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Pardoe Family - Ward End Birmingham

Morturn

Morturn

Super Moderator
Staff member
The Pardoe’s of Church Walk, Ward End were a very large family, Tommy Pardoe was an amateur boxer who fought in the 1932 Olympic Games. There was also a person called Joe Dainty who lived with them, and continued to live at the old house.

If anyone does have any information about them, it would be much appreciated
 
Hi Morturn will have a look in the next couple of days for info on the Pardoe family, I know they married into the Hicks family from Roath, Cardiff can't remember seeing a Tommy though
 
My other half went to school with David Pardoe................Thornton Road School.
 
Two of my great aunts married 2 of Tommy Pardoe's older brothers. They were from the Hicks family in Cardiff. I believe they were all connected from when parts of the family were in Ludlow. Let me know if you would like the details.
 
Let me know if you would like the details.
Click to expand...

Hi Merlyn

Yes please, have been finding it quite hard to find details about the Pardoe's, considering they were quite a big family
 
Hi Morturn
I used to go to school in sheldon with a Ralph Pardoe, may be a relation.

regards stars
 
Thank you very much, have ordered a copy…cannot wait, I still have Martha’s (Tommy’s mothers) wedding ring.

This is Martha with the goose, my mother in the foreground. The two children on the right are gipsy’s who live in caravans on ‘Pardoe’s’ yard; you can see the roofs of the caravans in the background.

View attachment 70745
 
That picture is delightfull, Morturn - it gives such an insight into the Pardoe family lifestyle. Am so pleased that the book may be of interest. Have you tried accessing the electoral rolls on Midlands Historical Data. at £5 its a real bargain, providing you are carefull what you click on.
https://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/
Were the caravans purpose built or were they say, altered removal vans?
 
It looks as though the Pardoes were fairly new to Ward End in 1911, judging by the birth locations of the children.
Click to expand...


Hi

I am not sure when the Pardoe’s moved to Birmingham; my grandfather Albert (Bert) was born in 1902 in Cleobury Mortimer, and moved here as a young lad. Tommy the boxer was born here in Birmingham in 1913.

Herbert Pardoe bought the family to Birmingham with his brother John Pardoe who lived in the house next door. They were quite a large family, how big I do not know but was told there was 15 children.

Any information on this would be most welcome.

That picture is delightfull, Morturn - it gives such an insight into the Pardoe family lifestyle
Click to expand...


Yes I like that photo too, it says quite a lot; hard tobelieve that this was Church Walk Ward End Birmingham.

The story goes: when they moved into the house, Herbert noticed a few bricks lose in the cellar, so set about repairing them; when he quickly found sand came pouring in. When he checked the garden, this was also sand, so he opened the land up as a sand pit, which he dug out for 10 years to a depth of 60 feet.

Herbert was a wheelwright by trade, so he built a fleet of wagons, transporting the sand to Walsall for a Council Building project. He kept the kids quite busy, they had to walk with the horse all the way to Walsall, drop the load ofsand off, then they could ride on the truck back home.

When he could dig no further due to water, he tuned the sandpit into a tip; it apparently took 10 years to refill it. He then let the yard out to gypsy families with their caravans.

I was told that there were a couple of marriages betweensome Pardoe’s and the gypsies, and there was a suggestion that Martha (nee Martin) was a gypsy too.
 
Some of that ties in, Morturn, with what I have read today on the 1911 & in the Memories of Old Ward End. I am reading it between getting on with other tasks, but if it is stories & photos that you are after I think you will be pleased with the book. Tommy himself has contributed. If you have some more interesting tales I do hope that you will pass them on to your family, if not on BHF.
If you access FreeBMD & enter the surname & mother's maiden name it should tell you how many children the Pardoes had after 1911. Personaly I always like to check independently too just incase there are similarities with another family.
 
Morturn said:
Hi Merlyn

Yes please, have been finding it quite hard to find details about the Pardoe's, considering they were quite a big family
Click to expand...

So my great aunt Elsie Hicks married Alfred William Pardoe(known as Bill) born 1896 23 dec 1923 at St Margaret's Ward End. He died 20 March 1933 of pneumonia.
Second great aunt Winnie married Arthur Percy Pardoe born 24 Feb 1905 at Birmingham Registry office 3 December 1932.

