Salvation Data 0800 075 0720

Smethwick
Smethwick  Smethwick shown within the West Midlands
OS grid reference	SP0287
Metropolitan borough	Sandwell
Metropolitan county	West Midlands
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Postcode district	B66
Dialling code	0121
Police	West Midlands
Fire	West Midlands
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Warley
List of places: UK • England • West Midlands

Smethwick

Originally the area was an Urban District and from 1894 a Municipal Borough in the county of Staffordshire. In 1907 it became a County Borough. In 1966, Smethwick was merged with the boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis to form the new County Borough of Warley. This in turn was merged with West Bromwich in 1974 to form the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell.

Smethwick had always had strong economic links to Birmingham (even after its independence of county control following the creation of Smethwick County Borough in 1907), although like most areas and towns of the West Midlands has a strong sense of its' own identity. The Warley County Borough was placed entirely in Worcestershire on its creation, but Smethwick has also been in Warwickshire and Staffordshire, and since 1974 has formed part of the West Midlands county. The former boundary of Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire could be found in Three Shires Oak Road, in Bearwood.

James Brindley built the first canal, the Old Line, over the Smethwick Summit in 1769

his summit level was lowered and improved by John Smeaton in 1790

Thomas Telford built a parallel, more direct route, in deeper cuttings and without locks, the New Line, in 1829.

The town has often enjoyed a somewhat turbulent political history. Smethwick was created as a separate parliamentary constituency in 1918, having previously been part of the Handsworth constituency. At that year's general election, Christabel Pankhurst, standing as a Women's Party candidate, narrowly failed to become Britain's first woman MP, being defeated by Labour by 775 votes in a straight fight.

Labour held the seat until 1931, from 1926 the MP being Sir Oswald Mosley, future founder of the British Union of Fascists. Mosley resigned the Labour whip in March 1931 but continued to represent the constituency until it was taken by the Conservatives at that year's general election.

Labour won in the UK general election, 1945 on 26 July. However, the victorious MP, Alfred Dobbs, was killed in a car crash the very next day. He is the shortest-serving Member of Parliament (MP) in British history, if one discounts a few cases of people being elected posthumously. In the resulting by-election, Patrick Gordon Walker won for Labour.

In the 1964 general election, Gordon Walker, who was Shadow Foreign Secretary, was defeated in controversial circumstances in the constituency by Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths. Smethwick had been a focus of immigration from the Commonwealth in the economic and industrial growth of the years following World War II and Griffiths ran a campaign critical of the government's policy. There were rumours that his supporters had covertly circulated the slogan If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour. Hardly had the heat of the election subsided when, on February 12, 1965, U.S. black activist Malcolm X visited the region just nine days before his assassination. He fuelled further controversy when he told the press:

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 Jews under Hitler. I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens.

Malcolm X's visit to Smethwick had been organised by a BBC News journalist with a view to X having a debate with Peter Griffiths outside the Smethwick council house. Griffiths declined at late notice and so an interview with X was conducted on the streets of Smethwick. This was to be X's last TV interview before his assassination nine days later. It was never aired.

Labour candidate, actor Andrew Faulds, defeated Griffiths in the 1966 general election and was MP for the constituency until his retirement at the 1997 general election. (The constituency was renamed Warley East in 1974.)

Smethwick is served by trains on both the "Jewellery Line" and the West Coast Main Line. The Jewellery Line links Birmingham Snow Hill station with Worcester, Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa. The West Coast Main Line links Birmingham New Street railway station, Coventry and Wolverhampton, with onward connections.

The station on the West Coast Main Line is called Smethwick Rolfe Street. This station serves local trains from Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street. The former Smethwick West Station on the old Stour Valley line was replaced by a new facility opened at the same time as the Jewellery Line, serving both routes, which is called Smethwick Galton Bridge. This station serves a limited service to London, regular trains to Birmingham International Airport, Wolverhampton and further north. It also serves trains to Stourbridge, Kidderminster, Worcester, Dorridge and Stratford Upon Avon. Not to mention it has regular services to all three of Birmingham central stations.

To the north of Smethwick High Street on Brasshouse Lane is The Hawthorns again on the "Jewellery Line" and also on the Midland Metro, this station is located next to the West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This station serves a limited service to London, as well as local trains to Stourbridge,Kidderminster, Worcester, Birmingham, Dorridge and Stratford Upon Avon. The Midland Metro serves parts of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich, Wednesbury and Bilston.

Smethwick is well served by buses, and has one bus station located in Bearwood. Bearwood Bus Station serves a limited number of long distance coaches and The Hagley Road Bus Corridor from Birmingham to Halesowen, Stourbridge and Merry Hill. The No. 11 Birmingham Outer Circle runs through Bearwood Road as does the 126 to Dudley and Wolverhampton. Most buses go to, or through Birmingham, Dudley, West Bromwich and Oldbury, not to mention the other places served.

Galton Village

Bearwood

West Smethwick

Windmill Lane

The Uplands

Londonderry

Black Patch

High Street Smethwick

Victoria

Cape Hill

The Old Church, The Uplands

Guru Nanak Gurdwara, High Street

Church Of God Of Prophecy, Regent Street

St Gregorys R C Church, Three Shires Oak Road

Raglan Road Christian Church, Raglan Road

West Smethwick Congregational Church, Mallin Street

St Matthew With St Chad C Of E Church, St Mathews Road

St Hildas, Abbey Road

Holy Trinity Church, South Road & High Street

The Apostolic Church, Broomfield

Warley Woods Methodist Church, Abbey Road

St Philips R C Church, Messenger Road

Smethwick Elim Pentecostal Church, Woodland Drive

Rounds Green Methodist Church, Abbey Road

Bearwood Baptist Church, Bearwood Road

The Akril Memorial Church, The Uplands

Gurdwara Nanaksar, Waterloo Road

Holly Lodge High School, Holly Lane, West Smethwick

Shireland Language College, Waterloo Lane, Cape Hill

Abbey Junior and Infants (Two sites), Abbey Road, Bearwood

Albion Junior School, Brasshouse Lane

Annie Lennard Infant School, The Oval, Thimblemill

Bearwood Primary School, Bearwood Road, Bearwood

Brasshouse Infant School, Brasshouse Lane

Cape Hill Primary School, Cape Hill

Crocketts Lane Primary School, Crocketts Lane, Cape Hill

Devonshire Primary School, Auckland Road, Uplands

George Betts Primary School, Wood End Avenue

Ruskin House Pupil Ref. Unit, Holly Lane, West Smethwick

Shireland Hall Infant and Junior School, Edith Road, Cape Hill

St Gregory's Roman Catholic Primary School, Park Road

St Mathews Church of England School, Windmill Lane

St Phillips Catholic Primary, Messenger Road

Uplands Manor Primary School, Addenbrooke Road, Uplands

Victoria Park Primary School, Ballot Street

Smethwick College (Part of Sandwell Colleges), Crocketts Lane

Sydney Barnes, England fast bowler, was born in Smethwick

Ann George, actress

Liza Goddard, actress

Matt Hayes, TV angler, was born in Smethwick

Lee Hughes, footballer

Jamelia, singer

Frank Skinner, comedian

Herbert Lewis Turner, footballer

Julie Walters, actress