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Fernwood

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Wendy the book has already been started but guess what ...we have more info....Rowan I am so glad you sent me a PM as it puts things in perspective and why Horatio Bottomley was in Brum...
When his parents died he was placed in an orphanage in London till he was 11 then transferred to Sir Josiah Mason's Orphanage in Brum till he was 14 so now I know the connection ...
On this thread things are moving at a pretty fast pace with all the interest shown, so if any one has anything at all to add feel free to do so....I have a hell of a lot more to add
 
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1891 Census Crom Father Joseph was a Commision Agent (Metal)

Name:Ernest W Beston Age:16 Estimated Birth Year:abt 1875 Relation:Son Father's Name:Joseph J Mother's Name:Elizabeth A Gender:Male Where born:Aston, Warwickshire, England Civil Parish:Aston Ecclesiastical parish:St Peter and St Paul Town:Aston County/Island:Warwickshire Country:England Street address 70 Victoria Road
Occupation: Printers Compositor
Registration district:Aston Sub-registration district:Aston Manor Household Members:NameAgeAlice M Beston21 Elizabeth A Beston48 Eric B Beston10 Ernest W Beston16 George W Beston23 Harold I Beston12 Herbert E Beston7 Joseph J Beston48 Mirian G Beston19

By 1901 the family had moved to Handsworth and Ernest was an author.

Name:Ernest BestonAge:26 Estimated Birth Year:abt 1875 Relation:Son Father's Name:Joseph Mother's Name:Elizabeth Gender:Male Where born:Aston, Warwickshire, England Civil Parish:Handsworth Ecclesiastical parish:Holy Trinity County/Island:Staffordshire Country:England Street address: 46 Hampton road
Occupation: Author
Registration district:West Bromwich Sub-registration district:Handsworth Household Members:NameAgeAlice Beston31 Elizabeth Beston57 Eric Beston19 Ernest Beston26 Harold Beston22 Herbert Beston17 Joseph Beston58 Mirrian Beston29





 
Thanks Di.
If anyone needs to get in touch with one of the Beston family ...PM me and I will forward it on
 
Just when you begin to think that all the 'important' and 'interesting' parts of Birmingham History have been covered - up pops topics like this!
Absolutely fascinating, thank you so much to all the contributors on this excellent story. S'lovely!!!!
 
The two maps here show Fernwood before it was redeveloped and when the redevelopment had started.
Photo 1 the herbaceous borders and yew walk
Photo 2 pine and cedar walk
Photo 3 shows the drive
 
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The Plan of Fernwood (on tissue paper hence the strange colour)
drawing of the lodge, its the only building of Fernwood still standing,
And a photo of the Lodge today and all that remains of the wall which once enclosed Fernwood Grange
 
In the Little Black Book that Ernest W Beston wrote.. I think I have found the answer to why his grave is so strange....
When It was noted he had a formula to break the bank of Monte Carlo at roulette it was in the London papers, the town Clerk of the Scilly Isles Mr Env Moyle wrote to Beston after noting he was the owner of Round Island Lighthouse which was built in 1887 two years after Ernest was born and asked him if he did break the bank would he buy the Scilly Isles as well...
Photo shows the lighthouse (courtesy of Michael Forand) which is like his drawing of it in his Black Book ....I just wonder if it could be checked out in some way....was it fact or fiction ?
Its only when I have ploughed through the The Little Black Book and checked what I can check out that I will be able to draw a conclusion .....He names and mentions a lot of famous people, theatres, hotels and places in Birmingham and what he got up to....all very interesting reading and packed with Drawings which I find fascinating ...
Most of the cartoons were done by Mr E.C.Mountfort
Ernest W.Beston also had the assistance of Harry Millson and The Poet Laureate of Ruskin Chambers Mr Walter Turner
 
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Because of my intense interest in the Great War... E.W.B. Black Book paints a fascinating insight how the rich lived through those terrible times detached from what was happening and I need to think about what I am going to say very carefully....before I respond to it
So you might have a little delay...
The book was published for private use only and each book was numbered, it was published by The Britannic Publishing Agency, (Bepeagents Limited) Birmingham ...
So now I know what the BPA stands for on his New year Invitations
 
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Thats how its wrote in the Black Book Rowan ...how amazing if we could find out if this is true....and it would give an insight to the rest of the book as daft as it seems as there is some strange and wonderful quotation's on Brum's people
 
Hi Graham,

EDWARD NANCE VIVIAN MOYLE b. March 1861. on Scilly
d. 1935 age 75 on Scilly.

Wife: Eva C. b.1864 Brooklyn USA.
Trevellick, his son, b 1888/9 on Scilly.
Mabel G, his daughter, b1890 on Scilly

Hoping to find out more, he seems to have been quite a prolific letter writer!!
 
