Bob Spiers
LostCousins Superstar
The answer is simply that the City (or town as it then was) was much more often referred to as Brummagem.
In the Doomsday book it was recorded as Bermingeham but from then on it had some many corruptions which included (but not confined to) Bermincham, Burmicham, even Brymecham until by the 18th century it had settled down to Bromedgham or Brumegem.
Because of the propensity for chroniclers to transpose the 2nd and 3rd letters and omit the 'G' the original BIR became BRI and would have sounded sort of BRIMINHAM. Also with its association with the Black Country referred to as Bromwich (Bromich) with a ‘ham’ tucked on to be Bromicham or Bremicham.
By the early 19th Century it was largely referred to as Brummagem and a growing manufacturing town producing all kinds of metalwork. Sadly with some manufacturers guilty of using cheap metals the name Brummagem became synonymous with ‘cheap or shoddy quality’. However quality and workmanship improved so much and the town had its own Jewelry quarter that it applied to have its own Essay Office. This was hotly contested by the London Worshipful Guild of Goldsmiths but the town won through and it received royal assent.
Mathew Boulton one of the leading Manufacturers of the time and others supported the use of its original name (now spelled Birmingham) to disassociate it from the (then) tacky Brummagem image. In 1890 it was granted city status by Queen Victoria and became Birmingham by proclamation.
But the term Brummie was firmly adopted to describe anyone born within its city borders.
For wider reading check out wikibrum and Professor Carl Chin's own explanation of Brummagem by going to his web page (See Brum & Brummies)
In the Doomsday book it was recorded as Bermingeham but from then on it had some many corruptions which included (but not confined to) Bermincham, Burmicham, even Brymecham until by the 18th century it had settled down to Bromedgham or Brumegem.
Because of the propensity for chroniclers to transpose the 2nd and 3rd letters and omit the 'G' the original BIR became BRI and would have sounded sort of BRIMINHAM. Also with its association with the Black Country referred to as Bromwich (Bromich) with a ‘ham’ tucked on to be Bromicham or Bremicham.
By the early 19th Century it was largely referred to as Brummagem and a growing manufacturing town producing all kinds of metalwork. Sadly with some manufacturers guilty of using cheap metals the name Brummagem became synonymous with ‘cheap or shoddy quality’. However quality and workmanship improved so much and the town had its own Jewelry quarter that it applied to have its own Essay Office. This was hotly contested by the London Worshipful Guild of Goldsmiths but the town won through and it received royal assent.
Mathew Boulton one of the leading Manufacturers of the time and others supported the use of its original name (now spelled Birmingham) to disassociate it from the (then) tacky Brummagem image. In 1890 it was granted city status by Queen Victoria and became Birmingham by proclamation.
But the term Brummie was firmly adopted to describe anyone born within its city borders.
For wider reading check out wikibrum and Professor Carl Chin's own explanation of Brummagem by going to his web page (See Brum & Brummies)
