On 24 May 1954 at 12pm, Solihull became a Municipal Borough. To celebrate the anniversary, Solihull Council’s archivist and local studies librarian, Tracey Williams has made a video about Solihull’s history which has been made available to view exactly 70 years to the minute since the Charter came into effect.
The video presentation explains more about the history of Solihull with plenty of facts to learn, such as the borough almost being named Hemlingford, and the huge increase of Solihull residents in the early 1900s.
The video is now available to view below.
On 24 May 1954 Solihull changed from an Urban district to a Municipal Borough, the following decades continued changes to the borough elevating it to County Borough status in 1964 and finally Solihull Metropolitan Borough status in 1974, which also introduced the Mayoral role.
The path to becoming a Municipal Borough began on 11 March 1954 when Princess Margaret visited Solihull on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II to present a scroll authorising the incorporation of Solihull Urban district into a Municipal Borough, known as ‘Charter day’.
All are welcome to visit the Core library, where an exhibition on the anniversaries co-created by Tracey Williams and history students at the University of Birmingham, is open until 31 May.