Thank You for that Rowan... now I can work other things out by that info. you sent... Env. was short for Edward Nance Vivian...the book is like a puzzle but all the clues are there
Regarding the Scilly Isles he also state's he negotiated the notorious Hells Bay at the isles of Scilly in his Yacht "Nancy" and won the regatta in "Bonnie Kathleen" but the only dates that could be would be before 1914
His offices were on the 3rd Floor of Ruskin Chambers
Palladium was the winning system Ernest Beston invented to beat the roulette wheel
 
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Other things I need to check out are (if anyone can help)
Hon. Mr Shepherd of Stonebridge Hall
Sir Donald Gunn K.C.B. of Olton
Brigadier - General Sir Sidney Pottorton ..did they all exist ?
Ernest W Beston states he was born at Park Oak Place Albert Road Aston .... in 1870 Joseph Thomas Beston was at 206 Albert Rd so it must be true

and just something I found quite amusing in a strange kinda way what E.W.B. said ..... "What the Balsall Heath do you want" and and old saying which I know ...."Like the majority of people from Birmingham there were no flies on her"
Has anyone heard of the term Scotch Jokes ? (not about them being mean..but something else ?)
 
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Graham

I think I asked previously was he a gambler - hence the "four aces and a joker"

You said "Palladium" was the winning system he invented to beat the roulette wheel.

I think he was a professional gambler - but I dare say you will enlighten us.

This story is so addictive - can't wait for the next instalment.

Fay
 
Fay..As you know gambling or should I say betting was illegal in those days but I do need a bit of help for forum members which up to yet has been marvelous
Like you Fay it has me intrigued and once I get started on a project I like to see it finished.....
 
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Graham

I had no idea gambling/betting was illegal in those days.

It's just some of the things that you posted led me to believe he was a gambler. As I said "the four aces and a joker" - that was a sort of subtle clue - but I could be totally wrong. It just fitted though.

You said once you get started on a project you like to see it through -well my family say of me I should have joined the police force. I have to know all the ins and outs.

Once I pick up on something I have to see it through - find out all the whys and wherefores - like a bulldog - once i get my teeth into it i cannot let go.

Fay
 
Fay have you never heard of a bookies runner and have you never seen all those coppers wrapped up in a bit of paper which you use to give to the man on the street corner ? My you have led a sheltered life
Ask Rod or John the Aston Boys...
E.W.Beston was a gambler and he was involved in other things .. he liked the drink ....the women....and the good life... (smart fellow)
 
Cromwell

I was right then -my first instinct - he was a gambler.

Yes I must have led a very sheltered life - I don't know anything about bookies runners, or men on the street corners - but to be fair - and I dont mean to be facetious - but that may have been before my time.

However, to try to save face I do remember my mother giving me a bet (coins wrapped in paper) and asking me to take it to the "bookies" and wait outside and ask someone who was going in to place a bet.

I am not strictly "street cred" am I.

Fay
 
Fay I have the story almost put together now on what he did for a living and his businesses etc.and I must say he was some kind of a man...
 
I can also say before I put my long awaited "story" on the Fernwood thread .....E.W.Beston was a much loved Aston Boy who by using his wits and skill "Had it all" enjoyed life and went out in style and was truly a larger than life character
 
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Since I found out Ernest Walter Beston was an Aston boy and delving into his past, his life story has gripped me like no other and more needs to be told, and as far as I am aware it’s nice to have a research project that you can call your own which I think I can claim. Skirting over the things I have already said, about his father being an engine driver in 1851 whose pay packet must have been beyond the average in those days in Brum
Through legacies or by other means Ernest (who I shall call E.W.B.for now on) was and grew up quite well off.
His father put him into King Edwards Grammar School as he knew that education was a way forward in life, and it was from there he learnt the skills that controlled his life.
He chose a career where he could use his wits so he went into the “Newspaper World”
As a so called Journalist who also learnt the printing trade which he eagerly learnt and got to know the in’s and out’s of the advertising trade….So in his late 20’s E.W.B. decided to branch out on his own and with a little help from his father established a his first business as “Ernest Beston Sporting Agency”, 9 Hayden Chambers 83 High Street and Bestons Advertising Agency at 25A Paradise Street in 1903-4-5 -7 which was a turf accountancy business which little did he know he was to become the biggest advertiser of the time..
During this period in his life he was living at "Hillfield" Forest Road Moseley and his other address at "Navarino" Sandon Road Edgebaston
In a few years E.W.B was in the big time and money was rolling in, in an extraordinary amount. And he quickly moved to the heart of his beloved city, Corporation Street and took over the 3rd floor of the Ruskin Buildings.
Bestons Publishing Company Agency
Then The Britannic Publishing Company telegram address "Wideawake" (which I have checked to be correct)
And The Palladium Ltd. Advertising Agency in 1920
His business became so big he employed nearly 200 girl clerks at 191 Corporation St. who had the pleasure to go to Fernwood for the Annual New Year Party which E.W.B. loved.It was hard to believe at the time but the post office was overwhelmed with the mail that was coming in to his offices and for a company at that time to have 130 typewriters on the go it say’s a lot for the business that was coming in. The mail just ground to a halt so E.W.B. soon settled the problem and the Royal Mail had special vans to collect and deliver his mail.
But all was not well for E.W.B. and he was always in the law courts defending himself against betting transactions and lost on court action and had to pay a fine of £8.000 which was a huge amount in those days and his name was banded about in the local and nationwide press ……
The Paper “Truth” published an article claiming that E.W.B. was advertising under 52 different aliases as a Tipster…E.W.B. fought many court action against himself and paid out a great deal of money.
But by E.W.B.’s reckoning he was racking in the money and bought "Fernwood" which he enlarged and spent a great deal of money on, also building a gaming room in "Fernwood"
Since the Little Black book has come into my hands I have tried hard to analyze it, as E.W.B. had wrote it, but he had wrote it in such a way that you have to separate fact from fiction (in the style of Rudyard Kipling) at this moment in time I will not or try to analyze the Black Book..and will leave it for a later date.
But E.W.B. did break the bank of Monte Carlo (but this is open to misinterpretation, by today’s standards) and his Palladium System did work …..
 
