Mrs. Sarah Lloyd, who to many of her more irreverent guests typified the old Hen, sold her business and leased the inn five years later, April 16th, 1804, to William Waddell, of the “Castle,” High Street. He was the son of a London oil merchant, and years before had married Miss Ibberson, daughter of the proprietor of the “George and Blue Boar,” Holborn. It was during Waddell’s reign that the “Hen and Chickens” saw its greatest prosperity. His rule extended from 1804 until 1836, ending only with his death in that year; and not only covered the best years of the coaching era, but almost saw its close. His was the greatest figure in Birmingham’s coaching business. In 1830 he had purchased the freehold of the “Hen and Chickens” and about the same time bought the “Swan,” and with his son Thomas carried on a general coaching business and contracting for the Mails. In 1819 thirty coaches left the “Hen and Chickens” yard daily; by 1838 the ultimate year, the number was thirty-two. But by far the greatest number started from the “Swan,” for in 1838 no fewer than sixty-one coaches hailed from thence. On Waddell’s decease the freeholds of both the houses were sold, and bought in by members of the family; that of the “Hen and Chickens” realising £14,500, and the “Swan,” £6,520. The beds alone of the “Hen and Chickens” were then stated to bring in £800 per annum. The “Hen and Chickens” was then leased by Devis, of the “Coach and Horses,” Worcester Street, at a rent of £600. He shortly afterwards sublet it for £700 to Mrs. Room, a widowed innkeeper, who remarried and gave it up in 1843, after a term of seven years, when Devis resumed.