The Sidaways of Cradley Heath
Government amnesty for
Illegal Bookmakers
In 1929, the Government offered an amnesty to Street
Bookmakers who were prepared to
formally register and pay their taxes!
My paternal Grandfather, Josiah (
Great War took advantage of the scheme and his
certificate recently came to light.
Certificate issued by the Customs and Excise to Josiah
Sidaway
Granddad Sidaway
Cradley Heath Domino champions 1947—1950 Grandad bottom right
A colour photograph would show that Josiah Sidaway had auburn hair, this accounts for
his nickname—Sandy Sidaway—and for the “S. S.” on
the betting Certificate
Government Amnesty fails
The scheme was poorly received by the majority
of Bookies, partly because it
involved handing
over money to the Authorities--an anathema to all
self respecting bookies-- and eventually fizzled
out and the Bookmaking fraternity went back
underground and it was not until the 1950`s when
Betting Shops, as we know them today, were
legalised.
The
“premises” listed in the certificate were in fact my Grandparents
house on the corner of
husband Arthur Crump,
lived in the house next door and shared a communal backyard
Next door neighbours
Rosannah (nee Sidaway) and Arthur Crump
Pictured
on their wedding day in 1908
The large backyard had an ungated opening into
with about three hearths and a very large, ancient
weighing machine: this was used to weigh the
finished lengths of chain
It had a large platform and a steelyard lever
mechanism that intrigued me and I always made a
bee line for it on my frequent visits
Their “office” was a large shed, in the
open area behind the chainshop, and Sunday morning was
dedicated to working out the returns from the bets
placed the previous week, especially on the day
before, Saturday--the big racing day.
As a youth,
I was occasionally allowed into this sanctum and was mesmerised by the
activity.
They all
smoked—continuously—and through the haze up to seven of them were
busy calculating
the
returns on the each way, doubles, trebles, and occasionally four, five and even
six time each
way
accumulaters.
This was
in the days before calculators and computers and the Sidaways were renowned for
their
numeracy
which was probably how they got into the business in the first place.
Family Only Business
Only close realatives—Brothers and Sons--were
involved in the business and they all had full time
day jobs
The chain shop in the yard provided “Day
Job” cover for my Grandad, his younger brother (Bert)
and one of his sons (Arthur)
His eldest son (Tom—my
Dad) was also a chainmaker employed at Griffins Chainworks in
Cradley Heath—see “A Black Country Tenor”
Another son (Bert)
held a senior works position at an engineering company and his youngest
son (Joe) was a
draughtsman at the Coombes Wood factory of Stewart & Lloyds
I also recall that an older brother (Jess) and Jess’s son (another Jess) had an occasional
connection with the business
The
family
It took a special sort of
philosophy to be a Bookie—they had to work their hardest when loosing
money when most of the bets
were winners and this laid back attitude seemed to extend to
Grandma Sidaway and her two daughters, Doris and Hilda, who were always very tolerant of
their home being taken over
every Sunday morning but, win loose or draw, they could always
rely on the house being
emptied long before the 2:00 pm closing time at the local Pub
Granny Sidaway (nee Willetts)
Sixteen years and three children later
pictured around 1900, with her
Granny Sarah Jane Sidaway,
older sister Polly
(standing)
Tom (my Dad) on the right, then Arthur and baby Bert
SONS
Tom (Dad)
Arthur
Bert
Joe
to come
DAUGHTERS
Hilda and Doris
Bookmakers Runners
Most bets were collected by “Runners.”
These were agents of the Bookmakers and collected the
bets from all over-- Pubs, Clubs and
Factories—
“cash flow” for the Sidaways
The Punters all used nomme des plumes and the bets
were usually scribbled on scraps of paper,
called slips, and were collected by the Runner and
handed over with the cash before the off.
Where this was not possible they were deposited into
a special canvas pouch fitted with a time
lock.
The bag had to be locked before the start of racing
and the time was automatically recorded on
the wind-up clock
Time Locks
This four reel lock had millions of
combinations—Bookmakers were careful people!
The correct combination enabled the Bookie to open
up the lock, remove the betting slips
from the pouch, and reset the clock
When the Runner closed the clasp, to lock the slips
in the pouch, the clock was automatically
stopped so that the Bookie could check that all bets
were locked away before the off
The clock face was at the end of the time lock
barrel, it had a second hand for extra security
As all bets were legally unenforceable, great store
was placed on trust and one or two
longstanding Runners were entrusted to hand over
their takings late, without a timelock bag.
This increased the takings but I do recall that it
caused an occasional “problem”
A
“sheet” was prepared for each “Runner”, this was a
strip of thickish paper with two columns;
The left hand column listed all the bets placed, the
amount and the punters “name”, the right hand
column listed the winnings, if any.
The two columns were totalled and the difference
represented the profit or loss
The “sheet” was handed over to the
appropriate Runner together with the winnings for distribution,
I`m not sure how the Runners were paid, presumably
on a percentage of their takings.
They were also likely to be treated by the winning
Punters, especially if the win was substantial
The
“sheets” were about 3in wide and, depending upon the number of
bets, up to a yard long and
I always
wondered where they came from, eventually I found out; they were cut from large
engineering
blue prints, up to A0 size.
They were
supplied by the Stewart and Lloyds draughtsman—Uncle
Joe—so that their “recycled”
blueprints
helped to keep the Sidaway`s overheads down,
----------------------------------------------------
Side
Bets
As a sideline, the Sidaways
would offer odds on practically any “sporting” event and one
competition took place in
the chainshop;
One member of the 2 man
team repeatedly hits the flat surface of large anvil with a 2lb
lump hammer, the other team
member moves his index finger synchronously, from side
to side, under the hammer.
The winning team had the
greatest number of damage free” hits” in 60 seconds
As “time served
“ chainmakers, the Sidaways had the edge
but, my father’s “flattened”
right-hand index finger
clearly showed that he didn’t always get it right!
In much earlier times, a
younger Grandad Sidaway laid odds that he could
walk from the
corner of
Family fokelore claimed
that he won the bet and bearing in mind that he had the hands
and arms of a chainmaker,
coupled with a light wiry frame, it remains a real possibility
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Turning Legitimate
In the 1950`s my father, Tom
Sidaway, his brother Arthur and one of
their uncles,
Bert Sidaway, turned legitimate and
opened up an Anti-Post betting office in Cradley Heath.
This was a “phone only” business, known
as Sidaway Bros.
A little later, with a change in the law allowing
betting shops they moved on to a larger second
office in Cradley Heath complete with betting shop
and eventually into a third office in Reddal Hill.
They also made a Book “on the course”
both at horse and dog racing
--------------------------------------------
With the death of my Dad in 1977, Sidaway Bros. ceased trading.