WHO ARE THE REALPEAKYBLINDERS?

UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN ESPECIALLY BIRMINGHAM Wasn’t aware of the term ‘Peaky Blinders’, NOW WITH A BBC SHOW JUST BEING PICKED UP FOR IT SECOND SERIES WE CHAT TO HISTORIAN PROFESSOR CARL CHINN on the origins of ThE PEAKY BLINDERS.

Who were the Peaky Blinders?The real peaky blinders were the hooligans of Birmingham in the 1890s before that they’ve been called sluggers and the term sluggers and slugging gangs were con-tinued to be used throughout the 1890s as well by the early 20th century the peaky blinders had disappeared. They fought with belt buckles with metal chipped boots, with fIre irons, with knives, they also fought with handkerchiefs that were FIlled with stones and wrapped up. The name Peaky Blinder is not mentioned until 1890 in the early part of that year a young innocent man was in a pub got picked on by a gang. He went to go home and he was violently assaulted, his head hit the pavement, they attacked him with belt buckles and was in fear of his life and he managed to get up and eventually fInd safety although afterwards he was so badly hurt he ended up having an operation on his head and staying in hospital.

CARL CHINN INTERVIEW WITH CARL CHINN,QUESTIONS AND ILLUSTRATION BY LIAM ANSLOW

So what happened after that incident?That incident was reported locally but there was no mention of the name of the gang until a few days later in a number of national publications including one in London they reported a letter had been sent to the Birmingham press that the attack had been carried out by the small heath peaky blinders and that's the fIrst mention that we get of the name Peaky blinder. The idea that the peaky blinders took their name from their fLat caps into the peaks of which they had sewn razor blades is a false one it's a myth there is no evidence at all to support it.

So where did the term ‘Peaky Blinders’ come from?My belief is that the name peaky blinder came from the fashion for wearing fLat caps which started to take over with young men in Birmingham and Manchester and other big towns and cities from the 1880s before that working class men wore Billy Cox a type of bowler hat and older men continued to wear them but these lads wore fLat caps for short peaks hence ‘Peaky’. The response in working-class neighbourhoods were people were scared of the peaky blinders in the 1890s, one of the Peaky’s was my great grandfather who pinched a basket carriage which was a big basket on three wheels, they caused mayhem where they were allowed to and they picked on the innocent I've got no respect my great-grandfather because he would turn into a wife beater, his father was a slugger in the 1880s, these weren’t men to be respected they were meant to be looked down upon for the way that they treated the innocent and treated women.

What do you think of the BBC televi-sion series?Very often the series is beautifully shot and atmospheric and as bits and pieces of history have been brought together and be melded and that's good drama, what other things for me is a story that stands out is the strong women I would congratulate the

writer on that I come from a long line of strong women, in Birmingham we don't say it’s your parents’ house, if your working class you say it’s our moms and your mom is the most important person and the mother of your mom is the second most important per-son. So one of the great strengths I think of the series has been to show the strength of working class women.

Was there actually northern Irish police in Birmingham during that time?Birmingham did have a Northern Irish police chief his name was Sir Charles Haughton Rafter, he came from Belfast and he did recruit a lot of Irish policemen but not protestants from Belfast mainly from the West of Ireland where he had served as a member of the Royal Irish constabulary he was a very strong man who came to Birmingham in 1899 and one of the reasons many people think at the time he was appointed was to put down the Peaky Blinders, which he did within a few years but there was no real police corruption on a large scale other than I'm the street bookmakers like my granddad and others, we used to pay the coppers fIve shillings a week (£25 a week) to the policemen because they tried to arrest you, so for that fee although not all of them took it, they would come round and tell us when we were

So what happened to the Peaky Blinders?By the early 1900s the Peaky Blinders are gone, why are they gone? Strict policing, better policing. Sir Charles Haughton Rafter was probably responsible for that in Birmingham, stronger sentences and when people were brought up for violence. But also I think change in social conditions, were more people were now growing up had been to school and had discipline installed in them. School didn't become compulsory until the early 1880s. And on top of that in many poor areas socially minded Vicars particularly from high Church of England parishes was setting up youth clubs and especially boxing clubs and I think there's a book waiting to be written in a program waiting to be made about the impact of boxing, self discipline and self respect from boxing on the decline of gang warfare in Birmingham, Manchester and London in the early 20th century.

