Cartwright John Simmonds

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

As a new member please accept my apologies if I’m posting in the wrong forum. I am looking for any information on my grandfather John Simmonds Cartwright, who lived at various addresses in Birmingham, 26/28 Derby Street, 5 King Alfreds Place and Garrison Lane. His DOB 1887 he died in 1942. He was an Habitual Offender and served time in various prisons, the family homes were destroyed in the blitz, not one photograph survived. We have no idea what he looks like, but the prison records must have loads,how do I obtain a copy of one.
Any information or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Brasscaster]

As a new member please accept my apologies if I’m posting in the wrong forum. I am looking for any information on my grandfather John Simmonds Cartwright, who lived at various addresses in Birmingham, 26/28 Derby Street, 5 King Alfreds Place and Garrison Lane. His DOB 1887 he died in 1942. He was an Habitual Offender and served time in various prisons, the family homes were destroyed in the blitz, not one photograph survived. We have no idea what he looks like, but the prison records must have loads,how do I obtain a copy of one.
Any information or suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi Joan, welcome to the forum.
You are fortunate that Ancestry has recently added some photos of habitual criminals from West Midlands Police.
It looks as though the attached could be your man. I have found two photos and added just a sample of his many offences.

 

[sospiri]

Hi Joan,

And welcome to the Forum. He seems to have dropped the Simmonds on the prison registers on FindMyPast where there are three separate records that have a date of birth with a year of 1887 and a place as Birmingham. There may be two others not in Birmingham and I haven't looked on Ancestry. Of course you need a subscription or to buy credits to access these records, as you do at the British Newspaper Archives, which is the other searchable database that may produce write-ups of his court appearances. Unfortunately the double page registers on FMP are too large to attach with a 1 Mb limit, but Brasscaster has just uploaded some data from Ancestry I see.

Maurice

 

[Brasscaster]

Joan
I have attached news reports relating to John Cartwright's sample offences I mentioned in my earlier post. I found these in the British Newspaper Archives where there are a number of other references to him.

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

I just want to say you guys are AMAZING, I couldn’t believe it when I seen the replies and the photo of my grandfather, you were so fast,informative and helpful. It has been a life long ambition to find a photo as he was never mentioned or discussed, now I know why. His only saving grace was during the war he was a Firewatcher and died as a result of enemy action in 1942, he is named on the civilian war dead register of Birmingham. Your research and knowledge is fantastic, thank you for all help and for sharing it with me. It’s the best news I’ve had this year.
Joan

 

[Astoness]

hi joan what a fantastic result for you...no matter what went before him your grandfather certainly paid the ultimate price for his country...that is something to be proud of...dont know if you live in birmingham but his name is also inscribed on the tree of life memorial in the city centre which honours all the brummie civilians who died in ww2...his name is inscribed as john simmonds age 55.. you may want to take a look at it one day if you havent already done so..i have 2 members of my family on it

lyn

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

Hi Lyn,
You have all been brilliant I can’t thank you enough for all your time and help with finding a photo of my Grandfather. Unfortunately I live in Ireland and have never heard of the tree of life, but I will see if I can find pics of it, I often spend hours looking up the history of Birmingham and searching for photos of the old streets where he lived and where my father grew up. The tree of life is next on my list to research.
Joan

 

[Astoness]

joan its a wonderful memorial with over 2000 names on it....sorry my error he is down as cartwright JS on the memorial...click on link below for more info about the tree of life and if you scroll down and click on the first set of names it will enlarge and you will see your grandads name on it you should be able to save it to your computer any problems get back to me

Birmingham - The Tree of Life

statues.vanderkrogt.net

lyn

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

Thanks Lyn, I was just looking for it when I received your message, it was very moving to see his name on it, and all the other people who lost their lives during the war, what a fitting way to honour their great sacrifice. I never knew of its existence, I’m learning so many new things from the forum you are all very knowledgable about Birmingham and its history, thank you for sharing it with me.
joan

 

[Astoness]

you are most welcome joan we love to help our members...i noted that your grandad lived in garrison lane a well known area for the notorious peaky blinders to hang out and looking at that newspaper snippet on post 4 dated 1905 he was only 17...sadly an era and the right age to fall in with the wrong crowd..we should have photos of garrison lane on the forum and maybe one or two of king alfreds place..not heard of derby st i will have to look that one up

lyn

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

I often wondered after reading about the peaky blinders if he possibly could have been associated with them, the one newspaper quoted he was carrying a razor blade, who knows. I wouldn’t be surprised, I know very little about him and all the rest of the family are no longer alive. He certainly led an interesting life.