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During the period of the Great War the life style and the parties of E.W.B.were outstandingly lavish and way over the top in those troubled times which to E.W.B. it was an inconvenience that interrupted his way of life…
The “Toffs of the Town” and the Highly respected rich people threw open their homes to be used as war hospitals and convalescent home and genuinely worked hard to ease the suffering but the champagne lifestyle for some never ceased, almost everyone tried to do “their bit” including E.W.B. who held parties for the men and used his Rolls Royce’s to take wounded or crippled soldiers for days out into the country, whether he saw this as a way to beat the petrol rationing is another matter as he was stopped by the police on more than one occasion and taken to court…and not once in his tongue in cheek “autobiography” does he mention the suffering that the war caused but there are plenty of joke about that sad episode
Today E.W.B’s. army of girls would be very likely known as “Bestons Beauties” or something similar.
E.W.B was a lovable person who saw himself as a man with great power and was thought of very highly on the streets of Birmingham not that he did much walking..
He became quite a notorious figure in the betting world and the extent of his operations where mind-blowing considering it was during the time when everyone had to tighten their belts and try to help the country in its time of crisis but nothing stood in his way and the money kept rolling in and the fun and gaiety continued at Fernwood Grange in a lavish style, it was during this time his relationship with the women he married broke down but very soon another Mrs E.W.Beston was in the roll of Mistress of Fernwood.
E.W.B. was in all a very mysterious man who loved luxury and women and champagne on a grand scale and became obsessed with the idea he could perfect a way of winning at roulette using his magic number 13 and a system he invented called the “Palladium” system.
The Birmingham newspapers carried the story of his boast of going to Monte Carlo to break the bank with his infallible system which even the directors of the casino got to hear about so that when E.W.B. finally got their he was received like an ambassador.
Using his “Palladium” system which he perfected to such a degree with his school of friends he went on to win over a few weeks his target ..a million francs in Monte Carlo which was about £40.000, a massive amount of money in those days and as soon as the target was reached E.W.B came home to continue his lavish lifestyle even installing a champagne fountain at Fernwood
Behind his well guarded doors at Ruskin Chambers where his army of clerks dealt with all the mail and cheques from the pliable punters, E.W.B sat behind his desk thinking up more elaborate ways to make money
…..but all was not well at Fernwood and in the late 1920’s E.W.B left the country the reasons “Why” might never be known…as the only people who knew are dead.
E.W.B. came back to England a few months before he died in 1933, at his funeral their were floral tributes from all over Great Britain and the Continent, even from his friends at the casino at Monte Carlo. The newspapers at the time painted a glowing tribute to him and his rise from being a Tipster to becoming one of the biggest advertising Tipsters in the country and a successful Turf Accountant and the incredible lifestyle he led
The service was conducted by Rev. A.Harrington a Nonconformist chaplain attended by his brothers and sisters, widow and his children and about 50 of the staff from Ruskin Chambers
Ernest Walter Beston died a poor man by his standards, living at the time at “INGOLDSBY” 68 Wake Green Road but did he?
In his Little Black Book which he said “This is my book, there is only one book more important to me, that is my bank book”
In his will he left £15982. 19s. 9d it went to probate London June 10th to George Lloyd Beston chartered accountant Daisy Mabel Constance Hannan Spinster and Ernest Wilmot-Carlton theatre manager
 
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Cromwell

Everything considered, and, taking everything into account he didn't leave that much money did he.