What has been the reaction generally towards the BBC series?The peaky blinders series has had a positive impact because lots of people want to know more about Birmingham and its history and it really is exciting for people from Birmingham and from the West Midlands as a whole to here and see about people from our city, it's beautifully shot the role of women really is true to life and there’s bits and pieces of historical fact that have been brought together from different periods but I think it is very very important that people don't run away with the image the Birmingham was on the edge of revolution, that Birmingham was like a mafIa run city and that there was sex and violence going on in every street every day, poorer people were remarkably respectable and stroll for respectability I'm proud to come from backstreet brummies’ who were like that.

going to get pinched, so you would put up a man who had never been pinched before as

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TIMELINE OF THE CRIMEA young George Eastwood ordered a ginger beer at

the rainbow pub in Adderley Street, which was then mocked by a gang at the bar led by Thomas Mucklow.

Exchanging a few words, Eastwood and the gang ultimately

all left the pub, Outnumbered and wanting to avoid the situation, George swiftly headed home down Adderley Street.

As he walked under the blue-brick railway arches,

Mucklow struck the innocent young lad with a violent blow and fell down which resulted in him fracturing his skull.

As he was kicked and hit with the buckles of belts,

George managed to get up and run whilst being chased by the gang, he ran down to his left, Lower Trinity Street.

Running out of places to run, the only hope

George had to survive was to climb up the wall of Allcock Street School and crossed the playground into Allcock Street.

He managed to take refuge in a resident’s house

with the gang shouting and throwing bricks outside, once they left he was taken to the Queen’s Hospital.

Georges head was fractured and his scalp was cut in two or three places and it was so bad it needed drilling. Thomas Mucklow was the only member of the gang identified

and arrested and when the story broke out across Britain the

gang was dubbed ‘The Small Heath Peaky Blinders’ and that was the

first time the peaky blinders were brought to attention.

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The Day The Peaky Blinders

were news.

ALLCOCK ST

ADDERLEY ST

TRINITY STLOWER

MARCH 23, 1890

no

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

no

YES

JUST FOR FUN

PERSONALITY TEST

FLOWCHART

THIS FLOWCHART IS AN

OPTIONAL READER ACTIVITY AND

IS NOT MEANT TO CAUSE OFFENCE, BUTTO CREATE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF

PERSONALITY TRAITS OF A PEAKY BLINDER.

ARE YOU A

PEAKY BLINDER?

STARTDO YOU LIKE TO

HANG OUT AT THE PUBFOR A DRINK?

WOULD YOURATHER HANG OUT

ON THE STREETS OFBIRMINGHAM?

DO YOU LIKE TO STAY

AT HOME AND GO OUTALONE?

NO

WOULD YOU MEET UP

WITH FRIENDS TOORGANISE THINGS?

NO

AREYOU THE TYPE OF

PERSON WHOWILL GO UP TO A STRANGER

AND MOCK THEM?

AREYOU A VIOLENT

PERSON WHO WOULDUSE NO WEAPONS, JUST

FIGHT?

IFYOU WERE

IN QUITE A LOT OFTROUBLE WOULD YOU

TURN TO YOURFAMILY?

YOUR JUSTA SOCIAL RECLUSE

THEN AND WOULDN’TCOMMIT A CRIME SO CARRY ON DRINKING YOUR GINGER

BEER!

I’D RECOMMEND THAT YOU START MAKING NEW

FRIENDS IF YOU WANT TO BE RESPECTED IN THEBIRMINGHAM AREA.

NO

NO

THEN YOUARE A GENTLEMAN WHO RESPECTS OTHER PEOPLE AND DOSEN’t GO ROUND

causing trouble.

YOU WOULDBE MORE CLASSED AS A

HOOLIGAN OF BIRMINGHAM TODAYWHO WOULD RELY ON WEAPONS

OR OTHERWISE KNOWN AS A COWARD.

YOUR MOST LIKELYA PEAKY BLINDER, NOT AFRAID

OF MUCH AND PICKS FIGHTS FOR STUPID REASONS AND IF EVER

IN TROUBLE YOU ALWAYS GOTO YOUR MOTHER.

YOU HAVECERTAIN SIMILARITIES TO A

PEAKY BLINDER BUT YOU LIKE TO FACE PROBLEMS YOURSELF, AND END UPCREATING MORE ENEMIES IN YOUR

FAMILY BY LYING.

AXIS OF FACT AND FICTIONHOOLIGANS OF TODAY

PEAKY BLINDERS

FACT

FICTION

THE USE OF RAZOR BLADES IN THEIR FLAT CAPSTHERE IS NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER TO PROVE THatTHE PEAKY BLINDERS SEWN RAZOR BLADES IN THE PEAKS OF THEIR CAPS TO ATTACK THEIR VICTIMS.

NORTHERN IRISH POLICE IN BIRMINGHAM

Sir Charles Haughton Rafter ARRIVED IN BIRMINGHAM IN 1899 AND RECRUITED NORTHERN IRISH

POLICE TO TACKLE THE PEAKY BLINDERS.

