page_title: Tamworth, Staffordshire
section_title: 18th and 19th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Tamworth, Staffordshire / History / 18th and 19th centuries
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of The Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel Bart. This is the statue of Sir Robert Peel MP for Tamworth until 1850
context_page_description: Tamworth is a large market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, 14 miles north-east of Birmingham and on the West Coast Main Line. The town adjoins Warwickshire to the south and east, Lichfield to the north and west and local junctions of the M6 Toll motorway. It takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through it. Its resident population was 76,696.
  Tamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire until 1889, when the town was placed entirely in Staffordshire.
  Tamworth hosts a simple but elevated 12th century castle, a well-preserved medieval church and a Moat House. Tamworth was the capital of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia during the Heptarchy of seven kingdoms and throughout its later, greater, form.
  The town's industries include logistics, engineering, clothing, brick, tile and paper manufacture. Until 2001 one of its factories was Reliant, which produced the Reliant Robin three-wheeler car and the Reliant Scimitar sports car.
context_section_description: In 1801, the population was a little over 3000.
  There were a number of improvements to Tamworth during the 19th century. In 1807 the pavements were flagged. 
  1809 A new church entrance was completed and a new organ erected funded by public subscriptions. (source see 1809 Parish Records).
  From 1835 Tamworth had gaslight. In the late 19th century a piped water supply was created.
  The town grew rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries during the Industrial Revolution, benefiting from the surrounding coal mines. It also became connected to the canal network, with the Coventry Canal being built through the town. Later, the railways arrived with the Midland Railway route from Derby to Birmingham arriving in Tamworth in 1847, and later the London and North Western Railway, which provided direct trains to the capital. A split-level station exists where the two main lines cross each another, the higher-level platforms (on the Derby to Birmingham line), being at right angles to the lower ones on the main line to London.
  The first municipal cemetery opened in 1876. The Assembly Rooms were built in 1889. In 1897 the corporation bought Tamworth Castle.
  A hospital was built in Tamworth in 1880 and was funded by one of the town's greatest benefactors, William MacGregor, at his own expense. An infirmary was built in 1903. MacGregor also built two churches at Glascote and Hopwas and had the bells at St. Editha's church recast.  He also started a free library, a working men's club, a school (Now called William MacGregor School) and started the Co-operative society in the town in 1885 acting as guarantor.
  The Victorian Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel served as the town's Member of Parliament from 1830 until his death in 1850. He lived at the nearby Drayton Manor. It was in Tamworth that Robert Peel unveiled his Tamworth Manifesto in 1834 which created what is now the modern Conservative Party. While Home Secretary, Peel helped create the modern concept of the police force, leading to officers being known as "bobbies" (in England) and "Peelers" (in Northern Ireland).  During the 19th century the Tamworth pig, a long, bristled breed, was first sold here by cross-breeding with imported Irish stock. Sir Robert Peel, an influential Prime Minister, was a member of the bowls club, founded in 1814, which has an active membership.
  Samuel Parkes, who won the Victoria Cross in the Charge of the Light Brigade, was born in Wigginton and baptised at St. Editha's on 24 December 1815. His parents, Thomas and Lydia, are buried in its churchyard.
caption: Statue of The Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel
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