The story about the gipsies is interesting as my mother used to talk about staying with the Pardoes during WW2 and seeing a romany caravan set alight after its owner died
 
Merlyn said:
So my great aunt Elsie Hicks married Alfred William Pardoe(known as Bill) born 1896 23 dec 1923 at St Margaret's Ward End. He died 20 March 1933 of pneumonia.
Second great aunt Winnie married Arthur Percy Pardoe born 24 Feb 1905 at Birmingham Registry office 3 December 1932.

The story about the gipsies is interesting as my mother used to talk about staying with the Pardoes during WW2 and seeing a romany caravan set alight after its owner died
Click to expand...


Forgot to add that the families were connected a couple of generations back while the families were in Ludlow when a Clara Price married a George Pardoe. Haven't worked out how he was connected to Herbert and Martha. I believe that this would have been the family connection that allowed quite a few of the Hicks family of this generation to move to Birmingham in the 1920s.
 
Sorry for the repeat postings but I have just re read the entire thread. Do you know how old Joe Dainty was? i have one in the Hicks family born in 1931
 
hi all.
hearing the name pardoe got me thinking of my late mom,she was born in 1926 and grew up in st'margarets road
she used to talk about pardoes yard.my moms name was dorothy jackson her mom was florence her dad was mark.they lived
at 41 opposite the church,she also had a brother named mark and two sisters joan and barbara.
 
Hi Merlyn

Thanks for the information about the Pardoe's, a few more gaps filled, a few more questions raised.

What is Whinnies date of birth and maiden name; is she related to Collin Pardoe dob c1950, think he was a painter and decorator for Birmingham Council.

Herbert c1867 was born in Ludlow and had a brother called George c1865, would he have married Hicks?

I can send you the GOM file if you wish.

It is very interesting what you say about Joe Dainty, Herbert allowed him to live at the house in Ward End in a converted van. I remember him being blind in one eye.

What is also quite interesting a few of Herbert's children married around Christmas; the story goes it was the only time they had off work. not bad considering they worked for Herbert.
 
deb kiely said:
hi all.
hearing the name pardoe got me thinking of my late mom,she was born in 1926 and grew up in st'margarets road
she used to talk about pardoes yard.my moms name was dorothy jackson her mom was florence her dad was mark.they lived
at 41 opposite the church,she also had a brother named mark and two sisters joan and barbara.
Click to expand...

Hi deb kiely

Thanks for the information
 
Hi Morturn - my Nan was Georgina May Pardoe, her dad was George Pardoe, who joined the RHA in the First World War and was killed in 1918 - just before my Nan was born. She grew up in St Margarets Road, Ward End brought up by her maternal grandmother whose surname was Morris. She told me that the Pardoes were hauliers and loved horses - she also told me that George was killed whilst trying to calm some horses during a bombardment. I have just started researching my family tree and would be really interested in any information you may have. My Nan spoke about the various Pardoes, her uncle was Tommy and I am sure she used to mention one called 'Laddie'. I had also heard about the Pardoes having gypsy connections although was never sure exactly how !
 
Hi AmandaGeth
Thank you for posting information about the Pardoe's, I know that two of Herbert Pardoe's children were killed in the Great War.

I was told by my Mom that Herbert would mention George quite a lot in his later years, but I do not have much in the way of the circumstances leading to his death; what I found is;

George Pardoe b1894 d1916
In Memory of
Airman 2nd Class G S PARDOE
17112, Royal Flying Corps
who died
on 31 January 1916
Remembered with honour

BIRMINGHAM (YARDLEY) CEMETERY
Died in WW 1
Airman 2nd Class 17112 31/01/1916 Unknown Royal Flying Corps United Kingdom B.20930. BIRMINGHAM (YARDLEY) CEMETERY.

I do not know who the other brother who died was, other than he was gassed, came home and died a few years later.

If you send me your email address via a private mesage i can send you a file with information on it.