Do you think he could have "stashed" some of his money away. Or, already displosed of most of it to family/friends.

This is very intriguing.

Fay
 
Fay, I am just working on the last part of the story on why E.W.Beston fled the country ..
and the kind of man he was ....it will make you smile
 
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Cromwell

I can't wait to read the final chapter of his life.

I have found this topic so interesting, especially the fact that you have posted it in instalments, leaving us pondering what happened next etc.

Quite a mystery.

Fay
 
The wild parties and lavish entertainment at Fernwood Grange were legendary for that period in New Oscott. No expense was spared, champagne flowed like water and the entertainment was the best of the best from the Music halls and Theatres, stars like Miss Dorothy Ward (No 11), Beatrice Allen and one who caused quite a scandal at the time Miss Daisy Dormer by moving into Fernwood which I believe forced his wife to leave him.
Always the prankster E.W.B. during one of wild parties he held the police raided Fernwood and burst in, lining everyone up against the wall and taking names, quiet a few people began to get quite worried as their names would be appearing in the local paper.
But E.W.B could not contain himself and burst out laughing, the police where hired from the Theatre and it was one of his so called “Scotch Jokes” he liked to play, like putting ostrich eggs in the chicken shed..
Now let’s jump back a bit to 1898 when Horatio Bottomley became a racehorse owner and heavy gambler, winning and losing vast amounts of money …on horse racing
With lots of people being swindled in football, cricket and sweepstakes it was plain someone was making a great deal of money from them. Horatio Bottomley who had mistresses installed in quite a few towns was a regular visitor at Fernwood always thinking up ways to make or swindle money from people. He met a Rueben Bigland a Birmingham printer known on many racecourses as “Telephone Jack” in a hotel in Lucerne and placed a proposition before him. Bottomley asked for introductions to some of the big names in the sporting world and in return gave Rueben Bigland the name of a Birmingham Printer and said “do what you can for him”…and the fixing of results in the sporting world continued
At the outbreak of the Great War Bottomley found the racing easier for him in Belgium after been made bankrupt so horses and trainers were moved over and he built a house and started to build a racecourse on the continent…
E.W.B for the first two years of the Great War stayed in England and like the members of “The Birmingham Bachelor Club” tried all ways to evade the dreaded call up which they even joked about..but money talks and E.W.B.spent the last two year abroad having the time of his life.
He did not appear on the voters register at Fernwood in 1918 or 1919 but he did from 1920-28 till he fled the country and so he was not in the 1929-30 register.
There have been many stories why E.W.B. fled abroad so suddenly with his family from tax evasion to death threats….
But this was where disaster struck which I found incredibly funny as I had a mental picture of it as I was typing. The 2 B’s thought their fixing races was not bringing in enough money so decided to go in for the kill in a big way and a plan was hatched to make them both a fortune. Six of Bottomleys horses were entered for a race at the seaside race track of Blankenburg in Belgium where racing rules were not as strict as in England
The six selected jockeys were well briefed on what to do and the order that they should come in at past the winning post.
Heavy betting when on across England on the exact order they should finish …and so the plan was set and they waited for the money to roll in on the day of the race...something else rolled in which smashed their plans forever and their dreams of riches.
As the race go underway everything was going to plan but disaster struck at the halfway stage when a pea souper of a sea mist rolled over the dunes and across the racecourse and then the jockeys might have been riding blindfolded as they lost sight of each other.
The fixed results of the race were doomed as they crossed the finished line in complete disarray. At a stroke fortunes were lost in the betting world and so E.W.B. fled from Fernwood leaving everything behind…and the fate of Fernwood was sealed as no buyers could be found for it, as it sank into decay in was finally demolished a few years later
 
Thanks for those who have replied and there is plenty more to come.
The "Palladium System which E.W.B. invented is much to complicated to explain here and when he played roulette he only ever had 13 spins of the wheel played at a table with his "team" it was based on each player using a capital of £708 and based on a mathematical variation of "Doubling Up" so it took him a few weeks of slow accumulation to reach his million target
The numbers by a name represent the person that identified to E.W.B the 36 numbers "names" on a roulette wheel, but all will become a bit clearer when a photo is posted a bit later.
Another Strange thing I found out was for the whole time Fernwood was occupied only E.W.B is registered to vote ..what about the other people at Fernwood or the mother of his children ? the people who lived in the gatehouse, maids servants etc.
Its plain that E.W.B had many aliases and businesses which I have not mentioned, he truly was a man of mystery with a lot to hide.
 
Crom., I reckon he was one of Astonian's ancestors! :D
Seriously though, is this almost the end of the story..I can't bear it, I'll have to go and get a library book out now. I'm really enjoying this tale.
 
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