09/11/26 - On the Trail of...... Samuel Timmins

Shakespeare In BirminghamA two part podcast from History West Midlands. A deep dive into the "Everything to Everyone" project promoting the arts to all classes. In particular, the creation of Birmingham's Shakespeare Library and the work of two of the City's Victorian benefactors - George Dawson and Samuel Timmins.The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project is recovering Birmingham’s unique heritage as home to the largest and oldest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world. At the heart of the story are two Birmingham figures: George Dawson (1821–1876), a nonconformist preacher, lecturer and champion of civic reform, and Samuel Timmins (1826–1902), an industrialist, antiquarian and passionate Shakespeare enthusiast. Their collaboration began with the idea of creating a Shakespeare library for everyone, rather than restricting access to scholars and the privileged classes. Timmins first proposed the library in 1858, while Dawson publicly championed the idea in 1861,…

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