Thanks again.
 
hi mort again today ;
tommy pardoe and family was members of the ward end exservice club in ward end park road quite afew years ago now
he and te family are a great gang of people also the other half of sibbblingmoved up to hay mills and they was mebers of the hay mills social club
i think it was deakin road it was ooppersite red hill road and the red hill taveren ; on coventry rd where the pardoes lived or maty still do ;
i knew them very well indeed ;the ward end club as long gone and the so called maffiea of stewards that ran the place
still thats another story i beleive they have all passed over as well apart from the younger generation of the committee whom would be around but they had no say they just made up the numbers for the committee ; the older generation of the committe whom ran it down have all gone ;
hay mills club is still standing , but it was run for years by a guy whom was a shop steward at the rover up at adderly park division
is name was sqizzer ;and his wife mavis they both died many years ago ;it was taken over by a couple of guy whom was members but ran it down the last report i had its owned by the irish family of the owens now ;
but getting back to tomy the cross guns s under fire about getting rid of it and tommy was stioll drinking in there up until a couple of years ago and he was one of the old guys left inthe area helping the gather whom was from the brook hill pub and an old friend of mine from many pubs he ran around brum
by the name of craig ; i will not mention is surname but they was in theevening mail trying to save the cross guns ; from closure and turning it into shops
but tommy was there in wad end that i do know ; also i was a good friends of the hicks family from years and years ago from boy to man ;
one of them runs a clubin winsongreen down by the grove picture house
any way thats my bit yes you are right tommy was and livinginward endfor donkeys years ;; alan
 
Great Grandma Pic 3 for webb.jpg

Hi again Alan

Thanks for the information about the Pardoe's, I understand they were a well known large family of mainly men.

The above photo is Mather Pardoe (nee Martin) sitting in Pardoe's yard in Ward End. the girl in the foreground is my mother; apparently she had just been pecked my the goose.

The two children to the right are Gypsy childern who lived in the caravans you can see behind the hedge, After Herbert's sand pit had been filled in, he would let Gypsy's live on the land.
 
When I was a lad,I used to help the milkman deliver milk in Ward End, and several times I delivered milk to a gypsy lady who lived in a caravan in a yard opposite St. Margaret's church, next to the walk that used to be there from Washwood Heath Road to the church ; she used to give me a cup of tea , and I used to watch her make paper roses and carnations that seemed to me as a child be to be pretty close to the real thing
 
hi mort ;
just picking up on one or two of your threads and you saying that your parents was of a gpsy origin ;
my other half,s family side mainly her father was from a true romany irish gypsyies his mother and father used to have the drawn
horse and cart the true gps caravan i have seen th pictures of her grand parents sitting out side the van smoking there old clay pipes
it was a very decorated caravan there was about five members on his family and he was the only one whom ran away from ireland to come to england
with his bride whom was the m,other inlaw and used to tell me the stories of the irish familys that came here and the english would not give them board and lodging around brum ; but they found a house at the back of cannon hil park whom did take them in and that was balsall heath in those days
and of course spark brook was another area the irish community found refuse and that then became the irish communitiy of brum ;
stratford rd and braithwaite rd was another popular area for the irish comunitity where upon digbeth was the chinese quarter and and the jews was edgbaston ;and still his today ; but the irish and gspys work hard there no geting away from it ;
when you think back how the irish was excepted to come and build our rd becaiuse the eglish could not build them but the english would not let them board in there big houses i think it was disgusting l any wayu weve moved on now thank god ; theres good and bad in al creeds i say ;
have you got any names for your hick,s alan ;; astonian;
 
Hi Alan

I don't recall the Hicks family, unfortunately my mom whohad all this family knowledge, and knew about the Pardoe's died last year; lefta big gap regrettably.

Thanks again for the information.
 
Hi,
I’m new to the Forum but very interested in my family history.

I realise this part of the forum is not current in terms of recent posts, but I hope to find old photographs of my family. If anyone has any old photographs of the Pardoe family, I would appreciate seeing them please and will upload what photo's we have available. Hopefully this is of some interest to others.

I am the Grandson of Fred Pardoe, one of Herbert and Martha’s 15 Children.

Fred was one of the elder Brother's of Tommy Pardoe, the Boxer.

Fred was Tommy’s ‘corner man’ in most of Tommy’s fights. The corner man is also referred to as the boxers ‘second’. He would shout advice and encouragement to Tommy and assisted him between rounds. Tommy turned professional and had a memorable fight for the British Welterweight title. He bravely fought against the well known and very experienced Scottish boxer, Benny Lynch.
Tommy was said to have put up a ferocious fight but was defeated in the final rounds.

Fred was born in Cleobury Mortimer, Ludlow in 1900, one of the elder of the 15 children. This was some years before the family moved to Ward End, Birmingham, a journey of about 40 to 50 miles.

