Is it still possible to post here? My grandmother used to tell me about the Peaky Blinders as she lived beside the canal at Lock House, Bowyer Street, Bordesley from 1888 until 1914, when she was married and moved to Yardley. Lock House was a tied cottage owned by canal carriers, Fellows, Morton and Clayton.
My great grandfather, Arthur Bracebridge, was the lock keeper and linesman from 1888 until he died aged 58 in 1918. He came from Barford, joined the Army at age 18 and spent six years in Calcutta. On his return he became the village Bobby in Newbold, Rugby, but was fired for feeding his pigs in the Queen's uniform. He then became the Bowyer Street Lock Keeper. With his wife, Fanny, he raised four children there: Ethel, Nellie, George and Beatrice.
When Arthur was away one night attending to his line of the canal, Peaky Blinders came to the house with the intention of having their wicked way with his wife, Fanny. Apparently, Fanny was not a woman to take it lying down. She made the children squat behind a wall, fired both barrels of a shotgun through a window and then set the dog on them.
One thing that bothers me is that my grandmother and many other people have said that the Peaky Blinders had razors in the peaks of their caps but Professor Chinn says it is unlikely that they did. His evidence seems to be that the story first appeared in a book written in 1977. My grandmother could not have got the story from that book as she died in 1974.
Another story she told was that the Watch Committee appointed an Irish chief constable who brought six-foot Irishmen to clean up the gangs. She said constables walked their beat in twos and carried an arm and a leg each of an arrested man and bounced his face on the pavement on the way to the police station. She said the chief constable's name was Rafferty but I have read and heard nothing to confirm this.
I would be interested to learn more, if any member has any information on these topics.