William Dargue A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames from A to Y
Oak Hill, Edgbaston
B15 - Grid reference SP042854
Oak Hill rises up from the Chad Valley on the boundary of Edgbaston and Harborne, and lies west of Good Knaves End, The name was used as the name of a location: the 1841 census records just four residents at Oak Hill in two cottages here: two female servants in one
and an agricultural labourer and his wife in the other.
Oak Hill House is shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map at the west end of what is now Oak Hill Drive, a modern development off Hawthorne Road. At that time this was a completely rural setting
beyond even the few high-status villas of the Calthorpe Estate along Westbourne Road and Church Road. Oak Hill House was a very large house set in grounds as large as the fields that surrounded
it.
Howard Luckcock Esq., borough magistrate and noted member of the Old Meeting (Unitarian), lived here until his death. This account of Howard Luckcock is taken from the (Birmingham) Daily
Post of 30 October 1877:
‘Death of Mr. Howard Luckcock .- We have to announce the death of Mr. Howard Luckcock, an old and respected inhabitant of Birmingham, which took place on Sunday, at his residence at Edgbaston, in his 75th year. Mr. Luckcock was in early life articled to the late Mr. Joseph Parkes, and was admitted as a solicitor, but we believe he never practised. He was one of the earliest magistrates appointed for Birmingham, on the incorporation of the borough in 1838, and for some years he was a member of the Town Council as councillor and alderman. He was also a Commissioner of land tax and of income tax. For many years Mr. Luckcock was chairman of the Birmingham Fire Insurance Company, and he took a strong interest in local charities, especially the Birmingham Dispensary to which he devoted much time and attention.'
Luckcock was also chairman of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Edgbaston.
The house was still shown on the 1921 Ordnance Survey map.
William Dargue 21.01.2009