I was always aware that we were of Traveller/Gypsy/Romani heritage from the Pardoe side of the family, it was never a secret, my family were proud of their heritage. My Grandmother was from Romany heritage as are people from my Mothers side, they were from Smethwick and had relatives on the Black Patch. When I was growing up I was told stories of our Gypsy heritage including of how we originate from Spanish Romani (Gitanos) who made their way to Britain many generations before Herbert and George.

My grandmother would make things to sell to raise money. Toffee Apples were a favourite, apparently a long que to buy them would form when she had some for sale. To me, it makes perfect sense of why gypsies were allowed to live on Pardoe owned property as by the non gypsy population, they were often frowned upon and not trusted. I doubt any non Traveller / Gypsy would allow a person of Gypsy origon, to live on thier land.

My Dad has recently told me of his memories of visiting his cousins at the 'Big house' as he called it.

I am also hoping to find information on the WW2 bombings in Rocky Lane, Neechalls which are relevant to this side of the Pardoe family. I have posted a separate thread in the hope that someone has photographs of the bombed houses.

In adult life, Fred married and lived at number 1, Rocky lane, with my Grandmother, Two sons (one of whom is my Father), and two sisters. There was an elder third sister, who had married and moved to Weoley Castle.

During the second world war my Grandfather (Fred Pardoe) lied about his age for the second time. In WW1 he claimed he was older than he was and in WW2 he said he was younger so he would be allowed to fight for his country. He was stationed on the South East coastline. His role was to operate the large anti-aircraft guns that would shoot down Nazi planes and the V1 flying bombs as they flew towards our coastline.

While Fred was away defending our country, my Grandmother took her children to visit her eldest daughter in Weoley Castle who had married and thankfully left home.
My Auntie was obviously worried about her Mother and younger family members going back home to Rocky Lane and insisted that the family stayed the night in Weoley Castle.

Thankfully they took her advice and stayed the night. The next morning they went home to Rocky Lane. When they arrived home their home had been bombed during the night. The house was flattened, with smoke and flames coming from the rubble. All people in neighbouring properties had been presumed killed during the nights bombings.
If it wasn’t for the fact that my auntie had insisted the family stay in Weoley Castle that particular night, this side of the Pardoe family would not exist.

If anyone has any pictures of Rocky Lane during this time, I would very much appreciate seeing them, hopefully some of the bombed houses.

I have many good memories of my Grandfather and our regular fishing trips, he would always catch Brown Trout that were often cooked at the riverside on his old parrafin cooker. He would keep the Eels we caught in a bucket, ready to make 'jellied Eels'. He would put an old sock over his hand as the Eels would wrap themselves around his hand and arm. The sock gave a better grip to hold them. To this day, I've never eaten any, the sight of them put me off, or 'was it the use of the old sock'.
He would fascinate me with his knowledge of the land, he knew about every tree and plant and would collect Mushrooms, fruits and berries for cooking and jam making.
Our fishing trips when I was older always ended in a pub. Fred sadly passed away in or around 1984.

Below is an interesting link to a wartime news feature. It shows the role Fred played during WW2 with fellow servicemen and women desperatley shooting at the flying V1 bombs and enemy aircraft.

CUT AND PASTE IF LINK DOES NOT WORK.
https://www.itnsource.com/de/specials/world-war-ii/shotlist//BHC_RTV/1944/09/07/BGU409190026/
 
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Pardoe_Tommy(51738).JPGA few pics of Tommy Pardoe, there is also a picture of Martha Pardoe in the post above. The little girl in the foreground is my mother Doreen Pardoe, daughter of Bert. The two children are Gipsy children who live in Pardoe's yard.

TommyPardoeUK.JPGIMG_0051.jpg
 

Hi Morturn,
Thank you, the photo’s you have posted are very much appreciated and will be printed to give to my Dad.

I have searched the internet looking for photo’s of Tommy’s fights, in the hope that they would show Fred in the corner, but as you know photo’s of this era are few and far between. I hope the information I’ve given is of help to someone. I have wonderful memories of Fred.

I’ve asked my family to sort out any photo’s they have of Fred. Sadly we all live miles apart so I am missing out on looking through the photo’s with them and sharing the memories.

In the 60’s and 70’s the family would use any excuse to have a party. Fred would be asked to sing and would go through the routine of being humble and saying no several times but all the time, despite his protests he was eager to get up and sing for the family. Once up, he was always the one singing the most songs. He would play the spoons and was a very good player of the Acordian, often creating happy times in the pubs.
 
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