaneously. If he failed to do these things simultaneously, added the witness, the car would begin to go backwards. A Board of Trade inquiry was opened yesterday [Friday]."
"The Cape Hill Tram Disaster"
Smethwick Telephone : October 7th 1911 Page 3