USING GUNS AS WEAPONSTHESE WERE YOUNG MEN A LOT YOUNGER THAN THE ONES

IN THE TV SERIES, THE ONLY WEAPONS THEY HAD WEREBELT BUCKLES AND STONES WRAPPED IN

HANDKERCHIEFS,

ALLIANCES WITH THE IRISH POLICEAS WELL AS THE POLICE TRYING TO ARREST THE PEAKY’STHEY WOULD PAY THE POLICE OFF SO THAT THEY WOULD STAY OUT OF JAIL AND THEY HAD A DEAL TO WARN THE PEAKY’S WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT TO BE ARRESTED AND USE A DECOY.

FLAT CAP

PLAIN SHIRT

WAISTCOATBLAZER

PLAIN TROUSERS

LEATHER SHOES

WHATA

PEAKYBLINDERWOULDWEAR

GANGS ARE PREDOMINANTLY BLACKTHIS IS ANOTHER LABEL IN GANG CULTURE AND IS A MAJOR RACIST ISSUE, INFACT THERE IS NO RESEARCH TO SUPPORT THIS, AND SOME PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED

TO LEARN THAT THE FIRST MAJOR GANG IN BIRMINGHAM WERE WHITE TEENS.

‘HOODIES’ ARE HARD A MAJOR STEREOTYPE IS THE HOODY, GANG CRIME HAS

SPARKED THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO THINK THAT YOUTH WHO WEAR THAT ARTICLE OF CLOTHING ARE ASSOCIATED

TO GANGS AND IS A MAJOR ISSUE WHEN PEOPLE MAINLY WEAR IT FOR COMFORT

KNIFE CRIME ON THE UP1 in 5 BOYS FRom AGE 16 HAVE ADMITTED TO ATTACKING

someone with a knife, INTENDING TO CAUSE SERIOUS HARM, EVEN BEING CAUGHT WITH ONE CAN LEAD

UPTO 4 YEARS IN PRISON.

JOINT ENTERPRISEONE OF THE CONSEQUENCES BEING INVOLVED IN A GANG IS if your preseNT DURING a serious crime such as murder, you too could be charged with murder AND

IF YOUTH KNEW THAT, then gang population may be reduced.

Elisha Fagin member of one of the biggest gangs in Birmingham, The Burger Bar Boys the Neighbourhood watchers and their rivals the Johnson crew. Elisha Fagin was an important gang member who dealt with any trouble that lurked on the streets.

One day Elisha got in trouble with one of the gang members mother accused him from stealing bulk of cash from the gang treasury. After a viscous argument with the mother, he rushed out of the house with horror on his face; Elisha was shucked because nobody believed him.

Elisha knew he was in big trouble for something he didn’t do but Elisha’s hands were tied knowing he had seconds to convenience his gang that he didn’t steal the bulk of cash.

True Story

The only options he had were to replace the money or wait till…. It was too late…..

BANG-BANG-BANG the door knocked.

Elisha Closed himself in his room panicking not knowing what he could do to convince the gang members that it wasn’t him. Hands were shaking; voice was crackling with fear. He knows exactly what will happen soon as the front door breaks open. So he stood in silence and waited….with fear.

BANG! Came down the door.

“WHERE IS THE TREASURY” said a gang member.

Elisha replied “I DON’T KNOW, I NEVER STOLE FROM THE TREASURY I SWEAR”.

The wet finger slips towards the trigger.

With a BANG the whole neighbourhood is awakened.

The Blood drips dry…

Adem’s influenced has come from the 19th century gang known as Peaky Blinders that wore razor blades in the peaks of their caps with black suits and white shirts underneath. He has also looked at the 21th century gangs such as Burger Bar Boys and their rival Johnson Crew both sides commonly known for wearing hoodies/sport brand clothing’s.

Adem has mixed the Classy 19th century fashion with the 21th century sportswear to create his own trend by bringing it to life; we took model Aykutt Solmaz around Birmingham’s crumbling abandoned areas searching for graffiti work on walls, buildings, bridges and sign boards or any sign of gang struggle.

B I R M I N G H A M ’ S

Birmingham, 14th November 2013: Top Market designers kick

off the first day of the upcoming winter season. Photographer Adem Ince Who is inspired by the idea of clashing two different types of gangsters from the 19th century with the 21th century to create his own street trend working alongside with his magazine crew “ArchiveGeneration”. Adem has hit the Birmingham’s abandoned areas in Digbeth capturing the stunning graffiti work on the walls that were done by gang members/graffiti artists to express their feeling with colourful spray paints.

S T R E E TF A S H I O N