The Sidaways of Cradley Heath
A colour photograph would show that my
Paternal grandfather, Josiah Sidayay,
had auburm hair, this accounts for his
nickname—
accounts for the “S
S” on the betting Certificate
My paternal Grandfather,
Josiah (
Great
War, took advantage of an amnesty scheme offered by the Government in 1926 to
legalise
Street
Bookies and his certificate recently came to light.
I`ve
not been able to find out the background to the setting up of the scheme except
that it was an
attempt
to officially recognise that “having a bet“ was an intrinsic part of the
British way of life so
the
Exchquer was after his share
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
.
There is an apparent anomaly on the certifcate regarding its dates;
The date, accompanying the signature, at the
bottom of the certificate is 11th November 1929
The date the certificate was granted is 21st
march It appears that the certificate has been
“backdated” and it may
be that there was legal reason for it
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
lived
in the house next door.
There
was a communal “yard” at the back with a large ungated opening into
A
chain shop in the yard provided “Day
Job” cover for my Grandad, his brothers(2) & sons(4)
to
carry out their illegal Bookmaking activities.
Their
“office” was a large shed, 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 all 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.
Grandma Sidaway and her two
daughters, Doris and Hilda, always seemed 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 closing time at the local Pub
Collecting the
Bets
The
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
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.
The youngest brother, my uncle Joe, unlike his older
brothers was a draughtsman, employed at
Stewart & Lloyds, Coombes Wood, and I suspect 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
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 did`nt
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
------------------------------------------------------
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 a third office in Reddal Hill.
My
father 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.