Gangs of Victorian Birmingham revealed in new book

Aug 1 2010 by Tony Larner, Sunday Mercury

Sloggers eventually became a generic term for young hoodlums and slogging for street fighting, an activity that took place on a regular basis in the city centre areas of Birmingham.

But many of the other gangs were named after areas their members had grown up in, including the Gun Quarter, Garrisons Lane, Ten Arches and Bishop Ryders.

The Whitehouse Street gang were based in Aston – the haunt of the Johnson Street Crew today.

They were led by feared thug James Grindrod who lived a life of violence and crime in his youth. He was eventually jailed in 1882, along with a young lieutenant, for attacking a rival.

William ‘Bowey’ Beard was a leader of the equallyviolent Digbeth Gang and carried knife scars on his face as a testament to his lengthy criminal activities and many street battles.

Many of the gang names and their leaders became infamous during the late 19th Century – but none more so than The Peaky Blinders.

The Adderley Street-based gang emerged in the Bordesley and Small Heath areas, a particularly deprived part of the city in 19th century Birmingham.

Unlike their rivals, The Peaky Blinders had a carefully stylised image; bell bottom trousers, a silk ‘daff’ or scarf twisted round their necks and tied at the end, and a flat cap tilted on their head.

This classic look was displayed in police mugshots of gang members from the day, including David Taylor, who was jailed at the age of 13 for carrying a gun.

Other Peakies included baby-faced Harry Fowles, Ernest Haynes and Stephen McNickle, who were all jailed for petty theft after being arrested by the under-pressure police.

The girlfriends or ‘molls’ of the gang were also easy to spot.

According to contemporary reports, they wore a “lavish display of pearls, the well-developed fringe obscuring the whole of the forehead and descending nearly to the eyes, and the characteristic gaudy-coloured silk handkerchief covering her throat.”

Peaky Blinders were said to be as violent to their girls as they were to other boys, with one moll confessing: “He’ll pinch and punch you every time he walks out with you. And if you speak to another chap, he don’t mind kicking you.”

The decline of the gangs towards the turn of the 20th Century coincided with the decline of the city centre population. Families had been steadily moving out to surrounding boroughs in search of a healthier and more peaceful existence, away from the heavy industry and the high crime rates.

The emergence of the fledging football teams in the city, Aston Villa and Birmingham City (originally called as Small Heath Alliance), was also seen a healthier alternative for young men to express their tribal loyalties, until hooliganism reared its head many later.

Today, most of the names of those Victorian gangs have been forgotten, although Peaky Blinders – the hoodies of their day – still live on as a term in some areas for young troublemakers. Retired schoolteacher Mr Gooderson, whose family originates from Birmingham, said: “The progressive enlargement of the city would increase the difference between territories, but also increase the distance between them.

“Turf loyalty would find a wide range of alternative forms of expression.

“Yet personal followings would continue to be important, and groups with the power to bully and create mayhem would continue to emerge, while issues of masculinity, adolescent peer pressure and group competition would continue to be problematic.

“Gangs had flourished in Victorian Birmingham – and would in time return.”