Place, Home and Workplace

John Baskerville’s place of birth in Wolverley, Worcestershire and the buildings where he lived and worked in Birmingham have never been subjected to systematic historical investigation. This chapter attempts to address this omission and is divided into two parts: ‘A New Birthplace for John Baskerville’ and ‘The Buildings of John Baskerville in Birmingham’. A combination of archival research, topographical analysis and archaeological evidence is used to provide a clearer picture of where he was born and the location and nature of his residences and business premises. New Baskerville material corrects traditional accounts and enhances our knowledge and understanding of his background in Wolverley and Birmingham. His modest rather than previously supposed gentry status in Wolverley helps explain why he left for Birmingham and perhaps why he revealed little of his origins once he had established himself as one of the town’s leading industrialists. The uncovering of the sequence of his places of work and residence in Birmingham charts his rise to become one of the leading printers of the time, casting light on the manner of this progress and the opportunities available to an able and ambitious young man newly arrived in a rapidly industrialising town.