 

[Astoness]

I often wondered after reading about the peaky blinders if he possibly could have been associated with them, the one newspaper quoted he was carrying a razor blade, who knows. I wouldn’t be surprised, I know very little about him and all the rest of the family are no longer alive. He certainly led an interesting life.

yes it is quite possible jean..just delving a bit more was johns wife called nellie..if so ive got them on the 1939 eve of war register and also found johns baptism record..if you dont have them happy to post them for you

lyn

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

Lyn that would be brilliant, that’s something I don’t have, any information would be appreciated. I’m still trying to take in the the photos and will pass it on to other family members, hopefully we can build a picture of my grandfathers family.

 

[MrBlueSky1875]

yes it is quite possible jean..just delving a bit more was johns wife called nellie..if so ive got them on the 1939 eve of war register and also found johns baptism record..if you dont have them happy to post them for you

lyn

Hi Joan Hope you dont me contacting you. John Cartwright was my great grandfather and i still live in the Birmingham area. He was certainly an interestung charachter and almost certainly associated with the Peaky Blinders given his

I just want to say you guys are AMAZING, I couldn’t believe it when I seen the replies and the photo of my grandfather, you were so fast,informative and helpful. It has been a life long ambition to find a photo as he was never mentioned or discussed, now I know why. His only saving grace was during the war he was a Firewatcher and died as a result of enemy action in 1942, he is named on the civilian war dead register of Birmingham. Your research and knowledge is fantastic, thank you for all help and for sharing it with me. It’s the best news I’ve had this year.
Joan

lyn

Hi Joan Hope you dont me contacting you. John Cartwright was my great grandfather and i still live in the Birmingham area. He was certainly an interesting charachter and almost certainly associated with the Peaky Blinders given where he lived and his criminal record. Have you managed to find out anymore about him?
Best Regards
Dean Cartwright

 

[Sandra B]

As a new member please accept my apologies if I’m posting in the wrong forum. I am looking for any information on my grandfather John Simmonds Cartwright, who lived at various addresses in Birmingham, 26/28 Derby Street, 5 King Alfreds Place and Garrison Lane. His DOB 1887 he died in 1942. He was an Habitual Offender and served time in various prisons, the family homes were destroyed in the blitz, not one photograph survived. We have no idea what he looks like, but the prison records must have loads,how do I obtain a copy of one.
Any information or suggestions would be appreciated.

Hello
This gentleman was my dad's Sidney Cartwright's dad. He was his youngest son x

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

Hi Joan Hope you dont me contacting you. John Cartwright was my great grandfather and i still live in the Birmingham area. He was certainly an interestung charachter and almost certainly associated with the Peaky Blinders given his


Hi Joan Hope you dont me contacting you. John Cartwright was my great grandfather and i still live in the Birmingham area. He was certainly an interesting charachter and almost certainly associated with the Peaky Blinders given where he lived and his criminal record. Have you managed to find out anymore about him?
Best Regards
Dean Cartwright

Hi Dean,
I have not been on the website for a while and just noticed your reply, delighted to find out I still have a relative in the Birmingham area, if you could fill me in how you are related to John Simmons Cartwright. He was in the Queens Guard in WW1, in between spend long periods of time in prison, he frequently appears in the newspapers regarding his criminal offences. My father never spoke of him, neither did any of my uncles, I’m still working on the family tree, if you have any information on the family please let me know. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, great to hear from a relative, will check the website more often.
Long lost relative
Joan

 

[Joan Frances Cartwright]

Hello
This gentleman was my dad's Sidney Cartwright's dad. He was his youngest son x

Hi,
This is Joan and I m hoping your Dad Sidney Cartwright was my Uncle Sidney who married Glenda and had two children a daughter and son, they lived in Cooks Lane, Birmingham. Happy Memories of a very funny, intelligent, clever man, who took me flying in a single engine aircraft and did a loop the loop over Elmdom Airport, something I will never forget.
If you have any information on John Simmons Cartwright please let me know, he is such a fascinating character, will we ever know the real John Simmons Cartwright.
Joan

 

[Sandra B]

Hi,
This is Joan and I m hoping your Dad Sidney Cartwright was my Uncle Sidney who married Glenda and had two children a daughter and son, they lived in Cooks Lane, Birmingham. Happy Memories of a very funny, intelligent, clever man, who took me flying in a single engine aircraft and did a loop the loop over Elmdom Airport, something I will never forget.
If you have any information on John Simmons Cartwright please let me know, he is such a fascinating character, will we ever know the real John Simmons Cartwright.
Joan

Hi Joan yes my dad was Sidney, who was married to Glenda, my brother's name is Paul. My mom was telling me about you going flying with my dad. Sadly my dad passed away last March . We're in touch with Kim who did a Cartwright family tree, we know very little about my grandad but he sounded a right character! Hope you are keeping well x We now live in Paignton.
Sandra