Month: June 2014

The Old Blues Association

John GriffithsLeave a comment

Details of the inaugural dinner in 1926.
Details of the inaugural dinner in 1926.

This seems rather a strange post for an ex Chuckery School lad to be writing and about something as specific as The Old Blues Association. Some years ago I purchased a considerable number of items concerning this very association. Included in the many documents were two albums, one was dated from 1926 to 1939 and the other from 1951 to 1973. Both contained details of the annual dinners organised by the Blue Coat School Old Boys & Girls Association. The earlier one was concerned with just The Old Boys Association but the later one was for both Old Boys and Old Girls Association. Each year an artistic pupil was selected to illustrate a title page, the following pages contained the signatures of all those who attended the event. The artwork, in many cases, is of a high standard making both albums very appealing historical documents. They are currently housed at Walsall Local History Centre and are available for public viewing; Accession 1205, The Old Blues Association dinner guest books, 1926-1973.Read More »

A granny’s tale

John GriffithsLeave a comment

Prison Warder William Henry Fellows (1882-1970)
Prison Warder William Henry Fellows (1882-1970)

Many years ago when I was a small boy my grandmother, Elizabeth Moseley (neé Fellows) used to tell me a tale about her cousin Bill from Bridgnorth.

Bill was born William Henry Fellows on 3rd March 1883, the fourth of nine children born to Benjamin and Isabella of Bernard’s Hill, Bridgnorth. Bill’s father Ben was the brother of my gran’s father Thomas who lived in Hospital Street, Walsall.

Bill began his working life as a bricklayer’s labourer in Bridgnorth according to the 1901 census but 10 years later he was living in lodgings in Islington, North London and was now a prison warder at Pentonville Prison.

The tale she told of Bill was his connection to the infamous wife murderer, Dr. Harvey Crippen. The tale my gran’ told was of her cousin Bill finding Dr. Crippen with his wrists slashed, using the broken glass from his monocle in an attempt to cheat the hangman from performing his duty. As the old adage goes “never spoil a good story with the truth”, that’s being a little cruel to my dear old gran’….she was almost right!Read More »