{"id":11068,"date":"2022-02-27T13:03:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com\/?p=10056"},"modified":"2022-02-27T15:38:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T14:38:16","slug":"who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/rss_feed\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders\/","title":{"rendered":"Who were the real Peaky Blinders?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Sarah Williams\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 27 February 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

It has been nine years since the BBC series Peaky Blinders<\/em> hit our screens, attracting over 2 million viewers in each series. Tonight the long awaited series 6 will be broadcast. It will be the final season for the hugely popular show.\u00a0 Steven Knight (the creator) has brought us the story of a Birmingham gang, his creation has become part of the national psyche, but it is mostly fiction. So who were the real Peaky Blinders?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at some records. Our starting point is the British Newspaper Archive<\/a> (BNA) a fantastic, growing collection of newspapers covering the whole of the UK, also available to anyone with a Findmypast Pro<\/a> subscription. A general search reveals over 500 references in newspapers to the Peaky Blinders as far back as 1890.<\/p>\n

Thomas Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy has his trademark haircut, but it was their clothing that made the real Peaky Blinders stand out. In 1929 an article in The Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser<\/em> looking back at the Peaky Blinders describes their distinctive attire: \u201cThe \u2018peakies\u2019 referred to above were also known as \u2018peaky-blinders\u2019 \u2013 a name they acquired by reason of their peculiar headdress. They were violent characters and pulled over one eye they were a peaked cap. The peak often contained a sharp piece of steel or metal, which could be made a very formidable weapon. Over the other eye there was a carefully trained curl of hair\u2026 their principal weapons of attack were heavy belts with enormous buckles attached to them\u2026 Enormous bell bottoms to their trousers were another peculiar feature of their dress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Peaky\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
This description from 1929 recalls the distinctive look of Peaky Blinders<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 BNA<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
\""Peaky\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Belts were both part of the Peaky Blinders \u2018uniform\u2019 and a weapon<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 BNA<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The difficulty is how to pin down individual members of the gang as there isn\u2019t a list of Peaky Blinders and criminal and newspaper records did not always record gang affiliation. However, using the BNA, I found a reference in the Western Mail<\/em> on 22 October 1898, reporting on a murder in Birmingham: \u201cA young peakie blinder named Frank Jones was arrested.\u201d The Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser<\/em> reported on the 29 October 1898 that Frank Jones was an alias and his real name was Claude Felix Mumby.<\/p>\n

Claude along with an accomplice, James Twitty, had been accused of murdering Mary Ann Aliban at a house in Latimer Street, Birmingham, on 20 October 1898.\u00a0The murder was sensationally depicted in the Police Illustrated News<\/em> on 29 October (also available on BNA).<\/p>\n

\""Peaky\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The murder of Mary Ann Aliban was graphically depicted in the Police Illustrated News<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 British Library Board\/BNA<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

So who was this Claude Felix Mumby? He was born in Cardiff in 1877. By the age of four he had moved to Birmingham, living with his family at 2 Johnson Street in Nechells, Birmingham in the 1881 census. 10 years later, at the age of 14 he\u2019s living at 29 Lees Street in the All Saints district of Birmingham with his family. His father was a carpenter.<\/p>\n

Seven years later, at the age of 21, Claude was on trial for murder. The National Archives has a criminal record for the case. Mumby was convicted on 15 December 1898. He is recorded in the Calendar of Prisoners for 1898 held by Ancestry<\/a>. Ancestry has a strong collection of police and criminal records for Birmingham and the West Midlands and is an excellent resource for researching real Peaky Blinders.<\/p>\n

\""Calendar\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Claude and James can be found on the Calendar of Prisoners on Ancestry<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Ancestry\/TNA<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Apparently Claude was not a prolific offender. He had only been convicted for two workhouse misdemeanours. By contrast, looking at the record of his co-conspirator James Twitty (alias George Webb), it shows he had a long record of offending. They were both initially sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted after the intervention of the then home secretary, to penal servitude for life.<\/p>\n

In the 1901 census we find Mumby in HMP Princetown, Dartmoor and then in the 1911 census in the Portand Convict Prison in Dorset.<\/p>\n

\""Peaky\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Claude can be found at the bottom of this list of Dorset prisoners from the 1911 census<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Ancestry\/TNA<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Claude died in 1921 in Berkshire.<\/p>\n

James Twitty was also born in 1875. There is a picture of him on Ancestry in their West Midlands Criminal Registers, 1850-1933<\/a>:\n(see lead photo above).<\/p>\n

In the 1939 Register, Twitty was residing at Broadmoor Asylum. He died nine years later at the age of 73.<\/p>\n

What of the victim?\nMary Ann Aliban was born in 1839, in Birmingham to Joseph and Eleanor Reynolds, her father was a huckster or street seller, as was she in later life, she never married.<\/p>\n

There are so many amazing stories out there waiting to be discovered. Criminal records provide an extra dimension. As a starting point, It is always worth checking the British Newspaper Archive, all you have to do is put in a \u201cname\u201d.<\/p>\n

You never know, if your ancestors are from Birmingham you might be connected to one of the real Peaky Blinders!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Williams Published: Sunday, 27 February 2022 at 12:00 am It has been nine years since the BBC series Peaky Blinders hit our screens, attracting over 2 million viewers in each series. Tonight the long awaited series 6 will be broadcast. It will be the final season for the hugely popular show.\u00a0 Steven Knight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11069,"template":"","categories":[1,19,16],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-scaled.jpg",2560,1685,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-300x197.jpg",300,197,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-768x505.jpg",768,505,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-1024x674.jpg",800,527,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-1536x1011.jpg",1536,1011,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2022\/02\/who-were-the-real-peaky-blinders-2048x1348.jpg",2048,1348,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sarah Williams Published: Sunday, 27 February 2022 at 12:00 am It has been nine years since the BBC series Peaky Blinders hit our screens, attracting over 2 million viewers in each series. Tonight the long awaited series 6 will be broadcast. It will be the final season for the hugely popular show.\u00a0 Steven Knight…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/11068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}