July 14 was officially registered as national Black Country Day because it is the anniversary of the invention of the world’s first steam engine. The Newcomen Engine was created in the Black Country in 1712.
Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick, from Kingswinford in the Black Country, were among the founding fathers of America. The couple were early immigrants to the American colonies, going there in 1627 (or according to other accounts in 1637-39) possibly on a second crossing of the Mayflower, with four of their six children. They at first settled in Salem but moved to New York after being persecuted for being Quakers.
Their descendants were said to include Winston Churchill and US president Richard Nixon. In addition, it's been said that other descendants include Solomon Southwick, who printed some of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence after it was adopted in 1776, and Alfred Southwick, who invented the electric chair as an alternative to hanging.
The team were formed as the West Bromwich Strollers in 1879 by workers from the George Salters works, as they had to walk a few miles up the road to Wednesbury to buy their first football. . They became West Bromwich Albion after one year, in 1880.
They're known as the throstles (a thrush) or baggies, but nobody really knows why.
Bromwich means broom village, and there is no north east or south Bromwich, but the town is split into two constituencies, West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West.
West Brom's ground, the Hawthorns, is the highest ground in England.
