This town, still the centre of political life in Sandwell has at its core a legacy of the worst kind of chemical polluting industries, glorified by useful idiots but mainly the political class who in some form have benefitted financially from shilling for them or in the early days being from those vile polluting industries themselves.
The formation of the Municipal Borough in 1935 had the dirty fingerprints of Albright and Wilson and their fellow polluters all over them as the hapless folk who were employed by these scumbags were whipped up into a frenzy for “autonomy” , “self governance”, “localism democracy” or some other bullshit phrase just to get their manipulators into power- in this case directly the seed of John Edward Wilson- the founder of the company.
His rat faced grandson, Kenneth was the first mayor of the new borough.
I recently came across an original specimen of the “charter souvenir” for the occasion of the borough’s formation- now some 90 years later. Priced at 6 pence, it gives a very interesting observation into the control and coercion at work in this pre WW2 era, and of those pulling the strings.
I have scanned the whole thing which you can read as a PDF below. I’ll pick out and highlight a few things that interested me however in this post.
Olbury 1935 The Rotten Borough forms
The motto of the borough “Antiquum Decus Floreat” translates to “Let its ancient glory flourish.” The Old English translation of ‘Ealdenbyrig’, Eald is for ‘old’, Byrig is the plural of ‘burh’ – a burh being a fortification or fortified town. I’m not sure it was ever a “glorious” place, but certainly wasn’t after the industrial polluters arrived on the scene.
A few familiar faces arise with the then town councillors, a right bunch of fiddlers some of them look as well. The names Pollock- of Accles and Pollock fame, as well as ratty Wilson are noted, as are the AW rimmer Smellsome, who would later of course go on to defend his fellow freemason friends in Trinity Street after the Oldbury smell fiasco.
The pussy whisperer
If you like your history, and how things have changed then do read the write up, but do beware that those in charge were glorifying themselves through masonic practices with maces, chains and badges- all donated by the said chemical polluters to pollute the minds as well as the lungs. Their successors in 2025 are little different. Hell I would not be surprised if some of the familiar names are even related to that scum.